Is Personal Style Dead: Microtrends Killing Individuality?
By Carmen Jansons
From ballet flats and bows to BRAT summer trending the charts, micro trends have been dominating TikTok. Whether you are aimlessly scrolling through Instagram or TikTok, you will at least see one trending item. Whether it’s bows, boots, or the Rory Gilmore sweater, social media has it all.
Before TikTok, Tumblr and Pinterest were places where teens and young adults could find new outfits, and styles that they liked. Some popular examples were the fall girl aesthetic, or the infamous space leggings that everyone wore. Even though fashion trends have always influenced people's style, trends have never changed as rapidly as they seem to today. It seems like every week there is an accessory or outfit that is trending, then once you finally get your hands on it, the popularity is gone.
Personal style is defined by the New York Times as, “An ethos; a way of moving through the world. Your style has less to do with the pants or dresses or shirts you wear than with words that describe who you want to be: ‘elegant,’ ‘smart,’ ‘efficient,’ what have you.” It doesn’t matter how expensive your clothes are but rather, how they convey your “aesthetic” and how you want to be perceived. This idea of style is no longer used in 2025, which has shifted to how much money your outfits cost. In a way, everyone in society wears a uniform because of a lack of individuality.
With micro-trends comes the waste of millions of outfits and accessories. Vice states, “Microtrends encourage overconsumption when we should be future-proofing our wardrobes and not buying for the short term.” Once certain micro-trends are out of style, nobody buys the items, and lots of fabric ends up being wasted. Rather than caring about the planet, quick trending outfits are prioritized, and once the items are out they end up put in a landfill. One notable example of micro-trending was the Hydro Flask, which was the trend during the “visco girls” era. This was popular with teens, and the idea was that they wanted to “save the turtles” while they were wearing cute outfits. These large metal water bottles were super popular and everyone had their hands on one. Once COVID hit, visco girls were no longer popular, and because of the millions of teens on TikTok at home, new trends surfaced. Stanleys are the new trending water bottles, and people are trying to get as many as possible, taking on a new role as collectible items and not just water bottles. The goal of these water bottle microtrends centered around the idea of reducing the use of plastic water bottles. It makes more sense to just have one water bottle because it’s more wasteful to have many plastic water bottles that you won’t even use. However, many HydroFlasks lie dormant in closets, and plastic water bottles still remain fairly prevalent. These water bottles are one of the many microtrends that have taken over the internet.
Looking at some trending clothing, the Essentials hoodie quickly comes to mind. It’s priced around $100-200 depending on color and design. I’m not saying this sweater isn’t nice or good quality, but people buy it to look “trendy”. This sweater goes with a streetwear style, and going outside you could spot multiple people wearing one of the hoodies. If this sweater wasn’t popular and a trend on TikTok, it wouldn’t have nearly as many purchases. I honestly see it as a waste of money because you are buying an expensive hoodie just for the logo and not the actual quality.
Essential hoodies are not the only fashion pieces that are trending, other notable examples include Uggs, bows, Stussy, and cheetah prints. I can’t deny that I also follow a lot of trends since I have purchased outfits that I usually wouldn’t have bought if it wasn’t popular. It’s not just me however, Brooke LeMnatia from The Cut has faced issues similar to mine as she states, “Suddenly, everywhere I looked, I saw myself, and it felt mortifying. Who was I to think my outfits were better, or less basic than anyone else’s?” Some brands are seen as better because they are less popular and not as worn compared to other brands. Thrifting is a great alternative to buying expensive new clothes when there are a lot of good options out there that aren’t being worn. Some people who thrift or listen to underground bands think that it makes them a cooler person because they don’t follow trends. This is a flawed mindset. Of course, it’s important and vital to be different when coming up with ideas, but it’s overvalued with fashion. Just because someone is wearing an outfit that is trending on TikTok, doesn’t mean that they are less than you because you aren’t wearing popular clothing. Rather than making fashion a more inclusive place, people are shaming others because of what they wear.
Microtrends are very harmful to the environment, cause a lot of waste, and make common clothing and objects triple in price. Overconsumption is a big issue facing Americans because they want all the newest items and once they aren’t trending, the item is tossed aside and left unused. But at the same time, microtrends are a vital part of finding your own personal style. Just because a person follows microtrends doesn’t make them any less fashionable or cool than someone who doesn’t follow them. It’s important to not over consume objects and clothing. For example, a person doesn’t need 20 new Stanley cups that all have different colors, in reality, they only need one. Finding an in-between between not buying too many micro-trends and not having a flawed mindset that following micro-trends makes you less cool is the best way to live in fashion harmony.