Fashion and personal style nowadays: my thoughts

Hello, my loves! I hope you are all doing well.

I want to share with you some thoughts about what is fashion to me and how my perception of fashion and personal style changed throughout the years.

Since a very young age, I have always been creative and interested in style and fashion. I remember having fun in summer in finding different ways to tie my sarong over the swimsuit to have a different style every day although I had the same piece of garment. That behavior today is what is defined as an approach to slow fashion. At that time, I never really cared about the brand of my clothes as long as it was of good quality and felt good on me.

Growing up I started consuming YouTube fashion content, which had such an evolution in the last ten years. In the beginning, it was more inspirational content, and in particular, YouTube was a platform where people would share their outfits no matter which brand or style. Then with the growth of social media, producing content became a job for many and brands started working with influencers to promote their products. I don’t find anything wrong with that, but I find that most of the content lost relatability with all the people that cannot afford, or just don’t want to spend money on luxury items. Also, I found myself asking: do we all dress the same because of Instagram? During the pandemic, we spent more time on our feed, and social media heavily influenced our purchases. According to the 2022 State of Fashion report carried out by McKinsey, 74% of consumers stated that they are more influenced to shop via social media channels than before 2020, especially for clothes. Crazy right? For some time, I almost felt like I had to have those items to dress well, but now, my vision of fashion and style has changed and went back to that girl that was trying to tie the sarong in different ways to have different outfits…

I started wearing over and over again clothes that I already have, mixing and matching them in different ways, with new patterns or textures. I try to be creative and find inspiration in different ways whether it is browsing, or observing people on the street. Lately, I have been loving “What people wear in…” YouTube videos. I find these videos brilliant because they reflect what people wear in their everyday lives and share where they found what they wear. The most amazing thing is that they often wear second-hand clothes or garments found in small boutiques, jewelry belonging to their mothers or grandmothers, and they all have a unique style.

Another of my approaches to slow fashion is just to buy less. When I really like an item, I save it on my wish-list and wait for some time before buying it. If I still think about it after some months, it means that I like it and it’s not just an influence from the social media world. Some of you might call me snobby or self-centered but I must admit that I like to wear unique pieces, maybe of small production and good quality, without logos and not easily identifiable. I love to mix and match these pieces of clothing with more commercial items, whether they are fast fashion or not, as long as they reflect who I am.

I think that everyone should wear what they want. I believe that achieving the perfect personal style is when someone tells us “you look great in that outfit”, rather than “I like your outfit”. This means that what we wear harmonizes with our person and does not overshadow us.

This doesn’t mean that we can’t like a trendy item, everyone does! Just stay true to yourself. So loves, what are your thoughts about personal style nowadays?

Have a happy week!

With love,