In an age where individuality is supposed to be the ultimate currency, why does everyone look the same?
Scroll through Instagram, TikTok, or even take a stroll through your city’s trendiest district, and it feels eerily familiar, same hair, same bag, same oversized blazer, same influencer-approved “It” shoes. The once-celebrated idea of personal style has been replaced by a rotating cycle of carbon copies, fuelled by algorithms, celebrity culture, and a chronic fear of standing out the wrong way.
Fashion, once a means of self-expression and rebellion, has slowly morphed into a uniform of safe, trend-chasing choices. We’ve entered a cultural moment where dressing “correctly” is rewarded more than dressing authentically. The rise of micro-trends, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it aesthetics like “cottagecore,” “blokecore,” “clean girl,” “mob wife”, has turned wardrobes into fast-moving mood boards, emptied as quickly as they’re filled.
It’s not just about fast fashion anymore. It’s fast identity.
So how did we get here?
The Algorithm Is Your Stylist Now
What once came from magazines, music, and subcultures now flows directly from For You Pages and Discover feeds. The same viral Zara skirt or Miu Miu ballet flat appears on thousands of bodies, all styled the same way. Social media has flattened fashion into a series of trends rather than a spectrum of expression. Personal style has been outsourced to the algorithm, and what was once about curating has become copying.
Influencer Culture and the Tyranny of Taste
We no longer just follow influencers, we become them. In an effort to align ourselves with digital status, we mimic what we see. Outfits are no longer about what feels right but what photographs well. Neutral palettes dominate because they’re “aesthetic.” Logos are worn not as statements but as social proof. A sense of irony or eccentricity is lost in the pursuit of looking polished and palatable.
What happened to the thrill of discovery? To styling something vintage with something avant-garde? To wearing something that makes you feel, not just look, powerful?
The Endangered Art of Styling
We’ve stopped styling and started replicating. People don’t seem to own their clothes anymore—they wear them like costumes. Personal style used to involve risk, memory, and mood. It told a story. Now, it’s curated from a Pinterest board, stripped of soul.
And yet, there’s hope.
A quiet rebellion is brewing, those who aren’t afraid to mix clashing prints, wear the “wrong” shoes, or reject trends entirely. The fashion outsiders, the ones who don’t chase relevance but radiate presence, are the true tastemakers now. They wear the same coat every winter, the same boots with every outfit, and somehow, they make it look like art.
It’s Time to Bring You Back
Fashion shouldn’t feel like a race. It should feel like a homecoming, to yourself. To your roots, your instincts, your weirdness. What if we stopped asking, “Will this go viral?” and started asking, “Is this me?”
Maybe the new revolution isn’t about the next “core” aesthetic. Maybe it’s about stepping out of line, ignoring the seasonal memo, and wearing that old jacket because it holds a memory, not just a look.
Because personal style isn’t a trend. It’s a voice. And right now, it’s time to start speaking up again.
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