As social media has furthered its influence on the younger generations, there’s been an increase of people curating their everyday style based on what they see online rather than their own personal creativity. Before the time of social media, the majority of people got their fashion influence from fashion magazines, celebrities, and television. However, people still sought out their own personal styles without the constant validation social media provides. 

Social Media spreads trends in the blink of an eye, resulting in everyone being in the loop of what people are wearing. Although this is beneficial to the spread of trends, in reality, it creates a mono-culture of clothing and causes a decline in personal fashion. Although said “fashion” is following current trends, after seeing people wearing the same cropped button up and baggy jorts day after day, these trends become tiring and uncreative. 

As Social media has sped up the duration of trends, the use of fast fashion has also become steadily increasing. With stores like Zara and Cotton-on keeping trendy items in constant rotation while spending very little on production. People are buying into the trends and spending money on this fast fashion. 

Although there are some negative effects social media has on fashion, there are also benefits that come along with it. The mono-culture in clothing is still prominent, but the overall quality of dressing, especially of the younger generation, has definitely seen improvement. More people are interested in presenting themselves and dressing with style. 

If fast fashion could be dissolved and more people were more reliant on second hand clothing, not only would this provide significant environmental, economic, and social benefits, but it would allow for more individual fashion choices. Most second hand clothing stores rely on donations or curating resulting with items spanning a broader range of styles.

Fashion is a constantly evolving industry, with the trends coming and going, however with social media, fashion has become easy, fast and repetitive. If people relied on thrifting and personal creativity, I believe that the fashion world, especially in the younger generation, would improve drastically.