Wanting to fit in is human nature, but the cookie cutter keeps changing shapes over years, months, and even weeks. These flowing social changes affect both individuals and the majority as a whole more than one may notice. Taking a closer look at this life cycle can prepare people for the future of both fashion and the climate of mass commerce. 

Trends can start from anywhere. Designers take inspiration from music, different cultures, politics, social movements, and so much more. Trends grow when people in high social standings like celebrities or influencers begin to embrace and promote them. As they grow, they are taken in by the current generation. Many teenagers have specific influencers that they look to for inspiration, for example, Caitlin Robertson’s choice is an influencer named Spencer Barbosa.

“They have taught me to be positive about what I’m wearing and to not be scared of what I’m wearing, or how people might perceive me,” Robertson said.

The bow motif trend was started last year as a subversion of traditional femininity. Some say the look was popularized by Sandy Liang, a clothing brand focusing on the power of girlhood. Others say it branched off of a similar trend of tying bows on UGG boots. 

“I liked it to an extent. People started over using it and there were just bows on everything,” Eliana Orcutt ‘27 said. 

The origin of different trends could be speculated forever, but the death of them is more definitive. Trends tend to die out when the popularity grows too much, leading people to decide it has become too mainstream. 

“It depends on the trend, but some of the more niche ones I can understand being too much,” Orcutt said. 

This is similar to what happened to the bow motif. Corporations understand that they make more money if they produce the object of the trend. This production makes the trend more accessible, which in turn made it less interesting to the general public. 

The idea of specialization has always been important in humanity. Whether that be your job, different treatment, or your style, people have always wanted to stand out while still being accepted. This is why trends originated. 

“I really liked 90’s jeans, not quite JNCO, but more relaxed fit jeans,” Orcutt said.

According to Medium magazine, even back when clothing consisted of fur, leaves, leather, or even grass draped around the body there were trends. During the birth of civilizations, different types of draped fabrics and dyes indicated wealth. Similarly, our draped fabrics and dyes are the sought after luxury brands. 

As time goes on, trends will go with it. They will be forever changing, affecting youth and economy whether we like it or not. With this knowledge, we can generally predict the trends that will appear in the near future.

“The rise and fall of trends has happened a lot quicker. Things come in and out of fashion way quicker as time passes,” Orcutt said.

Trend forecasting is a technique used by marketing teams at various companies to decide what product investments to make in the next few years. Trends tend to follow a twenty-year cycle. Over that time we go through stages of “love it”, “hate it”, “meh”, just to end right back up loving it. While some may say that this cycle can be problematic when it comes to production and waste, Robertson disagrees.

“I honestly think it is great, it allows for our parents’ old clothes to be reused and also allows us to low-key relive history through our clothes and style,” Robertson said.

One great example of this is Y2K or 2000’s fashion. This style typically consists of low-rise jeans, ballet flats, capris, denim mini skirts, and platform flip-flops. Overall, it’s not a very cut and dry style, with many different subcategories and mini genres.

“Some of it’s cool, like lowrise jeans. They look good, you just have to know how to style them,” Orcutt said.

It originated in the 2000’s, hence the name, and for the 2010’s it was mainly ridiculed. It began to make a small comeback in 2020 with genres like scene coming into play, and now it’s back in full swing, with some influencer modernization of course. 

“I like the hair, like the little clips and the little twisties, or even just modernizing some of those. But I am a strong no on layering. Especially the very obviously not meant to be layered clothes, if you’re cold, put a jacket on,” Orcutt said.

With the constant cyclical life of trends comes bad, good, and ugly. Trends tend to bring strong opinions out of everyone. Because of this, every piece of fashion is looked at with a critical eye, especially those of teenagers. Some are positive!

“I also miss when zip up hoodies were popular, I thought they looked nice on everyone and allowed for people to not be covered up fully but still be comfortable and warm,” Robertson said.

But others… not so much.

“The clog UGG or Birkenstocks or whatever they are, it looked like those people were about to break out their lute and start playing it,” Robertson said.