Walking around campus, students can be seen with all the latest trends in fashion and merchandise. From thermos cups to slippers to lip balms, teenagers have historically been the target audience for commercialized products. Like clockwork, these popular trends will be their way out just as quickly as they came in.
The acceleration of trend cycles have increased with the rise of social media in the last two decades. Children are exposed to the internet and are given phones at younger ages, making them susceptible to the algorithms curated by social medias.
“[Algorithms] respond to the feedback it’s getting. So I’d say trends pick up based on who’s driving that force,” Library Media Specialist Elizabeth Snow said.
Once these trends gain popularity, they are seen as “overdone” and people move onto the next thing.
“There’s a lot of trends and they change [quickly]. There’s something new every week, it’s definitely hard for anyone to keep up,” junior Ruby Rappaport said.
Mixed in with someone’s regular media feed, these apps are filled with advertisements for the newest products. Clothes, makeup and technology are labeled under quirky names to appeal to social media users. The most popular aesthetic created online is the “Clean Girl Aesthetic,” which consists of lounge clothing, glossy lips, gold hoop earrings and a tight bun or ponytail. Large brands market their products under these made-up titles to boost video engagement and sell more products; and it works.
“The clean girl aesthetic on TikTok promotes cleanliness, but just because you have a slicked back bun and you wear gold earrings does not make you clean, plenty of people are clean and showered,” junior Hannah McDonald said.
The “Clean Girl Aesthetic” has also been criticized for stealing styles that have existed in Black and Brown communities for a long time. But the “Clean Girl Aesthetic” almost exclusively shows white women, emphasizing the Eurocentric beauty standards seen online.
Not only is it exhausting to keep up with the latest trends, but it is exhausting for teenage wallets.
“I got peer pressured into purchasing a Stanley [water bottle] because my friends thought that it would be really adorable if we all had matching Stanley Cups. My friends drove me to REI and they forced me to drop $60 on a water bottle, which I think is outrageous,” junior Sofie Tafoya said.
“I think that if you’re buying a Stanley Cup just to have a Stanley Cup when you already have a bunch of other metal water bottles, it’s completely unnecessary. More than one is already too many,” Tafoya said.
The cost of staying relevant is unrealistic for teenagers, causing further exclusion based on financial privilege. It is also worth noting that the majority of products are marketed towards girls. In an article by the National Women’s History Museum, they say “In our consumer culture, women are seen as the primary consumers.”
With Companies targeting women, there is more pressure on girls to keep up with trends.
“Women are often judged based on the style that they have and the trends that they keep up with, whereas men are not as much,” junior Teagan Tokheim said.
Unfortunately, when we have social media telling us what products are in, they also tell us when they are out.
“Trends are just like continuously evolving. And they just keep going and going and going. You never know what you’re gonna wake up to on social media. One day your Stanley will be made fun of,” Tafoya said.
It is important to note that while popular influencers on social media claim your newest purchase is no longer “in style”, it doesn’t mean that it is no longer valuable. The way to solve our issue with overconsumption and waste is to purchase products we will genuinely enjoy and use for longer than the duration of its popularity. Trends are a huge part of our culture and it’s impossible to escape. There is no shame in buying trendy products if it is something that you value and like.
“[Stanley Cups] have been big for a really long time in the Midwest, and my sister lives in Nebraska. And so she was kind of on the trend before it was a big trend. And so she bought one for me for Christmas and I use it all the time,” Tokheim said.