Credit: Melina Barris

In the past, fashion trends always followed a consistent pattern, but with the increasing influence of social media, the fashion industry is losing its structure and falling into a chaos of styles.

To welcome the new year, Pinterest released a plethora of predicted trends and aesthetics for 2025 based on the popular searches on their app. From maximalist to antique, all of these styles are bizarre and different despite them supposedly being packed into one year of fashion. While this is a new aspect of Pinterest, social media has been pressuring consumerism for years, drawing users into trend after trend with a loss of true personal style.

Throughout history, each time period has had its own distinct fashion look. Whether it’s the Middle Ages or the 1960s, we can look at an outfit from any era and identify when it is from. Yet recently, trends have been recycled every 10 or 20 years, repurposed for the social, economic and spiritual state of the time.

As we enter the mid 2020s, it’s clear the trend cycle is collapsing at an unprecedented pace. Social media has opened doors to limitless connection, creating a culture of overexposure and brief attention spans. On apps like TikTok, Instagram and more, it is easy to become bored of trends worn by everyone we see, especially when fast fashion’s accessibility allows us to buy the newest fad in seconds.

Furthermore, when we treat a style as merely a yearlong commitment, fashionistas and social media influencers lose the personal connection that style can bring. In the past, the way you dressed told the public about your lifestyle, career, political views and interests. Now, people dress any way they want without caring about its significance.

Last year, a trend surfaced on TikTok that encouraged the public to “bring back 2014.” From the fashion to the music to the lifestyle, users wanted to return to what was popular a decade ago. This differs from past trend revivals. Take the drop waist dress for example. 100 years ago, flappers sported drop waists with feathers and beads. Now they’ve reappeared in a completely different way that resonates with the social world of the 2020s. The 2014 trend, however, was fueled from a shared sense of nostalgia. The followers of the trend were attempting to copy the aesthetic of 2014 exactly, losing the creativity of the fashion cycle.

Coming into 2025, the pace of fashion feels like it’s accelerating even more. We are flooded with ideas and concepts that catch on throughout the year.

There are even plenty of fashion trends that may never show up on most user’s feeds. While surfing through the internet on platforms like TikTok, Pinterest or Tumblr, you can discover thousands of aesthetics and microcultures, each with their own distinct style. Some take large inspiration from the past while others are brand new, but all exist at the same time.

Today’s fashion culture is influenced not only by fast fashion and big business, but also by the ‘melting pot’ environment in which Generation Z has grown up. With so many cultures and ideas in circulation – especially in the United States – people are more open and accustomed to diversity in both style and art. However, this diversity comes at a price given that adolescents can easily take on the fashion of any culture in ignorance of its meaning. This may be a style that they enjoy, but without identification, it becomes artificial.

In response to the relentless trends of the past couple of years, influencers have tried to step away from following trend after trend. Could the newest fad be to ignore the demanding cycle altogether?

Well, it could be argued that most people already embrace this “new” idea of personal style. The majority of the world doesn’t have the financial means to maintain a constantly updated, trendy wardrobe. While fast-fashion brands like Shein and Zara provide inexpensive quick fixes, not everyone has the energy to shop for new outfits every month. Despite the consecutive trends that internet us shoving in our faces, stepping outside can make you realize that the regular world isn’t dressing any different from last year.

Still, for the internet’s fashionistas, embracing the new styles of 2025 may remain a priority, despite how tone-deaf it can be. It’s ironic that trends like “castlecore” and “boho chic” are on the rise given that they are both in reference to eras without high technology or strong global connections. Anyone who truly partakes in the lifestyle wouldn’t even be aware of these trends at all.

When navigating the trends of this decade, it is hard to recognize which are going to be a staple of our period or just a micro-trend. While it might be fun to hop on all of the latest styles, being mindful of fast-fashion and its impact is really what builds a strong personal taste.