For this blog post, I will be recapping my previous questions and answering my final inquiry sub-question. My original topic question was related to “How has fashion changed and developed throughout history and how does that impact us?”. The question I will answer for this post is “How has fashion changed since the introduction of social media? Has it had a negative or positive impact?“.
To recap, for my first question I reviewed the main fashion trends over the past century. This helped me understand recent and old trends, along with when change occurred. It also helped me realize what caused these trends to reoccur. I noticed how fast-paced, unique and ever-changing the fashion industry truly is. During my research, I realized that fashion went from being selective to free and open. People went from wearing suits and dresses all day to now wearing anything they feel comfortable in. Fashion has become more open to interpretation and unique. I also noticed how dynamic and complex the fashion industry is. How ever-changing and detailed it is.
For my second question, I researched what makes clothing popular and fashionable. This question helped me understand what causes these changes in fashion to occur and why they do occur. It also helped me realize what influences changes in fashion which helped me understand why it was popular during that time. By researching this, I realized the biggest influence in the fashion industry is pop culture. Often, something becomes popular when a celebrity or famous person advertises it or wears it. Additionally, cultural and economic changes also affect changes in fashion, however, these changes are often minor. When popular brands also know their audiences and understand their unique selling point, they tend to make more fashionable clothing.
For my final question, I am trying to understand “How has fashion changed since the introduction of social media? and, has it been a negative or positive impact?“.
Ever since social media has become popular, fast fashion, and online shopping have become more common (1). When influencers or celebrities reintroduce old trends or try something new, through the use of their followers, they can promote various things. Social media helps people reach wider audiences and makes it a unique way to market products (1). By posting on social media, anything can become trendy. As style keeps changing and progressing, fashion is becoming a more open field. Since everyone has their own unique styles, it’s becoming even more unique. With the rise of online shopping, all types of clothing have become easily accessible and increased the number of consumers brands have (2). Certain brands also make the advertisement sector more specialized (2). Despite what some people may say, social media’s influence on the fashion industry has been both negative and positive. Some of the positive aspects include an increase in brand awareness, higher engagement, a large target audience, and many more sales (3). Despite the positives, social media also has countless negatives on the fashion industry. The main negative is the backlash fast fashion has on the world (4). As clothes become cheaper and more easily accessible, working wages become lower. The main disadvantages are how it pollutes the planet, exploits workers, harms animals and is constantly coercing consumers (5). Overall, since the negative effects of social medias overtake the positive impacts I believe the impact of social media has been more negative than positive.
- https://www.palomar.edu/impactmagazine/2023/05/11/fashion-trends-palomar-2023/#:~:text=Fashion%20trends%20have%20evolved%20with,ways%20to%20market%20their%20products.
- https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/internet-transformed-design-fashion-industries-social-media-e-commerce/152624/#:~:text=The%20impact%20of%20the%20internet%20on%20the%20fashion%20industries&text=One%20of%20the%20most%20significant,the%20world%20at%20any%20time.
- https://www.fashionretailacademy.ac.uk/news/benefits-of-social-media-marketing-for-fashion-brands#:~:text=Social%20media%20marketing%20can%20benefit,increased%20website%20traffic%20and%20sales.
- https://www.markercontent.com/articles/fashion/the-impact-of-social-media-on-the-fashion-industry-266821
- https://goodonyou.eco/what-is-fast-fashion/