It is a widely accepted rule in fashion that the “trend cycle” lasts 20 years; what is popular now is an adaptation (or, in some cases, a bastardization) of what was prevalent in fashion 20 years ago. Today, trends from 15 or even 10 years ago are starting to pop up again, seemingly too soon. Examples of this are the premature resurgences are “Twee” (early 2010’s Zoe Deschanel, Tumblr, ukuleles, etc.) and “Indie Sleaze” (mid-to-late 2000’s, The Strokes, American Apparel, Alexa Chung, etc.). But if we are to follow the golden 20-year rule, these aesthetics should not be returning so soon. The culprit causing this acceleration of the trend cycle is a deadly concoction of fast fashion brands, such as H&M, Zara, and most infamously, Shein and social media. This combination takes trends and spits them out at an alarmingly fast rate, leaving producers and consumers, alike in a state of constant whiplash due to this never-ending feedback loop of new TikTok trends and ever-changing aesthetics for the sake of “fitting in.” If we look at this trend cycle through the lens of accelerationism, we can see the logical conclusion to this issue.
It is no surprise to anyone that social media changes how people feel about themselves. Sixty percent of users report that social media hurts their self-esteem. A large part of this negative impact on self-esteem is comparison to others, their lives, styles, bodies, wealth, etc. This comparison and decrease in esteem leads to abuse of consumption to fit in. When people see their favorite influencer wearing something, they’ll buy it to be like the influencer or look like they are. Often the garments worn by influencers have a ridiculously high price point, making them inaccessible to most people. This is where fast fashion comes into play.
Companies like Shein, Fashion Nova, Boohoo, H&M, and Zara all work off a similar business model of copying trendy designs and quickly making cheap, easily-accessible, mass-produced versions of them. These brands all have endless controversies of stealing designs from large and small designers alike (i.e., Zara stealing pin designs from Tuesday Bassan, Shein stealing Tabi boot designs from Maison Margiela (I know Margiela didn’t create this design, but Shein directly copied his tabi boots), and H&M copying Balenciaga’s Speed trainers). This accessibility and cheap price point, paired with the instantaneous videos of said trends from TikTok, has made a noticeable acceleration in the fashion trend cycle. Micro-trends are specific items/designs that are popular; these items are generally popular for a few years, then fizzle out. With social media & fast fashion, these micro-trends barely last 6 months now, if that. Recent examples include the Rick Owens Ramones or the House of Sunny’s Hockney dress. These items became trendy overnight on TikTok; the people who could afford them purchased the original designs, then fast fashion brands replicated the designs for everyone without the funds to afford the originals, so it seemed like everyone got some version of this trend. Then, just as fast as it appeared, this trend became oversaturated and dies off. Another factor contributing to this accelerated fashion cycle is the quality of these garments (an issue that could warrant its own essay); 85% of garments end up being disposed of within a year. Thus, the industry has created an ecosystem that renders its customers’ constant return to replace their garments. This continuous need for a new wardrobe has resulted in the “Shein haul” trend on TikTok, wherein users unbox gigantic packages from Shein, some of which total up to $2000. This mindless overconsumption is made possible by low prices and encouraged by hopes of going viral on TikTok, making micro-trends appear and disappear seemingly instantly. These two industries ping pong trends back and forth, acting as feedback loops accelerating the fashion industry towards an uncertain future.
A group that wrote a lot about feedback loops in capitalism was The Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (CCRU). Which was a cultural theorist group formed in 1995 at England’s Warwick University. Prominent members of the CCRU include Nick Land, Sadie Plant, and Mark Fisher. Their work is loosely based on science fiction novels, cyberpunk aesthetics, and Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus. Members of the CCRU discussed how, capitalism if left undisturbed will create feedback loops, ultimately leading to its self-destruction. This is where accelerationism splits into right-accelerationism and left-accelerationism, both led by members of the CCRU. The former is led by Nick Land, who argues that the issues facing the planet are too grand to be dealt with, and capitalism must be deregulated to “accelerate the process” instead of prolonging suffering. The latter is led by Mark Fisher, who argues that capitalism should be deregulated, but to see a collapse of itself, not society as a whole. Since the CCRU’s split, both Land and Fisher have continued writing within their separate factions, much to the dismay of the other. Fisher’s idea of accelerationism seeks to accelerate the degradation of capitalism to bring about a new world, free from the chains of capitalism, and to create an egalitarian society in its rubble.
If we look at fashion through the lens of Fisher’s left-accelerationism, we can assume the trend cycle will collapse in on itself, but what does this mean for the fashion industry? We may see a rise in anti-fashion or ironic fashion (i.e., Demna for Balenciaga & Vetements), but this feels like just another trend within fashion. I’d love to think that a “post-trend” fashion industry wouldn’t revolve around what’s cool or what’s in, instead revolving around what the individual likes to wear as a reflection of themselves, but I think that most people don’t care enough about what they wear to develop a personal style and would much rather wear what’s currently trending. Because of the consumption concoction of social media & fast fashion, everyone can dress in “trendy” garments and styles. This creates its own problem; when everyone is wearing something trendy, it becomes played out and no longer cool. We’ve gotten to a point in fashion where, because of how little trends last, they don’t matter anymore. They appear and disappear so quickly, it’s like they were never even there in the first place. A quote that really sums up this problem comes from Syndrome in the movie The Incredibles when he says, “When everyone’s super, no one will be.”
Work Cited
“Accelerationism.” Wikipedia, 10 Apr. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerationism.
“Accelerationism, The Dark Enlightenment and The Strange Life of Nick Land.” YouTube, 25 Sept. 2021, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJISIwit0tk.
“Cybernetic Culture Research Unit.” Wikipedia, 6 Dec. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetic_Culture_Research_Unit.
Fischer, Clara. “Fast Fashion’s Increasingly Rapid Trend Cycles Are Driving Major Overconsumption.” The Aggie, 18 May 2021, theaggie.org/2021/05/18/fast-fashions-increasingly-rapid-trend-cycles-are-driving-major-overconsumption.
Land, Nick. “A Quick-and-Dirty Introduction to Accelerationism.” Jacobite, 25 May 2017, jacobitemag.com/2017/05/25/a-quick-and-dirty-introduction-to-accelerationism.
Michie, Natalie. “Tumblr-Era Twee Style Is Making A Comeback In 2022.” Fashion Magazine, 4 Jan. 2022, fashionmagazine.com/style/tumblr-twee-style-revival.
Nelson, Mariel. “Micro-Trends: The Acceleration of Fashion Cycles and Rise in Waste.” WRAP, 17 May 2021, wrapcompliance.org/blog/micro-trends-the-acceleration-of-fashion-cycles-and-rise-in-waste.
Portela, Valentina. “The Fashion Industry Waste Is Drastically Contributing To Climate Change.” CALPIRG, Public Interest Network, 9 Mar. 2021, calpirg.org/blogs/blog/cap/fashion-industry-waste-drastically-contributing-climate-change.
Silva, Clarissa. “Social Media’s Impact On Self-Esteem.” HuffPost, 22 Feb. 2017, http://www.huffpost.com/entry/social-medias-impact-on-self-esteem_b_58ade038e4b0d818c4f0a4e4.
Slone, Isabel. “The Return of Indie Sleaze Style.” Harper’s Bazaar, 12 Jan. 2022, http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a38746992/the-return-of-indie-sleaze.
Tetlow, Caroline. “Has TikTok Ruined the 20 Year Trend Cycle?” The Manor, 26 Jan. 2022, scadmanor.com/has-tiktok-ruined-the-20-year-trend-cycle.
Cameron Noble Irish 
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