22 The Potential of Cyclical Fashion

About the Author

Jorlee Tripp has lived in Cache Valley her whole life and absolutely loves it. She is particularly close with her (not so) little sister, Kaitlin, and enjoys geeking out over books with her. Tripp enjoys sewing, playing piano, and hiking with her friends. She aspires to visit 50 counties, run a marathon, and publish a book. Jorlee hopes you are having a good day.

This essay was composed in December 2021 and uses MLA format.

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IT IS NEARLY 2022. Society has evolved from more primitive days, technology has developed further than ever before, and fashion? Well, for fashion, we’ve gone back in time and revived trends from 30, 40, even 50 years ago to rule as our current mainstream. As humanity continues on in daring pursuits and leaps forward with advancements our ancestors never would have dreamed of, the progression of fashion has more or less halted and changed direction. Our parents shudder as they see the bell-bottom jeans, band tees, and jean jackets they once wore now in the closets of their children. Surely this sort of vintage throwback has never happened before, right?

Well, not exactly. Fashion historians have examined trends in historical clothing of many places, periods, and peoples. What they have found is that as fashion trends change, new styles often—if not always—take inspiration from previous eras. But there are differences between the recycling fashions of the past and of now. The first of these is that where previously styles and elements were used every couple of centuries, they are now brought back within a decade or two. The second is best said by Karolina Zebrowska, a YouTuber whose expertise is historical fashion: “Most of the time the ‘twist’ was actually the center of the look and the ‘historical inspiration’ was just like a little spice scattered on top” (“The Problem” 3:30-3:45). Now, it is more the other way around.

While recycling fashion trends can be beneficial, the way in which the fashion cycle is speeding up is not good and can, potentially, lead to chaos in the fashion world. We can use this critical point in history as a turning point to create better fashion. Cyclical fashion refers to the general repeat of clothing trends several years after it was initially popular, often with some twist to make it more applicable to the current population. In modern times, this echo is called recycled fashion; recycled fashion in this sense does not concern the physical clothes that are reused, but rather the ideas that dictate trends. These ideas are then converted into clothes that become available in stores and online.

Historically, the cyclical borrowing of fashion tended to be “quite wide” (“The Problem” 4:35) because trends moved at a much slower rate and took longer to come back into fashion. In the 20^th century, there was a general rule of 20-30 years between trends, but earlier periods didn’t have a set time span before trends came back. For example, 1880s women’s wear took inspiration from the 1500s and 1600s, a 300-400-year gap, while 1910s styles mirror early 1800s dresses, only 100 years apart (“The Problem” 4:54). While the cycle time varied historically, it still provided enough time between styles and added enough innovation that the style felt new. This contrast to now when we have an “actual previous style but sort of updated” (“The Problem” 5:45-5:47) come back into fashion soon enough that most of the population remembers when it was originally popular. Not only does this quick cycle cause fashion to seem repetitive and boring, it causes clothing to be manufactured in huge quantities to fit the current trend, then thrown out shortly after there is a new trend. Clothes are not given enough time to fulfill their purpose before being added to the tons of garbage in landfills.

This process of quickly producing, selling, and moving on to new clothes is called “fast fashion.” The clothes produced are inexpensive, which appeals to those who wish to buy new clothes frequently. Because of the cheapness of the production, these clothes don’t last. Unlike more durable clothes of earlier periods which can be worn for years, the outcome of such rapid construction is that they often don’t survive long enough to be worn for more than a season. This rapid turnaround is great for fashion industries, from whom you have to buy more, but awful for everyone else. Fast fashion is a huge contributor to humanity’s negative impact on the environment. Whether it be fabric dye infecting rivers, factories polluting air quality, or low-grade clothing piling up in dumpsters, the massive scale on which fast fashion companies manufacture clothing to make and fit current trends cannot be ignored when examining environmental issues. “According to Coresight, [Shein, a large online clothing company] adds an average of 2,800 new styles to its website each week” (Hanbury), and it has released new styles in high volumes since the company started in 2018. This is an incredible amount of clothing being produced, which leads to incredible amounts of waste and pollution.

With the availability of so many new styles, current styles become outdated quickly. Mina Le explains,

In a trend cycle there’s typically five stages: the introduction, the rise, the culmination, the decline and then obsolescence…[now] the introduction, the rise and culmination all get squished into one step, severely shortening the length of the trend cycle. (“Tiktok” 11:59-12:15)

Social media influencers, especially on TikTok, are catalysts to the cycle quickening. Influencers feel pressure to be “ahead” of trends, so the people behind the accounts jump to the next new thing and leave any trends that aren’t the most current thing completely behind. Mina Le calls these micro-trends (“TikTok” 10:00-14:50). These are trends that don’t reach lasting levels of fame but rather, die out quickly and are left in the dust and in the landfill.

As climate change and environmental issues become more recognized, many have turned to second-hand or thrift shops to give clothes a longer life before being dumped in a landfill. Nearly all of what is found in these thrift shops, such as Goodwill, Savers, or the Deseret Industries are “vintage” clothing from the last part of the 20^th century. Social media influencers who care about the environment (and/or their following) started using what was available in shops of pre-owned clothes and the masses followed. What resulted was the vintage trend. The “vintage” style, which basically refers to anything that resembles clothing pre-2000, has shifted recently. Just a few years ago, vintage had the connotation of 1940s-60s. Now, the media is portraying a more 70s/80s/90s view of the word as stylish.

Along with caring for the environment, the popularity of aesthetics have added fuel to the flame. Modern aesthetics are descriptions of a certain look or feel that is rather easily identified and differs from general trends. Perhaps the most well-known aesthetic is called Dark Academia. At its core, Dark Academia is a love of knowledge, including a fascination with Latin, poetry, and boarding schools, all with a brown tint and the smell of books over it. Think Dead Poet’s Society and you’re on the right track. Other common aesthetics include Cottagecore—a wistful longing for simple and beautiful cottage life in the country. Grunge—which is exactly how it sounds. Minimalist, Indy, and many, many more.

Teens and young adults generally rule the fashion world; interestingly, they have only been the center of fashion since the 1960s (“Fashionable” 7:55-8:10). This demographic has entered into a tough world and stories make the past seem much better than now. Dressing in the “vintage” aesthetic reminds them of a simpler time, or even a time when people stood up for what they believed in. Perhaps donning clothing reminiscent of that time helps those of this time to feel like they can stand up, or make life wonderful, too.

But we have to wonder: now that the vintage style has been established, what comes next? After all, if “it’s all been done before” and “there are no new ideas,” then where can fashion possibly go from here? It’s a question many have. In the comment section of Karolina Zebrowska’s video Here’s Why Being ‘Fashionable’ Is a Pretty Modern Concept, a commenter, “Beth,” said, “I do wonder, if we’ve just been lazily recycling fashions since the 70s, when [are we] gonna get bored[?] And where on earth things can even go next…. Pre 70s? Completely new?” (Zebrowska).

Tiera Glasgow, an enthusiast of unconventional fashion, believes “they’re gonna make some new stuff up. For example, wearing a bra as a shirt is a very ‘in’ thing right now and that is not a rotation” (Glasgow). She has confidence that there are new ideas. Others are not so confident as to how far those ideas will go.

When it comes to minimalistic, simple garments, there’s only so much you can work with. You can’t go more minimalistic than a tank top. Because then you just- you’re just getting naked and that’s not fashion, that’s just nature. (“The Problem” 6:20-6:35)

As time has gone on, clothing has generally followed a pattern of simplification, especially after the 1900s. Because we have reached such a simple state, it creates a question as to what comes next.

Donatella Versace, a queen of fashion, said,

When something never changes, it’s not relevant anymore, and the most important thing is to keep fashion relevant… Fashion helps a man or a woman to feel better, to feel stronger, and to feel relevant in some way… How to do that is another discussion. (Hyland)

Fashion had been the same for a while. Then, to become relevant, we started recycling clothes to address our effect on the climate. More recently, we had to address COVID-19 and the way in which that affected our trends.

While the pandemic has passed its peak, the virus certainly left our world changed in many ways, one of those being fashion. Isabelle Slone, writing for Elle magazine, wrote the following:

I’m hardly the only fashion enthusiast who has turned to incongruous outfits to get through trying times. The Instagram account @wfhfits (Working From Home Fits), where people submit images of what they’re wearing to, yes, work from home, has amassed over 24,000 followers for its haute-deranged aesthetic. Among those featured are individuals… flaunting extraterrestrial sunglasses, marabou-trimmed pajamas, and lacy vintage slips. If the words of RuPaul—“You’re born naked, and the rest is drag”—are any indication, people have dropped the facade of straitlaced convention and embraced dressing for themselves… It’s less about an imperative to look good and more about finding the joy in fashion. If quarantine has given us anything, it’s the permission to finally dress however we [very] well please. (Slone)

We’ve realized that the way things have been are not the way they need to always be. We might not need to do all our work in a traditional work building, we can do classes on Zoom instead of in a school, and we can certainly dress for ourselves rather than for others.

Drew Watson, a student at Utah State University said, “Bathrobes smack. [M]ake it a trend” (Watson), which reflects the sentiment that many people are tired of pointless trends. “The fact that things cycle means someone is telling us what’s cute and what’s not when in reality a lot of trendy things aren’t cute and a lot of non-trendy things are” (Glasgow).

It isn’t possible to eliminate trends from society, nor are they a completely bad thing. The Psychology Today article “The Science Behind Why People Follow the Crowd” explains these two points. It states, “Early humans who formed groups were more likely to survive” (Henderson). We follow trends because we are psychologically programmed to follow as a safety mechanism. That is why if we tried to completely remove trends from fashion, it wouldn’t work; we would naturally begin to mimic one another again. The article also discusses an interesting principle shared by Alfred North Whitehead: “Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them” (Henderson). In other words, if we can spend less mental energy in one area, we can devote it to another. So, if we follow trends, it allows us to put more effort into advancements in other fields, like those referenced earlier. The problem, then, is not that we are following trends, but rather that trends have become too hard to follow and are diverting mental energy from other areas.

Thus, we have come to a critical point in history where we can make fashion better. Better is a broad and rather subjective word, so let’s specify what “better fashion” means. Better fashion is more sustainable, more for the individual, and more conscious. “[Fashion] is not necessarily a sign of indulgence. It’s a statement of belief in the power of beauty to lift the spirit. Fashion is created for the future, and that implies faith in that future” (Friedman). Fast fashion is not sustainable and we’ve recognized that. That’s why we’ve turned to vintage fashion. What comes after the vintage trend dies out is still not completely clear, but it is clear that people care about the sustainability of their clothes.

Now, not 100 percent of fashion can be sustainable. It isn’t possible to do 100 percent. Also, the most sustainable things are very, very expensive. We have a large range of customers, and we have to think of a young customer with not much money. But… step by step, we will get to a point when the environmental impact of fashion will be drastically reduced. (Hyland)

Despite fast fashion still ruling the fashion world, the general population is becoming more aware of its negative effect. They are willing to look for sustainable items, which is the first step toward fashion that means something again—towards something timeless.

Timeless fashion is fashion that holds its value and can be worn and reworn. It can also be sold and resold. It does not become passé in a matter of days. In the short term this could be painful, though the short term is already full of pain. In the long term it will help solve problems, including that of sustainability. (Friedman)

If we are using clothes as more than their basic function of covering nakedness, then we could ideally be using them to say something about ourselves. Historically, being fashionable was only for aristocracy and clergy. Laws against common folk dressing nicely existed from medieval times to the 17^th century. So, as Karolina Zebrowska explains, our concept of using our clothes to display ourselves is a new idea (“Fashionable”). People have things they want to say about themselves. We can see that through aesthetics and other derivatives of mainstream trends. As Donatella Versace believes, “[W]e should be more free to create in the moment we have the idea” (qtd. in Hyland), rather than being a slave to the societal rules of fashion. Fashion has the potential to be “a more reflective, concerned, attentive, creative process that is not determined solely by commerce, the market, and trends” (MADMuseum).

Trends and their cycles are unavoidable. But if we must have them, we can prevent chaos by being mindful and conscious of the effect the cycles have. We can take control of the cycles and widen them, maybe even to 100 years (roaring 2020s, anyone?), giving time to appreciate trends before they are gone and allowing time for thought. Only then can we have true creativity, innovation, and satisfaction on a wide scale in fashion.

Recycling fashion trends can be beneficial. It helps the environment and gives clothing more purpose which, in turn, helps us to respect clothes more. The speed of the fashion cycle, however, needs to slow down in order for the benefits of second-hand shopping to outweigh any of the harms done by the sickening speed of fast fashion. What specifically is coming next in fashion is unclear, but we can use this opportunity to make “better fashion.” Once clothing was only used to cover our bodies, and that basic function is the same today. But now society has a concept of fashion, which is much more than simple coverage. “Dress is a way to signal the dawning of a new age” (Friedman). Striving for sustainability, working to make fashion more personal, and widening the fashion cycle will create “better fashion.” Let’s make it the new trend, shall we?

Works Cited

“Fashion after Fashion.” Museum of Arts and Design, 2017, https://madmuseum.org/exhibition/fashion-after-fashion.

Friedman, Vanessa. “This Is Not the End of Fashion.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 June 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/style/fashion-industry-dead-or-alive.html.

“Here’s Why Being ‘Fashionable’ Is a Pretty Modern Concept.” Uploaded by Karolina Zebrowska, YouTube, 13 Oct. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVNOyBRZXkw. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021.

Henderson, Rob. “The Science behind Why People Follow the Crowd …” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, LLC, 24 May 2017, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/after-service/201705/the-science-behind-why-people-follow-the-crowd.

Hyland, Véronique. “‘Nothing’s Ever Going to Be the Same’: Donatella Versace on What’s next for Fashion.” ELLE, ELLE, 29 Nov. 2021, https://www.elle.com/fashion/a33902435/donatella-versace-fashion-week-2020/.

New Jersey Women’s History. “Linen and Wood Stays, 1750–1770.” New Jersey Women’s History, 2020, https://njwomenshistory.org/discover/time-period/inen-wood-stays-1750-1770/.

Slone, Isabel. “In Isolation, We’re Finally Dressing for Ourselves.” ELLE, ELLE, 29 Nov. 2021, https://www.elle.com/fashion/a33407412/wfh-fashion-social-isolation-dressing/.

“The Problem With ‘It’s All Been Done Before’ In Fashion [RANT?].” Uploaded by Karolina Zebrowska, YouTube, 27 Aug. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ap_Z0NDLS8&t=404s. Accessed summer 2021.

“Tiktok Is Kinda Bad for Fashion.” Uploaded by Mina Le, YouTube, 7 July 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR3z8lq2cNM. Accessed 7 Dec. 2021.

Tripp, Jorlee, and Rodney Tripp. “A Casual Chat with My Uncle.” 3 Nov. 2021.

Tripp, Jorlee A., and Tiera Glasgow. “Chat with Tiera over Pancakes.” 20 Nov. 2021.

Watson, Andrew. “Comment on Zoom.” Zoom, Utah, 9 Nov. 2021.