As a society, style, particularly our outfit choices allow us to express ourselves. Dressing a certain way allows us to create a version of ourselves that stands out and reinforces our personality and individuality without saying a word.
When we see other people, in terms of our peers or social media stars, their image and look leaves an impression on our mind, making us think about ‘how cool’ their jeans looked or how their colours perfectly complimented each other.
“We want to become a clone of them and style is one major aspect that allows us to ‘become’ our idols.”
Therefore, we aspire to recreate this look so that we leave a similar sort of impression on other people. However, it is important to consider whether we are expressing ourselves or simply moulding our personalities around other ‘idols’ and creating a false persona?
An example of these ideals is Love Island. We see an array of ‘perfect’ people. Showcasing the ‘perfect’ body type, personality, and how easy it is for them to make connections to others. We want to become a clone of them and style is one major aspect that allows us to ‘become’ our idols.
You might have seen in summer the increase of neon clothes, such as swim suits and trousers, a more outgoing colour of choice, particularly for festival season. This comes from the last season of Love Island in which the stars wore bright orange, yellow, green and pink swimwear. Due to the nature of the show, stars are encouraged to wear swim wear almost 24/7, therefore by seeing these colours on our TV every night for 6 weeks, we soon want to copy and infuse these ideals into our own style.
“The bright colours of the show compliment the outfit choices and transport us back to a world of the 1980s, while incorporating contemporary items.”
A more recent example, which I’ve been thoroughly enjoying, is the Netflix show Sex Education. The show is regarded as a ‘love letter to John Hughes’, therefore using influences of 1980s fashion and media, such as The Breakfast Club or Heathers. These outfits showcase flare trousers (as shown on Aimee Gibbs, played by Aimee Lou Woods), retro tops and t-shirts, windbreaker jackets (shown on Otis, played by Asa Butterfield), and chunky jewellery.
The bright colours of the show compliment the outfit choices and transport us back to a world of the 1980s, while incorporating contemporary items. The world we view on our screens looks ‘ideal’ and ‘aesthetic’, similar to a Pinterest board which splashes inspo all over screens. The show itself is different, exciting and scandalous, moving away from the branded ‘basic’ that we see on Love Island, addressing important topics that aren’t normally addressed on TV, such as asexuality or pansexuality. Thus, the importance of this show can be infused into our style and outfits.
TV and social media have a big impact on our style as it is around us 24/7 and, as people, we want to stand out and be noticed in a crowd. We look at others that have an impact on society and attempt to mirror the more courageous aspects of their style into our own as a tool to create and present the most idealized version of our self.
Isabelle Hunter
Featured Image Courtesy of Blogtrepreneur via Flickr. Image use license found here. Main Images courtesy of isawitfirst loveisland sexeducation via Instagram
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