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Growing into Your Own Person
A rather contradictory notion is to realize and revel in one’s distinctness. Individualism is a concept as old as time, but that does not entail that it is flawless, especially in today's age of technology and social media. The reality of the idea of “being your own person” has slowly fizzled out, but at the same time, its gravity is only growing more and more heavier because of how rare its manifestation is nowadays.
From what seems like the younger generation’s borderline fiendish attitude toward being unique, countless attempts at curating an extremely niche identity have and continue to become trends — which, technically, does defeat the whole purpose of having incredibly unique personalities in the first place. This consistent behavior has caused adverse effects that not only affect those who are still learning about themselves but also, what may come as a surprise, the environment.
Developing a sound sense of who you are entails an unavoidable process of trial and error. Especially with the younger generations today, growing as an individual can quite literally be like trying different clothing items on to see what fits. With how much the youth today cares about appearance due to how much they treat it as an extension of their identities, it can be shocking to know that their exploration of different fashion trends has impacted the environment.
Photo Via: Eunoia Layout Artists
It is fair to associate this rise in love for and care for aesthetics with the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when the youth spent their time at home, secluded, and met with further opportunities to realize the depth and distinctness of their identities. With this, there was a significant rise in the use of online shops to purchase clothing items under certain so-called “cores” in fashion that also reflect one’s personality. For those who were involved in this phenomenon, it was a given that since finding one’s fitting appearance is hit and miss, an increase in fast fashion patronage also happened. And, thus, overconsumerism consequently had a renaissance.
According to ]a recent market data for fast fashion made by Gitnux, the fast fashion industry has grown in popularity by 21% only over the past three years. Gitnux also stated that 85% of the textiles from fast fashion companies are discarded every year. This is concerning because Gitnux also found that 10% of carbon emissions come from the said companies’ factories.
It is just not hard to find a bit of hilarity in today’s fragile and unrelenting intertwining cultures of fashion and identity-development because of how hypocritical people who partake in it can be. They strive to be unique but then act aggressively toward those who divert just a bit from their idea of “unique.” At times, it is as though the message this culture wants to carry across is to “find your own path, but don’t you dare to stray too far from the crowd,” which is funny because, in the grand scheme of it all, conformity should not be their biggest concern. Maybe it is not hard to simultaneously fail and succeed in discovering yourself, being sensitive toward others, and being able to see the bigger picture to realize the repercussions of your actions.
Category: Feature | By Yvan Gilayo | June 26, 2024
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