Fashion inspiration is everywhere around us. We see our future closet on social media, in advertisements, and even on the street. The world around us is our runway and many of us cannot wait to strut out the latest styles. When inspiration is everything, it is a thin line bordering on imitation on other individuals.
Most of us fashion-obsessed individuals have the social media platform Pinterest downloaded. On this platform, we can save other people’s uploads of their outfits or photos of their lives. Almost every aesthetic and style we can think of has a place on Pinterest, and it is common to gain inspiration for our own wardrobes due to posts on the platform. This gives us the ability to try new pieces and new looks that we may not have known about otherwise.
Using other individual’s outfits as simple inspiration is easy–we can wear a similar shirt, a similar pair of jeans, or use their color scheme to build our own outfit. The problem does not lie in having a similar look or style, but in completely imitating the original outfit. Rather than taking some of the ideas and transpiring them into our own, consistent repetition of outfits and styles has increased as social media becomes more present within the fashion world.
When imitation replaces originality or inspiration, we lose major elements to the beauty of fashion. Uniqueness and personal style are extremely important for the fashion world, as without them, flipping through magazines or scrolling through social media becomes boring. Online discourse speaks negatively on being ‘basic’ or a lack of diversity in fashion. If our closest is a duplicate of everyone’s closet, aren’t we all basic?
To gain inspiration from our favorite Pinterest posts while maintaining our own personal style, we need to keep in mind the pieces we already have and like to wear. If we see a post that includes a perfectly-made color scheme of an outfit, we can use those same colors while implementing our own pieces. When someone utilizes accessories in just the right way, we can utilize pieces we already own and love in a similar manner than our inspiration would. Inspiration comes from everywhere, and the beautiful element of it all is that we can be inspired while remaining true to ourselves.
There may be times where we would love to replicate an exact outfit, some individuals come up with the most fashionable ideas. However, our own individuality is the most fashionable of all. Granting inspiration with the beauty of our own fashion sense, rather than imitating someone else’s, allows for fashion to stray away from being named ‘basic,’ and allows us to scroll through vastly different aesthetics and styles. Your closet is yours, with pieces you love, not the Internet’s or our social media feeds.
