Walking through the Upper School (US) halls, you may see one common thread among the students: a brand name on their backpack, sweatshirt or water bottle. If you calculated how many girls wore a Parke crewneck on a random day, we guarantee it would be over 20. On the tables, Owalas and Hydro Flasks mask the yellow Commons, and Lululemon keychain holders are constantly grasped by passing students. The US is a warehouse of brand names, and we have two things to thank for that: consumerism and trends.
Don’t worry, we at The Vanguard fall into it too. The Free People shirt fits perfectly with your Princess Polly skirt. However, when students leave classes to “use the bathroom” but really log on to the Parke hoodie drop to wait in a 1,000-person queue, it’s a sign falling into trends has gone too far. Is it really that cute? Or is it cute because we have convinced ourselves that fitting in is the new ideal? Perhaps it’s a mix of both.
The US has become a homogeneous sea of students, and TheVanguard is craving unconventional, original clothing. Social media is to blame for spreading trends at an exponential rate. Specific marketing targets young girls who see famous influencers promoting certain brands and feel it will make them inherently cooler. Most importantly, clothing is often how students can express themselves; when everyone dresses the same, we lose that sense of individuality and freedom. At any rate, fashion has shifted from personal style to who can wear the most expensive name brand, making the simple act of dressing a source of insecurity for many students.
On the surface, this issue feels like a champagne problem. But the pressure to keep up with trends is part of a much larger consumer culture, one that affects not only our community but people around the world. Along with conformity and targeted marketing, there is financial stress. Not necessarily because a pair of leggings costs $130, which is insane, but because of the manipulation these companies have set up. Many checkout processes in online stores, apps and even grocery stores have adopted a new form of payment: “buy now, pay later.” Instead of paying $80 for a water bottle up front, you can pay $20.50 for four months, making the purchase feel deceptively affordable. By the time people pay it off, is the item even in style anymore? Even if students don’t use “buy now, pay later,” the fact that companies built a marketing machine around a piece of clothing shows consumerism is out of hand.
All in all, whether US students care about the toll on their bank account or not, there is an even more important message to get across. Conforming to consumerism and trends makes our community one big blob of perceived beauty, when, in fact, your beauty comes from being unique. Wear that top you thought was a little too boho and out of the norm. Wear the old jeans your mom gave you that are slightly baggier than your friends’ jeans. Ultimately, people don’t remember the five Parke hoodies in the hall; they remember the cute blouse, red belt and cropped graphic tee. Trending is out, and original is in.
