“ Do You Feel Like You Fit In? The Secret Behind Why Teenagers Are Affected From Fashion Trends”

Dianna Solis, Reporter

 

Teenagers seem to worry about what they are wearing, teenagers  tend to get self-conscious  of how other people view them and rather believe if they dress  similar to the fashion trends that people are following, that they will fit in. Fashion trends have been a huge affect on teenagers and our generation for decades always having the latest fashion trends influence young minds, teenagers. Teenagers tend to see fashion trends on social media, out in public, or from their favorite celebrity influencers portraying and representing a type of style in their outfit, which influences teenagers to tend to want to follow or wear something similar to feel included or be considered “fitting in”. The way we as a society  dress and style ourselves tends to make us different and reflect on us personally, our style is what makes us unique. Fashion and style can help teenagers  feel comfortable and confident with what they are wearing and make them feel like they are embarrassing themselves to society. Though in some way fashion trends and the latest new styles can reflect on teenagers, affecting them mentally and physical feeling like they need to wear the latest new fashion trends in order to not stand out or fit in with society, so that they wont get bullied for what they wear or will be included in things for dressing similar to someone else. 

 

UHS students had taken a survey with a series of multiple questions, when asked “Do you ever care about what you wear to school or public?” overall statistics 50% of people said sometimes, 16.7% of people said it depends, and 33.3% said sometimes.  UHS students were asked to explain their decision to what they answered for the first question, “Sometimes I care about what I look like, but other times I dont care at all” quoted madison ehrhardt. The UHS students had as well been asked “ Do you ever feel you have to dress a certain way to school?”Using statistics, 8.3% said sometimes ,33.3% said it depends, 25% said yes, and 33.3% said no. The numbers from the survey taken from UHS students support how it is split in a way of students feeling they have to dress a certain way to school. The UHS students’ last question asked in the survey was “ Do you feel you have to dress or have the latest new styles to fit in?”. The statistics of 75% no, 8.3% sometimes, 8.3% yes, and 8.3% depends. The UHS students were asked to explain their reasoning for the decision they chose in the previous question. “ In this case it really depends on age. In middle school I used to care a lot about the latest trends and styles and would wear what everyone else had. Nowadays, I don’t care too much about trends, more about what makes me happy” quoted Pola Kasprzak who answered the previous question. 

 

“ A lot of the time I don’t agree with the latest style or I don’t think it fits my aesthetic right” stated Preeya Trivedi who answered no to the previous question.  “ The trending styles change all the time so to fit in with the new style you would be changing your wardrobe frequently, so I would prefer just wearing what I feel comfortable in and clothes I think look nice”, stated Isabella Mariani who responded no to the previous question.The overall statistics of 50% of UHS students sometimes do depend on what they wear to school or public comes to support how fashion trends affect teenagers, in Pola Kasprzak response she states how in middle school she used to care a lot about the latest trends and styles, depending on what everyone else had been wearing, but with age she quotes getting older she realized it does not matter and that she dresses to impress and make herself happy not anyone else.

 

 The statistics shocked 75 % of UHS students saying no that they do not have to dress or have the latest new styles to fit in, both Preeya and Isabella stated no fitting in the 75% category. Both statements were related to how they don’t believe the newest trends or style match their personality or the person where they feel comfortable or confident in wearing it. This comes to show that even though fashion trends and latest styles can affect teenagers to want to fit in, some teenagers feel they don’t need to follow the latest fashion trend to fit in instead they wear what matches and fits their personality, and others it depends other wise showing how it is split overall relating to how in society everyone has their own opinions on fashion trends affecting teenagers.

 

The Effects Of Fashion Trends On Teenagers

 

Self – Consciousness

Teenagers tend to feel self -conscious about every little detail about themselves, whether it comes from appearance, style, sound of their voice, and etc.. teenagers seem to always feel not good enough or view themselves as not worth it leading to having self-consciousness of being insecure about themselves. Fashion trends can affect a teenagers self-conscious weather it goes into there style at school or hanging out with friends it takes a toll on their personal life, teenagers tend to feel like if they don’t have the correct appearance at school people are gonna view them as ‘weird or different” which relates to how they dress or type of style. If someone dresses differently than everyone else then they are gonna be viewed as different and it messes with their self-conscious feeling like they don’t fit in or aren’t good enough. Fashion trends on teenagers tend to not only affect self-consciousness of how you view your appearance, it can also affect you with body image. Teenagers tend to want to fit in and follow what everyone else is doing to fit in with the “crowd” but people who don’t stand out from the “crowd ” are viewed as different from the rest. Teenagers self-conscious relate to their self esteem and overall the general aspect of not feeling good enough for themselves, leading to teenagers feeling self-conscious of their appearance or what they wear to fit in or how others will view them instead of putting themselves first before others.

 

 Mental Health

Mental health takes a huge toll on teenagers especially when relating to fashion trends affecting teenagers, when teenagers tend to rely on what others think of them or view them, they tend to want to fit in and not stand out because when they stand out they are different and believe its a bad thing instead of doing what they want they think they need to follow everyone else. This relates to mental health of teenagers not fitting in with latest fashion trends or styles feeling self-conscious and not good enough, this can lead to depression, suicide, anxiety, emotional disorders, eating disorders, and ADHD. These could be common mental health disorders that can be triggered or caused by fashion trends affecting teenagers who are willing to put others’ perspectives of themselves before their own and not focusing on what others care or think about you.

 

Social Media

The influence of teenagers affected from fashion trends and latest style is influenced from the usage of social media, social media platform is the start of fashion trends from someone wearing something different or something they look good in that influences people to want to look exactly like them, so they decide to start to wear or buy the same piece of clothing seen on social media platform which influences it to become a fashion trend sparking millions of people to want to follow the fashion trend. Social media as well affects the teenagers affected by fashion trends because of advertisement of latest style shown on social media,  a video or image with millions of likes strikes the eye of teenagers to see how it gets so many likes and is popular to want them to follow the trend to feel like they will be fitting in and that others will be impressed with their appearance relating to fashion trends affecting teenagers from social media influence.

 

Celebrities/Influencers 

Teenagers tend to look up to or celebrities that they love there contact which relates to the connection of social media. Influencers and celebrities will tend to market their own brands of clothing lines or advertisement sponsorships with company brands on clothing that they show to their viewers or fans who follow them which influence them to want to follow the trend or buy what they see their idols wear and personal style. Influencers on social media as well tend to create their own fashion trends of wearing something that catches the attention of many people especially teenagers which influences them to want to follow the style of clothing they see their social media influencer or celebrity wearing, which relates to how influencers and celebrities on social media platform or content could influence fashion trends which are followed by teenagers and affect the to want to wear it in order to fit in or feel like there idol wearing there trending outfits or styles.