How do you decide what trends to participate in?

As I wore my cowboy boots to teach this week, I got to thinking about fashion trends. I know plenty of stylish academics who don’t “do” trends, yet I am frequently pulled into them, and have made PLENTY of purchase mistakes over the years as a result. So, how do you decide what fashion trends to pick or skip? Plus, why I think just ignoring them is impossible 🙂 Here are my buying rules…

Why ignoring trends is impossible

Sometimes when I post about fun trends on TikTok, I get a “who cares! wear what you want!” comment. I totally support this sentiment, but I think sometimes the commenter means, “I’m above trends! I don’t pay any attention them!” Again, I get this as a reaction to the exhausting trend cycle we’re in. But I’m going to argue you actually can’t ignore trends (cue Miranda Priestly monologue) because they’re in the stores and you’re basically buying into them whether you want to or not.

Also! Fashion is a conversation, and it’s actually pretty fun to be in the conversation, the same way it’s fun to have watched the Barbie movie or to be reading ACOTAR. You don’t need to buy into every single trend, for sure, but it’s interesting to look and weigh them for yourself because fashion is part of culture and art and design. You’re allowed to be interested.

But the environment!!!

Absolutely fair. The amount of coming and going trends right now is entirely unsustainable. Participating in them all would be so, so bad. One thing I like to parse is is it a micro trend or a macro trend. Mob wife aesthetic? Micro. Wide leg pants? Macro.

If it’s a “macro” trend, I have noticed it tends to relate to the silhouette of clothes in general, like when we moved from big tops-skinny pants to tiny tops-wide pants. I am more likely to try the trend multiple times if it’s a “macro” trend. Wide leg pants are a great example, I thought I hated them until I tried on about 5 pairs and realized when they work for me (when they’re floor length) and when they don’t (when they’re cropped).

Every trend comes back around, so thrifting is always my first stop if I want to try a trend. A few things that are easy to thrift right now: leather coats, cowboy boots, driving shoes. All “in,” all in before this 🙂

Trend Rules of Thumb

Given all of these rambling thoughts, when do we buy in and when do we not??Here are my “rules” these days, or questions I ask myself before buying into trends:

–What was my first impression? There are some trends I immediately love and others I immediately reject. I’m open to changing my mind, but respect my first style instinct most of the time.

–Does it go with my style words? I love style that is smart, polished, and friendly. A resurgence of nerd fashion is likely to get a lot more love in my closet!

–Does it play to my fit woes? This is a weird one, but if you have some issue with clothes not fitting, I try to look for trends that solve that. Drag-on-the-floor jeans made a resurgence last year, which was SO great for me because, ideally, I need a 34-inch inseam. If you’re petite the same could go for cropped styles as they come back in.

–Does it fit my life? I am much more likely to check out an athleisure trend or a business wear trend than a “going out” trend–those clothes hardly get touched in my closet, so why buy more! Weather is another thing to consider. I live somewhere hot, so warm weather trends are likely to get more mileage than winter trends.

–How much does it heal my inner teenager? This is such a silly one, but now that we’re in Y2K trend mode, I am trying to embrace the joy of things coming back that were part of my youth! The fun of being an adult is making your own choices and hopefully being a little less insecure. So, I won’t be buying butterfly clips anytime soon, but if I feel the need for a fresh pair of Converse, I am willing to indulge.

What about you? How do you decide what to indulge in and skip?