On manufactured desire, collective influence, and the difference between the two.
Here’s the liberating truth.
Trends are a construct.
The difference between trends and values is this:
Trends are shallow.
Values are not.
Trends are given to us.
Values come from within.
There are (of course) many loud and highly visible voices.
Tastemakers.
Editors.
The ‘IT Girls’.
They appear to dictate what’s in, and what isn’t.
But in reality, they aren’t the origin. They’re part of a much larger system.
Behind the surface sits a commercial structure;
Forecasting agencies.
Retail cycles.
Global, large scale production timelines.
One of the most widely used of these is WGSN. A trend forecasting platform utilised by major brands and retailers across the world to predict, and in many ways determine, what will be seen in stores seasons ahead.
This is why so many labels and stores begin to look the same. It’s not that creativity has disappeared. It’s that creative direction is centralised.
But it’s also important to recognise that not everything is imposed.
There are genuine moments where ideas, aesthetics, and ways of dressing emerge collectively. A shared sensitivity to the feeling of the time. The zeitgeist. A German word meaning “the spirit of the time”.
At times, this unified consciousness can create a natural creative alignment across designers and individuals. Similar silhouettes, similar palettes, a subtle sense of cohesion.
But this is very different from what we are (often) experiencing now.
One arises organically. The other is constructed, accelerated, and distributed at scale.
What appears as variety is often a controlled variation within a narrow set of pre-determined ideas. In a fast fashion setting, the level of variety could certainly be described as vague.
Over time, this creates something subtle but significant. Exhaustion.
Because to follow trends is to constantly move. To adjust, update, replace.
It requires a continual outward orientation.
And the body feels this.
Even if we don’t consciously acknowledge it.
The desire to belong is not a flaw. It is human.
We are wired for connection.
For acceptance. For community.
And this is where the system becomes particularly effective.
Because it does not need to force participation.
It is leveraging what’s innately human.
But belonging shouldn’t require imitation and alignment does not require constant change.
When you’re aligned with your own values, your own sense of self, something shifts.
There’s less urgency. Less comparison. Less need to keep up.
And in its place:
Clarity.
Because alignment is powerful. In many ways, magnetic.
When you become aligned with your true essence, you become whole.
And that type of unity within is felt by everyone around you. Without effort.
This is what so many women are actually seeking.
Not the next trend.
Simply, a sense of ease within themselves.
And this is where the exhaustion begins to lift.
You don’t need to keep up.
You simply need to come back to yourself.