How Does Consumerism Play into Identity?

Written By TFN Writer: Grace Patterson

Although there admittedly isn’t much character or particularity to my own everyday style, my fashion choices do not come without meaning. I’ll wear a sweatsuit or leggings to class and cargos with a tank top if I go out. With every pair of biker shorts, I wear and every low-cut top that graces a certain dance floor, I am consciously bearing a mark of what I’m doing at that moment. The details of those choices- the presence of a sweater or jewelry and the shape or color of my clothing speak about how I want to be perceived. The same goes for you, the person next to you, and the person next to them. We all construct an ideal perception of ourselves and base appearance-related choices upon it every day. 

Different people have different interests, aspirations, and ideas, which is why when I look at the world around me, I begin to ask myself; why the hell are we all wearing the same thing? 

I look at photos of the past and while the subjects’ styles are undoubtedly marked by the era and time they live in, there is a remarkable variety of detail between individuals. You can tell based on a neckline, a set of jewelry, or the shape of a dress at what table someone might sit in a Mean-Girls style cafeteria. Are they alternative, mainstream, sporty, relaxed, or something else entirely?  

 After the late 1800s when a larger variety of fashion became accessible to the masses, it was used as a means to express one’s identity. This caused a post-industrial phenomenon wherein we have begun to (almost solely) develop our social identity based on what we consume. The brands we wear, the music we listen to, and the hobbies we invest in come together to create a palatable summation of who we are. With the rise of magazines, social media, and other para-social means of interacting with the masses, people are now allowed to monetize themselves and their personal tastes. Everyone is encouraged to have a social media presence and the benefits one could reap from having a successful one makes the idea of developing a personal brand all the more enticing. However, the simplification of one’s identity needed for that directly contrasts the individuality and complexity of what it takes to be truly human. From our faux pas to our successes, it is imperative that we maintain a level of unexpected complexity. To be immutable is to lose an entire realm of human existence. 

Despite the complexity of self-actualization, humans do crave a level of consistency in the world around them; it signals a lack of danger or potentially anxiety-inducing situations. Media curators have latched on to this phenomenon and used it as a way to drive the success of their respective firms. Gossip magazines from the early 2000s would always have vicious gossip sandwiched in between a gaudy advertisement and a breakdown of what the Hiltons or Lohans of the world were wearing. When someone picked one up in the checkout line, they knew exactly what kind of content they would be consuming. Now, we have a greater number of influential people as well as more direct and consistent access to them. Social media sites are competitive, and the best way to get ahead is to cater to our need for consistency. Themes and visual aesthetics are often similar throughout any successful creator’s videos- whether that theme is themselves, their lifestyle, or their niche. The main shift in the content we consume within the past 20-30 years is that we now believe that we understand our favorite celebrities personally- implicitly creating pressure to create a brand for ourselves both on and off camera. 

Projecting a consistent series of traits or aesthetic attributes resembles a realized identity in those who do so. However, the problem here is that to realize an identity in the first place takes a cyclical process of (for lack of a better phrase) throwing things at a wall and seeing what sticks. As people and especially as college students, we are meant to be exploring the multitudes of what we could be; trying to find what proverbial cafeteria table we might sit at. Furthermore, identity is never meant to be fully realized- much less articulate. To be human and to be creative, we must constantly develop and challenge ourselves mentally and aesthetically. While a brand is undoubtedly useful when it comes to self-monetization, it doesn’t have to extend to our everyday lives. In fact, it shouldn’t. To be human (especially a young one) is to wake up every day with a new set of feelings and ideas about the world. If feelings and ideas are what shape our own self-realization, then why must we all feel the need to express our own multitudes in the same exact way? 

Furthermore- we are served content by similar creators with very similar physical attributes. What looks good on a 5’7” model or fitness influencer with a tan probably won’t look good on me. I don’t feel comfortable in crop tops or boyfriend jeans, yet I find myself wearing them. Although the content we consume is created by different people, nobody else will share our identity. While that is beautiful, it also means we shouldn’t look to others for fashion advice or listen to strong pressures about what’s trending and what’s not. What we feel most comfortable in will likely be like or inspired by another individual with the same interests as us, but there should be no ‘bible’ to tell us what we can and cannot wear. 

While there is something to be said about pressures to conform in an academic or professional setting, this excuse can only work for so long. Anxieties related to social acceptance are very real for everyone, regardless of age or context. However, sacrificing the opportunity to develop a robust and unique identity in the name of social acceptance is nonsensical. Unwavering uniformity is unacceptable if one wants to preserve their sanity, creativity, and individuality on some level. To express the same thing, even if you don’t accept the qualities it implies about yourself or your identity indirectly reinforces said qualities. And that can be okay, but when uniformity becomes the default setting for all that we do, we have lost. 

It is exhausting to go out every day presenting yourself as who you are, who you’re not, or who you want to be. Trust me, I know. But exploring and seeking out discomfort makes us stronger people and more daring creatives. It is through a cyclical, ever-changing process of birth, rebirth, failure, and success that we come closer to an intimate kind of self-expression. That self-expression and the process through which it develops is what makes us beautifully, completely, embarrassingly human- whatever that is.