We Live in an Era of Curation
By: Drew Kalsto
We live in an era of curation.
What once was a tumbleweed landscape now knows itself as the internet. In the 1990s, when Carrie Bradshaw stepped out for a cosmopolitan with her best girlfriends, she didn’t turn to a closet that was built for her but rather by her. That story is so deeply different today. As of recently, I’ve found myself wondering how this generation has lacked a character as dynamic and life-defining as someone like Carrie Bradshaw. Where is the show that reads as the ‘Generation Z’ Sex and the City? However, this road of thought is one that is short and simple… we live in an era of curation. Of fashion, content, and art.
I intend to touch on the fashion of it all, as this is a fashion column, but I do want to quickly identify an indicative point of this conversation in regards to Sex and The City. Why don’t we have our own Sex and The City? Some may say it’s Gossip Girl, but that still belongs to a differing generation… and to belong to the same generation that spends its time swearing up and down that skinny jeans are a morally correct fashion choice? Disturbing. Wrong. Immoral. Horrific.
No show has told a story like this for our generation, and I would argue that curation and algorithms are the root of the problem. Shows are shorter now, representing our deafened attention spans. They also lack complex writing because of this, as well as another key issue: They don’t seek longevity with audiences. They are multi-episodic drops at once that seek to create virality for a few weeks before disappearing for years and losing the initial grip they ever held on audiences. An example of this could be Stranger Things; though not arguably known for its fashion, Stranger Things was huge in favor of younger audiences. However, seasons ranging from 6-8 episodes that have taken nearly a decade to complete five seasons have led to the final season emerging with a looming cloud of fan-anger. Many criticize the Duffer Brothers for how long it takes to produce the season and how most of them have moved on and are finding it hard to care about these characters as they had when the previous season aired.
A show like Sex and The City aired year after year and had nearly twenty-episode seasons consisting of thirty to forty-five-minute episodes. The stories focused less on generating buzz on a social platform in the aftermath, as it did truly fleshing out its characters, developing its world-building, and making this story feel integral to be seen by the audience.
Fashion.
A show that demonstrates our generation’s style at its best has yet to exist truly. Sex and the City is peak nineties fashion. I will die on this hill of a thousand opposing soldiers firing nonstop ammo at my singular barrel of cover… Carrie Bradshaw is a poster child for the excellence that is nineties fashion. She borderlines the best minimalistic-chic attire with colorful statement pieces that develop into her character in a satisfying way. She has pieces that are created, nurtured, and fostered by her. The ‘Carrie’ necklace directly led millions (including myself) to get a necklace with their name (Though it should be mentioned that gold jewelry did largely come from black culture); The choice to mismatch a pair of Jimmy Choo/Manolo Blanc shoes with each other in a single outfit. The mere opening theme song where she walks the streets of New York City in a goddamn tutu down to her kneecaps and a ribbed pink tank top. And something to be noted of Carrie? No one dressed like Carrie in the show.
Sometimes for the better, because most outfits would look weird on anyone but Carrie. Some even read a little strange on the goddess herself. This brings us to a point I’m trying to make. Each character beyond Carrie possesses their own personal style that makes sense for them. They aren’t looking at Carrie and following her stylistic choices like a Bible. Miranda dresses in Lawyer-corporate chic with notes of modest but sexy styles for her night-wear. Samantha is loose, flowy, and free to represent her sexually liberated character. Charlotte often dresses head to toe in Chanel to represent her conservative nature. Every character outside of the core four dresses in a similar way… indicating that they think for themselves.
This way of fashion and personal style does not exist in the masses today… and it is why we have yet to see a show like Sex and The City represent our style choices in such a bright and shining way. Our generation dresses in a way that is curated for them, down to the shoe and up to the hat on their head. Most people dress in a way that has been selected and debated upon for them.
I raise the ‘going-out’ staple. Nothing makes me more upset than how our generation truly lacks a style for going out at night. No one has fun anymore! I’m talking to the people who wear a white sneaker, a pair of jeans from Edikted, PacSun, or… even Shein. I’m inserting right here and now that I think you’re deplorable if you still knowingly shop at Shein… because not only is it morally wrong given the rate they exploit workers compared to larger companies (So don’t tell me ‘Nike also uses labor’... the rate in which they do is disproportionate), but also the clothes aren’t worth it either way. Your clothes from Shein look cheap, feel cheap, and immediately deter you from being fashionable in any way. Point. Blank. Period. Not to mention, so many bulk orders from Shein end up wearing those pieces once or twice and then throwing them out, which leads us to a huge issue with landfills and the climate crisis.
As I was saying, White sneakers. Jeans. Plain black top. I see it on almost every single girl when I go out. Before this, every girl flocked to buy the Urban Corset because it was trending. And the men… don’t even get me started on the men. They don’t even try to dress fashionably because most of them have been raised to believe they don’t have to anymore. What happened to men wearing decent clothes? Why are you in sweatpants when going out? Why are you in a hoodie when going out?? I’m not saying ‘wear a suit’ but honestly…. What the fuck happened to men wearing suits?? And good suits. Not the slim-fit, tapered navy pants with a suit jacket that, proportionately, does not match the silhouette of the pants.
And going beyond this, our generation are sheep in fashion. I remember buying my Adidas Sambas in 2021, long before they had started trending on social media. I grew up playing soccer and owned Adidas cleats, and I sought to incorporate them into my style. Additionally, I frequently shop… which is where I source most of what I buy. Within two years, people online began posting videos claiming, “Airforce 1s were out and Sambas were in.” This led to a flock of people rushing to buy Sambas. Now, in a world where once every man and woman wore Nike Airforces, I see every man and woman wearing the white or black Sambas largely because influencers and their algorithms told them that this was what was fashionable. Not because they themselves found them organically or even felt they were a correct choice for their style, but rather because it was curated and spoon-fed to them.
I’m not trying to come off as the ‘I was ahead of everything’ person, because I have found my fair share of things on Pinterest and in magazines. However, I quickly learned a key skill that having a defined personal style requires: The ability to edit what you see and what you actually buy. Will you actually wear that, and if you do, does it even make sense?
Another example are these ‘aesthetics.’ Mob-wife aesthetic. Clean girl aesthetic. Y2K Aesthetic. So many are consumed by a particular aesthetic that they once again become victims of the age of style curation. I once, too, found myself a victim of the aesthetic issue. I remember when my style really started to flourish, I found myself pulling references from many eras. I loved the nineties (Still do), but I also sourced particular silhouettes and pieces that were popularized in the early 2000s. Factor in the prep I still love from 1980s Ralph Lauren and Gossip Girl school attire, and I suddenly hit a problem: Which aesthetic was I? I quickly realized, however, that trying to define yourself to one particular aesthetic was stupid and led to these choppy indents between different areas of your style. And often, we don’t even understand the meanings and origins of these aesthetics that often pull from different communities.
Beyond this, when you try to stick to one aesthetic, you often end up never truly finding a style that feels indicative of you. If you decide for a month that your vibe is the Mob-wife aesthetic… rocking brown faux fur from Shein, chunky gold jewelry, bold brown lips, and chunky sunglasses… but then the next month, you feel like this is your Clean. Girl. Era. You’re in your ‘Pilates then green juice’ era, and your clothes must reflect this… suddenly you need to ditch your former style choices entirely to commit to this new character.
Aesthetics and the need to cling to them are just another way our generation finds itself confused with fashion. It's a particular aesthetic pushed one month, expected for one to buy everything needed to look the part, and then we change the second we scroll and see something new. There’s nothing personal about that style.
As such, our Sex and The City does not exist because we lack the creativity to live lives like Carrie Bradshaw. Unfortunately, our generation requires validation to view something as ‘okay’ and ‘in’ to wear. I’m here to tell you, even if it’s just one person, that escaping this is where you truly start to feel the fantasy. It’s where you begin to develop a sense of fashion and style.
I want to give an example of how I find and curate my style to demonstrate how to dress to impress (yourself). A lot of my fashion begins via inspiration and reference, so don’t assume that cutting the algorithm means we don’t take inspiration. I look to fashion in television and films for inspiration. Keyword: Inspiration. I don’t dress identically to what a character wears. An example of this is an outfit I wore last year that was inspired by a Chanel number adorned by Anne Hathaway. It’s a white button-up shirt layered underneath a shoulderless black mid-sleeve sweater with chunky Chanel-esque jewelry draped over the neck stretching down to the stomach. If my memory serves correctly, the pants are black, and she wears a paperboy hat in Chanel tweed. I adore this look and love the way it’s styled. I took inspiration from how she layered the shirt but didn’t copy it exactly.
I wore black pants, Steve Madden motorbike boots with silver accessories, a silver chain belt draped over my waist, and a button-collared white shirt layered under a black shoulderless top. Additionally, I had a noticeable blue Scorpio necklace tucked under the collar and a black messenger bag clutched at my side. It’s paying homage to the original while also being my own take on it. In a way, it becomes entirely something new because, beyond the shirts' layering, everything is subtly different.
Today, March 6th, I woke up and had no intention or plan regarding what I’d wear that day. Some days, I have a thought while lying in bed about an idea of what I might wear the next day, but most nights, I fall asleep, not once giving it a sliver of a thought. This is where we reach a problem with many people and the issue of our fashion and style being curated.
If you buy the exact pieces of an influencer’s outfit, or you purchase a super niche, trending piece like a really colorful Samba or a striped pant, unless you genuinely know how to incorporate this into your overall style, that’s going to be a one-and-done deal if we’re being honest. You’re going to wear those pants in the way they were sold to you, styled and all, and once you get through that first or second re-wear, it’s going to feel like you’re putting on a Spirit Halloween pre-selected costume. This is why I say I’m an avid ‘outfit-repeator’ because most of the time, outfit-repeating isn’t taking the exact same clothes and putting them in the same order multiple times, but rather taking an idea that worked and tinkering it slightly to be distinctive.
A real sentiment of style is the ability to wake up and go into a closet built by you. I mentioned earlier that Carrie Bradshaw doesn’t rummage through a closet built for her but rather by her. What I mean by this is that when I open my closet, I see pieces I have hand-selected… pieces that are staples in multiple aspects of my style. Given such, let’s rundown how I put together an outfit.
Today, March 6th, I opened Pinterest and went to my current fashion board. It’s a board I have for when I study abroad in Paris, as I feel I have to truly study and prepare myself for one of the most fashion-forward eras of my life. I cannot be seen in Paris in anything but my best. They don’t go to the grocery store in sweats in Paris. So, I scroll briefly before seeing the pin featured here:
This outfit consists of brown loafers, baggy grey pants, a button-down shirt, a red tie layered under a cardigan, and an indigo denim jacket. There’s a chain and a beret as well. I looked at this photo and liked the way the cardigan, buttoned shirt, tie, and jacket were layered together. So, I opened my wardrobe and took out a vintage Ralph Lauren button-down I thrifted years ago, a red striped tie, and a red cardigan I thrifted this past year. I also pulled on a pair of brown BDG jeans (Which I would argue are some of the best denim pants out there). I took my brown boots, pulled the legs of my pants over the top, and then selected a brown fur coat. My finished look reads as follows (I also had my red Coach bucket bag).
This is the difference between reference and rip-off, between curation and curating. The outfits are entirely different, but I used an aspect of his outfit to inspire mine… I didn’t need each piece to be selected for me, styled for me, and placed on my body to an exact measure.
The issue with curation is that it has given society a fashion frontal lobotomy. Many of us fail to develop the critical thinking ability to truly understand our own personal styles and style ourselves under such conditions. Some of my favorite looks I’ve worn in the past few weeks followed the exact same pipeline of looking for inspiration and using a key touchpoint to build something for myself rather than copying and pasting what I see entirely.
I also find that the curation of fashion for people has grossly limited what people can tolerate creatively from people’s outfits. We’ve become far too judgemental towards people taking steps outside the lines… given that most of us look like clones to the person next in line at the bar…
We don’t allow ourselves to have fun anymore! I wore a look that was inspired by Aquamarine (By Addison Rae) for my birthday night out, and a freshman dressed head to toe in what--Baggy light-wash denim, a slim black top from Amazon, and a pair of white sneakers--asked why I was blue, and then said judgingly, “I thought Halloween was three weeks ago…” I say this truly out of a place of concern for fashion… who are you to be speaking? You may ask, who am I to be speaking? I think this is the clear difference in what gives someone like myself the right to critique a person for having no style versus someone like this girl… I could be in the most butt-ugly ensemble, but if I put together the outfit by myself… that already puts me miles ahead of someone who can’t put together an outfit without it being curated for them. Some of the best advice I could give is that you do not let someone read you down for something they definitely shouldn’t be speaking on.
In the same vein of putting together an outfit for my day looks, I can run you exactly through how I’ve been styling myself to go out at night. I am well aware not everyone will want to dress to the extremes I often go to, but this is a blueprint for finding your style… your direction for the evening, if you will… I gravitate towards a reference again. Often, it’s far more concise when I’m going out because there’s more of a STORY we’re going to tell. I recently went out to an apartment party and then subsequently ended up at a Brat party later in the night dressed in head-to-toe sailor realness.
How did I get there?
I consume a lot of high fashion runways and campaigns. I’ve had a Vogue subscription for years (I recommend everyone subscribe and help support print media), and recalled a campaign done by Jean Paul Gaultier. It was sailor-driven and has primarily been associated with their brand for a long time (Violet Chachki was rocking a similar look the same evening I went out, coincidentally). So, I sourced a white sailor hat and a striped navy top. I had white pants and white-heeled boots. I put together the ensemble and then began to add in areas I felt it lacked. I strung a golden Snoopy chain necklace (My mother’s from the nineties) around some of my belt loops and smoked the hell out of my eyes to add a spark of edge to the look. The harshness of the black eyeshadow with the cut-clean aesthetic of sailors created a juxtaposition that told a story of a different kind of sailor than society typically sees. The original campaign didn’t do the eyeshadow, nor did she accent with gold chains. This is again an example of how it’s important to reference something and not stick to its original concept entirely.
Some other examples: I had this idea of a porcelain Slavic doll set in the harsh winters of Scandinavian countries. Hence, this look was born, where I removed my eyebrows, harshened the whiteness of my face, and accented a mesh top with silver star and sequin embellishments, fur wrist cuffs, and a campy black fur hat.
To conclude… you don’t have to be ridiculous or pull out-there looks like this. You could tell a story in a much more tame but still meaningful way. Think Carrie Bradshaw again… she would wear a flowy floral or little black dress depending on what she intended to convey that night. Our fashion, in order to escape curation, has to mean something individual to us. The largest issue with how algorithms, trends, and curation have stunted us is that our fashion is highly impersonal. We need to reintroduce our identities in the way we dress…
Scroll on Pinterest. Get off those Amazon Storefronts. Pick up a physical MAGAZINE!!!!!! (Pro Tip: Carry a fashion magazine around like it’s a purse. It works just as good as an accessory to your outfit and character as it does to read). In the curation of our personal styles, it becomes everything but that: Personal.
Style is like a breath of crisp, summer morning air when you give yourself the freedom to do what you want. And the truth is, we should be better characters in the story of it all… shouldn’t we?
Bring back being a Carrie rather than being curated.