TikTok's Personal Style Paradox
by Ashantéa Austin
“TikTok hates anyone with personal style…” was ironically the opening line of my first TikTok to ever hit 1M views.
The ever-evolving app has become a cultural force, shaping trends and redefining how we engage with fashion. However, beneath its glossy surface, a paradox exists: the app that champions discovery and creativity harbors an undercurrent of resistance to true personal style. This contradiction encourages the over-consumption of clothes (mostly fast fashion) and deters individuals from sharing content that isn’t deemed ‘trendy.’ This paradox becomes more apparent when we examine the polarizing reactions to personal versus popular style shared on the platform.
WTF is "personal" & “popular” style?
Before I get ahead of myself, let's clearly define both terms.
Popular Style is simply driven by the need to stay current with TikTok's ever-changing fashion landscape. It involves following the latest trends and constantly purchasing new items that are viral or deemed fashionable by the mainstream majority. This style is reactive to the zeitgeist and focuses solely on mass appeal via social media.
Personal Style reflects an individual’s unique identity and personal interests. It’s about expression and experimentation with clothes. Outfits are thoughtfully curated and unconventional to reflect one's personality, mood, or background.
These two styles aren’t mutually exclusive. An individual can blend elements of both personal and popular style. The main difference lies in the intent and the driving forces behind their fashion choices. Popular style is often about social visibility, influence, and trends, while personal style is more about authenticity and self-expression. The paradox lies in the algorithm's reaction to these different styles on TikTok, not in the nuances of the styles themselves.
And what about those who don’t care about fashion? Do they have no style at all?
Quite the contrary. When explaining the significance of fashion, Isabella Blow, the late magazine editor and muse to Alexander McQueen stated:
I was enthralled when I first came across this quote in Gods and Kings by Dana Thomas because it offered such a refreshing perspective on the significance of clothes.
What you wear daily, regardless of how much or how little you care about your clothes, is a proclamation to everyone around you. Thus, personal style is found in your clothes, but is just as present in your hair, accessories, attitude, taste in music, interests, passions, and experiences. Personal style is ever-evolving and transcends the clothes you buy. Outfits are merely the thesis statement of a complex narrative. Using clothes to clearly signal to those around you is an art form and requires a deep understanding of what makes you, you. This is no easy task.
For a masterclass in personal style, here are some of my favorite fashion creators:
The shared experience among these creators is how negatively their content was initially received by users on TikTok—a platform where creativity and individuality should theoretically flourish. Yet, when they showcased their authenticity through clothes, they faced scorn rather than admiration. Their comment sections filled with questions like "Is this a joke?" or "Where's the rest of the outfit?" This phenomenon is not merely anecdotal but underscores a deeper issue: resistance to individual personal style because it is not as consumable and accessible. It cannot be easily replicated or bought thus it is hated.
The irony is that these creators being mocked for sharing their personal style play the most significant role in setting trends. These creators face a dichotomy: they are instrumental in shaping the fashion discourse on TikTok, but the platform only rewards those who can execute and conform to existing trends. TikTok’s algorithm favors content that aligns with current trends, leading to a cycle where users are incentivized to produce and engage with popular style only. This trend-driven culture not only diminishes the visibility of unique personal styles but also perpetuates a homogenized fashion landscape. The platform’s reward system, which emphasizes consistency and trend adherence, further marginalizes those with unconventional tastes—those who, in my opinion, are the most inspiring.
But the girls that get it, get it, right?
Wrong. This negativity should not be dismissed as internet trolling or unimportant. Consider what this reaction means to a smaller creator just starting out, a new designer, or an impressionable onlooker deterred from expressing themselves through clothes. The toxic mob-mentality fostered in a TikTok comment section perpetuates the rhetoric that, to be considered stylish, you must be able to afford and consistently execute popular trends. This couldn’t be further from the truth and is a detrimental ideology for the future of fashion.
TikTok’s algorithm significantly influences what styles gain popularity and what fades into obscurity. The platform’s reward system prioritizes content that aligns with existing trends, reinforcing the cycle of trend-chasing and stifling innovative personal styles. When TikTok users are rewarded for mimicking the latest core, aesthetics, and trend rather than showcasing their personal style, it discourages creative experimentation and limits the diversity of fashion visible on the platform. This algorithmic bias creates a fashion echo chamber where only the most conformist trends are amplified, further marginalizing those with unique or unconventional tastes.
And I’m not saying that criticism is bad, okay? We all know that sharing anything online is an open invitation to constructive criticism. The issue at hand is that the feedback is rarely constructive or thought-provoking. It’s just cruel and an innate reaction to anyone who doesn’t conform to whatever current aesthetics are trending on TikTok at the time.
Why not just close the app?
But seriously, does any of this matter if you just post, ignore the haters, close the app, and go touch some grass? Well, yes it does, and here’s why:
TikTok has over 1 billion monthly active users globally, with 150 million in the United States alone. The platform has revolutionized how we perceive and engage with fashion, both on and off the internet. It facilitates the rapid dissemination of fashion trends worldwide more than any other online entity. If this platform and its users only reward creators who conform to what's most popular and continue to dismiss those with personal style, we don’t know how fashion will be impacted in the long run. This tension and competition between popular and personal styles on TikTok underscore the complex interplay between individuality and conformity in the digital age on a massive scale never seen before. It is crucial to recognize this paradox and its potential effects on the fashion industry, so we can seek a balance that honors trend-driven content and genuine personal expression.
Basically, we are all going to die, so at least die fly, no matter what any TikTok commenter has to say.
Thanks for reading all this my dms are always open for discussion
-Ash xx