“Do you want to go London with me tomorrow?” My sister enquired late on a Saturday evening. Spending Sunday exploring the city felt rather exciting – particularly when my original schedule scripted a Marie Kondo tidy fest. London is a fashion shoot dream. Living further afield in the country, scenic hill and park pictures don’t mesh with my Instagram colour scheme. Before thinking what area of the capital to visit, I had to overcome my social media pressure. The finger-twitching, wrinkle inducing decision of choosing what to wear.
Preparing an outfit
I hung up the phone and sharply gazed upon the layers of clothes in my laundry basket. So artfully and lovingly folded, yet chaotic and stress-inducing to rummage through. Last year I practiced minimalism. My closet housed the bare essentials and led me to black, white and grey which funnily enough, helps land visitors on my blog when the colours are collectively typed via Google.
Morning awoke with the sun greeting itself boldly at my window. I had an hour until my sister arrived, ready to drive us to the station and still no clue of what outfit to wear. I scrolled through my Instagram desperate to find a garment not already publicised. Folded clothes unravelled and sprang across my bed in heaped piles like a T.K Maxx clearance sale. I comfortably left my house with a pair of light jeans and a uncaptured black blouse.
An essay on Diggit Magazine investigating fashion’s link to social pressure on women says “the way in which fashion is presented through the bodies and appearances of models can force women to look the same.” Social media combines beauty ideals around the world and puts forth looks which billions of men and women are supposed to follow. We now envy women who ten years ago, we’d never have known existed.
Social media pressure and fast fashion
The social media pressure to look stylish is affecting self-esteem, finances, artisans, workers as well as the environment. The Guardian newspaper reports “we get rid of more than 1m tonnes of clothes a year, with £140m worth going to landfill every year.” Britons buy more clothes compared to other European countries such as Italy and Sweden. With emphasis on quantity instead of quality, shoppers are continually purchasing through inexpensive sites, debatably affecting the high street.
Many inexpensive, worn only once pieces are given to charity shops. The Independent wrote an article on how charity shops are “inundated with cheap clothes that end up in landfill”. There really isn’t a bright-side to social media pressure. Kim Kardashian has lately condemned fast fashion brands writing “It’s devastating to see these fashion companies rip off designs that have taken the blood, sweat and tears of true designers”.
Her sentiments I agree with. However, the Kardashians have built their brand by influencing young girls to obsessively contemplate beauty, sex and style. In the past few years, they’ve managed to find acceptance within high fashion and now steer themselves away from outfits fans can easily copy. They need women to aspire to look like them as their main selling point – fast fashion accommodates.
Style comparisons
I’m moving away from sites like Boohoo and Fashion Nova, trying to buy what I believe will stay in my wardrobe for longer than a season. Yet I’m buckled to the idea clothing shouldn’t be posted consecutively. I have broken the rules – my favourite faux leather skirt has made numerous appearances along with many tops I adore. When I was walking around London, my jeans and blouse gradually flamed insecurity.
My sister adorned a nice jumper and pretty silk skirt, and amongst me, designer jackets loosely on shoulders with towering heels and chic bodysuits, tailored pants and luxurious dresses. Having comfortably left my house, I suddenly felt too comfortable. Too casual and too plain. All the stunning backdrops I envisioned standing beside; depressing and glum in light of my wretched confidence.
Perfectionism asks I dress chic; it demands gloss, glamour and Parisienne simplistic glitz to feel good. I love social media and hate the constant attacks and bombardment – blaming it for every insecurity women experience. I know the burden of fixating on my physique is not entirely down to social media pressure. With or without Instagram, I would have to learn how to navigate and value myself better regardless. Yet, I’m also aware it’s human nature to compete. It’s natural to view how people are living and to measure against what you see.
The problem is, we’re seeing what isn’t real. This fact is now celebrated. Bloggers proudly admit taking 100 photos to gain 5 great images and happily confess to shooting with professional photographers merely for ‘Insta fashion’. Writing honestly doesn’t always relieve social media pressure, especially when you try to copy and can’t produce the same style despite editing.
How much pressure do you feel when taking photos or particularly fashion images?
For many of us, perfection is the ultimate dream for our states of being. But in reality, perfect is never perfect and striving for perfection can turn from admirable to harmful.
On social media, everyone else seems flawless. We compare and then we can’t help but despair because in comparison, our lives are so imperfect.
And you know what…photo sharing site Instagram is ranked as the worst of all of them in terms of its effects in anxiety, depression, self identify, loneliness, bullying and body image !
It doesn’t surprise me Instagram is ranked the worst for making people feel bad. It’s such an edited and glossed place where everyone has perfect lives and look effortlessly glamorous.
Trying to aim for perfection is a curse in a way because you’re trying to achieve what’s not possible. Thank you for reading. 🙂
There is so much social media pressure esp those who love fashion! Esp for me, I love wearing cute outfits but I feel that rather than enjoying wearing it, I always just tend to focus on how it would look in pictures, do I look good so that I can post it on FB or Insta, etc. We tend to see thousands of lovely women with such chic outfits and pictures that we wanna be exactly like them. I buy so many clothes just for pics and then end up being in my closet. I’m def one of those girls who are pressurized by social media but I’m trying not to and am gonna start just focusing on what I want and actually enjoy wearing my outfits because I like them and not because of pictures. Awesome post as always 🙂
Thank you girl! A lot of huge fashion bloggers and influencers set up shoots with the same photographers well in advance, to then pose in clothes all carefully selected for images. I have to remind myself of that sometimes.
I’ve had clothes in my wardrobe purely for social media as well. What made me want to change my ways, was thinking about all the things I could buy or do instead with the money I waste on outfits. When I think about it, people only see images for a couple of weeks and then they scroll right down your profile. And no one really remembers every top or jacket etc. Thank you for reading! 🙂
I love how the photo’s followed the text so perfectly, you could feel them in the text. Not sure how else to describe it.
I was super happy when I got to use my vest today, and after putting it on I thought “oooh, this will look so good on instagram! Maybe a few shots, just so I can post some later too!” It’s silly, but it’s almost unstoppable… Does this fit with my instagram? Does this look good with the rest of my photo’s there? Will people like this picture more than the other one?
I took a deep breath, chose one to post a few hours ago, and another to post now after I’ve written a new blog post 🙂
I have an instagram problem, and I know it 🙂
It has become such a normal thing now to think about Instagram first. I feel there is a pressure to constantly post new images and be captured in some new place. It’s silly because most Instagrammers who are posting daily in new locations, use professional photographers. They shoot a couple of outfits in a few hours.
It causes so much stress for so many…