Style is Sustainability
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit." - Aristotle.
With a sizeable carbon footprint, the fashion industry contributes up to 10% of carbon emissions annually, most of which comes from upstream production. The reason why is that its sprawling supply chain makes mitigating adverse environmental and social impacts difficult. And let's face it. The world of Fashion will continue to struggle with sustainability at the rate of fast fashion moves, and its addiction to copying other designers jeopardizes the growth of smaller brands. After discovering how resource-intensive, financially exploitive, and heavily polluting the fashion industry has been for years, I made it my mission to try and tackle this wicked problem. To do so, I've shifted my focus from Fashion to style.
In my opinion, we don't honestly talk about style enough. Fashion is what we buy and the clothes we wear, but style is how we do things. Style goes beyond Fashion. It is how one walks, talks, and behaves. Style requires us to develop an inner critic that protects us from the perils of frivolity by aligning our spirit with what will truly bring us everlasting joy. It is about curation and creativity that lasts longer than a season or fleeting trend. At its best, style is a unique, individual expression of self influenced by personal history, mind-body connection, and aesthetic influences. In a world feeding us trends constantly, style is a boon to civilization, asking us to look inward at how we can improve our experience as people.
The cheat code to achieve style is through repetition.
To perform at a higher level in your personal and professional lives, you have to recognize the critical role that clothing plays in that equation. The elements of style are universal: references and preferences. References are like muses—you look to these for inspiration and creativity, while your preferences are guides you put in place to achieve desired outcomes—like feeling confident or appearing professional. When you feel your best, not only do you command more authority from others, but you trust yourself. You take risks, are assertive, ask for what you want, and push yourself to improve. It's one of many tools you can use to show up in the world as the best version of yourself and open doors.
Most brands focus on portraying current styles and expect customers to follow suit. This impact may look innocent, but over time, we get accustomed to looking externally for guidance and validation because of how quickly trends shift. Falling out of trends can signal to others a lack of self-care, and shopping from specific places or wearing certain styles communicates that we have high taste and status. But that is only part of the story because having the ability to afford expensive clothes does not translate to having a discerning eye or style.
Admittedly, defining who we are and what we want to be is just as powerful, if not more significant than external validation, because when people celebrate us for what we set out to achieve, it can reinforce our sense of self. The trap is when we subconsciously or consciously fall for trend-driven aesthetics that divorce us from our individuality by asking us to identify with a version of cool set by someone else instead of fostering our sensibilities. These trendy narratives lead to hyper-consumption, which fuels overproduction, pollution, and overworking of the system.
There's no other way to say this, but a lack of personal style is why most don't blossom. The idea of the best self lives in the head rent-free, and the soul suffers. Making a concerted effort in a specific direction cultivates style; with it, we retain the story we are writing for ourselves. Style champions diversity by giving people who go against conformity an avenue to cultivate their unique perspectives. Style is everything, and more importantly, understanding the elements of style is crucial for reducing the number of clothes we consume, signaling brands to slow down production and be more intentional by understanding customers' styles.
My name is Gavon, and I am a researcher and strategist, and I believe this idea applies to people and brands. Listen to the Right Hype Podcast for more on the elements of personal style.
