THIRDRAFT

Scroll through Instagram, and you’ll see neutral-toned outfits, clean-girl aesthetic, and the inevitable matcha latte in hand. Trends come and go, but one thing remains constant: everyone looks the same. The era of individuality has been replaced by copy-paste fashion, courtesy of influencers who decide what’s in before most of us even wake up.

Preyashi Singh, 21, a student at Isabella Thoburn College, sums it up perfectly: “I swear, if I see another person in a beige oversized blazer with chunky gold hoops, I might scream. It’s like there’s a uniform for being ‘that girl.’” Gone are the days when personal style meant something now, we’re all just one viral post away from dressing like clones.

Shatakshi Gupta, 20, from DY Patil College Pune, has a love-hate relationship with the influencer effect. “I want to say I don’t fall for it, but here I am, owning five different types of cargo pants because Instagram told me to,” she admits. Social media doesn’t just dictate trends; it practically forces them down our throats until resistance feels impossible.

“One moment, maximalism is dismissed by influencers, and the next, layering is adopted like a haunted Victorian doll,” says Francis Aman Minj, a 21-year-old from the College of Vocational Studies. According to him, “What I wear is simply what I like, yet somehow, it has turned into a trend six months later.”

The irony? Everyone chasing uniqueness ends up looking the same. Algorithms decide the next “cool,” and we, like well-dressed sheep, follow. But hey, at least we’re all in sync after all, what’s a trend if not collective conformity disguised as personal style?