Blog #4 by Yee Xiong

After four weeks of the Go Green Challenge, I believe I've been able to not only resist from buying from online or at the store, but also become more aware of what items are essential to my every day life. I've learned that not a lot of things satisfy me more than the people I care about. Clothing and looking good only last for a while, but not memories made with those who we care about the most. I believe I have become less materialistic after my personal goal to not buy anything for almost a year; I've always had hand-me-downs when I was going through elementary and high school, and I never really thought about how bad it might have looked in other people's eyes. When I came to college, I thought about creating my own identity through a unique clothing style. I started wearing blazers to complete my look and I became well-known for my blazers and how many I owned in different colors. After wearing different blazers for a year and a half now, I can say I've been able to influence others to wear it, however, because everyone else is wearing it now, I feel I have to set another trend and wear a new style to define my personality. It's important to understand that trends are starting from the bottom now and it diffuses up in a bottom-up model. In Kawamura's article, "Japanese Teens as Producers of Street Fashion", he illustrates how they have created their own identity without the reliance of high-fashion designers. For example, one may wear something and it can be seen as a "cool" style and it will be followed by those who like it. If one is popular at school and he/she wears something cool, it will be automatically followed by those who like this popular person.

In the movie, "Mean Girls", a character's shirt is intentionally cut out on the both sides of the breast areas so she will feel humiliated, however, the plan backfires when she doesn't think anything of it and wears it out. Those who like her automatically follow that trend of the two breast circle cut-outs because they think it's a new style that is worn by that popular character in the movie. Trendsetters sometimes have a difficult job of setting trends because they might feel pressured by their followers to wear something they all will like. Trendsetter consumers are those who inspire fashion followers.  However, setting trends should be more about identifying yourself and wearing what is most comfortable rather than wearing something to have others like oneself.



Inside Source: Yuniya Kawamura. “Japanese Teens as Producers of Street Fashion.” Reader.
Outside Source: Trendsetting Consumers