The Commodification of Personal Style

If you were to enter “Kendall Jenner tank top” into any search engine, you would find a minimum of five articles talking about the simple ribbed white sleeveless top that Kendall Jenner wore to a Knicks’ game in June this year. The internet was in a completely polarizing uproar about the impact this singular article of clothing had to this summer’s trend cycle. To the utter astoundment of most of us, this tank top was not more complicated than your average Hane’s undershirt or tank top. 

Through the power of influence, Kendall Jenner singlehandedly caused one of the most polarizing fashion conversations on the internet this summer. People were flocking to purchase said tank top, conjuring up “dupes” of the tank top, and breaking down what this shirt truly meant for us. 

What this controversy signified was that we not only consume fashion itself, but people’s personas on the internet.

As fashion and media consumers, we must continue to dissect how influential people in fashion allow their clothing to shape the story they feed to us through our screens. At one time, celebrities and models were exclusively credited as those with fashion influence, but in 2025 we all have the ability to influence one another. 

This conversation surrounding Kendall Jenner’s “viral” tank top begs us to question what true personal style means in an age where the imagery of being a “cool girl” has led to the commodification of personal style. 

The general consumer, since the rise of social media has faced a constant cycle of trends shifting between aesthetics. Fashion trend cycles have been completely altered by social media’s constant presence in our lives since the mid-2000s, especially facing a major shift when celebrities co-opted growing platforms like Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter. There was a time when we looked into magazines, movies, and red carpets as the signifiers for what the current trends were, what people of a celebrity status would wear when they were caught at a grocery store was a major indication to everyone on what was hot and trending. Simultaneously, people were tuning into their own cultures and subcultures for their big style indicators, developing their own looks within their communities. There are a lot of conversations surrounding the loss of genuine engagement in subcultures with the growth of social media in the last decade, especially after the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In the last few years we have seen a numerous amount of “aesthetics” flaunted to us through the screens we cannot seem to tear our eyes away from. This was especially apparent during the pandemic with the majority of people at home with not much left to do besides look at their phones and what other people were doing. There was a need for community during this time, a yearning to feel connected to others, and a strong sense of parasociality with everyone whose content we scrolled through. 

I spent numerous hours going through countless accounts as they wade through my “For You” page, and had a strong sense of desire to engage in what they were doing or wearing. A lot of people, both that I knew personally and parasocially, would exercise a sense of normalcy by putting on a cute outfit, going outside, and taking cute photos in a random socially-distanced space. As we all navigated this odd time in all of our lives, we found comfort in seeing others still exercising a sense of free will, no matter how small it truly was. The cultivation of people’s personal style across these videos and photos rang adamantly through our “For You” pages, with people doing “OOTD” videos that involved activities such as going to the grocery store, social distancing at a park, or simply joining school through Zoom. 

The parasocial connections that we develop over the years––whether it was through celebrities, mid-2000s Tumblr bloggers, online connections during the COVID-19 pandemic, or the recent surge of influencers––will impact the cultivation of our personal lives whether we realize it or not. All of us, as people who engage with the internet, have developed a connection to the content that we consume. The algorithm across all of the platforms we engage with caters itself to what it believes we want to see; thus, when we give these platforms a sense of what we like, it will respond to us with more of it. 

There is never a lack of content on social media, it is a never ending cycle of videos and photos to experience. Influencers are in abundance, with careers solely solely deriving from content creation. Their power to influence comes from very intentional attempts to maintain their relevance on your algorithm, leading to verbiage that will hook their viewers into pushing them into consistent viewership. 

It feels like there is always the next best purse, shoe, pants, etc. This type of content is not always born from an actual new release of an article of clothing or the launch of a new brand; rather, it stems from a movement to push a product. Once again, a great example of one of these movements is Kendall Jenner’s tank top. The silhouette of this piece was not new to anyone, we have all seen a ribbed white tank top before. Some of us already wear them. The impact this had on the fashion spheres is a pivotal example of fashion no longer being a means to curate one’s personal style, but a push to sell products. 

In consideration of fashion, many would take into account the durability of an article of clothing- not only the physical quality of a piece, but the versatility. A piece should be wearable during most seasons, withhold long-term wear, and add timelessness to your personal style. 

What happens, however, when the consideration for durability is eradicated? Furthermore, what does our personal style mean when our influences revolve solely on constructing trend cycles that are so fast it is difficult for anyone to keep up? As consumers, we are constantly being sold carefully curated narratives to push products. Nothing is ever done without intention. Even the smallest creator on any platform is intentionally creating content in order to engage with an audience, they may not be selling anything material but they are promoting their personal creations- something as simple as an OOTD video. 

These narratives are what have sold all of us copious amounts of clothes that belong to the current trends. When someone shows up on your screen displaying a beautiful outfit with a standout article of clothing, you begin to believe that this is an article of clothing that you desperately need. Perhaps you consider this person’s style something you wish to achieve in your own signature looks, which leads to the inevitable influence of other people’s style into yours. At its essence, there is nothing wrong with drawing inspiration from others’ styles, but at such a massive volume it completely distorts our perception of ourselves. How can we be expected to know what truly feels like “us” when there are so many people telling you that this it’s a office siren fall or a clean girl summer, categorized by a setlist of outfits pre-picked for you to follow through with that exact aesthetic? 

In a time when the cycles are centered around microtrends and fast fashion, we are meant to set the intention around understanding our personal style as it relates to our deep understanding of ourselves. 

As the spheres of fashion shift, it is a disservice to neglect the symbiosis between a person and the clothing that they choose to wear every day. Every time we choose to embellish ourselves with our articles of clothing, we are signaling to the world; whether we choose to lead that choice with intention or not is utterly up to us and our circumstances. When we have the privilege of curating our wardrobe and personal style, it is negligent to fit ourselves into what is deemed permissible solely through spheres on the internet and their capitalistic intent.