Trend Treadmill

The internet is moving too fast: can we have one style that lasts more than a week?

By Aadya Oberoi

Gone are the days when trends actually stuck around long enough for people to embrace them. Now, one moment it is corsets, the next it is polyamide tops, and before anyone can hit “add to cart,” Instagram has already labelled it out of fashion. The pace is brutal, blink and the trend cycle has moved on.

Blame it on the internet, especially Instagram, for turning trends into fashion on a bullet train. The season’s colours shift from butter yellow to baby blue (Sabrina Carpenter might as well copyright the colour baby blue at this point), and suddenly, everyone is obsessed with mocha tones.  Blush trends go from red to orange faster than a Gen Z situationship. The “party girl” makeup trend, smudged eyeliner, shimmery lids, flushed cheeks, Miley Cyrus owns it. 

“The catsuit trend, it is like being shrink-wrapped in latex – tight, suffocating, and leaving no room for second thoughts or breathing but Kiara Advani for sure made me feel like I can pull it off easily” cried Aditi Asthana, a 21-year-old communication design student in Pearl Academy, Delhi.

In this whirlwind of microtrends and fading aesthetics, one has to wonder: Are people actually enjoying fashion and culture or simply racing to keep up?

This rapid trend cycle is turning our closets into revolving doors. “I bought the viral cherry red heels for Rs 1,200 from Myntra after seeing them all over my feed, and two weeks later, they were called ‘outdated’; I have never even worn them” says Dashmeen Kaur, an 18-year-old fashion enthusiast studying commerce at Bal Bharati Public School.  Is the only thing truly timeless right now?  The regret that comes after spending way too much on an overpriced jhumka set because Pinterest said the “Desi girl aesthetic” was trending.

The pressure to stay relevant is exhausting. Personal style is on life support, drowning in a sea of viral trends. “I used to experiment with fashion for fun, trying different silhouettes, mixing vintage pieces with modern ones, and playing around with bold colours and accessories. But now, it feels like a race to keep up. The moment I find something I love, it is already yesterday’s news, and that is exhausting,” shares Deeksha Chopra, a 23-year-old content creator pursuing psychology honours from Delhi University.

The only trend worth following is not following them at all. At this point, keeping up with trends should count as cardio. But perhaps the real flex is ignoring the algorithm and wearing whatever makes you happy. If that means rocking last season’s so-called outdated outfit, congratulations, you are now ‘vintage-core’. And honestly, that is more iconic than any microtrend.