The Fashion Revolution – Fashion Design Influencers

Today, having a diploma is no longer necessary for getting a job. This also applies to the fashion industry, where holding a relevant educational background is no more a requirement, provided you have the necessary eye and skill set. Many famous and successful designers did not study fashion or even have a degree, they are living proof in the industry that determination, creativity, and the ability to spot cultural trends outshine formal qualifications.

No Longer a Dream

It is a universal struggle – picking your passion or securing a high-paying job when you leave school and step into society. Speaking of aspiring creatives, the writer and philosopher Samuel Johnson, in his biography, The Life of Samuel Johnson, writes, “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.” Johnson believes that while having an interest is important, we should prioritize what can earn us a living and provide us with a stable life.

There is a long-standing belief that the creative field should stay as a hobby rather than a career, an idea explored in The Death of the Artist by author William Deresiewicz. This stems from the phenomenon that most art-related and design jobs are usually freelance or collaboration-based, resulting in an unpredictable income source. Compared to traditional upper-class professions such as medicine, finance, and law, the art and design field, which includes fashion design, is perceived as lower in status or impractical.

Familiar Pressures

This perception is particularly prevalent in Asian culture, where financial security, family expectations, and cultural beliefs around the idea of success and social status are emphasized. For example, it is common for Asian families to choose government or technical jobs over creative careers because of the former’s stability – the Chinese term “iron rice bowl (鐵飯碗)”, coined to describe government jobs, accurately captures this notion of putting government jobs on the pedestal. Overall, a “profit over passion” and “high-income stable jobs over creative fields” mindset is encouraged.

Now, with the rise of social media and influencer culture, there is a greater potential to make a living by pursuing fashion design. Designers can use online platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube as their digital portfolio, instead of carrying bulky folders full of sketches, fabric swatches, and samples around the city for interviews. Before the prevalence of social media, only a narrow and selected group of people like the designer’s teachers, clients, or friends, got to see their work. The flexibility offered by these digital spaces increases the exposure of the designers’ work, widening the chances of getting commissioned by brands and potential customers.

Gabriel Cassan/Stock Adobe

Thrift Flip – The Blueprint For Fashion Influencing

The increase in awareness of environmental sustainability and climate change has pushed fashionistas to consume fashion mindfully. Shopping second-hand, buying high-quality clothing made of long-lasting materials, and repairing garments, are some of the many solutions the community has come up with to reduce waste and enjoy fashion responsibly. Compared to first-hand purchases of fast fashion, thrift stores where one can discover vintage items at a bargain price have captured the eye of eco-anxious fashion lovers, especially Gen Z.

The practice of thrifting is especially popular in the US. According to a study by Public Desire, a global online footwear brand, the US is ranked as the best country for thrifting culture, followed by the UK. The US has an impressive 3,110,000 searches for thrift shops, and 16-18% of the population engages in second-hand shopping in these stores. In addition to influencing culture, thrift store hunting has become a popular vlog idea for fashion influencers with videos such as hauls, ‘thrift with me’, and ‘how to thrift like a pro’, taking over YouTube.

Thrift Flipping

Thrift flipping is the practice of altering a second-hand garment, which goes hand-in-hand with thrifting. During the COVID-19 pandemic when everyone was stuck at home with a lot of time on hand but nowhere to spend, thrift flipping became a trend along with online thrifting, with the popularization of platforms such as Depop, Vinted, and Thredup.

Not only does thrift flipping broaden the flexibility of thrifting, for example, being able to alter the garment instead of throwing it out when it turns out not to be of your size, thrift flipping is also an emotional outlet to create something new out of clothing that you already own. Fashion influencers such as Bestdressed and JENerationDIY are known for posting their creative thrift-flipping tutorials on YouTube. At a time when the jobs of many were at stake due to the pandemic, thrift flipping provided the same sensation you would get out of shopping without spending money.

Joe Ando

Two in One – Fashion Design & Influencer

While thrift flipping is ongoing, the internet needs newer ideas. The rise of influencer culture has increased competition for fame, pushing content creators to think of different ways to gain more traffic and promote their pages; fashion designers are no exception.

Using Joe Ando-Hirsh, an internet personality and a fashion designer as an example, he shares his work on TikTok and Instagram with a unique twist: he acts as a playful guy who is desperate to make an unknown someone a dress, with all his videos beginning with the request “can I make you a dress?”

Having a mixed-race French and Japanese heritage, Joe seems exempted from the Asian norm that navigating the creative industry is frowned upon. Joe has a background in acting and a degree in womenswear design from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). Before gaining immense fame for his fashion design pieces on social media, Joe was already known for posting goofy, funny lifestyle videos of himself with his close friends and partners. Joe began the transition to his social media game, showcasing his work, by occasionally posting videos of the custom designs he made for himself and his loved ones.

Unorthodox Success

In 2023, Joe started posting his designs more frequently and began collaborating with influencers and artists, including Lizzy Mcalpine, Maisie Peters, and GAYLE, for their press tour costumes. As his fame continued to spread, Joe even designed for well-known celebrities such as Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Rachel Zegler, and Dakota Johnson for their press or red-carpet events.

Joe’s videos not only showcase the technical aspects of his design progress from sketching and fabric sourcing to sewing and fitting but also his unique personality and humor. This successful selling point has caught the eye of netizens, clearly separating his videos from those of others. Now, being a fashion designer is an integral part of Joe’s branding and is essentially what he is most known for.

Creative Careers and Influencer Culture

While it is true that a career in fashion design may not provide a regular and sustainable income like one in a traditional field would, the prevalence of social media and influencer culture have made achieving success in such creative fields more possible than ever. If people have the ability and intention to turn a passion into a career, they should follow their heart without being stopped by the fears that arise from traditional social perceptions.

Find out How Internet personalities Are Changing The Fashion Game.