The Me Aesthetic

In the peak era of social media fashion, how do you dress as if you have a mind of your own? We have found your way out of the maze.

- LEENA KIM

"There's nothing wrong with trying out different versions of yourself," says Lori Hirshleifer, the fourthgeneration co-owner of Hirshleifers, her family's 114-year-old luxury fashion emporium on Long Island. "But we need to slow down and think about what we really love."

That has felt like an impossible task lately. Somewhere between stealth wealth and all the bows, we seem to have lost the plot-and maybe even a bit of ourselves. For the past few seasons Americans have had to endure the onslaught of one shallow TikTok trend after another, delivered in a digital vacuum devoid of any real context. It has left a lot of women-especially those with spending power who are interested in making smart wardrobe choices-feeling unseen, undervalued, and underwhelmed.

Even designers haven't been immune to the forces of the algorithm. "For a long time it seemed like those two things-TikTok trends and what is actually happening on the runway were totally divorced," says Rachel Tashjian, a fashion writer at the Washington Post. "And then it was interesting to watch social media dominate what was important in fashion, though a lot of designers were unwilling to admit that. It was a depressing way to play with the identity exploration that fashion uniquely allows."