Fashion is best when it’s personal—or so we’ve been led to believe. Yet, step outside, and you’ll spot the same 5’7” guy in an oversized T-shirt, cargos, and Jordans deep in conversation with another 5’7” guy in an eerily similar fit, like an NPC bumping into his own reflection. It’s as if someone took every fashion-forward bloke, tossed them into a blender, and hit ‘copy-paste’ on the final result. At this point, the biggest designer in the world isn’t Prada or Saint Laurent—it’s the algorithm. 
 

Take the recently held Sabyasachi show, for instance. While half of Bollywood dressed like they’d stepped straight out of the ’70s, somehow, they all managed to look indistinguishable from one another. It was as if their stylists had gone on a bulk thrift shopping spree together. This wasn’t the case in the good old days when someone like an Amitabh Bachchan exuded rugged suaveness with leather jackets and famously tight bell-bottom pants, while someone like a Shashi Kapoor, who’d probably be labelled the poster boy of “quiet luxury” by Gen Z today, was the epitome of elegance and dapper style with his suits.  

Today’s Bollywood bigwigs feel like photocopies of each other, styled more for social media and the products they’re promoting than as per their own personal taste. 
 

Sure, social media has democratised fashion. Back in the day, trends trickled down slowly—Paris runways to New York boutiques to a cousin’s hand-me-downs. Now? See a Prada look at 10 am, buy a fast-fashion knockoff by lunch, and regret it by dinner. But has this hyper-accessibility actually improved personal style, or are we all just shuffling through an endless carousel of regurgitated trends, like Instagram’s For You Page that just won’t stop? 

Welcome to the Template Era  

Designer Nikhil Mehra of Shantanu & Nikhil argues that social media has made consumers more discerning. ‘People are no longer buying blindly—they know exactly what they want and are hunting it down with precision.’ In theory, that should mean we’re entering a golden age of personal style, right? A world where everyone is fine-tuning their aesthetics with laser focus? 
 

Then why does it feel like we’re all living inside the same Pinterest board? Walk down any trendy street, and it’s a parade of copy-pasted fits—boxy tees, cropped trousers, chunky trainers. Personal style in 2025 is less about individuality and more about downloading the right preset. It’s like using a photo filter but for your wardrobe: everything looks great, but no one piece truly feels ‘you.’ What happened to the old days of hunting for something that felt special? Maybe the template is convenient, but it’s also a bit... soul-sucking. 
 

Mehra likens it to travel—‘People roam the world, try on different identities, flirt with new aesthetics before ultimately returning to what feels like home.’ So maybe, just maybe, this is all part of a grand experiment that will eventually lead to something more personal. Or maybe we’re just hurtling towards a dystopian future where an algorithm picks out our outfits before we even know we want them. 

Fast Fashion: The Enabler of Questionable Decisions 

David Bowie: Style as art—ever-evolving, iconic, and untouchable.

And then there’s fast fashion—the great enabler of impulse purchases. Designer Amit Hansraj, however, takes a more optimistic view. ‘Fast fashion brands are just copying high fashion,’ he says. ‘It’s not killing personal style—it’s just giving people affordable ways to experiment.’ 
 

So sure, Shein and Zara might be mass-producing the same oversized blazer in 17 shades of beige, but they’re also letting people test-drive aesthetics without taking out a loan. The real problem isn’t fast fashion itself—it’s whether people actually use it to figure out what they like or just bounce from one microtrend to the next like an endless Shein haul. 
 

But where does that leave craftsmanship? Heritage? The deeply personal kind of fashion that was once rooted in culture and identity? According to Mehra, those lines are blurring with people now having access to different cultures, textiles and styles in the comfort of their own homes. Lucknowi embroidery can now be bought in Hyderabad, Goan prints in Trivandrum. ‘Just as we enjoy cuisines from different regions, we’re embracing textiles and crafts from across the country,’ says Mehra.  

The Social Media Runway (Where We’re All Models, Whether We Like It or Not) 

Harry Styles: Daring, fluid, and unapologetic—fashion with no boundaries.
 

Let’s not kid ourselves—Instagram has turned fashion into a full-time performance, where everyone is both audience and performer, waiting to be discovered like an undiscovered Prada model in a Zara fitting room. 
 

A study commissioned by Meta and conducted by GWI (Global Web Index), a market research company tracking digital consumer behaviour, reveals that 97 per cent of fashion shoppers in India discover brands on Meta platforms, including Instagram. Of these, 52 per cent specifically cite Instagram Reels as a major source of fashion inspiration.  
 

Further, a report by Inc42 found that 76 per cent of consumers discover fashion brands on social media, with 97 per cent finding products via Meta platforms. Of that, 97 per cent, 39 per cent make fashion purchases after discovering brands through Instagram Reels.  
 

The algorithm is now the arbiter of taste. The new personal stylist is a targeted ad and not any human being. Personal style isn’t dead, but it’s like getting dressed with your indicator on—you’re still in the driver’s seat, but the feed’s the one deciding which way to go.  

The Microtrend Apocalypse 

Paul Mescal: Effortless cool with a sharp edge—casual, tailored, and never overdone.

And then there’s the microtrend cycle—the fashion equivalent of a sugar high followed by an existential crash. Last year, everyone wanted to dress like Jacob Elordi or Paul Mescal. Before that, it was cottagecore. Before that, dark academia. Before that, something else equally aesthetic-yet-impractical. Each new trend leaves behind a trail of abandoned outfits and deeply regrettable purchases. 

But here’s the kicker—microtrends die so fast that they leave us with nothing but regrets and a closet full of 'what was I thinking?' outfits. That’s when the pendulum swings to broader ‘vibes’—less about copying the exact look and more about the energy you want to channel. It’s still about self-expression, but now with room to breathe, less ‘this is the exact look of the season,’ more ‘this is how I feel right now.’ 

So, Is Personal Style Dead? 

Jacob Elordi: Laid-back elegance—classic menswear with a modern twist.

Ask designer, Amrita Thakur, and she’ll tell you: it’s complicated. “Trends have made fashion more accessible, but also more uniform,” she says. “At the same time, they’re giving people new ways to experiment and discover what works for them.” 
 

In other words, personal style still exists—you just have to squint to see it. In a sea of aesthetic clones, there are still people who zig when the algorithm demands they zag. Who wear what they love, not what’s trending. Who treat fashion as a language rather than just another box to tick off the Instagram bingo card. 
 

So maybe personal style isn’t about keeping up with the Kardashians (or the influencer bros). Maybe it’s about choosing what actually feels like you. The real question is—do you even know what that is anymore?