What’s the Current Vibe Shift In Style?
Being a Pisces, I get all sorts of reflective come this fishy-featured season. All sorts of signs of renewals or important days cluster together for me: my birthday, the day I married my partner, forthcoming family get togethers, spring is nearly here but not quite yet, fashion weeks, and International Women’s Day celebrations. All that to say I’ve been sensing a shift.
It’s not just me. The other day I was cruising through the latest The Cut issue – with the glorious women from Euphoria on the cover – and I read an article about vibe shifts in street style culture noted as seen on everyday people out and about in New York. The fashion ripple effects are felt all over North America and can be seen here in Calgary, too. This excerpt summarizes some past shifts so well.
She dropped a link to something titled “Vibe Shift,” an entry from a Substack called 8Ball, which turned out to be the weekly newsletter of a trend-forecasting consultancy founded by Sean Monahan. Previously, Monahan had helped found the now-defunct art collective K-HOLE, known for giving a name to the 2010s phenomenon of normcore and succinctly explaining why all of a sudden everyone was wearing New Balance sneakers and dad jeans. In other words, he’s someone who has made a career of translating cultural trends for a larger audience.
A vibe shift is the catchy but sort of too-cool term Monahan uses for a relatively simple idea: In the culture, sometimes things change, and a once-dominant social wavelength starts to feel dated. Monahan, who is 35, breaks down the three vibe shifts he has survived and observed: Hipster/Indie Music (ca. 2003–9), or peak Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, high-waisted Cheap Mondays, Williamsburg, bespoke-cocktail bars; Post-Internet/Techno Revival (ca. 2010–16), or the Blood Orange era, normcore, dressing like The Matrix, Kinfolk the club, not Kinfolk the magazine; and Hypebeast/Woke (ca. 2016–20), or Drake at his Drakest, the Nike SNKRS app, sneaker flipping, virtue signaling, Donald Trump, protests not brunch.
Since reading that piece, I started thinking more sharply about what the vibe is now? Like right now, right now. I ask myself questions like:
Two years and counting, what lasting effects style-wise has the Pandemic demanded?
Once we give up the 24-7 matching sweat suits and transition into whatever we call this current time, what will be notable?
After everything that has happened, what do people really want to wear?
As a rabid style enthusiast, I watch the runways, Instagram, and I often head to the mall to see what not only is in the stores, but what the people are actually wearing. I find the sales people and teenagers fascinating. I look to them to tell us sartorially what’s getting them going. The best part is I can gather information visually just by watching and don’t have to be the annoying auntie actually asking them what’s up, what’s cool, what now.
I was getting deeper into my “research” day after day then the Ukraine and Russia crisis - aka: World War Three - happened. Is happening. It’s horrible.
As we watch people fleeing for safety, there has been notice of who is getting attention and maybe more telling: who isn’t. Some media outlets have been fixating on “regular people” fleeing – white, light featured - juxtaposing it with people of colour trying to note the differences in refugee situations. The only real difference of the war-torn people fleeing I see is the colour of skin and religious clothing choices. Essentially, racism. F*@k. Much media coverage of this event is another example of racism.
We must check ourselves, our sources, and our implicit and explicit biases. This is not a drill.
While it’s human to hurt alongside all of the people affected, I think it’s inhumane to do nothing about it. Here are a few ways we can help out.
Here is the Government of Canada’s Response to the Crisis in Ukraine.
The American based GoodGoodGood is another resource to help us all ensure we are not spreading misinformation or disinformation – they explain the difference, too – and provide a tonne of resources. It also has a growing list of vetted places to donate, should you be inclined.
And if you’re curious what some of the Ukrainian community in Calgary is up to, check out this recent Calgary Herald post. It provides a link to the Canada-Ukraine Foundation as well.
And supporting local Ukrainian-Canadian owned businesses is another way to help out. Here’s a pseudo Alberta directory via Reddit.
While I am now sure that there’s an overwhelming shift, I no longer know if it will be positive or negative. Time will tell. Be kind out there, chip in however you can, and think critically and mind your sources while it all unfolds.
