From Yoga Pants to Paris Fashion Week: Emma Chamberlain is Taking Over Fashion One Scrunchie at a Time
A constant and consuming part of our everyday lives, it’s no surprise that social media has an unconscious influence on our fashion choices; from the trends we follow to the brands we buy from. This largely comes from influencers using platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to share their current outfits and clothing hauls; making them a crucial part of our fashion choices. Our generation is now significantly impacted by fashion influencers more than celebrities, and brands are using this to their advantage by collaborating with these influencers and inviting them to events. This not only confirms them as crucial parts of the fashion industry, but has made the role of influencers in fashion a huge talking point. Looking at their role in the fashion industry, this feature will explore why people trust influencers’ fashion choices, looking specifically at why Emma Chamberlain’s style and influence has had such a big impact on the fashion industry.
As influencers have become incredibly popular, apps such as Instagram, YouTube and TikTok have become large platforms for showcasing fashion content. Instagram is now considered one of the most important social media tools for fashion promotion, as it allows influencers to create a polished feed of fashion content, link where their clothes are from and communicate with their followers. This means users are constantly being exposed to current trends and styles and therefore it’s no surprise we rely on them when it comes to our shopping decisions. A huge part of why people trust influencers is because they record their everyday life, making themselves relatable, rather than just showing a carefully constructed perfect reality like a lot of fashion brands and celebrities. This means people can expect a level of honesty from their favourite influencers that they can’t from big brands, with a study from Variety finding that teens identify more with famous YouTubers than celebrities. Because of this, influencers shopping habits are also relatable, with the clothes they wear often being affordable and thus appealing to their viewers.
Considering this, it’s no surprise that 20-year-old YouTuber Emma Chamberlain, has had great success as a fashion influencer. Beginning her channel in 2017, Chamberlain now has 14.4 million Instagram followers and 11M Youtuber subscribers and was listed in Time Magazine’s “25 Most Influential People on the Internet” list. Her content is relatable, casual and unpolished, meaning her videos feel more like you’re talking to a friend, making it easy to trust her style opinions. Her YouTube channel brings a huge variety of engaging fashion content; from thrift hauls where she takes you shopping to fashion transformations and look books. Often, she uses her channel to show her love for thrift shopping, which has led to a huge and recent trend surrounding second-hand shopping, which of course has a great contribution to sustainable fashion.
Although at first many people thought Chamberlain’s outfits were too experimental, it didn’t take long for her to become the next big trendsetter and now it seems her style is the new ‘normal’ for fashion. Chamberlain has started many mainstream trends, including causing a huge popularity surrounding tennis skirts, sweater vests and, of course, yoga pants. Following this, Chamberlain attended Paris Fashion Week in 2019 and then later appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan, where she began to move from just being a YouTuber to being a recognised and crucial icon of the fashion industry. Rather than following what was deemed trendy in the media, Chamberlain has created her own eccentric and refreshing fashion aesthetic that revolves around thrifted items, unusual patterns and layering clothes. Following this, in an interview with Who What Wear she said that, “my aesthetic and my fashion sense is constantly changing, but I think that keeps it fun and interesting”. Her platforms largely display her experimentation with style, which not only goes against the fashion industry’s unrealistic idea of perfection, but embraces her personality through her wardrobe, inspiring her viewers to do the same.
With many influencers now following Chamberlain’s footsteps and being invited to big fashion events, it’s clear this is only the beginning for them in the fashion world. By combining various styles and areas of fashion, Emma Chamberlain has created a distinctive style that has made her a role model to many young girls, whilst also changing the way people view YouTubers in the fashion industry. Influencers have a huge impact on how our generation view fashion and it’s especially important that brands are now noticing this and using it to their advantage. As mentioned, influencers are popular for staying true to themselves and being relatable. Although attending high fashion events goes against this, they maintain their popularity by continuing to promote affordable and trendy alternatives and this will likely never change.
by Tia Janowski (Staff Fashion & Beauty Writer)
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Edited by Charlotte Osment (Editorial Assistant)
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