fashion. culture. music.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2026
Relevance vs. Reliability
Gone are the days when the general public would look to the publishing powerhouses to decide what was “in”. When people would wait for their monthly delivery of Vogue to decide their next big purchase. When A-Listers like Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, and Cindy Crawford would determine the trajectory of buying trends for the year. Here are the days when the general public looks to TikTok to see what’s “in”. Now, we look to our favorite influencers to enlighten us. We look to them to either influence, or deinfluence, us from the circulating trends.
However, as we scroll through TikTok in an attempt to find the next big thing, we forget one very important fact: social media operates on an algorithm. Your feed is strategically set up to push certain videos based on general viewer interaction. Meaning all it takes is for one creator to get lucky, and that gives them all the power. In recent years, the case for this theme has been abundantly clear. From the return of capris to the resurgence of polka dots. This is not to say that TikTok isn’t a relevant source of popular culture news, but is it an extremely reliable one?
If the algorithm is deciding what deserves to be popular, then we slowly lose the art of a keen eye. The kind of eye that results from decades of observation and immersion into the fashion industry. At the risk of being contentious, the determination of a trend should lie in the hands of a seasoned professional, not the algorithm.
I have fallen victim to this myself. I recently came to the realization that I needed to expand my wardrobe to include more whimsical and playful accessories. My habitual instinct was to reach for TikTok, and type “fun and trending accessories to buy” into the search bar. What I conveniently forgot was that I have a subscription to Vogue, and to the right of me, on my bedside table, sits a stack of Vogue issues. Instead of sifting through these carefully curated printed publications to find my inspiration, I immediately went to social media.
That’s not to say TikTok isn’t a place to find relevant trends and observe what others appear to be enjoying. Yet, it’s crucial to think about who exactly is setting these trends. Is the next big craze simply a byproduct of one viral video? Or, is it the byproduct of months of examination and analysis from the Editor in Chief of Vanity Fair? Which begs the question, are you looking for relevance? Or reliability?
