The Epidemic of Linkinbio
By Nona Dimitrova published 08/11/2024
“I loveeeee your top, where is it from?”
– Thank you! It’s linked in my bio :)
I recently came across a TikTok video, posted to the tune of Lana Del Rey’s Let The Light In, which stated as follows: "Nothing enrages me as much as a fashion influencer with impeccable taste REFUSING to answer any comments asking where her clothes are from.” The video currently has over 90k likes, and over 1k comments. One of those comments is by: yours truly.
Clothes are a commodity, they always have been. Nobody is shocked that items of clothing are products marketed for mass consumption. But we’ve somehow found ourselves in a digital world which commodifies everything. We commodify ourselves through our dating app profiles. Hey, look at me, I’m cool and social and funny and mysterious and I want you to like me. We commodify our lives through our social media profiles. Hey, I’m creative, and I have a lot of friends who like to do things with me. I’m loved, and I want you to be so interested in my life that you choose to follow along with it. And we’ve somehow managed to commodify something as personal and specific as style.
And while when you boil it all down to its bare bones, influencer marketing is just another form of… marketing. Of marketing clothes. The public’s interaction with it has managed to take on a form of its own.
While items of clothing have always been a commodity, they have also become something we feel entitled to. Something we have easy access to. And any hindrance of that access is seen as an infringement on our basic rights.
Enter the linkinbio epidemic.
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We see someone wearing an item.
We like it.
We ask where it’s from.
We’re told to check the link in their bio.
We find the item.
We purchase it.
They earn a commission.
We’ve bought into someone else’s style.
Not long ago, I watched a video essay by fashion creator @elliot_duprey on the early 2024 “Eclectic Grandpa” trend. His take and analysis was that this is an aesthetic so many are buying into because of its resemblance to what we perceive as lived-in, personal style. The worn-down loafers, the chunky knit jumper, the slightly old cap, the fading dark-wash denim: they’re all wearing signs of having lived a life. Which is what personal style really is, in essence. It’s your style, which has lived alongside your life.
He further went on to point out that our eagerness to buy into this ‘aesthetic’ comes from a place of extreme laziness and commodification of style. We’re too lazy to figure out what our actual personal style looks like, so we’d prefer to buy it prepackaged.
This isn’t so different from that, as it all comes down to our view on clothes as fast and fleeting and our unwillingness to put in any real work.
One of the best pieces of advice anyone has ever given me, is to practise the art of observation.
Okay, so you like an item. What do you like about it? Is it the colour? The material? The silhouette? The sleeves? The length? The weave?
Being able to observe an item, identify what you like about it, and describe it when searching for it (both online and in person) is one of the healthiest skills you can have when it comes to mindful consumption. Not only are you slowing down your access to clothes, but you’re also opening yourself up to the possibility that maybe there’s something even more you out there, which fits the same descriptors. It’s also a great way to learn more and more about your style, and be able to look out for these elements you like in other pieces, building a wardrobe that is truly you.
Similarly, it allows us to observe clothes, appreciate them, compliment them even, and recognise they're not for us. Our quick and easy access to clothes isn't a basic human right, it's a privilege. And the more we're able to separate ourselves from this eagerness to access and own everything around us, the easier it will be to accept this as a fact.
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