For better or for worse, the internet and social media kicked the ball of fashion into the consumers' court - a court heavy on nostalgia.
Background photo by Dalia Abdelwahab
In 2006, TIME Magazine decided to designate “You” its much-coveted title of Person of the Year (a title which had annually been given by the Magazine to the person believed by its editors to have had the biggest impact on the world during a given year for better or for worse since 1927), to mixed reactions.
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In that particular case, the peculiar choice of “You” as TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year 2006 was meant to be a recognition of the rising ubiquity of user-generated content on the internet, particularly via social networking sites like YouTube and MySpace, and was arguably one of the first high-profile instances of such.
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The impact of user-generated content on the internet has continued to spawn every field and industry imaginable since then at sonic speed, and has done the once-inconceivable by stripping gatekeepers out of their powers, and handing them to consumers and the general public at large on a silver platter.
Within this multimedia project, Dalia Abdelwahab explores how the internet and its users became major players in the realm of fashion, and how internet users utilized this newfound power to their advantage to tap into a market that hasn't been delved into until very recently: Nostalgia.
From InStyle Magazine to Instagram Reels - Fashion Had to Jump Ship
How consumer power interferes with the life cycle of "aesthetics".
Photo by Dalia Abdelwahab, at the Ludlow Flea Market, Manhattan, New York.
How and why retro fashion transcends its eras.
Photo by Dalia Abdelwahab, at the Ludlow Flea Market, Manhattan, New York
A succinct retrospective of some of the decade-defining aesthetics of the 2000's, the 2010's, and early 2020's.
Photo by Dalia Abdelwahab, at the Ludlow Flea Market, Manhattan, New York
Around a decade ago, the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 was held by a song about how cool thrift shopping actually is. The momentum of thrifting's popularity hasn't slowed down since.
Photo by Dalia Abdelwahab, in Brooklyn, New York
Let's put a face to the words; shall we?
Self-Portrait by Dalia Abdelwahab