Get The Look, or Maybe Just Look
Among the plethora of trends that Tumblr gifted us during its heyday, collages of celebrities’ style are some of what sticks out in my mind the most. Stemming from long-standing magazine and internet blog motifs—certainly, “steal her look” has remained a staple of celebrity culture—the collages stick in my head due to their distinctly sporadic organization, text and arrows, and side by side comparison with whichever celebrity the collage is breaking down. Notably, such uniquely-2010s graphic design was present in various other internet fashion trends, such as the “starter packs” trend Alexandra Fiorentino-Swinton discusses here.
Most recently, the trend has found new footing on Instagram. Choose your most favorite celebrity, and it’s likely that a fan has created an Instagram page for their ‘style’ or ‘closet’. But is this desire to know what celebrities are wearing a form of fashion FOMO, or is it an evolved form of the ever-growing "stan" culture of our time?
With just a few scrolls throughout these types of accounts, the reality that you are looking at a celebrity's wardrobe becomes quite clear through the captioned prices. Like with most luxury items, it is often surprising to realize that they bear the luxury price tag, so when you read that Beyoncé is wearing nearly $14,000 on a random summer day, it is both completely baffling but also not surprising at all.
Although such extravagance might be expected of Beyoncé and celebrities of her caliber, taking a look at the comments on a page for Timothée Chalamet shows a different perception from commenters—many of which are taken aback by the lofty price tags to his streetwear. These pages are a good litmus test for how fans view celebrities, and whether or not they admire their lack of frugalness.
Not all pages revolve around a single person, with some devoted to specific TV shows such as The Bachelor(ette). While the contestants on these shows will become celebrities in their own right, it’s clear that some of the pages exist simply out of an appreciation for the art of fashion hunting.
These types of pages may be seen as the epitome of “stan” culture, given their tendency to become detective networks for the smallest details of a celebrity’s life. It’s not uncommon for the tiniest of accessory to be found, or for background objects in their homes to be searched for. Both are usually done with rapid speed, as the existence of more than one of these pages for a single celebrity creates competition for who can find the items faster. The glory that comes with finding a piece first is valuable within fandoms.
Some pages are at least self-aware enough to be comedic about some of their postings, like this Lana Del Rey page:
Noteworthy is the post's caption, which thanks the account’s followers for helping with their posts. Indeed, a crucial part of these types of accounts is the collaboration between fans to find the pieces. This highlights one of the reasons why Instagram appears to be the perfect vehicle for this genre of fandom: accounts can ask for help on their Instagram Stories without clogging up their official, highly curated feed. Such a function is more difficult on other social media platforms where calls to action like that would have to be posted then deleted frequently.
While accounts dedicated to finding dupes for celebrities’ clothing are also prevalent (though often these accounts double up and just post dupes now and again, since dupes are rarer to find), the more time you spend scrolling through them, it becomes clear that the appeal of these accounts has little to do with actually wanting to steal someone’s look. It is more often an extension of a fan’s admiration—the desire to know every last detail about their idol. Other times it's just another way to look at expensive and shiny things, which just happen to be worn by people we admire. This mix between fandoms and social media has created a new vein of window shopping that is sure to not fall out of fashion any time soon.
