Postmodernism calls into question the idea of a stable identity, as it makes the observation that as these grand narratives and classification people usually align themselves with, such as religious and political alignment, become more fractured over time, it becomes less and less a reliable way for an individual to use it as their sole identity marker.

Society at large, is more often than not tribal. Communities of the past live and die for their identity, marked by wars waged over this concept. Nowadays, we defend our favourite football teams, advocate strongly for our religion, and argue in the youtube comments about political candidates. These qualms that seem to plague us are nothing more than fickle efforts to maintain the facade of an identity— and so we turn to new avenues. In a late stage capitalist society, where individual identity becomes harder than ever to pin down, what do people do?

Look around you, and really think about the actions that you take. What do we, as young people, do in order to signal camaraderie? We purchase items that inform people that we are of a certain social group. You are what you buy whether you acknowledge it or not.

Every single consumer decision you make is a reflection of how you want other people to perceive you. This ideal perception varies between people because each person may have a slightly different set of values that exemplify the ‘ideal and prosperous life.’ This is how capitalism responds to the fragmentation of identity described by Postmodernism.

In the 21st century, we as humans are spoon-fed bottomless amounts of media constantly thrown into our faces. It affects our perceptions and choices in real life. The media in the form of celebrity obsession like K-pop culture, tells us that in order to fit the status quo, we need to look a certain way, dress a certain way and listen to a certain type of music.

The media often idealises people and creates a perception of the perfect person. Always polite, funny at the right times, and talented in many fields. These formulaic constructions of personalities are designed to make us want to be as close as possible to the presented ideal.

The easiest and most straightforward way of doing that is mass consumerism. Consuming the items that will make others perceive you exactly how you want them to. People want the Fear of God Essentials hoodie because it signals to others that they are a part of the idealised in-group, they are knowledgeable about what ideal people wear on a daily basis, and that subconsciously, they are therefore socially superior as they are closer towards the ideal than others. The constant struggle to reach closer to the ideal that gets shoved in our faces every single day, inevitably, keeps our attention away from the empty husk of people we’ve grown to become. Of course, this isn’t the definitive reason to us being miserable, but it calls into question about authenticity.

Are you able to discern whether a song is good to your own standards, or is everyone telling you that it’s good, so you convince yourself that it’s also good?

We understand our reality only in comparison to the fabricated realities that is shown to us on a screen. As these fabricated realities are often based on real life, the fact that we draw inspiration from other inspirations means that progressively our identities are less and less rooted in real world experiences— and more reliant on the simulations of real world experiences.

Do you more often take inspiration for outfits from your Instagram explore page? Or do you decide on it without any outside influence?

As very few things are embedded in real life anymore, does it matter that our consumer choices must work against this? Taking fashion advice from an influencer seemingly feeds into the cogs of mass consumerism described earlier, but for most people’s purposes, it’s not that deep. We’re fine with letting our consumer choices be dictated by mass media and its’ endless stream of entertainment. It makes life for us easier, as we have to make less decisions for an effective result. Existing as functioning members of society is already hard enough in an overstimulated and overexposed community, so taking the stress out of certain decisions and still reaping its rewards is a good thing, for most people.

At the end of the day, it’s really up to the individual whether they want to put more effort into the decisions they make as a consumer, or whether they’re fine with going with the flow. Depending on your worldview, either option can lead to what you, and only you, can describe as ‘the good life.’