The Tamesis
Back in March, I went to Charvet—a legendary Parisian store famous for its shirts and slippers—with the intention of buying a custom pair of pajamas. My sales associate and I spent over an hour poring over bunches of fabric, discussing buttons, and arguing over which monogram was only Correct. After we were both very happy with the order (I can’t in good faith buy at Charvet without the approval of the sales assistant, not least because an MTM shirt starts at about 600 euros), I went downstairs to checkout, where I noticed a Gen Z colleague asking his sales assistant for a custom shirt.
A few days later, I joined several editors at the Chanel store on Rue Royal to try on shoes from Matthieu Blazy’s first collection. It was the end of Paris Fashion Week, and Chanel-o-Mania was unprecedentedly grand. Judging from Instagram and TikTok, it feels like everyone is either talking about the shoe or documenting their own hero’s journey: visiting every Chanel store in Paris to find the right pair of shoes in the right size. Although I’m proud of myself for not succumbing to trends, I almost Bought a pair of chocolate flats with Rudolph red toe caps, even though they were half a size too small.
Even though I left Paris empty-handed, these shoes stayed in my mind. I wonder are they things I actually want or is my social media algorithm talking?
Over the past few years, there’s been a lot of talk about the impact of algorithms on shopping habits, and its role in spawning microtrends that seem to pop up every few weeks (remember The Summer of Tomato Girls?). In the simplest terms, algorithmic dress reflects the content a person consumes. Many people in Gen Z grew up with a screen in their pocket, so it’s no surprise that there is now so much content dedicated to helping people find their own personal style—even if that pursuit often leads to yet another iteration of the same look.
So, how does Generation Z find their own sense of individuality in dressing? While this generation’s interest in thrift and vintage has certainly helped Gen Z find their own personal style outside of algorithms, a small subset of us are also buying custom products.
