Where do you get your inspiration from these days?
Do you still look to magazines as we used to for so many years? Longing for the next issue to come out so you could see and prepare for what the summer or autumn trends would be. Or, like so many of us, have you now moved online?
It’s always such a topical issue. Especially when it comes to fashion, but also interiors, food, crafts and more are moving into this digital space too. We are no longer so reliant on the hard copy. We can look recipes up online, before doing an online shop of the ingredients we need. Decorating your home? Pinterest is your new best friend with an overwhelming wealth of inspiration for every decor or interior trend you could imagine. But it’s fashion that has probably undergone the biggest change.
It’s not that we don’t still buy Vogue or Red, but the need for buying an actual magazine has, sadly, been diminishing over the last few years; at least for some of us I’m sure. We are now at a risk or being exposed to too much choice though. We now have the likes of Instagram and Pinterest at the touch of a button. With magazines venturing online to combat the loss of sales through print media and in a desperate attempt to keep up with the rise of social media too. If I’m stuck for style inspiration, I’ll simply look around me or hop onto Pinterest, rather than buy a magazine from Tesco.
Photo by Charisse Kenion on Unsplash
This tremendous shift remains bittersweet. Do we really want to wave goodbye to print media forever? As a writer and voracious reader, pen and paper are my every day tools, at least in part. I rely heavily on a computer, and yet I still write things down. I still buy books and turn down their pages, rather than switch to a kindle.
The topic of inspiration is an interesting one then. While Instagram may fulfil our need for instant street style and fashion, a physical copy of our much-loved magazine still holds more substance. Pages can be marked or torn out, and our favourite copies can be kept forever. Instagram images may seem to hold longevity, but they are really only fleeting. This app, that has gained such phenomenal traction in so little time – that takes so much of people’s time – could in fact be gone tomorrow. A magazine, while easily recyclable, has the ability to last forever.
Photo by Charisse Kenion on Unsplash
I rarely buy magazines now, so perhaps I am a part of the growing problem. Having something tangible will always mean more in my opinion, but this is the way we are moving forward.
I guess it comes down to not how you get inspired then, but why and in what way. That’s all that really matters, but it is an interesting thought, nonetheless. Let’s just hope that print media isn’t forgotten about entirely, as I think we’d miss it terribly if it were to go.