Why Celebrity “High Low” Dressing Became Free Advertising for Fast Fashion

'They're just like us' is a scam.

Throughout my career as a fashion writer, I’ve been guilty of the occasional headline celebrating celebrities wearing a fast fashion brand. “[So and So Famous Person] Wore Zara, Celebrities Are Just Like Us!” The subtext: you can own this piece that a super well-known person just wore to dinner in New York City to be like them.

It’s almost as though we think there is an endearing quality to a cheap garment on a seemingly wealthy person. It shows us how down-to-earth they are. But, as I’ve learned more about the eco-system of the fashion industry, I’ve come to realize that these stories were a mistake. Framing celebrity outfits as exciting because they are cheap perpetuates a bad cycle in fast fashion. Basically, the brands can do whatever they want, as long as our obsession with celebrity gives them a solid cover.

In my book, Worn Out: How Our Clothes Cover Up Fashion’s Sins, coming September 27, I explore how celebrity influence has shaped the fast fashion narrative over the last several decades. Collaborations and placements often take newsworthy precedence over nefarious practices used to make the very item we’re all talking about. While the lead story could be about the toxicity of cheap textiles, garment workers protesting, or landfills full of new clothing, instead it’s that a royal wore something cheap that you too can buy right now. I used to think that influencers wearing affordable clothing was democratization, but I no longer believe that to be true.

I’m not saying celebrities can’t wear fast fashion, they quite literally are just people who wear clothes and are susceptible to the same trends we all are. What I’m suggesting is that we stop encouraging this free advertising - for the brands.

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This Stuff is a newsletter by me! fashion journalist, Alyssa Hardy. Three times a week, I unpack the ways our clothes impact the world through news, essays, interviews and more. Subscribe for free here and follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

You can preorder my book "Worn Out: How Our Clothes Cover Up Fashion's Sins" here.