The world of fashion is constantly changing and shifting with old styles like high-waisted shorts, geometric jewelry, shoulder pads which are currently making a comeback, as well as new and wild styles such as animal accents, statement bags, and oversized, baggy shirts that are really larger than life. Fashion for 2014 has also been a mixture of cultures, textures, time periods, and adventurous new trends that no one has ever seen. The prints change along with our love of technology, which most designers believe will not only affect the designers and clothes themselves, but also the audience they attract due to success of social media.

While most people believe that the fashion industry is just about the clothes that are put on the model to walk down the runway, they forget that the work behind it involves not only the work of a needle and thread, but extensive research to find what the consumer is looking for and what they are demanding. Months of prep go into the new trends for our eyes to glaze over in stores, all with the aid of social media.

Hannah Metz, a fashion blogger and designer, commented on the subject during New York Fashion Week. “I imagine we will see continued democratization of fashion with high-end lines offering more inexpensive options and more involvement from a broader audience through social media and blogs.”

Along with a new audience comes a new perspective on personal style. As mentioned before, this year has been all about different trends coming together to form new styles all together. People with Instagrams, Tumblr, Facebook, and Pinterest are able to have more access to not only the latest craze, but it also gives them a chance to see how unique their own styles can be and how they are appreciated. They could be the reason for the next trend all because they have gotten recognized for their individuality all because of the freedom of social media.

Designers and bloggers predict that, with the help of social media, the concept of a very unique personal style will become more accepted than the trends that most everyone follows. Claire Mazur, co-founder of Of A Kind, a fashion discount website, stated, “In the next five years we’ll see the concept of “trend” lose importance as the idea of “personal style” takes its place—I think of trends as being more of a product of the print world and there’s no doubt we’ve seen the importance of personal style gain a lot of momentum thanks to the internet.”

As the decade progresses, so does the fashion world and our perception on personal style and the trends we see every season. The future is looking very bright for those who value personal style, so keep scrolling through those dashboards and setting your own trends, because who knows? You could be the next big inspiration.