We’ve all heard the popular Insta tropes: blue performs better than red, more posts are better than less, adding balloons helps engagement. Since the dawn of the Valencia filter, these were the unwritten rules influencers lived by in their mission to procure those ever-elusive followers.
In other words, don’t whisper your images, scream them—and hope someone hears. But fashion influencers are beholden to the capricious whims of fashion (one minute you’re in, the next minute you’re out). What if there’s been a shift? As the algorithm continues to perplex and frustrate, as likes become harder to get, and followers leave faster than new ones come onboard, what if now, less is actually more?
There is a rising crop of “fashion influencers” skipping the blue, the red, and the balloons in favour of a neutral palette with gilded accents and an overall lack of colour. It’s less about cupcakes or peonies, and more about Pierre Jeanneret chairs or a well-made cappuccino—and a growing community of Instagram’s more than one billion members are here for the makeunder.
