Pinterest: Style Guide Or Worst Enemy?

by Katherine Heglie

This story was originally published on New York University’s Washington Square News.

For those of you familiar with Pinterest — the image-curating app launched in 2010, most often used for style inspiration — you know that once you search for something, even once, it becomes your entire feed. As a teenager obsessed with wearing what I thought was the “perfect outfit,” I spent hours scrolling through the website, filling my naive brain with insecure thoughts of changing my style to match my Pinterest feed.

In high school, wearing the “perfect outfit” had become synonymous in my mind with fitting in socially. I became irrationally jealous of the girls who could rock the quintessential school fit. I never felt as if I nailed down the balance between casual and presentable, which further fed into my Pinterest obsession. My mother would find me upset over not being able to select an outfit, as if anyone truly cared what a 15-year-old was wearing. She would tell me, “You need to stop comparing yourself to these girls.” But it was easier said than done. 

My NYU roommate, Madi Leadbetter — who has picked up on my incessant Pinterest habits — told me that Pinterest allowed her to fully realize her style.

Read the rest of the story at Washington Square News.