A great lady of fashion once said: "Style—all who have it share one thing: originality."

That lady was Diana Vreeland, the editor-in-chief of "Vogue" from 1963 until 1971.

Vreeland understood that style comes from within; it is a snapshot of one's personality and their own personal tastes. She believed that style wasn't in just your clothes or the brands you wore, but it was in the way you carried yourself. She believed that your fashion should be exciting, original, and uniquely yours. However, it seems that Vreeland's vision of fashion has gone completely out the door in the 21st century, leading me to believe that our society has fallen into what I like to call a "Style Drought."

Everywhere I look these days, I see gentlemen and ladies sporting the same tired, old looks that I've seen over and over again all over Instagram in ads for ASOS and FashionNova. It is not style, but rather a lazy attempt at putting together an outfit. It's almost like a boxed cake mix: you already have all the ingredients together, all you have to do is just add yourself and that's it. While I'm not trying to debase fast-fashion retailers or those who purchase from them (I myself am a huge fan of Zara and H&M) but I am trying to make a point: people have relied on being trendy in order to be perceived as stylish.

Let me start by saying that I don't think that trends are necessarily a bad thing. Trends are always going to be prevalent in fashion, no matter what. Trends, I think, can help you develop your own style and your own tastes later in life. But what I do see is a reliance on trends in order to "fit in" with the in-crowd. Like I've said before, trends allow you to have a ready-made outfit. It gives you the pieces that you need in order to be perceived as stylish or to look like the slim-thick girl in the FashionNova ad (who, let's be real, has definitely been edited to make the clothes appear more flattering). These clothes have no soul to them. They have no life to them. And that's the issue I think. We've lost our lust for life in a fast-fashion oriented world.

Next time you go shopping, I want you to ask yourself this: Am I going to still be wearing this within the next year? If the answer is no, don't buy it. Go for the clothing that speaks to you. Go for the pieces that make you feel special. Develop looks from inspiration, not imitation. Make your clothes speak for you when you have nothing to say. Let your clothes make a statement. Let your clothes be loud, let them be quiet. Let them be extravagant, let them be plain. Wear the $3 t-shirt like it was a $500 t-shirt. Please, for the love of fashion, make your look YOUR OWN. Trends will always come and go. Things will go out of season.

But style, style is forever.