I don’t think there’s been many people in the past 10 years that haven’t heard of or at least seen Hatsune Miku. I mean, she performed at Coachella this year. Have I been thinking about writing an article about Hatsune Miku since I started PERSPEX? Absolutely. Am I just getting to it now? Yes, but better late than never.

There’s been something happening to fashion recently, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. But I think I’ve figured it out - personal style is dying. There’s a lot of different reasons for this, big and small.

Angelyne is obscure, shrouded in mystery and eccentric. We still don’t really know who she is or why she's famous, but she is. And I think that’s the whole point. Angelyne is purely Angelyne. She’s famous because she’s famous.

Shein has streamlined the fast fashion process – a direct correlation to their immense success. Utilising different online algorithms, Shein identifies nascent trends and sends small orders to suppliers, to produce 100-200 units of each style in a manner of days (the maximum being a week).

When Bratz launched with a racially inclusive quartet of dolls, this revolutionised the fashion doll market, with each doll featuring different skin tones, hair colours and facial features. It was also important to note that no character was the leader, unlike Barbie and her friends, each doll was equal.

After Make Happy in 2016, Burnham returns to comedy specials in 2021 with Inside. It’s release date in 2021 provides context before you even watch it, this is a special about COVID and lockdown. It’s created by Burnham all on his own, filmed in the months of lockdown in 2020 and 2021.

I don’t think there’s one person since 1959 that hasn’t heard of Barbie. Now the epitome of the Mattel brand, Barbie has a long, influential and somewhat controversial history. So, why don’t we have a look the long life of Barbie?

It's hard to find someone who hasn't heard of or even seen Harajuku fashion. It's practically become synoynmous with Japanese culture at this point, an eye-catching postcard for everything Japan has to offer.

Danny La Rue was a genuine star. It was never complicated, never crude, never excessive. Simple, genuine, funny, talented and glamourous. He never missed a performance in his 60 year career, and critics never denied his likeable and grand nature off-stage.

She was a sex symbol, a ‘blonde bombshell’, a figure to represent the sexual revolution of the late 50s and early 60s. Her signature blonde hair and feminine figure has become synonymous with 50s fashion and femininity - becoming a muse for many people to come.

Time to have some shivers down your spine.

Now I will be honest here, is the film good? Not really. It failed in the box office upon its release in 1986, but has grown to become a cult classic over the past 3 decades. It most loved aspect is the aesthetic, it’s combination of 80s cool, 40s noir and an underlying goth attitude. For what it lacks in depth, it makes up the visuals.

Take the Cantina Band from Star Wars, combine it with KISS, and you’ll find Halyx.

It’s the perfect combination of teen drama, horror/sci fi and iconic 80s fashion. It capitalised the Millennial/Gen Z nostalgic fascination with the 80s aesthetic and did it incredibly well. But, was the fashion really accurate to 1980s mid-America? Let’s find out.

The contrast between appropriating black designers and black culture while simultaneously creating an environment which makes it impossible for black individuals to find traditional success is a significant yet underlying issue in the fashion industry.

Freddie Mercury was constantly reinventing himself. He is the symbol for constant reinvention. He was a free spirit, wanting to capture the gaze of others and look good while doing it.

Sorayama’s work explores the ‘limitations of desire’, which he explores through erotic and hyperreal fembot sculptures and paintings. He combines pop culture references with 1950 playboy covers, sci-fi and visions or AI and robotics. It’s sort of like the exploration of sex in the digital age.

Now, I am admitting that what is happening in the fashion industry can’t be compared to the severe impact that COVID-19 is having on those directly affected. But there is something really despicable happening at the moment, especially for fashion manufacturing.

Fashion plays the same role in video games; without meeting a character in-game, we can already begin to understand them by looking at what they’re wearing. And, you can also begin to understand the world around the character and the society they live in.

The same arched/defined brows, the same neutral sharp cat-eye, the same contoured full-coverage skin and the same nude lip. Say hello to the ‘Instagram Face’.