Must-Watch YouTubers for Fashion Inspiration | 2021

my top unique, underrated picks for style inspo

How do you find your fashion inspiration?

In a world of TikTok trendsetters and Instagram influencers, I have to admit, I’m still spending most of my time on YouTube for style ideas. While photos and TikToks are, of course, still great for getting inspired, I just love longer-form content for fashion. To me, normal videos give you a better chance to soak in the looks and see how they move in real time without choppy edits or any rush.

Plus, and perhaps even more important, I find it’s the best way to get to know the person behind the outfit, which subconsciously affects one’s views of the clothes, too. What I mean is, when you get a feel for someone’s personality and what they do on the daily, it creates a whole mood—a vibe, if you will—that their fashion starts to reflect in turn.

Fashion is a mode of communication, and just like the ever-changing dynamism of language, there’s a lot of nuance that goes into what makes an outfit exemplary or fashionable. For this reason, I love watching YouTube for the ability to get to know someone’s sense of style both at its face value and through all its subtleties.

At the risk of going on and on, I’ll stop there and continue on with the topic at hand: the best YouTubers for fashion inspiration in 2021. Below are my favorite, must-watch YouTubers for style inspiration. Each is underrated and shines through their unique styles. Here we go—

1. Leah’s FieldNotes

via GIPHY

gif source: Leah’s fieldnotes

Leah Wei is a Montreal-based YouTuber with a style that’s hard to pin down into a single category; however, as she’s used to describe herself, the phrases “Ghibli Moomin vibes” or “chaotic gemini energy” may give you a better idea of what this post-grad design student’s style is like. If that still doesn’t give you a clear picture, I might use words like “free-spirited,” “wholesome,” and “cultured” to describe her fashion range.

She has a bright and soft personality with just the right amount of goofiness that makes you feel like you’re spending time with a close friend. While she’s not solely a fashion YouTuber and wears a lot of lounge or activewear to chat comfortably in vlogs, her planned outfits are always on point—often featuring interesting thriftshop finds.

Leah’s one of my top style inspiration picks due to her abundance of creativity with clothes. Seriously, the fashion-focused videos she makes always feature artistic looks that I might never have thought to pair together. She seems to have an inherent understanding of “what works,” perhaps due to her art and design background, and is sure to leave you with some majorly creative style inspiration.

2. Livia Arrigo

Livia Arrigo is an up-and-coming fashion YouTuber from Malta whose videos showcase her polished, off-duty-model-chic style. With her, you’ll see the top trends in action with a solid dose of personal flair thrown in.

Her style is both classic and modern at once, always head-to-toe put-together. While you’ll often see her in neutral tones, she plays with different fabrics and shapes, and occasionally, a fun print thrown in. Plus, if you’re looking to up your jewelry game, her outfits always feature major accent jewelry inspiration.

Livia has a sweet and friendly personality and clearly loves fashion without any pretentiousness. She does a lot of vlogs, which are great for style inspiration, and several fashion-specific hauls and lookbook videos as well. When I want ideas for a refined, even upscale street-style look, she’s who I’ve been turning to for ideas. She fits the must-watch, underrated style YouTuber description to a T.

image source: Livia arrigo

3. 안녕하새은 (Hello) Saeeun

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gif source: 안녕하새은 Saeeun

Hello Saeeun is another one of my top style inspiration picks due to her distinct creativity with fashion. She’s a South Korean fashion YouTuber whose videos feature a sole clothing rack full of interesting patterns and shapes, upbeat, instrumental music, and fun editing.

Her videos provide unique and polished inspiration for various types of outfit categories ranging from office wear, everyday outfits, seasonal lookbooks, and more. She often includes vintage-looking or Y2k styles in her videos and offers non-Korean viewers a creative look into the world of Korean fashion. While her fashion videos are typically non-speaking, you can get to know her soft-spoken, hip personality in her vlogs where she adds English subtitles.

For Hello Saeeun, unique is really the major keyword. You’ll have a hard time finding other YouTubers who dress quite the same as her, and she always looks stylish. While I do appreciate a minimal look when done right, a lot of style YouTubers all seem to pair together the same, basic silhouettes, styles, and trends. Hello Saeeun, however, is anything but basic, and her lookbooks provide unmatched ideas on how to branch out and have fun with your style choices while still looking put-together every time.

4. Emitaz

Emelie Francesca is a London and Barcelona-based Spanish influencer under the name “Emitaz,” who is actually already well-known on Instagram with a following of 1.3M. Her bright personality really shines on her much lesser-known YouTube channel, though, where she’s been posting videos for the past two years.

So, while it’s likely you’ve seen her on Instagram or Pinterest, her YouTube channel is still far too underrated (in my opinion). She is extremely sweet and personable, often sharing tidbits of her personal life with viewers. It’s clear that she adores fashion as the topic seeps into most of her vlogs, and her knowledge is especially highlighted through her haul and lookbook videos.

I’ve been watching Emitaz since she first posted two years ago, and I still love going to her videos to get outfit and shopping ideas. She has an elevated and timeless sense of fashion that errs on the side of minimalism without ever being boring. If not solely for her gorgeous style, her personality, interesting lifestyle, and travel themes make her a great all-around source for inspiration.

5. Vanellimelli

M E L on Instagram “ anzeige__ Suited up on Santa Monica Pier in the new #HMStudio collection _ @hm 🌊”.jpg

image source: melanie kieback

Melanie is a sunny and soft-spoken German YouTuber who’s been posting content for the past ten years. Her most recent videos highlight her incredible videography skills, which, coupled with her interesting, Jaggeresque style, make for a whole aesthetic mood. Even when she’s just casually filming, her videos are incredibly charming and provide great style inspiration.

Thanks to her focus on thrifting, her viewers get to experience a wide range of styles and see how she incorporates trends from decades past into cohesive looks that reflect her cool, bohemian personality. She plays with a lot of patterns, printed tees, leather, and layered silhouettes, always managing to look effortlessly stylish in the modern realm—and somehow like a rockstar from yesteryear as well?

I’ve only recently discovered her, but I keep finding myself going back for vintage and “grungey” fashion inspiration. It seems like she’s starting to post more often, so hopefully, we’ll get more unique fashion content in the coming weeks.

6. Emma Winder

Emma Winder is Brighton-based model and YouTuber with a fun and chatty personality. Dubbed “ur local grandma,” Emma’s retro-inspired style seeps into her immaculately put-together videos and fashion choices alike. This granny-chicness, hailing from the ‘70s, specifically, manifests itself in an array of pastel colors, oversized sunglasses, and of course, a new permed mullet.

One thing that made me fall in love was her eye for color; step into her stylish ‘70s world—or theatre, rather—with each carefully planned, vibrant palette. She’s really a joy to watch, occasionally a bit silly, and always charming.

With only 100k subscribers, she still seems terribly underrated to me; I’ll be sitting in anticipation to see what she comes up with next.

image source: emma winder

Honorable mention:

ParisianVibe

ParisianVibe is a lifestyle channel on YouTube that features beauty and style influencers, many underrated, for tips and inspiration. While their content plays into the “Parisian-girl” trope, they still manage to come across authentically and provide a really interesting look into French fashion. I think part of what makes them feel more authentic is actually a lack of perfection; the videos don’t feel like big, extremely-polished productions and even include some natural awkwardness at times. In fact, in a way, it feels like a bunch of cool friends got together to have fun and provide a look into their lifestyles.

Which leads me to another reason why I love the channel: it features some of my main style icons from Instagram like Regina Anikiy, Mara Lafontan, Zoïa Mossour, and more, allowing you to get to know them in a way that Instagram lacks. While it didn’t officially make it onto the list because they’re not an individual YouTuber, they’re definitely worth mentioning as an underrated and aesthetic source of fashion inspiration on YouTube.

Who are your favorite fashion YouTubers? Let me know down below if there’s anyone else I should add to this list, and be sure to subscribe for more content like this!