Band 8.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 8.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-07-26

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Many aspects of the way people dress today are influenced by global fashion trends.

How has global fashion become such a strong influence on people's lives? Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 8.0)

Because of globalization, different aspects of the way people dress is currently influenced to a large extent by fashion trends around the world. The primary reason behind this is the effect of social media and influencers culture. Although people are more aware about the fashion stuffs around the world and are also able to promote their own culture through the fusion of traditional dress with global trends, this leads to negative environmental effects such as overfilling of landfills and textile based pollution.

There are many reasons why global fashion has had strong influence in people’s lives. Firstly, the growing usage of social media among people and their tendency to practice and share any viral trends has led them to largely adopt global fashion trends. Moreover, together with social media growth, influencers culture has had even more impact on lives. People follow and look to practice anything shared by such social media influencers, such as tips on how to dress. For instance, “Get Ready With Me” videos have led people to wearing certain combinations of cloths, bags and boots. Such videos gain massive traction and globally become trend setters thereby influencing people on what to wear.

When such practice increases, people are more likely to be aware of what is trending on other countries. Subsequently, more people become interested in attempting a fusion of global fashion trends with local cultural dresses thereby helping in positive promotions of local cultures globally. However, for the environment, such trends bring negative impacts as it births to serious problems such as fast fashion. Firstly, fast fashion and increasing textile waste has already been putting a huge strain on the environment. This has led to the overfilling of landfills with clothing items. For instance, in Hong Kong, two of the landfill sites were completely covered by clothes and other fashion items.

Not only that, to meet the growing demand the industries need to operate in excess, leading to over consumption of raw materials as well as exhaustion of fossil fuels. Owing to these reasons, the trend of global fashion having integral impact on the way people dress is more likely a negative development.

To sum up, while the globalization of fashion offers exciting opportunities for cultural exchange and the revitalization of traditional dress, the environmental toll, particularly through fast fashion, textile waste, and resource depletion, is alarmingly high. In my view, the negative impacts on the planet far outweigh the cultural benefits, unless the industry adopts sustainable practices and consumers become more conscious of their choices.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 8.0

You have addressed all parts of the prompt, identifying the drivers of global fashion (social media and influencers) and providing a clear, well-supported position that this is a negative development due to environmental concerns. Your ideas are extended with relevant examples, such as the mention of Hong Kong landfills and the 'Get Ready With Me' trend. The position is consistent throughout the essay. To reach a higher band, ensure that the cultural benefits mentioned in the introduction are balanced more thoroughly against the environmental drawbacks in the body paragraphs, as the current focus leans heavily toward the negative aspects.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 8.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear progression of ideas. Each paragraph has a central theme, and you use a variety of cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Moreover', 'Subsequently', and 'To sum up' to guide the reader. Paragraphing is used effectively to separate the causes of the trend from the consequences. While the flow is generally smooth, some transitions could be more sophisticated to avoid a slightly mechanical feel. Overall, the information is presented in a coherent manner that is easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 7.5

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to discuss the topic with some precision. Phrases like 'revitalization of traditional dress', 'resource depletion', and 'massive traction' are used effectively. There are some minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'fashion stuffs' (which is informal/incorrect) and 'births to serious problems' (which is non-standard usage). However, these errors do not impede communication. To improve, focus on using more precise collocations and avoiding informal phrasing to elevate the academic tone of your writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, and your control of grammar is generally good. There are some minor errors, such as subject-verb agreement ('different aspects... is currently influenced' should be 'are') and minor phrasing issues ('people to wearing' should be 'people to wear'). Despite these occasional slips, the majority of your sentences are error-free, and your meaning is always clear. The punctuation is generally accurate, supporting the readability of your arguments.

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