{"id":1394,"date":"2023-08-17T19:37:07","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T19:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.craigsilliphant.com\/?p=1394"},"modified":"2023-08-17T23:40:22","modified_gmt":"2023-08-17T23:40:22","slug":"what-is-going-on-with-gen-z-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.craigsilliphant.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/17\/what-is-going-on-with-gen-z-fashion\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Going on With Gen Z Fashion?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Look, I know this will make me sound like an old man shaking my fist at the clouds (because I am), but — what is going on with Gen Z fashion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DISCLAIMER: While I like to think of myself as a somewhat stylish guy, I am no fashion icon. This is all in good humour so please don\u2019t cancel me. And be nice to Gen Z. They have plenty of cool fashion trends like retro sunglasses, cool sneakers, and even the coastal grandma look.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Costal Grandma look is a’ight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caveats aside, style and trends rely on a herd mentality, where oft-bizarre fashion choices become ubiquitous fads. And like the generations before them, when Gen Z decides to wear something goofy, they don\u2019t mess around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A few examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mom jeans. What black magic has been done at the graveyard of dead styles to force the grinning, macabre skeleton of shockingly high-waisted jeans to pop out of their tomb? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than a few Gen X women I know have told me that experiencing this unflattering atrocity again triggers them (to use the parlance of our time). They fought tooth and nail, sacrificing much, so future generations wouldn\u2019t have to live with what they call, \u201cthe dreaded mum bum.\u201d Which is like a real bum, but so long and flat you can\u2019t tell where the back ends and where the legs begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pajamas and sweatpants. Now, there are some fashionable sweatpants out there, I\u2019ll admit, but back in the day, going out in public dressed to this casual extreme was called, \u201cgiving up on life.\u201d People wearing sweats were too sad to wear pants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I applaud Gen Z though; somehow they\u2019ve turned sleep and depression-wear into legitimate formal dinner attire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My son recently begged me to buy him Pit Viper sunglasses. The only people who should wear these are watersports enthusiasts, white nationalists, and dudes who say things like, \u201cGnarly party last night, bruh! I had so many energy drinks that I saw God!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gen Z, we also need to talk about footwear. Gather \u2018round the old man, my young friends, and hear his out-of-touch tales of nostalgic days gone by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the least offensive side; platform shoes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re not just for Bee Gees fans and soldiers in the Kiss Army anymore. There are platform sneakers, boots, sandals, dress shoes, etc. Everyone looks like Tom Cruise trying to stand next to Nicole Kidman. I worry they\u2019ll roll an ankle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Birkenstocks. Not just Birkenstocks (they\u2019re ugly, but fine, wear ugly sandals), but Birks and socks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Socks with sandals are a staple look of clueless 80s boomer Dads. When I was young, if your friends saw your Dad wearing socks and sandals, you\u2019d be roasted alive, shamed and embarrassed of your lineage and their lack of fashion wherewithal. How did this Dadcore affliction become the pinnacle of cool?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The most offensive footwear in human history are Crocs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fugly, cheap plastic clogs with smelly, Swiss cheese holes, once reserved for nurses who needed comfy footwear and people too lazy to wear actual shoes. When will the pendulum swing back on these monstrosities?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have two theories about why this is happening:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Smart phones forced an impressionable young generation indoors, away from physical friendships, where how you present your appearance matters. Then, Covid sealed the deal. Friends were online, school was online, so comfort became paramount. Fashion creates certain crucial impressions about you, but on Zoom, no one could see sweatpants and Crocs. Then, I guess it stuck IRL (to use the parlance of our times).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • The internet\/TikTok. Access to all <\/em>trends has created a futuristic, post-modern, non-style. For better or worse, we had eras; 50s greasers, 60s hippies, 80s new wave, 90s grunge. Gen Z has it all at once, a collage of colliding styles that look like they used a time machine to raid their teenage parents\u2019 closets. And like flat Earthers, if enough other people are doing the same insane thing, it becomes legitimate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Now, I\u2019m conscious of what I call, \u201cnot cramping someone\u2019s Elvis.\u201d When Elvis Presley and rock n\u2019 roll took over teen culture, adults clutched their pearls. \u201cIt\u2019s the devil\u2019s work, I tells ya!\u201d But they just didn\u2019t understand the hypnotic allure of gyrating hips. (Or maybe they did all too well). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Point is, I don\u2019t want to poop all over an emerging culture that I don\u2019t understand. In fact, this rant says more about me than Gen Z. To paraphrase Grandpa Simpson, I was \u201cwith it,\u201d until they changed what \u201cit\u201d was. And now \u201cit\u201d seems weird and scary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      Though, it\u2019s one thing for the kids to wear crazy shit and another when I see 40-year olds wearing plastic sandals with a six-inch sole to work in an office. You don\u2019t look young and cool; you look soooo cringe (to use the parlance of our times).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      There\u2019s a Star Trek movie where they\u2019re trapped on Earth of the past (coolness and Star Trek go hand-in-hand, right?). Knowing any interference could change the future, the captain tells them to, \u201cfind a little corner of the world and stay out of history\u2019s way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m right or just an old man shaking his fist at the Crocs. Since I\u2019ll never understand the appeal of mom jeans or pit vipers, no matter how cool they seem to be, it may be time for me to find my own little corner and stay out of history\u2019s way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      Or, I could embrace my inner Dad and climb aboard the socks and sandals train, shouting, “All aboard for a fashion trainwreck!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      If I wore socks and sandals these days, I\u2019d probably be the coolest Dad at the mall. However, in true Gen X fashion, I\u2019d hate myself for doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Look, I know this will make me sound like an old man shaking my fist at the clouds (because I am), but — what is going on with Gen Z…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,57],"tags":[143,138,137,140,139,141,142],"class_list":["post-1394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-writing","tag-birkenstocks-and-socks","tag-crocs","tag-gen-z-fashion","tag-mom-jeans","tag-mum-bum","tag-pit-vipers","tag-platform-sandals","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.craigsilliphant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/lotus.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craigsilliphant.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craigsilliphant.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craigsilliphant.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craigsilliphant.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craigsilliphant.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1394"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.craigsilliphant.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1416,"href":"https:\/\/www.craigsilliphant.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394\/revisions\/1416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craigsilliphant.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craigsilliphant.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craigsilliphant.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craigsilliphant.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}