The BEST Modern Fashion Generation? | Gen X vs Millenials vs Gen Z

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Reggie breaks down The BEST Modern Fashion Generation. Who wins between Gen X vs Millenials vs Gen Z?
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[jasonlocked]

Gen x =creation
millenials =marketing
gen z =resale

[nelnich]

What drives me nuts as a gen x is when gen z wear slayer and metallica shirts and don't even know a song. In my day, that would get you ripped on hard. Posers lol

[getbent]

Great commentary. Totally agree. Gen X kids (born from 1965 to 1980) drastically experimented with fashion from the late 70s, 80s and early 90s. People look back and laugh at the 70s disco outfits and 80s neon clothing and hair bands; however, Gen X broke apart gender-stereotypes with fashion. Cis men wore as much makeup and hairspray as women and trans-performers. Our neon clothes were the rainbow flag of our generation. Many musicians across genres promoted gender-fluidity and androgyny in the 80s. We grew up idolizing cross-dressing bands like Queen, Kiss, Prince, David Bowie, Boy George, Elton John, KD Lang, Grace Jones, Annie Lennox, The Cure, and many more. "Glam rockers" also embraced gender-fluid fashion including Motley Crew, Poison, Twisted Sister and Aerosmith. Kurt Cobain also wore dresses. Gen X pioneered the New Wave of gender-fluid fashion that continues today.

[burgy]

One thing about Gen X is that since we didn't have the internet or social media as an outlet for communication in the 80s to mid 90s, I think fashion played a huge role with our self-expression.

[ralphphillips]

I love watching Gen Z dress like the generations before them and act like they created it. How long till the skinny jeans make a comeback ?

[stormhawk]

I'm Gen X (born 1974), and just about everything you said about us and our style(s) is 100% dead on.

And, yes, I'm extremely protective of our style. My personal style is firmly rooted in the late 80s/early to mid 90s, and although it gets refreshed and updated, it has stayed consistent all these years.

Our style was influenced by the times. On the one hand, it was a time of affluence, even decadence (ESPECIALLY the 80s), as well as a time where we really thought the future was bright and things would keep getting better - especially after the Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War ended. You can hear that optimism in the music of the late 80s and early 90s, as well as see it in our movies, which are being endlessly and soullessly remade these days. It was just an optimistic time, where there was a sense that people's fingers had moved away from "The Button", and everyone could finally let out the breath we'd all been collectively holding, and finally breathe freely.

On the other hand, it was also a time of tremendous change. We were the generation that came at the end of the Civil Rights movement, and that showed in how we grew up. Racism was fading, and there was real effort at cross cultural understanding and appreciation. Anyone who doubts that should remember that the 80s was when rap and break-dancing went mainstream, and Michael Jackson was the biggest pop star on the planet. Growing up a mixed kid in a very mixed area on the East Coast, my friends were kids of all races and ethnicities, and none of us ever even realized it. But it wasn't without its struggles, either, and we hear echoes of that in the music of groups/artists like NWA and Tupac, as well as see it in all of Spike Lee's movies. But it was in the late 80s and early 90s that black culture really BECAME pop culture, and that influence persists today.

It was also a time when manufacturing started being shipped overseas in earnest, and factories began shutting down, leading to collapsing industries and towns, and an increase in homelessness, crime, and drugs, and in many cases, as times got harder, the stressing or disintegration of families. At the very least, it was increasingly common for both parents to work, leading to an entire generation of "Latchkey" kids who basically grew up in after school programs because their parents had to work. This contributed to a sense of frustration, insecurity, depression, and anger that we can see expressed in the Grunge fashion and music rebellion of the early to mid 90s.

And lest we forget, the 80s and 90s also gave us Heavy Metal, "hair bands", hip hop, boy (and girl) bands, drastically loosened sexual mores, the internet, cyber culture, and, by the end of it all, a real sense of being burned out, jaded, and wondering, "Is this all there is? Is this as good as it gets?"

It was a creative time, an exhilarating time. It was REAL. It was fresh and new and exciting and bursting with a sense that ANYTHING was possible, but also a confusion as to where it all was going. And all that vibrance and energy poured out and swirled together and produced the styles that people are still imitating today - sadly, without the SOUL.

I loved growing up as part of Gen X. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. It was a great time to be alive. And I still stay true to my personal style that was shaped and molded by being a mulatto kid growing up at the confluence of ALL of that culture. I am the place where hip hop, rap, heavy metal, and alternative come together and coalesce into something new and unexpected. I am the place where welfare kids and rich kids, John Hughes and Spike Lee come together. I am where Motley Crüe, Skid Row, NWA, Nice N Smooth, The Gin Blossoms, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, The Stone Temple Pilots, The Goo Goo Dolls, Tupac, Puff Daddy, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, and The Cranberries become one. For me, wearing the clothes I wear isn't an affectation; it isn't a soulless attempt to imitate the style of yesteryear without understanding it's context. I didn't appropriate my style, I LIVED it. My style is to me what some people's tattoos are to them: my personal story, and a reflection of who I am. And I love it.

[Truthseeker]

@ 9:43 1973 Xer, exactly, we did not even try....still wear my grunge sweater and worn-out pair of jeans. No internet until the mid-to-late 1990s (people seem to seriously forget that!) so did not rely on social media. Music largely influenced our fashion, pop-Style Madonna, grunge Nirvana etc and cannot be under-estimated. Profoundly individual, I never thought about my clothes as a status symbol either (we had these 1980s United Colors of Benetton crap adverts on TV but that never took off), I just wore what I thought would match my personality and so did my peers, even at school...I still do, and I still do not give a damn....Kurt was right all along.

[apocryphal]

I was going to say Gen X too, mainly because millennials built on that, and I'm weirdly nostalgic for fashion being about community. Self expression is fun, but it can still exist within community, and being able to guess a few of a person's interests by what they wore was helpful, socially.
I am curious what fashion will look like for Gen Z in hindsight, when there only seems to be time to create/recreate styles, and infuse trends, instead of creating visually distinct things. Most 'aesthetics' require a series of images build up enough to guess the direction of, and I don't know that that will be a strong reference point for people to look back on in the same way an image of a hippie, punk, or scene kid might be.

[anikadiamond]

Thank you for this! This is honestly the first time I've seen a Millennial give Gen X credit for anything. They seem to want to take credit for creating the era themselves. This is an excellent take!

[sNomad]

very interesting explanation of Gen X fashion. really never heard it described like this before

[diamondgirl]

Street wear was started by Gen X. FUBU, Cross Colors, Eko, Sean Jean, ect was made by Gen X and popularized by X.

[larryjr]

Have you noticed? Gen X. Looks tougher than everybody?? Lol it's the green waterhose!!

[SonOfOdin]

Gen X was amazing... music had a great influence on fashion back then, everything people wear now, had already been worn back then... take a look at Suicidal Tendencies pics or vids from the late 80s and early 90s

[brianduncan]

Gen X here (1979). High School years 1993 - 1997. My older siblings & cousins were all born in the early to mid 70's. Gen X fashion (imo) was all about being true to yourself, & what you felt looked cool. You (90's slang) "Rocked" it with confidence, because you felt it was true to your personality/culture.
I think the key factor is authenticity. (Generally speaking) We wore things not to fit-in, but we genuinely were (90's slang) "feeling" that our gear was just our style/personality.
Most of us didn't care what other people thought about what we were wearing. If we liked it, we were "Rocking" it, with quiet confidence. Like I previously mentioned, authenticity is the foundation.
Like the popular 90's slogan we "Kept it real." & we still do.

[olumideakingbade]

That b&w image of the brothers says it all !

[Ulfscher]

My fists are not wrinkly! Yet.

I feel that there was a shift in the way we dress and think about clothes in the 80's, largely due to the Japanese invasion of Paris. Suddenly the high fashion runways were filled with oversized, androgynous, deconstructed and sometimes distressed and torn swathes of black fabric. This was at a time when fashion was all about power dressing, glitz and traditional femininity/masculinity.

What's shown on the runways doesn't dictate what people on the street will wear, but it does filter down.

[lalabeauty]

Madonna is not Gen X. She’s a late Boomer. They call us Generation Jones. She started performing in the 70’s and got her first major label record deal in the 80’s

[gabodacostapty]

Hi there I'm here watching from Panama 🇵🇦

[donovandelaney]

What counts as a Millennial can get confusing. Some would say that I'm a late Millennial and others would say that I'm an early Zennial. I'm totally a Zennial.

[kimberlyn.]

Gen X all the way!!! We did what we wanted to. Still do. Most Gen Xer’s have a love/ hate relationship with technology, large scale operations, and will be haunted by the book 1984 forever. Cynicism and sarcasm are our jam!