One of the strongest manifestations of the Perversity of Fashion is seen in teenagers, and I don’t just mean their susceptibility to trends. My generation of teen (coming of age in the 1990s) wore baggy or boot cut jeans; one look at the current crop of kids and you see skinny ankles everywhere. It was barely conscious, but my group of teens was reacting to/rejecting the tapered ankles of the 1980s, and the new teens are positioning themselves against the pants of my day. This is part of the fashion cycle in general, but seems more intense, direct and necessary in adolescents.
In the June 2010 issue of The Atlantic there’s an article by Caitlin Flanagan about the modern “hook up” culture teens are experiencing (“Love Actually”). This article chiefly discusses the cycles and changes of youthful sexual experience, but it refers to the adolescent fashion reactions as an example of teen cultural transition, and I thought Flanagan expressed it with remarkable precision and insight.
She writes: The answer lies – as does the answer to so much teenage behavior – in the mores and values of the generation (no, of the decade) immediately preceding their own. This tiny unit of time is always at the heart of what adolescents do, because as much as each group imagines itself to be carving new territory out of nothing more than its own inspired creativity, the youngsters don’t have enough experience to make anything new – or even to recognize what might be clichéd. All they know is the world they began to take notice of when they turned 12 or 13 ; all they can imagine doing to put their mark on that world is to either advance or retreat along the lines that were already drawn for them.
Wow. Caitlin Flanagan got it spot on and said it so well.
I'm very happy you're still posting so vigorously - considering how incredibly busy you must be.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that I fully understand or agree with the viewpoint in this post. I'm thinking specifically about the generation preceding mine. They created punk rock and a new fashion aesthetic along with it. True, it was in reaction to the previous generation but what they manifested was something unique fashion-wise, musically and philosophically. One can point to the various movements that inspired it but it was an extremely creative and unique era. It was new and was not cliched.
Sorry if I confused the point you were trying to make. I probably misinterpreted.
I didn't get into it, but I actually think of punk, hippie and goth as existing separately from these teen style bubbles. They are perennial choices that exist outside of the normal realm and are ways for certain kids to set themselves apart from it completely. They influence and creep constantly into high fashion, but when it comes to adolescents they represent a different choice associated with outsider status.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes punk was a reaction to hippies and early 70s ennui. It definitely has its place on the cycle.
ReplyDelete