If you ’ve ever call up to yourself , I am getting previous , but I do n’t feel my agethen this read is for you .
If you’ve been clothing shopping recently — heck even in the last couple years — then you have probably noticed that a lot of the clothes being carried in stores (looking at you, Target) are just straight out of the ’90s and Y2K-era.
And you also might have opened TikTok and stumbled across videos of Gen Z’ers combing through thrift stores looking for authentic “vintage” ’90s and early ’00s clothing. Needless to say, if you were a millennial who wore that clothing in middle school and/or high school you’re probably asking yourself three things: 1.) Ewwww, why is that coming back in style?, 2.) Am I that old?, and 3.) Could I wearsomeof the styles again even though I wore them back when they were new?
Well, we’ve got an answer: it’s the20-year rule. Most fashions and trends cycle every 20-plus years, with the ’90s and early ’00s being firmly within that (so Gen Z’ers never got to experience those trends). Yes, we are getting old! Nearly all millennials are now in their thirties or early forties. And lastly, probably (?), unlike our parent’s generation, it’s safe to say millennials don’t feel “old” or out of the loop with current trends or pop culture…so it’s likely we’ll incorporate some of that Y2K-style into our clothing — and probably with our own updated spin so it doesn’t feel like we’re trying to dress like young twentysomethings.
This is actually something that New York Times contributing opinion editor Jessica Bennett spoke about in a very interestingTikToktitled, “I Refuse the Graceful Slide Into Cultural Irrelevance” which was recently uploaded to the New York Times Opinion channel, and which is based on anarticleof the same name which she wrote for the paper back in August (and I highly recommend you read).
Jessica Bennett , who teaches journalism at New York University and is a center - aged millennial , recently found herself at the same stripe as one of her students . She had plump there because it ’s in her neighborhood and it serves only natural wine , “ better for old - someone hangovers , ” she explains . The student was there because she ’d meet the bar on TikTok . “ There we were , at the same post , both of us wondering what exactly that say about each of us — did it make her nerveless and me lame , or the other way around ? ” Jessica says . Indeed , because of her old age , the head of her coolness has been on Jessica ’s mind a slew latterly . She has begin to understand — or perhaps panic about — just how much of her professional identity element has been establish on coolness . “ Why should geezerhood come with a permanent departure of cultural cachet , if you have n’t entirely given up ? Of course I do n’t want to drop off my poise , ” Jessica says . “ I have intercourse too much about what happens to citizenry ’s relevance as they age , the manner our civilization continues to valorize youth ( especially for women ) . ” So Jessica has decide to work on being nerveless , like a job . “ Cool used to come up effortlessly ; now it requires aid . I call up of it less like clinging and more like uphold — like a well cutis care act . ”#geriatricmillennial#genzvsmillennials#nytopinion
Jessica, who describes herself as a “geriatric millennial,” starts off by saying that she has noticed that she has seen young people dress exactly the way she dresses. The thing is, as Jessica points out, she is just dressing like herself, and in the TikTok, she was actually wearing a vintage ’90s T-shirt that she has owned since then.
And she goes on to say that seeing young people dressed like her had become something that had “gotten” into her head and it made her think that maybe she was “trying too hard to still be cool” or trying to hold on to her youth.
Jessica then explains that every generation has to deal with aging and that it can be tough to navigate. She points out though that aging for previous generations came with a “trade-off” with becoming “uncool,” usually a stable job, kids, retirement, and a house. However, that’s not something a lot of millennials have as compared to, like, boomers.
And with more and more Gen Z’ers entering adulthood and dictating what’s cool and what’s trendy, Jessica wondered where that cultural power shift leaves millennials. She asks if we’re now “the old guys” and the “ones trying too hard.” However, Jessica says she ended up deciding what she wants for herself: she wants to keep up with things (partially because her job demands she be in the “know”), she’s going to work harder at it, and that she doesn’t want to fade “into cultural irrelevance.”
Many people commented on Jessica’s feelings towards dressing the way she wants — whether or not it may look like she is trying to dress young:
While other people resonated with Jessica’s determination to stay in “the know” with trends and things going on in pop culture:
Okay, here are my two cents on this: I agree with Jessica. Millennials are truly the first generation that has come of age with the internet and adapted to everything from dial-up, AIM, and Myspace to using smartphones, TikTok, and Instagram. I think as a generation we have always been ones to want to adapt to what’s new, so I think that being ingrained into us makes us want to naturally keep up. So I believe as a generation, we will probably fight off fading “into cultural irrelevance” unlike previous generations.
