A lot of words get thrown aorund these days
regarding identity and generation politics. “Hipster”, “scenester”, “the lost generation”... They’re just words, but depending on who utters them and at whom they’re directed, they can be badges, powerful monikers, or insulting misnomers. Why the fuss? They are just words, after all. Yet, as identity is becoming increasingly important, it is also harder to find and claim in a society that is booming and possibly past its evolutionary expiration date. Somehow, we ended up with the delightful titles of “the Y generation” and “the lost generation”. Implications of children with no direction in life and little value to society or their forbears are intended. We leave our families sooner than previous generations, there may not be a place for us among the workforce, and our purposes are unclear. Yet we are incredibly tech-savvy and demanding. It has to be the latest phone, the newest gadget, the hottest jeans, the look of tomorrow - today. Think about it - your parents were probably part of the “flower child” generation. They attended sit-ins and championed free love and equality before they got pregnant and had to face the realities that a new child would bring. Before you came around, there was leather, daisies, and paisley aplenty. Each successive generation after also had their visual signifiers, some original banner that spoke of the values of an entire population. The freedom of the 60s was a reaction to the staunchness and crinoline repression of the 50s; the 50s were a logical follow-up to the second World War, where the nuclear family was fractured, and both men and women were forced into uncustomary roles; and before that there was the Depression and the roaring 20s, conjuring up images of moth-eaten zoot suits and tattered furs that once adorned flapper shoulders. Indeed, every generation has its factions of fashion that point to some zeitgeist and are often the direct product of what preceded it. We are no exception. We have...Forever 21. Buffalo Exchange. Goodwill. Nowadays, it’s all fast fashion and and second hand fashion. Ther are still big name designers and a few indie darlings, but are there really any new ideas? There’s the saying that in fashion, everything old is new again, but that does away with the notion that things get old or go out of style, which is ultimately what drives the fashion industry. The reality is this - designers and tastemakers are constantly looking to the past for inspiration. One need only look at the nouveau hippies being sent down the runway recently to find evidence.
coined to describe fast fashion made and bought on the cheap and totally disposable. This is perhaps the biggest symptom of 21st century living. We have become accustomed to having everything NOW, and designers, nostalgics, and those who can’t go shopping every other day lament. Naturally, the opposite of the fast fashion craze is the glorification of everything vintage. Especially here in Austin, vintage is a way of life, and in certain parts of town, it’s almost like a uniform. Every cool kid worth his Chuck Taylors owns something old, be it a shirt, a bike, a couch, or the shoes on his hip little feet. Something else to consider is the momentum the green movement is gaining. No longer just confined to the old “reduce, reuse, recycle”, the green movement is a factor quickly shaping the socio-political landscape of Austin. Fashion is not exempted from the green treatment. There are green designers, green fabric production, recycled fabric and more. Even vintage stores, resale shops, and concepts like Buffalo Exchange are considered part of the green movement. Other green options around town are the City Wide Garage Sale and the swap meets that occur in various locales any given weekend, and digging through your own junk to find buried treasures from the past to rework or restyle is the new thing. Perhaps the new slogan of the green movement should be “reduce, reuse, recycle, rediscover”. Oh, and doing it yourself gets you extra street credit. Now that an entire generation is “doing it yourself”, buying vintage, scoring designer duds at thrift stores, and dropping less than twenty bucks a pop for a pair of jeans that are so right now; now that everyone you know is apparently a hipster; now that everything we see looks like something you’ve already seen - in your mother’s closet, in your closet now, in your closet when you were in middle school, high school, or college, what we do? What name do we go by? I don’t know about anyone else, but as far as feeling “lost”, who doesn’t every now and then? If I don’t know my purpose in life at 26, maybe it’s because I know there are at least fifty good years for me to think about it. This is my proposal: a new name befitting a new generation that borrows freely from others, because maybe it has all been seen before. Although, it hasn’t been seen in quite the same way. Reduce, reuse, recycle, rediscover, remix. “Generation Y”? Nope. “The lost generation”? Sounds like the title for a Pepsi commercial from hell. This is the Recycled Generation, and it’s the mirror being held up by the world. Everything seen is a reflection of something, somewhere, and maybe we should all stop and take a closer look. - Amber Fee
Another word is being thrown around today: “trashion”,
JUNE 2011
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