You think baby boomers, and you picture "hippie" or maybe "disco." You think Generation X, you think "grunge" or "metrosexual."
Every generation, it seems, can be boiled down to a signature look or two, at least in the hindsight of a few decades. But what of Generation Z?
Most members of this generation are still in high school (if not elementary school), so it may be a little early to say. So far, the prevailing style for many still tends toward the timelessly teenage: jeans, cool sneakers and messy hair for boys; jeans, cool sneakers and neat hair for girls.
Marketing gurus are trying to position this nonlook as a trend in itself: anti-style as a generational instinct. In a recent report called "Meet the Centennials" -- another name for Generation Z -- the Futures Co., a global marketing consultancy, reported that 47 percent of the youths it surveyed (ages 12 to 17) say they "care a lot about whether their clothes are in style," compared with 65 percent for millennials surveyed in 1999.
"Young people feel much more emboldened to express their own sense of style rather than mimicking a peer-accepted uniform or dress code compared to previous generations," says Rob Callender, the company's director of youth insights. "In short, there's a strong 'you do you' ethos among teens today."
Maybe.
But there is also a robust global industry of youth-oriented apparel brands, along with fashion magazines and style blogs, dedicated to the time-honored premise that cooler-than-thou clothes are, as always, up there with food, water or oxygen as staples for many teenagers.
While it may be too early to settle on a defining look for Generation Z, here are some styles making noise among the younger-than-Bieber crowd.
Gender Neutral
In a world where Jaden Smith, the 17-year-old son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, can establish himself as a Generation Z style icon by showing up at his prom with a skirt, as he did in the spring, accompanied by Amandla Stenberg from The Hunger Games, it's fair to say that the XY chromosome distinction seems a little passe for at least some of today's teenagers.
"This group seem much less attached to traditional gender binaries or linear definitions of sexuality," says Lucie Greene, a trend forecaster at J. Walter Thompson, the advertising giant. "It's all about individualism and the right to be whatever you want."
Greene cited fashion brands like Telfar and 69 Worldwide, recently featured in a New York Times article, as exemplars of the trend. Lucky Blue Smith, the ice-blond 17-year-old male model who, at a distance, could pass for the 1992 version of Linda Evangelista, could be the poster child for the look.
Neo-Rave
Generation Z is largely the spawn of Generation X, so it's not entirely surprising that it seems to have inherited a taste for the rave look, a 1990s staple. Shop Jeen, the popular Web retailer, is brimming with pop art-style skirts printed with a giant Coca-Cola logo, tie-dyed maxidresses and rainbow chokers, all of which seem to beg for a spin of Dad's old Prodigy CD.
And then there's Miley Cyrus -- a late millennial, yes, but also a Generation Z style avatar. As host of MTV's Video Music Awards in August, this Hannah-Montana-gone-bad turned the telecast into a virtual runway show of '90s-club-kid retro chic, with her rhinestone sunglasses in the shape of peace signs, fake dreadlocks and polka-dot jumpsuits. All that was missing was a cameo from Deee-Lite's Lady Miss Kier.
Rocker Redux
Whether you call them Generation X, Y or Z, teenagers are still teenagers. No wonder the punkish signifiers of rebellion for their parents' generation are making a comeback.
Brandy Melville, the explosively popular retail site for teenage girls, features Nirvana T-shirts and Kurt Cobain-esque plaid shirts, perfect for tying at the waist. Teen Vogue's beauty trend report for spring cited vintage Patti Smith-style shag haircuts and ripped-fishnets-era Courtney Love scarlet lipstick as trends for 2015.
The generation also has its own rockers, like Bea Miller, a 16-year-old from New Jersey hailed by Rolling Stone as a "punky, angsty, rock-tinged new voice." She certainly dresses the part, hitting the streets in a leather motorcycle jacket and hair dyed blue-green. It's a look that is a little bit Joey Ramone, a little bit 1990s Tower Records clerk. Either way, it rocks.
Normcore
What started as an in joke for Brooklyn hipsters (or, perhaps, a media creation) just may possibly kind of sort of be catching on with teenagers in 2015, at least according to young style bloggers who are seeing a shift among some teenagers toward nonstyle that is right in line with the Futures Co.'s findings.
Evita Nuh, the 16-year-old Indonesian behind the popular fashion blog The Creme de la Crop, who has been held up by Elle as a "next Tavi," as in Gevinson, sees a dawning moment "when you are actually fashionable by looking like you don't care about fashion at all." For those who opt for oversize sweaters, baseball caps and jogging pants, "it's basically the laundry-day look," she says.
The look has some celebrity endorsement. When Kendall Jenner, the 19-year-old model, is not striding the runway, she pops up on Pinterest boards wearing #normcore mom jeans and cropped sweatshirts.
It's a look that seems to cross age boundaries and borders. Hollie Williamson, the British teenager behind the blog Ditzy and Whimzy, sees a surge in plain-Jane white Reebok sneakers and '90s jeans too recent to be "retro." "Ugliness," she says, "is, like, a trend."
Style on 10/27/2015