Gen-Z and Fashion in the Age of Realism | BoF Insights

Research continues to show that while online shopping continues to grow across most demographics, the youngest customers, Gen Z’s remain very comfortable shopping in-store, particularly if it includes a high level of experience, both through tech and touch. Walker Sands research shows 59% of 18 to 25-year-olds prefer a “brand experience”, but it be... See more

It makes sense that norms are shifting in this direction as Gen Z’s influence spreads. Raised on social media, with access to once illicit bad-taste touchstones like Rocky Horror just a click away, they’ve largely replaced IRL subcultures with a constellation of aesthetics—cottagecore, dark academia, Y2K—to be performed, then discarded or demoted t... See more

Yes, this is 2024, where life increasingly feels like a huge in-joke that started on the internet. Once upon a time we had subcultures: punks and goths, hippies and emos. Now we have Gen Z’s perceptive trendspotters pinpointing a style or a mood that is sweeping the zeitgeist, coining a label for it — often with the suffix “-core” — and sharing it ... See more