Generation Who?

Photo: Jak & Jill

Coined Generation X, I am living the “ironic” life of a Generation Y-er, while parenting children that are proud members of Generation Z, the iGeneration, or the Net Generation. I read a very provocative online article in last week’s New York Times Oped Section titled How to Live without Irony, which was essentially a reaction against the “hipster” ethos of today’s technologically savvy Millennial members. Without selling anybody short or poking fun at stereotypes in the fashion world, and without risking living “ironically”, style and street fashion would be D-E-A-D. Although statements of sincerity are nice, to stereotype these young people in such a negative manner because of their outward appearance, adaptive social conventions, or their greater propensity to use technology is reductionism at its worst. To judge somebody’s exterior as an indicator of what they believe in is an unjustifiable obsession. After all, I do love hats.

Not just comic figures in sitcoms, these students of cool are growing up in their own pain, relying on the Internet age as their base. I feel for these “scholars of social forms” having to bounce between being the CEO of their own twitter accounts, the iPhone, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, texting, sexting, and You Tube. And my kids think I’m a freak? I used to watch Bart Simpson who achieved fame in the 90′s for saying “Who cares what we look like in whatever stupid year this is.” Maybe he is right.

Irony is the basis of humor. Maybe the hipsters want to wear a Bart t-shirt to poke fun at their parents who thought they were cool. I can totally relate to that. If you are a proponent of describing your wardrobe as costume-like, or a reference to something else i.e.: nerdy, hipster, school-girl, you are therefore dressing ironically. You have made a choice to purposefully stand out, therefore, it is vital that you poke fun of your sartorial choices. We are our own rock stars in the game of getting dressed.

Photo: Street Pepper

Irony may be to some a lousy way to live. But it doesn’t keep you from having deep relationships in reality vs cyber friends on Instagram. Fashion for fashion’s sake, isn’t practical. Who would wear 6-inch heels and bare legs in the snow to attend a store opening? Me, duh. How about mixing plaids and houdstooth, with long denim shorts and orange Nikes? There’s Susie Bubble right below. If I, or plenty of others for that matter, worried about what others think and wasn’t self-deprecating, I know I couldn’t be in the business of fashion blogging, and life would be simply put, boring.