Subverting the Inverted

What has changed about fashion as the industry begins dressing its youngest and shrewdest crowd yet?

- Manfred Lu

It is not revelatory to say that fashion is obsessed with chasing youth. Inherently quick to change, the fashion industry is subservient to its youngest consumers to inform on social and cultural trends, which aids in determining new styles and shifting buying behaviours. However, youths have never bore more influence on fashion than the scale at which Gen-Z has a generation that is slowly coming into its own as they enter the workforce.

Comprised of those born between 1997 to 2012, Gen-Z accounts for approximately 31 per cent of the world's population. They possess the highest purchasing power of their age group than at any other time in history. With no experience living in the analogue world and formative years steeped in widespread social movements, the climate crisis and a global pandemic - Gen-Z are ushered into a new era of "realism".

It changes a lot of things in fashion. For instance, the final trend report of Men's Folio released in the September '22 issue investigated the relevance of trends in fashion and uncovered a crucial shift in fashion consumption. With the advent of platforms such as TikTok, trends have a shorter life cycle that relegates their utility - resulting in the lesser need for a dominating trend - and the differentiating way Gen-Z tends to adapt trends into their styles contributed to an inversion of the design process. Trends are now moving upwards onto the runway and directly to brands and retailers instead of trickling down to the consumer.