Dfferences between the stereotypical fashion/aesthetic of Millennials and Gen Z

milkmaid dress

What are the differences between the stereotypical fashion/aesthetic of Millennials and Gen Z?

This question was sort of inspired TikTok trends I saw recently where a teenage girl was browsing milkmaid dress clothing websites online, and the caption she posted was: "Why are all sustainable brands if... Millennials? 🤢 “As someone who sort of straddles the two generations/is on the “high point”, I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant haha, so I thought I’d ask here.

Mind you, I recognize that people of all ages can adopt a certain aesthetic in their "look", such as milkmaid dress but I don't think it's strange that certain fashion styles are more associated with one generation than another. This discussion can also include hair and makeup styles.

For me, Gen Z is a lot of clothes that aren't work-appropriate but are a lot of fun. Lots of crop tops, bras, spaghetti straps, usually midriff showing, then baggy pants. Lots of thrifty and also cheap fast fashion. Doc Martens and other platform shoes. Very 90s/early 2000s. Long acrylic nails, false eyelashes. Really fun and can be a really “hot but trashy” style

Millennial fashion is more professional/higher quality/structured within inspired TikTok trends. Linens, pants, heels, sandals, etc. Frankly, I think it has to do with the fact that millennials have more money. Discreet hair, nails and makeup. Neutral colors and patterns. It's a more mature style

I think in this conversation it's sort of difficult to distinguish what was millennial style about 10 years ago, when millennials were a comparable age, from the way millennials dress today, which is more heavily influenced by the fact that we work/have kids/aren't in high school now.

As for why sustainable brands are more millennial, it's because sustainable brands will never be cheap and ideally clothing should have some staying power. Younger people don’t have a lot of money and also tend to change it more often. A sustainable brand inspired from milkmaid dress trend would have a harder time marketing this.

I've seen a few comments saying Gen Z is trendy in early 2000, but this has been popular among the millennial tumblr hipsters where I live since at least 2012. I still think it's cute, but I think it's funny when people act like it's a new obsession. . The main difference, I think, is that in general, teenagers and 20-22 year olds are more into wearing risky clothes, and clothes with a cutesy, teenage vibe, like a lot of kitsch stuff from the early 2000s , like a sleeveless top with a butterfly on it, a mini skirt and several barrettes in the hair.

But I guess inspired TikTok trends referring to a lot of sustainable brands that are going for a simplistic, classic, professional vibe. I think part of it is that they have limited selection so they need to be versatile, and their target demographic is probably young professionals because they need to be more expensive than what a lot of people are used to it. I've always hated that when I try to find vegan shoes, a lot of them look very "safe" or casual.