Tik Tok Fashion Rules

I had planned to write about how sustainability is finally more than a token gesture at fashion week, but just as a settled down to fill you in, a funny fashion story landed on my lap via Tik Tok, that felt a little more light hearted (plus sustainability in fashion isn't a story thats going away) If you are not familiar with Tik Tok, its a video sharing social media app,

you may have seen clips of celebrities lip-synching or attempting a choreographed dance routine during lock-down, but its also used By Gen-Z (those age 16-24) as their soap-box, this week it the humble skinny jeans getting a bashing, apparently the one-time wardrobe staple should be either put in the bin, burned or cut up and made into something else. Millenials have been instructed to stop wearing them in an attempt and i quote “to look younger”. 

Now i am not currently a skinny jean fan, I'm not currently an any jean fan, I'm a stretchy pants only zone, but when i did wear jeans they were of the straight variety, by the time i wear real clothes again, straight jeans might be deeply unfashionable and I may be forced  to have a re-think, but on behalf of skinny jean wearers everywhere i was horrified and amused in equal measures, horrified because of the mean spirited way it was communicated.

i thought the younger generation were a little more open minded, and amused because being that little bit older and having worked in fashion for two decades i know that fashion, particular denim fashion is cyclical. There aren't many denim styles that don't work there way back into our wardrobes so I'm always cautious about what i rule-out (i can safely say for the sake of decency you wont ever catch me in the super-low rise bumsters made famous by Alexander McQueen) but once you hit your mid 30s its likely you've tried them all, skinny, straight, boyfriend, girlfriend, bootcut, flare, and if you've stuck with skinny (like many a Kate Moss fan) its because they're easy, no torn hems from being too long, and if they're high waisted, you have learnt all the tricks.

As for Gen Z, in the words of Yoda, much to learn, you still have.