Generation Z is embroiled in a fashion battle with millennials on TikTok after the younger generation called for skinny jeans to be canceled.
The negativity toward the trend of skintight denim isn’t new to the short form video app, as its young users have been encouraging people to get rid of their skinny jeans in favor of baggy jeans since the summer of 2020. More recently, however, older generations have been fighting back.
The hostility seemingly began when one user, who goes by momokhd, instructed viewers to throw out their skinny jeans, to burn them or to cut them up to create something entirely new. “Skinny jeans just aren’t for me but to each their own,” she captioned the video. And while not everybody followed suit, the conversation around skinny jeans being a thing of the past certainly caught on.
Teens especially began posting “transformation” videos of their pre and post-pandemic looks, showing off how they ended up favoring loose fitting pants while spending time in quarantine.
“Left skinny jeans in pre corona,” one user captioned her video.
Still, while some began to worry that their skinny jeans might be destined to collect dust in the back of their closets, others refused to follow the fashion rules of Gen Z.
Now, users ranging from millennials to baby boomers are defending a range of their favorite styles that are under attack — primarily skinny jeans and side parts — and poking fun at the younger generation for believing that their favorite baggy jeans are even a new style. “Those are the jeans I wore in the early 90’s! They totally think they are on to something new,” one user wrote.
Despite the ongoing argument between TikTok’s older and younger users, Lindsay Albanese, a fashion stylist and social media personality, says that skinny jeans aren’t in danger of going extinct.
“The truth is skinny jeans aren’t going anywhere because of their functionality and diversity,” she tells Yahoo Life. “They’re super easy to wear, brands have perfected their fit and comfort and they go with everything. For most of the world, those key points supersede a fleeting trend or fear of looking ‘uncool.’”
Some users have even created videos styling skinny jeans to show how versatile they are.
Still, Albanese is not surprised to see Gen Z, of all generations, being the ones to knock the longtime denim staple.
“This younger generation is gravitating towards this maximal fashion movement that has style sensibilities, from two different ends of the spectrum. Either it’s super-casual oversized sportswear, athleisure, ’90s street style, or it’s overtly sexy, midriff baring and form fitting,” she shares. “And skinny jeans are neither here nor there within that spectrum and have since been spat out as some thing totally ‘uncool’ among young trendsetters.”
The preference for the baggy jean style can also be a direct result of the pandemic, as people are opting for more functional and comfortable clothing, steering away from the tight jeans that were once reliable for regular wear. And although Albanese assures readers that “change is good” and occasionally switching up styles can be fun, it seems that enough people remain pro-skinny jean for argument’s sake.
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