‘72 born and I remember things like not being able to wear trousers for work, even having to wear a certain height of heel! So it wasn’t all good back then.
But yes in terms of the freedom for teens to experiment with image and expression I think current teens/early 20’s (own dd is 18) are really worryingly restricted. I’ve had many conversations with dd about how aside from goths there don’t seem to be clear “groups” that are into
different music, film, books etc
ALL the girls have long, straight, dark hair, they all seem to do their make up very similarly, wear the same clothes...
ALL the boys also have the same short hairstyle, don’t wear any make up unless they’re making a point, wear the same clothes...
and there’s a fear of being different which while we worried about “fitting in” to a degree it’s off the scale now!
There’s a pressure to conform which concerns me.
If you can’t experiment/play around with your image as a teen when can you?!
As a teen myself I played around with neon, denims in all colours, different “fits” (early 80’s tended to be tight stuff - boob tubes, leggings, ski pants late 80’s baggy jeans, batwing sweaters etc), masculine and feminine clothing, I had 50’s boys suits from charity shops which I styled with colourful braces and bow ties and pixie boots, or power dressing or “Sloane ranger” styling.
My parents were a weird mix
of permissive and strict, they weren’t fussed about the clothes as long as not too revealing but I wasn’t allowed to cut my long hair (“rebelled” by one of the first things i did when I left home aged 17 was getting a wedge flip haircut - remember them? Only to realise my parents were right and I don’t suit short hair!) but I was allowed to dye it, inc (temp - school rules) mad colours like neon pink or electric blue - I think it was both one summer holiday, I was allowed to wear heels but not too high and not every day - pretty sensible really my mums feet were mangled from wearing high heeled pointed shoes throughout the 60’s and she didn’t want my sister or I suffering as she does/did.
Even the music/film/sm people the “young ‘uns” aspire to are largely quite boring now!
I remember dd telling me little mix had created a “scandal” with some supposedly revealing concert outfits yet when I looked they really weren’t that bad, certainly Madonna, Cher and even Brooke shields were FAR more scandalous back in the day!
“and what I think is missing these days is the amateurish nature of things in the 70s - people made their own fashion items, used their sewing machines and just sort of cobbled stuff together how they wanted sometimes” yes! And in the 80’s too! One sleeved tops and ripped jeans weren’t originally bought/made like that we’d customise stuff all the time.
My dd has done this too but she’s definitely the exception rather than the rule, and it’s kind of a necessity for her - she is very tall and has long limbs at least partly due to her disability affects this kind of thing so she’s cut off sleeves that sit at weird lengths or bought longer skirts then modified them into mini skirts because the ones originally sold as mini’s wouldn’t cover her arse! She’s also added fabric to lengthen sleeves/legs/skirt lengths she also has a very slim waist in proportion to hips so has altered jeans and trousers to fit better, but she’s also done stuff for fun like rips, “graffiti”, dying things different colours... her friends think she’s way out there and are surprised I “let” her but it seems normal to me. She usually knows what she’s doing and on the odd occasion it’s gone wrong by this point it’s her money she’s wasting as she works full time now and buys her own clothes.
My mum used to help us alter stuff too and had ideas, even dad would suggest ways to alter suits to fit better or how best to press them so they’d sit a certain way.
But yes now it all seems so prescriptive and whatever the opposite of creative might be!
“In the 90s, I noticed that young people on the streets were starting to look less interesting and more conformist” I’d agree with that
I’ve also the strange experience that because my parents are both the eldest of big families I have aunts and uncles that are closer in age to me than to them and I remember the uncles having proper hippy long hair, wearing sarongs in summer, platform heeled boots, eyeliner and cheek sparkle, the aunties going bra less and wearing loads of colour both clothes and make up, all being into different music and film, books AND POLITICS which was great for me - think it added many grey hairs to my grandparents heads though 😂
Although even the military side were fairly easy going with this kind of thing. Although I do remember my gran outright forbidding one aunt from going out bra less in a thin cream cotton top as her breasts were clearly visible! Even I thought that was a bit much! (Auntie was arguing top not that see through - it was!)
@Tely04 excellent post! Please do stick around Mumsnet isn’t just for mums we talk about loads of interesting things here.
My dd also enjoys 80’s music (though oddly not the music I like from then 😂) and has been teased about it. She’s a big synth pop fan. But she also
Likes some modern stuff
But yes she’s also said that the themes in modern stuff are restrictive and samey she loves that in 80’s music there’s also songs about family, society, politics, environment, inanimate objects!, emotions other than love, bereavement etc
I’m a big George Michael fan myself and yes he did a lot of “love songs” but he also wrote about family, grief, hardship, politics...
Tanith - you could be right - conformity as rebellion, like saffy
In Ab Fab being uptight as her mum was so out there and would have been unphased even applauded a “normal” rebellion
Re uni students - yes they’re turning up and “learning” but I hear (and witnessed this myself as a mature student) they don’t QUESTION they are more likely to blindly accept now, I was hearing from lecturers even then (early 00’s) that they were pleased they were showing up (even though this is largely financially motivated) but frustrated that they were somehow nervous of questioning what they were being taught, scared to offend lecturers for fear of a bad grade - yet good educators welcome challenge and new ideas and want their students to think for themselves not learn by rote! One lecturer had a bit of a fit after being asked for the umpteenth time “will it be on the exam though sir?” Uni is meant to be for broadening the mind not just passing exams!
“Isn't the FWR mantra every one should wear what they want/ look however they want” yes of course, I suspect the others I’m agreeing with on that though like me are concerned that they’re not dressing/styling themselves like that because it’s what they want but because they feel under such pressure to conform.
One of dds friends cut her hair short because she’s naturally very curly and it was a pita “doing” it every day - the shock it caused was utterly ridiculous! And she even had some very nasty comments from some.
In terms of “pure” feminism there seems a worrying trend of regression inc some of dds friends being “talked to” by employers for daring to wear trousers to work!