Teenagers - too much focus on fashion nowadays?

[FashionVictimFour]

This is a genuine AIBU by the way!

Teenage DS15. Very focused on fashion, compared to how I was at his age, spending time on ebay etc looking for "stuff". Currently he's staking out a winter 'parka' . Most of his peers seem pretty similar.

At his age in the late 70s, I bought a few things from Top Shop or Chelsea Girl, but really had very little by comparison.

I think its nice to have some decent clothes, and its good to take pride in your appearance, but it all seems a bit OTT to me.

I know what you mean. Over Christmas I worked in a branch of a well-known American lingerie store, most of the staff were teens/20s (I’m 38) and we got on well. The biggest difference was they were all ‘Did you see what xxxx was wearing on Instagram last night?” and so on. They also used to plan outfits for going shopping in! I mean, I have a think about what I’ll wear if I’m going somewhere special but not just for a mooch round the town centre! I suppose what everyone thinks of you is a big deal at that age - I couldn’t care less now!

I’m all for it!!! But l do have a degree in fashion and worked in design for 10 years. Some are interested and some aren’t.

I'm in my 30s and some people at school were like this when i was a teenager. Others were really into music, others football, others cars. Teenagers have always had obsessions, fasion has been one of them for a while.

I’m ancient and bloody love my clothes and styling them.

times have changed though in the 70,s and 80,s we didnt have instagram etc it wasent a 24 hour society my friends couldnt see what i was wearing at home etc .

When I was a teenager, clothe were very important. I was part of the group who scoured markets and charity shops for vintage finds, for others, it was all about the perfectly customised band T-shirt, or copying the styles of the supermodels, and so on. I've seen photos of my parents in the 60s, and they were complete hippy clothes-horses in fabulous beads and sequins.

never before in the history of the world have teenagers been into fashion.

My mum (66yo) used to bunk off school to get the train up to Carnaby St, it's hardly a new thing!

I don’t think it’s new at all!
It might be more accessible due to the internet but the obsession was always there

This is something people have said about teenagers since the concept of teenagers came into being, and about 'the youth' long before that. I am currently (for work/my research) reading a lot of sixteenth century complaints that students were too interested in their clothes rather than studying. This is not a new thing (and it's as much about the adults doing the judging as about the young people doing the clothes shopping)

I agree with those that say that this is nothing new.
I was a teenager in the 70s and had fashion obsessed friends; there were all sorts of tribes from designer to preppy to punk to rocker to new romantic etc. The only thing that I see is different is access as, although people spent time pouring over magazines and browsing the shops we didn't have the instant gratification of clicking on the internet or indeed the money. Disposable fashion didn't really exist.
FWIW my 3 have had an interest in their appearance but not spent any significant amount of time thinking about their clothes. In particular my 16 yo has little or no interest in fashion. None of them are recluses and their friends are similar to them.

No your just getting old.

The way for them to get obsessed are more prominent and means they get to obsess at home too like online shopping and eBay but teens used to get on a bus or walk to stand in front of a shop window that contained an item they couldn't afford unless they sold a kidney

It's happened in various ways in every decade since the early 1900's to different degrees although as the country became richer things progressed faster, fashion, makeup and music being the general triggers for obsession and every "parent" generation has talked of they are obsessed with that music or fashion item, I was never like that when I was young.

Ribbons, lace, fans and hats, swing skirts and mod coats, flares and "hippywear" shell suits, power suits and shoulder pads, velvet bell bottoms, bindies, ck1 and timberland boots, are all things from the top of my head.

I'm too old to know recent trends

I think there's more disposable income now so fashion is more throwaway.
Fashions lasted a decade rather than a season. Which is why the obsession is higher

this is nowhere near a new thing. some people are more into it than others, but teens being into fashion has been going on a long long time, across all demographics too. teds/mods/skinheads/football casuals etc, all mainly young working class men who would think nothing of spending a week or more's wages on a specific quality garment, and yes, in those days some of them would be working and doing that at 15. have you read clothes clothes clothes boys boys boys music music music by viv albertine? she'd go out without her bus fare home but dressed to the nines. it's just not true that this is a new social media led thing.

I was obsessed with fashion in my teens & ended up in the industry. I would go to sleep planning my outfits etc. The one difference I’ve noticed is people seemed more individual in my youth, different tribes etc. Now everyone wants to look & dress the same whereas I didn’t want to wear the same/similar dress everyone else has, but maybe that’s more of a London thing?

This nothing new
I was obsessed with fashion as a teenager in the 80s and my mum was too in the 60s
Maybe it's more acceptable for boys now but I had many goth friends who were boys who spent way more than I did on clothes and they had a bigger make up collection
My dad was a pretty sharp dresser on the 60s with his 2 tone suits and da hair style
Teenagers haven't changed

I spent £300 on two pairs of imported Nike trainers when I was 19 😱😱

You are mistaking fashion for branded.

I was heavily into fashion at that age, as were all my friends and my own teens are the same. Fashion doesn't always equal brand though.

Fashion doesn't always equal brand though

But sometimes it does.

Absolutely. My teen DD wants to go on holiday as she has found the ideal 'airport outfit'

I don't think it's teens that have changed. I agree it's the internet having made society and fashion infinitely more accessible than it was when we were all growing up.

25 years ago there was no way of sitting at home and finding out what celebs- or even kids in the next town along- were wearing. Our fashion influences were limited to seeing what friends dressed in, or what we could find by physically going round the shops on a Saturday afternoon.

Now teens can browse online shopping or Instagram all day to see what's "in" or not.

I dunno if it's a bad thing tho. It isn't a source of upset for any of my DC currently. They quite like browsing.

If anything, I'd say teens were more cosmopolitan and less brand-obsessed than they were at my school.

It isn't new, and it doesn't stand as a generalistaion that fits across all teens either.

I was only watching a programme recently about how the mods at the end of the 50s were all about the fashion.

I have teens myself who aren't the slightest bit interested in fashion.

Yup, YABU

I took my nearly 17yo shopping yesterday for some clothes. I had to pretty much drag her out of the house and force her into the shops. She wouldn't have a clue what's fashionable if it hit her over the head.

Over Christmas I worked in a branch of a well-known American lingerie store, most of the staff were teens/20s (I’m 38) and we got on well

Assuming you mean Victoria's Secret? While we were shopping for underwear yesterday DD and I were talking about how stupid you'd have to be to actually pay VS prices when you can get better stuff other places so much cheaper.