In summer, there are old man's vests and cloth shoes, and in winter, there are military coats and flower cotton jackets...... Have you noticed that it seems that since when this generation of young people is "abandoning fashion", or rather, they are redefining a new fashion -
Compared with the "good-looking premium" of empty heads, they began to return to the essence of the product, paying more attention to the cost performance and their own wearing experience - whether it is comfortable, whether it is convenient, whether it can be thrown into the washing machine without feeling distressed.
Pragmatism, a new philosophy for young people
If you choose the Internet buzzwords in 2023, "It's not that XX can't afford it, but XX is more cost-effective" will probably be one of them.
In this "more cost-effective" fill-in-the-blank question, the young people selected the grandmother vest, the old man's cardigan, the military coat, the flower cotton jacket, and the down liner...... and other former "dirt clothes".
Although you can also brush up on a variety of matching strategies for these clothes, it is obvious that the street is no longer the core appeal of young people, everyone chooses them because they have cheaper prices, better quality at the same price, more comfortable wearing experience, and greater inclusiveness.
Image source: Xiaohongshu
With an old grandmother's vest inside, an old man's cardigan, and a thick cotton jacket, in terms of dressing, young people let go of mutual scrutiny, began to care more about personal feelings, and used their own actions to say "no" to gazes and stereotypes, after all, clothes are for wearing, and their own comfort is more important than others' evaluation.
This pragmatic shift is reflected in every aspect of today's young people's lives.
At one time, "delicate makeup" was once considered a manifestation of a woman's professionalism, and going out with makeup was even seen as a form of respect for others. But times have changed, and today's young people want to waste as little time on makeup as possible, trying to quickly create a face that can go out with the least amount of time and tools, and many even let themselves go - stop drawing. After all, makeup is for others to see, and the time saved is your own.
In addition to clothes and makeup, big-name bags that used to occupy the front line of fashion PK have also begun to be neglected by young people. Today's young generation has long been out of the context of "saving money to buy a big-name bag", and their choice of bags is more light and economical - canvas bags, non-woven bags, and even takeaway bags. As for what others think, that's someone else's problem, and young people are self-consistent enough at this point.
Image source: Xiaohongshu
A change in perception
It is an awakening of self-awareness
For a long time, behind the trendy aesthetic is actually a kind of group anxiety.
The prevalence of BM style will cause people to be anxious about their appearance, and some people will feel that they can't wear clothes in small sizes because they are "not standard enough" and not beautiful enough, and then fall into the whirlpool of weight loss, and even ignore their physical health. The saying that "high heels are the clothes of the workplace" stuffs young girls' feet into painful shoes, trapping working women in the trap of self-proof of professional ability. Behind the pursuit of fashion and luxury goods is often a herd mentality, feeling that "what others have, I should also have", and some people will even connect the value of fashion and luxury goods with their own value, thinking that having these is success.
And the courage to wear the former "dirt clothes" out of the house, the courage to "abandon fashion", is a kind of rejection of appearance anxiety and herd mentality, the pursuit of a "low-pressure" state - "they are them and I am me", today's young people are well aware of this.
can prove this from the side, as well as a recent hot search: "Young people with a monthly salary of 20,000 only go to the discount area". It is true that we cannot deny the contradiction between income and prices, but it is also true that this generation of young people is breaking through the fog of consumerism.
Image source: Weibo screenshot
Douban's "Don't Buy|Consumerism Retrograde" group now has nearly 370,000 "sensible geese" who are doing consumption retrogrades. The members focus on a "rational consumption, make the best use of things", they will communicate with each other those hidden in the temptation of consumption, make a one-year "do not buy plan", pull weeds from each other, and look for a more cost-effective "replacement......
They are becoming more aware that they are spending money to meet their actual needs, not to show it to others.
Image source: Screenshot of Douban
There is a sentence in "Consumption Ideology: The Real Death in the Manipulation of Symbols: An Interpretation of Baudrillard's Consumer Society": "The consumer subject is not an individual, and in modern consumption, the real individual is precisely deleted", in a sense, returning to the "practical value" of commodities is also to rediscover one's own subjectivity.
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Planning and production
This article is a work of popular science China-Star Project
Produced by the Department of Science and Technology of the China Association for Science and Technology
Producer: China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Galaxy Culture Media Co., Ltd
Author丨probable science creator
Review丨Mao Lihua is an associate professor at the School of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University
Planning丨Yang Yaping