Misfires or High Fashion?
Call it mashups, misfires, or anti-fashion, Gen Z viewers claim that Portia’s crazy combo outfits from the TV show “White Lotus” work. And apparently older viewers are having a hissy fit. (from WaPo)
I’m not sure why. I’m only in season 1 of ”White Lotus,” but I do love fashion. From what I’ve seen in photos, though, the mish-mash trend excites this baby boomer. I especially admire wearing exclusively second-hand clothes.
The Gen Z style:
Seventies style
A younger me would giddily embrace this look.
In high school in the early seventies, students could wear blue jeans as long as they didn’t have holes or patches. For art students, our final project was our choice. I chose textiles, and embroidered and patched an entire of pair of jeans. Of course, finishing them meant wearing them to school. I couldn’t believe the school didn’t send me home! Shortly after, we donned fringe, floppy hats, patched or safety-pinned clothes, bandanas, beads, and crocheted crop tops. I sewed my own clothes, carried bags from Joe’s Army-Navy store, and hand-painted a pair of shoes in different colors.
Advanced style
If you’ve ever heard of Advanced Style, you’ll know wearing color and patterns that clash is fully embraced by this older crowd.
Fashionista Sarah Jane Adams joyfully mixes patterns, layers, and scarves. She often wears one item in different ways— scarves as belts, head wraps or neck bows. When asked about age-appropriate dress in an interview, she said “I don’t think about it and therefore I don’t get it! It means nothing to me. I dress how I want to dress, not how is deemed appropriate for my age, my colour, my socio-economic status, etc.”
Punk
Let’s not forget the late Vivienne Westwood, either, who taught us that fashion is malleable and morphable, brash, bold, subversive and androgynous. She marched (most likely in combat boots) to her own drumbeat until her death at age 81 in December, 2022. And why not?
They say in art nothing is new, and I supposed the same applies to fashion. Each generation puts their own stamp on trends. It’s all about expression. It’s all good.
What do you think?
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Linda K. Sienkiewicz writes fiction, poetry and essays.
Her second novel, Love and Other Incurable Ailments, is coming October 27, 2026 from Regal House Publishing: When an anxious overthinker finds discarded love letters, her fixation on a stranger pulls her straight into chaos, heartbreak, and the unraveling of her carefully constructed life.
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