A Theory on on Gen Z fashion

Fans of the blog will know I think much of the UC Davis student body is extremely lame. In my first post on UC Davis I declared that the student body were total nerds. In my second post, I posited that perhaps they are lame because their generation as a whole don't know how to party.

The past week I was riding my bike through campus and it was freshmen orientation, so large groups of freshmen were being toured around in groups. It made me remember being a college freshmen and how going to college was a chance at a fresh start with all new people, and wanting to fit in and make friends. I knew that my first impression with my college peers was important in doing so.

However, as I rode past these kids I was a bit amazed that the outfits they were wearing were just all over the place. Like there was no overarching style or even a hipsteresque ironic approach to fashion. It was like they were given a random grab-bag from the thrift store and said "yeah, this looks good on me".

Given how disparate the apparel choices were it made me realize that there doesn't seem to be any style trends that exist in Gen Z. When I was young I think we realized the trends that were in place, and I'd say most people in school generally tried to follow the conventional wisdom of what was stylish at the time, or had defined alternate styles like the goths and hipsters. Gen Z seems to be all over the map, or simply doesn't care about following any trends in fashion. Billie Eilish is probably one of the most famous Gen Zers and her style is so extremely broad that it's almost impossible to define or even mimic.

As I rode I wondered why this might be. When I was a kid we got our style cues from a very homogenized media ecosystem where MTV and The OC told us what was cool. Now media is much more disjointed with a myriad of TV shows, Twitch streamers, indie movies, Tik-Toc trends and influencers. So it makes sense that kids may dress like their favorite influencers or base their fashion choices on an esoteric TV show that very few other people follow. 

I also wonder how much Covid had to do with things. These kids would have missed out on chunks of their freshmen and sophomore years of High School. After a year and a half of virtual learning maybe they came back and what you wore didn't matter anymore.

Every decade seems to have some defined styles associated with it. You can look at a picture of a group of high schoolers and easily tell if it's from the 70s, 80s, 90s or aughts (shoutout to cargo shorts, polo with a popped collar, puka shell necklace and upside down visor). But I wonder if it will still be that obvious for gen Z. It seems like it's not specific trends coming back en masse ala Ugg Boots, but rather every trend ever coming back in a fraction of Gen Z all at the same time. Which honestly must really take the pressure off these kids since everything is cool and everyone looks so uncool.

Feeling the Generational Divide

I've told my wife countless times and to this blog one time that I think UC Davis students don't seem to party nearly as much as I'd expect. In comparison to my recollections of Ann Arbor when I was a student, I'm still flabbergasted at how rarely I see students out drinking at the bars, and rarer still a drunken student stumbling down the sidewalk like I used to do every weekend when I was in school. Rarely do I see a lawn littered with solo cups on a Sunday morning or even a keg on a porch. I have always chalked this up to UC Davis just not having a party culture. (I asked our kid's babysitter who is a senior at UCD which were the cool student bars was and she was very unsure, but she probably also didn't want me trying to go there)

In recent months I've seen more and more reports about how Gen Z is drinking less, doing less drugs, having less sex and generally partying less. It's made me consider that when I compare Davis to Ann Arbor, I'm comparing 2022 Davis to 2008 Ann Arbor, and perhaps I'm really comparing Gen Z with my fellow Millennials. (But also based on my travels, I think the midwest state schools just drink a lot more)

I'm sure sociologists are hard at work studying why Gen Z is behaving differently than the Millennials that came before them. I suspect one of the biggest changes between when I was in college (2005-2009) and now is that the current generation came of age with the Me Too movement where society really reexamined their views on sex and appropriate sexual behaviors. (In addition to many of them being unable to party for 2 years due to COVID, and now they don't know how to throw down)

My generation came of age with movies like American Pie, Road Trip, and Old School guiding our views on sex and what high school & college should be like. It's not entirely surprising that we came to college expecting wild parties, casual hookups and wild adventures. And at least for me, my expectations for college were really shaped more than anything else by the writing of Tucker Max.

I discovered Tucker Max's website right after graduating from high school. He had these stories about wild nights spent drinking, getting into hilarious situations and scoring chicks. If 18 year old me had an idol he would have been it. I clearly was so enamored by him that no less than 5 times during college I wrote on this very blog about wanting to have a "Tucker Max Level Story". I still have his book, and I picked it up while writing this post and read back through some of it. 17 years later it really feels like those stories were from a different time and place and I'm not sure there would be the same audience for that the way there was in 2005 (both broadly, and personally).

It does make me wonder what our generation will be known for. Sure, I've heard us described as the internet generation or social media generation. But I think a generation is probably more defined by the generation that comes after it than by the those that came before it. Maybe I was part of the last carefree generation that grew up on 90s consumerism, raunchy comedies, a party culture, and before we really worried about our health, the environment or having our life ruined by a meme or misguided tweet like Gen Z does. It seems like Gen Z is under more pressure to do good and be good, and with all that pressure, I'm amazed they aren't turning to sex, drugs and alcohol to cope with it.

UC Davis College Rating

I love college towns. I think they are the best type of towns. I think it's the combination of the energy that students bring to a place along with anchor of a campus and the the types of businesses that typically surround colleges. As a deli and pizza guy, college towns suit my palate.

In San Diego we lived about 2 miles from San Diego State. While I don't consider big cities like San Diego to be college towns, we did live near enough to the campus where it did feel a bit like a college town. I loved driving through campus, seeing the kids on their skateboards, and telling Carly that Sig Ep was throwing down that night with a double kegger (which was probably true). SDSU has a reputation as a bit of a party school and in all the years we lived nearby it seemed to make sense. There were times that I found myself jealous of the young and beautiful college kids having the time of their lives.

Now we live in Davis, which is also a college town. Technically we live adjacent to campus, but it's about a mile to where the academic and residential buildings are. It's more of a college town that reminds me of Ann Arbor with the big tree lined streets and the campus integrated into the city. But the students here couldn't be any more different than those of Michigan or San Diego State. 

During what would be considered welcome week Carly and I were out in downtown Davis just blocks from campus and their was nary a stumbling student anywhere. We were on the South U equivalent of Davis and it was kind of dead. I couldn't believe it. Then a few weeks ago my buddy Dave came to visit and we went to a Aggie Football game. We were tailgating a bit in front of the stadium and watching the students arrive. It was a night game, and having been to a few college football night games I was expecting a shitshow. On the contrary. We didn't see a single student that looked even a little inebriated. I've yet to see a yard littered with solo cups. For shame.

The students here also dress very differently than those of SDSU. On the SDSU campus the kids looked so fucking cool, and the all had the bodies to back it up. Here in Davis it's a lot of unwarranted midriff that no one wants to see and guys with t-shirts tucked into cuffed jeans. I don't get it at all. Sober and poorly dressed is no way to go through college.

Now this blog at one time had a feature where I rated colleges on 4 key areas. It's been awhile since I've done one, but I think I'm ready to rank UC Davis.

Campus layout:
The UC Davis Campus is actually pretty good. It flows nicely into the the downtown and the students all ride bikes. The buildings are mostly postwar architecture and not very classically collegiate. Rating: B+

Student Population:
Total nerds. Rating: D

Night Life: 
I've seen zero evidence of any house parties. Frats seem small and not very wild. Off campus bars mostly cater to townies. Rating: D

Food, Stadium, Bus System, Other:
Food is fine. Big international student population means a good variety of restaurants, mostly cheap, nothing that I'd consider a "must try". Great bus system with the old London double-deckers. Stadium is decent for a FCS team. Tailgate scene was marginal, but again... FCS. Rating B-

OVERALL RATING: C+