TThere is so much fashion to look at during a time when the distractions of summer compete, and a lot to ponder when looking at the collections. This blog has covered items that have recurred largely because the prominent and influential issues have remained with us. Fashion does move us towards new territory and yet it zigs and zags within the time period to eventually give us the general tone of that period.

One of the many nuances we have been focusing on in our society has been the acute awareness of generations and their role in or society at large. For the past few years we have seen a plethora of articles examining the Millennials and comparing them to previous generations. True to form, Generation X, which saw itself as overlooked, is largely exempt from these discussions even though many of its members are the current influences in our cultural landscape. This generation sought new paths that have set the stage for the direction for the new century, creating the framework and nurturing the newer generation that will take the torch to make use of all we have created.

These various generations carry unique experiences influenced by and influencing each other and our culture reflects the results. Unlike prior generations that held its own distinctive periods with knowledge passed in a linear generational relay, our collective generations that have technology bring with it a new approach. We have the capacity to have in-depth knowledge and communication between these groups like never before, and have the capacity to mix and meld this knowledge. We are more open to discussion to understand and to examine each other and the world around us.

In doing so, we have revealed our different ways of seeing the world around us, bringing this into discussions of generational differences in a quest to better identify the perspectives we interact with. Take, for example, geometry. To someone of the 20th century, its simplicity denotes modernity through reduction of form; that nuance of simplicity is a universal understanding we carry forward. For those who are nurtured with technology, the geometric simplicity and modernity comes not only from the established aesthetic message but gets an added influence from the graphics of the technology itself. And the more prominent the exposure to tech elements in one’s life, the more likely those aspects would be a go-to. Futurist and artist Douglas Coupland played with this observation in a social experiment during an interactive exercise in one of the Vancouver Art Gallery’s FUSE events, revealing his observation on how Minecraft influenced the expressions of creative play in younger generations.

So as we look at the cross generations that are creating the collections, we have some shared influences that have root in different perspectives finding agreement overall. The stripes, blocking, geometry and chunky hard cuts that were predominant in the 2015 Resort collections (far too many to list in this article) can have multiple affinities. For the younger, the video culture reinforces the pixilated hardness of the video aesthetic, and for the older the more traditional implications of masculinized expressions of power and control in the controlled harder forms hold firm. And as the older influences the younger, the preferences of this power perspective carry forth, appreciated by all…especially when times shows threats dues to perceived instabilities that call for strength.

Of course our technology grows exponentially and our recreational products reflect this in more sophisticated forms. Just as technology allows someone like Zaha Hadid to create more fluid forms that we now associate with the height of architectural sophistication, other aspects will morph in kind. The newer tech brings fluidity to the newer generations, influencing their aesthetics to form their foundations as it shapes our definitions we associate with the world today. And fashion will find the common ground of appreciation that reaches all existing generational groups, creating its universal language of appeal in the process even if the personal messages might come for a slightly different point of view.

Years from now, it’ll be interesting to see what is termed “retro”, what nuances help define that impression made, and how all that will plug into the world of tomorrow as it’s made to appeal to the various generations that will carry its own stories and insights to define to beast before them.