Summary: This article uses generational theory to show how each generation gets read through its style, and how to spot the pieces in your closet that are worth keeping for good. You’ll leave with four generational archetypes as a lens for your own wardrobe.
The usual telling of generational theory casts people in cohorts and as rivals. Your generation shapes how people read what you wear, and whether a piece suits you depends on your own body’s design: line, color, and proportion. Four archetypes give you a lens on the first, and Style DNA gives you a way to work with the second.
How Does Generational Theory Shape the Way You Dress?
Each generation gets read through a stereotype, and what you wear answers that stereotype before you say a word.
I’m using Strauss and Howe’s theory, a historian’s view of generations that differs from the market research cohorts used to sell products. In their theory, a generation is defined by how old its members are when the entire culture goes through a massive crisis and reorganization. The Civil War did that for the United States, and so did World War II (both of my grandfathers fought in World War II, and it had a massive impact on the generations that are still living).
We are living through some kind of event similar to this now, so the line between the Millennials and what I call Zoomers is still being drawn. It’s uncertain, so I’m using the current working dates.
Baby Boomers: Prophets in Elderhood
Baby Boomers were born between 1943 and 1960, so they’re currently 66 to 83. This is a Prophet generation, and Boomers are in their retirement years, or elderhood. Prophets are a generation accustomed to being able to speak their ideas into existence.
Boomers sometimes get read as out of touch with the economic and social pressures people face now. Plenty of Boomers are in touch with all of it, and this is how the generation is currently read.
Staying relevant is where your style can help. Adopt some current trends selectively, in ways that honor your actual body and your lifestyle, and leave behind entire looks that head to toe look like they’re from another decade.
Swedish death cleaning is a practice of sorting through your belongings while you’re alive, so the people after you don’t have to. In a wardrobe, that means letting go of pieces before they completely disintegrate or become obsolete. If you don’t need them, go ahead and pass them on.
Donating functional clothes at a life transition puts them back into circulation for someone who can enjoy them when you don’t need them anymore. Those transitions might be losing or gaining a bunch of weight (no judgment), moving to a different part of the country, or recently retiring.
Generation X: Nomads in Midlife
Generation X is me. I’m close to the very beginning of that generation. We were born between 1961 and 1981, so we’re currently 45 to 65 and in midlife. This is a Nomad generation (these generations come in cycles), and we grew up with a lot of independence and learned to rely on ourselves.
Gen X is currently in a prime season of leadership and mentoring, with immense competency that doesn’t always translate visually.
Precise garment fit and intentional line harmony signal competence. Repeat one idea two or three times in your outfit (this also works in your living room if you’re decorating). For example, if you’re wearing an angled collar on your shirt and you want a jacket with it, wear a jacket with an angled collar.
Approachability is another thing that can be useful for Gen X. One way to signal it is to wear your inherent colors, which are colors pulled directly from your physical traits: a jacket that matches your hair, nail polish that matches your lips, or a t-shirt that matches your eyes. These help you appear approachable.
Millennials: Heroes in Rising Adulthood
Millennials were born between 1982 and 2004 (the bottom end of that range might be debatable), so they’re currently in their 20s, 30s, and early 40s. They’re Heroes in rising adulthood. Hero is the name of the generational archetype, and Heroes are raised with confidence in what people can build together.
Millennials face some unfair workplace assumptions about effort. They also have a bit of a perform-to-the-test impulse: afraid of getting their style wrong, they worry about being disapproved of, and that can lead to style conformity.
Curating your own inspiration instead of following the algorithm, and putting real signature elements into daily wear, builds individualism. My program goes around the back door, so you can get to your individualism and what you love a lot faster than by looking at style icons or searching outfits on Pinterest.
A polished, cohesive look quietly counters misconceptions about your work ethic.
Zoomers: Artists in Youth
Zoomers were born in 2005 or later. I call them Zoomers because they’re Generation Z (Gen Z is what I hear the most), the name echoes Boomer, and they were in school during the pandemic and had to go to school on Zoom. It just seems obvious to me to call them Zoomers.
They are an Artist generation, raised under protection, which you can really see with these younger people. They’re attuned to other people and skilled at refining and adapting.
Zoomers are forming their identity under intense digital exposure and constant micro-trends. One of the things they’re experimenting with (I think I mentioned this last week) is dressing up and tailoring, and I find that refreshing. The young adults right now sit on the line between Millennials and Zoomers.
How Generational Theory Leads to a Wardrobe You Keep
Generational theory shows how others read your clothes, and Style DNA shows which pieces are worth keeping.
Everyone has a right to experiment for a season. I’m not militant about when it’s time to grow up and start working on a more serious, permanent wardrobe. While you’re young, build your wardrobe from peers, trends, feeds, whatever, try different things, and figure out what you like.
At some point, most women, I find, begin to feel they should start figuring out what’s right for them, and they want to be perceived as a serious person. The women who come to me have usually looked for themselves in several systems first, maybe color draping or Kibbe. Many of them call the wardrobe they want a grown-up wardrobe, especially in the years when they have little kids or just after, and they’re starting to think about how they want to present themselves.
Style DNA: Design, Needs, and Aesthetic
Style DNA has three parts. Design is body design: color, line, proportion, all those technicals. Needs are lifestyle and laundry cycle, those kinds of things. Aesthetic is the beauty that resonates with your soul.
A woman who dresses by her Style DNA shows up as exactly who she is, because her preferences reflect both her body’s design and the qualities of her cognition and her personality. This is how she gets understood: what other people see is what’s true.
Once she knows her aesthetic and her body design, which she can learn from me, she can identify the pieces that become permanent additions to her wardrobe. Her body can change and she’ll continue growing as a person, so her wardrobe keeps moving with her, and a piece that fits her Style DNA has so much more longevity. It’s the difference between a piece that lasts 2 years and a piece that lasts 10 years.
The Black Top That Wears Out
I was recently with a woman who could wear a black top with every outfit if she wanted to. She had one that she loved, and she said if she goes back to where she got it, she’ll probably get one in every color. I suggested that when she does, she should get another black one, because this one is probably going to wear out.
Black is hers because she looks good in it, it supports her seasonal energy, and her body type is inverted triangle, which is wider at the top, so a darker color on top makes sense for her.
The garment is going to wear out, and that type of garment will still work for her. Replacing the piece keeps the pattern. When the closet holds pieces that fit the person, getting dressed takes fewer decisions, and she has more attention for what else she has to offer the world.
Why Style Systems Work Best as Frameworks
Everyone who has come to me this year through my content online has wanted to break out of being seen as a type and to find the colors and styles that are truly authentic to who they are. Visual identity is looking and feeling like who you actually are, a human right that frees mental energy for your calling in the world.
A common belief is that the right system will tell you which type you are, and then getting dressed according to those rules will be simple. Most style systems sort you into a type. My approach is personalized, based on your cognition, aesthetic, and body design. Signature Style Systems uses systems as frameworks to arrive at a signature style, and generational theory is just one of these systems.
Lisa, who I worked with this year, wrote to me: “Well, isn’t that interesting. Trying to put me in a single season was always the problem.”
She also wrote: “Rebecca, your hard work is paying off. I’m finding it fun to work with the unique palette that is mine, especially now that I have an understanding that I don’t fit neatly into any season. Thank you!”
What Generational Theory Leaves You With
Most people think generational theory is about generations clashing, but it can also help us dress to be understood in our cultural context. When what you wear is true to you, the people around you read you accurately, and your ideas, your work, and your voice reach the room without needing translation. What could you offer if the people around you were able to read you that clearly?
Here’s something simple you can do this week to integrate these principles into your wardrobe. Identify the permanent pieces within your current wardrobe. Look especially at special occasion dresses, those things that don’t get worn maybe every year. It would be great if you could have something hanging in your closet when an invitation comes in, so you don’t have to panic shop.
If this article gave you a new lens on how your style gets read, applying it to the real pieces hanging in your closet is a second kind of work. A free, collaborative Style System Synthesis call bridges that gap: we look at what you already know about yourself and figure out your next step or what’s missing. Book a free 30 minute conversation here whenever you’re ready.