If leggings and tight sportswear have long ruled the trends, this accessory is now considered a real fashion faux pas. Gen Z – the generation born between the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2010s – has declared that the time has come for loose sweatshirts and t-shirts and baggy sportswear. Brands have understood this well, and scale is now essential in the world of fashion, in the city as well as in the gym.
For Vox, journalist Alex Abad-Santos conducted the investigation in weight rooms, various sports clubs, group classes and on the Instagram feeds of coaches and fitness influencers. Why have baggy clothes gained the upper hand in this cultural battle, eclipsing the tight outfits that were the norm for many years?
L'”athleisure» – this trend combining streetwear And sportswear has never been so fashionable. The democratization of fitness and group classes has made tight-fitting clothing an identity uniform for an entire generation, but fashion is evolving, and not everyone likes it. For Bobby McMullen, fitness coach and influencer (and millennial himself), this baggy clothing trend is an aberration. Muscles are made to be shown and exhibited: wearing tight-fitting outfits is not only pleasant, but also rewarding for the sculpted body in the gym.
A generational gap
For Gen Z, however, it is not necessarily appropriate to flaunt your body like the previous generation did. Sharon Kim, a young millennial content creator, believes that this development does not take into account the practical aspect of leggings, as certain activities do not lend themselves well to loose clothing. How to run miles or train HIIT with floaty outfits? “I like to wear baggy clothes, but from a training point of view, I’m not sure how I feel about that,” she explains. I don’t do yoga. I run miles. I do boxing.” She is convinced: you should not bury leggings too quickly.
Gen Z makes comfort a central demand. But loose clothing also embody a relaxed aesthetic, an assertive style: the message is clear, you don’t come out of intensive training every day. According to Alex Intriago, coach in San Francisco, younger people wear loose sports outfits in everyday life, but abandon them for intensive training.
Building oneself in opposition to the previous generation is nothing new. Be in Or outold or young, old-fashioned or not, what’s better than fashion to stand out and build an identity? In the United States as in France, the polarization between Gen Z and millennials shapes not only fashion, but also new collective imaginations and uses, even in the world of work.
Before long, the even younger Alpha generation will question the habits of Gen Z. The big brands remain the only real beneficiaries of these fashion wars, capable of riding all the trends simultaneously to maximize their profits.
