Revenge Of Millennial Cringe: How Brands Can Grow Up With Their Fans

Skinny jeans are back. The indie sleaze aesthetic of unwashed hair, American Apparel, MGMT, and blown-out flash photography is suddenly cool again. After years of being on the receiving end of Gen Z mockery over their trainer socks and outdated emojis, Millennials are feeling something new: vindication. The culture has come back around, and the generation that came of age in the early 2000s is having a moment again.

But nostalgia alone won’t bridge the chasm between these demographics. In fact, in some ways, the intergenerational tension is intensifying, with, as The New York Times notes, Millennial Taylor Swift fans increasingly hiding their fandom out of sheer embarrassment, unwilling to be associated with what Gen Z perceives as uncool earnestness.

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