187 SUPPORTING CONCEPT RESEARCH

YOUTH CULTURE

DAZE’S MONOMASS ERA REVEALS RECENT BEHAVIOUR CHANGES IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19. MONOMASS IS COINED TO DESCRIBE HYPER-INDIVIDUALISM AND MASS TRENDS EXISTING EQUALLY AND COMFORTABLY TOGETHER, ANALYSING HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HAS CHANGED THE WAYS WE AS GEN Z ARTICULATE OUR IDENTITIES. IT BELIEVES THE PANDEMIC HASN’T CREATED A DYSTOPIA; IT’S REVEALED ONE.

‘BEAUTY CAN BE FOUND IN AMATEURISM, AND DISCOVERING VULNERABILITY IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS’

WHAT MAKES GEN Z DIFFERENT ?

‘LIVING BEYOND THE BOX’

GENERATION Z AT THE TIP OF THEIR FINGERS TIPS HAVE A GLOBAL PLATFORM IN WHICH THEY CAN VOICE THEIR OPINIONS AND IDEAS. THIS ALREADY PUTS THEM BEYOND THE BOX. FROM GENERATION X BEING TOLD THEY WILL BE SEEN AND NOT HEARD GENERATION Z CAN AND WILL BE BOTH SEEN AND HEARD IN A WAY NOT KNOWN BEFORE. WHATEVER PAST GENERATIONS HAD DONE GENERATION Z CAN NOW DO FROM THEIR BEDROOMS WHETHER IT BE PRODUCING MUSIC OR MODELLING, WE CAN TRANSFORM OU PASSIONS INTO A LIVING. WE DEVELOP OUR OWN PERSONAL BRAND THE MINUTE WE JOIN SOCIAL MEDIA. AND SOCIAL MEDIA IS CONSTANTLY ASKING FOR OUR OPINION. OUR FREEDOM OF SPEACH IS GREATER THAN PAST GENERATIONS. ANDD THROUGH THE FREEDOM OF SPEACH AND SOCAIL MEDIA WE DESIRE A GEATER NEED FOR AUTHENTICITY.

MENTAL HEALTH

SNOWFLAKE, ORIGINATING FROM CHUCK PALAHNLUK’S 1996 CULT BOOK ‘FIGHT CLUB’. OFTEN USED TO REFER TO A GENERATION SAID TOO BE EASILY OFFENDED, ATTENTION - SEEKING AND LACKING RESILIENCE. ‘SNOWFLAKE’ ITSELF REFERS TO THE UNIQUENESS OF EACH SNOWFLAKE, THE IDEA THAT SOMETHING SO BEAUTIFUL CAN BE SO FRAGILE. DURING THE PANDEMIC, GEN Z BARED THE MENTAL HEALTH BURDEN THE OST, DISRUPTING IMPORTANT YEARS OF THEIR LIVES. ITS ESTIMATED THAT IN THE US, ALMOST TWO-THIRDS OF YOUNG ADULTS ARE SUFFERING FROM MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES.

‘FOR THE PEOPLE AGED BETWEEN THE AGE OF 21 AND 25 THIS S A TIME OF EXPANSION IN THE LIFE, WITH NEW CONNECTIONS AND NEW THINGS. THAT IS ALL BEING HALTED. I THINK THIS IS A HARD TIME FOR PARTS OF LIFE TO STAND STILL WHEN THERE IS NORMALLY JUST THIS FASTPACED DEVELOPMENTAL TIME WHERE SO MUCH IS HAPPENING SOCIALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY’ - DR SARAH LIPSON

“You are not special. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same organic and decaying matter as everyone else” – Fight Club’s Tyler Durden bluntly informs us.

“You are not special. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same organic and decaying matter as everyone else” – Fight Club’s Tyler Durden bluntly informs us.

THE INFLUENCER IS DEAD

AFTER COVID-19 AND BLM WE HAVE BEGAN TO QUESTION THE VALUES AND MODELS IN WHICH OUR SOCIETY IS BUILT UPON. CELEBRITIES AND INFLUENCERS LACK MEANING AND SUBSTANCE AND STRUGGLE TO POST MEANINGFUL CONTENT. GEN Z AND EVEN ALPHAS ARE FINDING THE NEED TO CONNECT WITH SOMETHING REAL AND EXPOSED WHICH HAS LED TO THE VICIOUS CYCLE OF ‘CANCLE CULTURE’. GONE ARE THE GLOSSY LIFESTYLES OF MAGAZINES AND MEDIA. WE NOW LOOK TOWARDS MORAL LEADERS WHO ARE ADVOCATES FOR SOCIAL CHANGE. WE NEED REAL ICONS WITH ALL THEIR FLAWS OUT AND WHO ARE NOT EXPECTED TO KNOW ALL THE ANSWERS BUT MAKE THE NECESSARY DECISIONS TO DRIVE THE CHANGE WE NEED.

ON INSTAGRAM THERE IS AN OPEN ACCOUNT CALLED @DEATHOFTHEINFLUENCER ALLOWING ANYONE TO POST ON THE ACCOUNT. THE INFLUENCER CULTURE FOR GENERATION Z STEMED FROM THEIR CLASSROOM CULTURE. WHAT THE KIDS AT THE TOP OF THE CLASSROOM HIERARCHY SAID GOES. THE DESIRE TO ESCAPE THIS CULTURE HAS SPARKED THE END OF THE INFLUENCER AS THE NEED FOR TRANSPARENCY AND FREEDOM ACROSS SOCIAL MEDIA HAS GROWN.

MODERN CULTURES

LOOKING AT DIFFERNT CULTURAL MOVEMENTS WHICH HAVE SHAPED TODAYS MODERN SOCIETY AND INFLUENCED OUR CULTURE TODAY.

AMERICANISATION// AMERICAN IDEAS AND CULTURE SPREAD ON A GLOBAL BASIS DUE TO THE UNITED STATES BEING BORN IN THE MODERN - ERA

INDIVIDUALISM// LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. INDIVIDUALISTIC CULTURE WAS BORN FROM THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. THESE EVENTS DEFINED THE MODERN INDEPENDENT CULTURE.

ANOMIE// INDIVIDUALISM PROVES PEOPLE WITH LESS DIRECTION. SOME INDIVIDUALS ARE LEFT FEELING LOST AND DISCONNECTED WITH LITTLE SENSE OF SHARED MEANING. ANOMIE IS COMMON IN MODERN SOCIETIES.

MODERN ART// POP ART AND HYPER-REALISM AMONG OTHER ART MOVEMENTS BEGAN WITH A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO WANTED TO CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO OF THE ART WORLD. THIS CULTURAL MOVEMENT SPREAD AND BECAME ACCEPTED AS HIGH CULTURE.

NORTHEN CULTURE

NORTHERN ENGLAND HAS A MYRIAD OF CULTURAL MOMENTS AND RICH HERITAGE: PUTTING THEM ON THE FASHION MAP. NORTHERN CULTURE OFTEN DEPICTS MASCULINITY, MUSIC, DOMESTICITY, AND SPORTSWEAR.

SO MUCH OF THE NORTHERN CULTURE IS FOCUSED ON THE YOUNG WHITE MALE CREATING A NOSTALGIC AESTHETIC. ADAM MURRY COMMENTED ON BRITISH FASHION CULTURE BEING FOCUSED ON LONDON AS ‘QUITE BORING AND LAZY’ ‘THERE IS A CLEAR LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURE OUTSIDE OF LONDON’ THE ROLLERS IN HAIR THING OFTEN SEEN IN NORTHERN CULTURE HAS BECOME A CLICHE IN ITSELF AND IS OFTEN DEPICTED IN A DEROGATORY WAY.

MODERN CLUB CULTURE

CLUB CULTURE HAS CHANGED MAJORLY FROM ITS ORIGINS. MODERN CLUB CULTURE HAS LESS FREEDOM BEING SHOWN THROUGH CLOTHING BUT IT INSTED SHOWN THROUGH THE CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL AND NARCOTICS. THE ORIGINS OF YOUTH CULTURE WERE BUILT UPON BEING ABLE TO DRESS FREELY IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO TRUELY SHOW WHO YOU ARE. SINCE THE GROWTH OF ONLINE FAST FASHION AND FAST FASHION TRENDS THERES LESS VARIATION IN THE CLOTHING WORN. IS THIS WHY MODERN CULB CULTURE HAS TURNED TO THE LARGER CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL AND DRUGS THAN WAS SEEN AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CULTURE. IS THIS THE ONLY CURRENT WAY TO BE ABLE TO BE WHO YOU ARE WITHOUT THE SOCIAL ANXIETY OF JUDGMENT ?