Millennials Are Calling Out The Gen Z Trends They Think Aren't "Cool," And It's Heated

1. "Bringing back Y2K fashion. It was bad then, and it's bad now."

2. "They're doing too much with eyebrows: thicker than thick, laminated, bleaching, or straight shaving."

"Yeah, it's the opposite extreme of the plucked-to-oblivion eyebrow trend. Leave your eyebrows the way they are! Chances are, your natural shape fits your face much better than whatever the fashion gurus are touting."

3. "Everything being reinvented as a new 'aesthetic' or 'core.' Like, do you not have your own personality? Are you shaving down every unique thing about you to fit a very specific niche that only has a short life span before moving on? Are you constantly buying fast fashion and throwing it away because something else has gone viral?"

"Gen Z truly just wants to be a cog in the wheel and refuse to be an individual."

4. "Sneakers with dresses! I understand wearing them clubbing, but I've literally seen people wearing them with their bridesmaid dresses and even wedding gowns!"

"On a positive note, I appreciate that Gen Z is very open to discussing mental health problems. I'm 34, and when I was in HS and college, you were expected to treat it like a dirty secret."

5. "The fact that every time they have a mental breakdown, they film themselves and post it on the internet."

"The glamorization/use of mental illness for content beyond education. [Also,] self-diagnosis of mental illness and/or using it as an excuse to be a terrible person without consequences. It's not new, but I feel like it's sky-rocketed with Gen Z."

6. "The 'get ready with me' videos — especially the ones showing people waking up. Like, bruh, we all know, and it's cringey to see."

7. "Redoing trendy dance moves on TikTok. Like 'Walk It Out' or 'Teach Me How to Dougie.' Stop making dance moves when we already established the moves in the early 2000s."

—37, South Carolina

8. "The mullet hairstyle needs to stay in the past!"

9. "Crew socks. Like, unless they're trouser socks for work, no. Just no. I won't go back. Can't make me. Nope. Nope. Nope."

—33, Maryland 

"The obsession with longer socks. Why do you want to look like a boomer? They wore those long socks, which made us want to wear socks that looked less old school, so I guess time is always a circle. But seriously, you all look like you're going to a 4th-grade class at a Catholic school in 1975 with those damn socks. Hopefully, that trend will die along with bringing back the mullet. Some things belong in the past."

—35, USA

10. "Celebrity worship. Whether it is Taylor Swift or some influencer [who's trying to be] like the Kardashians, they don't understand the real world because they feel celebrities' lives are 'real.' They don't understand that their relationships are all fake; their bodies and hair are fake. Then, they try to live up to those standards (whether it's an epic romance, bleached hair, or a waist that isn't attainable)...and then poof. It's just sad."

"Parasocial relationships taken too far. I swear you don't ~actually~ know any of your favorite content creators."

11. "Cropped wide-leg jeans. I just can't get my head around it; it looks weird. That hem needs to be sitting on top of your shoes if not touching the floor."

12. "Crop tops. Can't tell you how often I find a cute shirt at the store and go to pull it off the rack just to find that the midsection is gone. Where is the rest of my shirt?"

"And why does everyone want to expose their stomach but also wear baggy pants that are three sizes too big?! Where is the balance here???"

—Anonymous

"Please stop with the crop tops. I have a tween daughter, and the poor girl gets so frustrated trying to shop for shirts because she actually doesn't like being uncovered all the time, but all of the shirts she likes the neckline on are cropped. We wish this trend would die."

—39, Iowa

13. "Posting on social media instead of actual political engagement."

—36, Oregon

14. "The low-waist trend coming back. Please! I thought we learned that high-waisted jeans and pants help us avoid the super unflattering spare tire look!"

—34, Texas

15. "Excessive blush, eyebrows and lip liner. I promise that it will be the equivalent of over-tweezed eyebrows and an orange foundation that also went on your lips in 2010. We had a happy medium for a while. Can we please keep it?"

—30, North Carolina

16. "All the baggy clothing. Like, everyone’s swimming in their clothes like they are a 12-year-old 90s kid who got their clothes from a thrift store. I laugh so hard at some of the fit checks I see from Gen Z."

"Also, the things they think 'go together' remind me of outfits I would throw together cleaning the house and jamming out to music, singing that I wouldn't be caught outside the house in 90s middle school. That's all I can see."

17. "Our skinny jeans were terrible. Your super baggy, 18-inch-leg-diameter jeans (and trousers) are terrible, too."

—33, Indiana

18. "Making TikTok and influencers videos everywhere, including shopping malls, tourist attractions, restaurants, and public toilets. The worst was during the pandemic. Working in a hospital on the COVID ward for people whose treatment has been withdrawn so their chances of survival were 50/50, and then suddenly, someone would come up with a genius idea of joining a trend and making a dance routine on TikTok."

"Least to say that 'older' generations weren't too amused and had to talk some sense into our younger colleagues."

—Anonymous, 39, UK

19. "The broccoli haircut. Works well for some, not so much for others."

—34, Ontario, Canada

20. "The whole 'brat' thing. It's not cute, and many take the bad attitude too far. It's inappropriate to act like you don't care toward your teachers or bosses, yet here they are, acting like the rude main character who rolls their eyes at the slightest ask of their responsibilities. Only celebs can get away with it, not real people."

—Anonymous

21. "The dad sneakers. My 67-year-old father has been wearing those same shoes for almost three decades. Stop trying to make cool happen. It's not going to happen."

—39, Arizona

WELP. Do you agree or disagree with these? And fellow millennials, what are some other Gen Z trends you're not a fan of? Let us know in the comments below. Or, if you prefer to remain anonymous, feel free to use this Google form.