The Facefooked generation

Sometimes 1+1=2

This week several things caught my eye and when I added them together it painted a pretty bleak picture for the younger generation. As thousands of young people emigrate, I wonder whose to blame ?

This week the leaving cert results pointed out that recent maths and science results cannot pave the way for our 'smart economy' plans. Not only are these teenagers and twenty somethings coming out of school and college respectively, they are also coming out less educated. Not only that but they choose to or have to then leave the country that educated them.

Whats this got to do with fashion ?

Well this week also saw American Apparel face down the barrel of bankruptcy. "Hipster is over" says Dov Charney, who, as the founder and chief executive officer of American Apparel (APP), rode the trend as far as anyone. The biggest challenge of all may be stylistic. After outfitting the world of 18- to 30-year-olds in all manner of T-shirts and leggings, which still rank among the company's best-sellers, American Apparel is going preppy, diving into more sophisticated garments such as blazers, pleated pants, button-down shirts, and more formal lace tops. "Kids are moving away from piercings," Charney says. "We want to grow old with our customer. We want to be a traditional American clothier."

Charney says the rapid expansion was necessary to boost awareness of the brand. "Maybe there were a dozen stores we shouldn't have opened," Im guessing one of those might just be the Dublin store which I hear is not doing so hot. No wonder, who's left to buy anything ? Not to mention, they are out of touch, even they say so.

So whats in touch or as I like saying myself these days - relevant ?

In other news this week, the chief exec. of Google thinks the Facebook generation are perhaps loosing touch with society. Eric Schmidt said the enormous quantity of detail left online by young users could come back to haunt them when they apply for jobs in future.

‘I don’t believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time,’ he told the Wall Street Journal.

‘I mean we really have to think about these things as a society.’

Although it may seem a bit rich coming from a head in Google and was primarily talking about privacy, it does raise question marks about where the next generation are going ? Will it affect their employment chances, have they adapted to this new world in which we live and have their social attitudes adapted to that world ?

I personally think, they risk being a lost generation with little skills to offer. They have watched to many MTV hills episodes and spent too much time adding friends to Facebook. What I hope happens, is that they realise they are a result of our society, the celtic tiger. They need to question things more. They need to question Government, question marketing and question their social attitudes and behaviour.

I would hate to think my kid thought life was just what happened on-line and on TV whilst wearing the latest 'trend' alert from some on-line site that changes daily.

* As always on The Sunday Supplement, this piece is a thought provoker. Sources include here & here & yes im aware the store has a facebook page etc etc. If it was up to me, I would be having this conversation with you face-to-face right now whilst showing you a pair of selvedge denim. See you soon ?