Myles Ethan Lascity's "The Abercrombie Age"

Myles Ethan Lascity is assistant professor and director of the fashion media program at Southern Methodist University.

He applied the "Page 99 Test" to his new book, The Abercrombie Age: Millennial Aspiration and the Promise of Consumer Culture, and reported the following:

In The Abercrombie Age, page 99 recaps some of the critiques of teen popular culture in the late 1990s and early 2000s. More specifically, the page frames the film Josie and the Pussycats as a satirical critique of teen brand and consumer culture. It also introduces other criticisms from the era, including Naomi Klein’s No Logo, Alisa Quart’s Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teens and the Frontline documentary The Merchants of Cool.

Page 99 is a good — if not quite perfect — representation of the book.

The Abercrombie Age examines and critiques the messages embedded within teen popular culture texts from 1995 through 2008, or roughly the release of Clueless through the global financial crisis, the ending of MTV’s TRL and the release of Twilight. While many of the criticisms leveled at teen culture of the time amounted to a belief that it was vapid and too obsessed with popularity, The Abercrombie Age argues that even if the popular culture was vapid and superficial, its focus on consumer culture as an avenue to success and fulfillment left a lasting impression on the eldest millennials, who were teens of the time.

While No Logo, Branded and The Merchants of Cool helped inform my thinking on the subject, The Abercrombie Age specifically outlines the promotion of privileged frivolity: in which good-looking, well-off and largely white teens were shown having few concerns beyond socialization and interpersonal relationships and rarely faced repercussions for their actions. Coupling this with messages that promoted consumerism as a means to popularity and happiness, pop culture of the time was unyieldingly optimistic and implied that nothing was too serious, and everything would eventually work out. And, even if some teens were not living the dream at the time, movies and TV shows suggested they could certainly secure it in the future through the consumption of college and employment in desirable creative fields.

Although the ethos of privileged frivolity fell out of fashion post-2008 and a more inclusive, accepting teen life made its way to screens, as millennials enter midlife, we are faced with the increasing awareness that life looks little like what we were promised — and it probably never will.

Visit Myles Ethan Lascity's website.

--Marshal Zeringue