http://www.thecoolhunter.net/images/stories/_2006/IMAGES2/mom.jpg" />nies in designer denim, Gen Xs in the same skinny leg jeans as their toddlers. Welcome to the new era of fashion, where generations have collided and your real age has nothing to do with your fashion age.



A fundamental shift is afoot in the way we dress. If you haven't already noticed, the traditional rules that govern our wardrobe choices, dressing according to our age, are pretty much in free fall. Thanks to a convergence of social trends, boomers refusing to grow old, 40 is the new 30, tweens, Gen Y surpassing everyone as the most brand literate and style conscious generation on earth, to name but a few - the boundaries between the generations have shifted and overlapped, rendering everyone virtually the same age in fashion years.
 
And it's a worldwide phenomenon. On the catwalk, ‚Äúthere is no real delineation of what is 'child' and what is 'adult' anymore,ù commented Gloria Baume, fashion market director of US fashion magazine Teen Vogue, to the New York Times recently.
 
Today, forty and fifty something mothers wear the same cult label jeans, sexy dresses and platform heeled stilettos as their teenage daughters and younger mums and dads dress their babies, toddlers and primary schoolers in designer 'mini me' versions of their own clothes.
 
Even grandma and grandpa are hip now, embracing the same trends as their children and grandchildren and buying the same labels and shopping in the same stores that provide fashion conscious clothes for all of them.

Jenny Evans, a therapist in her 50s and grandmother of three toddlers, travels from her home in the inner west to shop at Tuchuzy in Bondi (Sydney) because it has a fantastic range of new and interesting labels, especially denim‚Äù.  Her most recent purchase, a pair of $400 Hudson jeans (made popular by young celebrity starlets such as Sienna Miller and Jessica Simpson) have become a much loved staple in her wardrobe. I wear them all the time. They just fit me so well.
 
 Evans is something of a poster girl for her generation. We don't accept growing old,ù she explains of the boomers. We look after our bodies and keep ourselves fit and looking slim so why shouldn't we wear clothes that flatter our figures? We still read fashion magazines. We still feel young, we're still energetic and we want our clothes to reflect that.
 
There's nothing that tells us we should be wearing flat chemist bought shoes, pleated skirts and twin sets like our mothers did - once they hit their 30s and 40s - anymore.ù
 
But it's not all about wanting to stay young forever, Evans points out. We're still out in the workforce at my age, which was pretty much unheard of for mother's generation. We're [boomers] often competing with much younger people, we need to look marketable so it's really important for us to keep up with fashion. You've got to look good just to be considered for jobs these days.ù
 
While boomers are dressing younger, teens are dressing older - more like their 40 and 50 something mothers. It's not about looking pretty now, says Bianca Gallo, an 18-year-old, Year 12 student from Sydney. "When you go out it's all about who can look the oldest and the sexiest. Especially for the younger girls. My 13-year-old brother goes to birthday parties and all of the girls are wearing high heels already"/
 
It's no surprise that teens and generation Ys are dressing older when you consider that their fashion references and style icons are almost always older than them, and are often the same ubiquitous Hollywood stars and starlets that inspire their mothers. "I look to people who are current and sexy for ideas about fashion, Gallo says. People off TV shows like Mischa Barton from the OC and singers, The Pussy Cat Dolls".
 
The fact that fashion is so accessible now also helps. Every teen from New York to Paris  can hop online to view Gucci's latest catwalk collection (or a few weeks later in an array of fashion and gossip magazines). They may never actually be able to buy any of it but that's not why they look. They're looking for the trends. They see platform wedges on the catwalk at Chloe in Paris and they know it'll only be a few months before they can buy a selection of affordable knockoffs at their local Showbiz store.
 
With moms and daughters following the same trends, family outings can turn into tricky situations. Gallo plans her wardrobe in advance when she goes out with her 40 something mother and 16 year-old sister. We'll be ready to leave and I'll come out of my room and my mom will be wearing exactly the same thing as me but in different colors. I'm like Mom! Go and get changed, it's embarrassing! Then other times she'll be in the same clothes as my sister. When mom and my sister have nothing to wear they look in each others wardrobes".
 
If you thought teens were dressing older, consider the wardrobe of the average toddler, preschooler or primary schooler. You're likely to find as many pairs of designer jeans, graphic print tops, branded trainers and (for girls) pretty dresses in grown up styles as mom and dad have.

But the increased availability of trend-following mini-me children's wear isn't the only reason why parents are embracing it.
 
Indeed, the Gen X parents of the world's current toddler, preschooler and primary school aged children are the first generation to grow up with mass marketing, making them more brand literate and fashion conscious than any generation before them (superseded only by generation Y one can only imagine how they'll dress their offspring). They follow seasonal trends and buy designer labels for themselves, so why would they do any different for their children?
 
At least it makes the work of fashion designers a little easier. No need to design for 'markets' anymore now that the same trends are adapted for 6 months old babies right through to sixty year-olds. Not that physical age matters anymore. It's all about your age in fashion years now, and kind of like dog years, that's bound to be a lot more flattering. by Laura Demasi (Our Sydney based cool hunter)