If millennials want to dress more like Gen Z, they need to stop being stuck in the 2010s
- Fashion influencer Krista Lavrusik describes herself as a millennial mom with Gen Z style.
- She told Insider that the older generation's style seems to be stuck in the 2010s.
Millennials, take note — it's actually pretty easy to dress like a trendy member of Gen Z.
All you have to do, according to 37-year-old fashion creator Krista Lavrusik, is move your fashion mindset out of the 2010s.
In an interview with Insider, Lavrusik said that while Gen Z often finds inspiration in '90s styles, millennials "are stuck" between 2010 and 2016.
"That's kind of when we were in our early 20s, and we never left," she said.
Lavrusik describes herself as a millennial mom with Gen Z style. Online, she regularly shares fashion and thrifting tips with a combined 248,000+ followers across Instagram and TikTok.
It's that former social-media platform, she said, that majorly influenced the older generation's style around 2015.
"At the height and prime of Instagram, all we saw were perfect aesthetic photos of these perfect aesthetic women — in mom form and not mom form," she said.
And in many of those photos, according to Lavrusik, there seemed to be a uniform of sorts that evoked style and sophistication: skinny jeans, ankle boots, and a sweater tucked in just right — but with no belt.
"Why would we ever wear belts?" she said with a laugh. "You just tuck your sweater in. That is the outfit that I can't get out of my head. It just screams, 'I'm a millennial. I'm old.'"
So how do millennials get away from that staple outfit and move toward something trendier? Lavrusik said it's all in the jeans.
While Gen Z embraces baggy, low-rise pants in fun prints, millennials cling to their high-waisted, skinny-fit denim.
"A great alternative to try for mom jeans since they're not as trendy right now would be high-waisted, wide-leg jeans," she said. "They're longer; it hits you where you can still wear your booties. And you can still wear that same sweater, but tuck it in and then belt it."
And Lavrusik knows that jeans aren't always the easiest garments to swap.
"Jeans are my favorite piece of clothing. When I find a great one, I'm not going to change it," she said.
But small tweaks, she noted, can make a huge difference.
"You don't have to go all out with baggy jeans and a tight, cropped shirt," she said. "But there are ways to refine. It's all about tweaking."