We talk with Luke and Jono about their fashion experience as Gen Z guys
By Stella Goodwin
Gen Z’s relationship with fashion has been described as an extension of their own values and to represent their own individuality. But what does that really mean?
GENERATION spoke to a couple of Gen Z guys about what fashion means to them and how fashion has become a means of expressing their personalities in a world saturated by endless brands.
Luke Radcliffe-Moore, 21, & Jono Abbott, 19, BA (hons) Design and BA (hons) Journalism
@luke.brm and @jonoabbbott on Instagram
GENERATION- How would you describe your style?
Jono- Depends on how much money that I have. Student finance England helps a lot. Laughs. A lot of my clothes though I guess, I get for ‘free’ because I raid through my mum’s clothes from the 90s whenever I go back home.
Luke- Budget streetwear probably. Supreme and that is all cool but I don’t really have £70 to spend on a t-shirt.
G- And who do you think has influenced your style?
J- Luke Radcliffe-Moore.
L- Oh my god – both laugh-
J- I’m definitely influenced by people at university. When I see a nice pair of trousers and I see the brand, I’ll go home and google it. I found some nice track pants for £6 doing that.
L- To be honest, quite a lot of celebrities wear quite sick things. Urban outfitters are good at guessing trends and also good at having alternatives to super expensive items. I also like just going shopping in charity shops and finding little gems
J- Yeah, you’ll grab a piece that you know nobody is going to own because you wonder yourself how the fuck you found it.
L- Exactly. People like having clothes not necessarily out of expense but to be different.
Jono Abbott. Photo: Stella Goodwin 
Luke Radcliffe-Moore. Photo: Stella Goodwin
G- Do you think male fashion has changed over the years compared to what it used to be like?
J- I think it changes all the time like I don’t know how quick the leap was from everyone wearing skinny jeans to then suddenly cargo trousers. It felt pretty much overnight.
L- Oh yeah, male fashion has definitely changed but is also the same, if that makes any sense.
J- Yeah, I agree with that. For example, my brother (24) and I have completely different styles. He’ll wear you know those god-awful t shirts that are two sizes too small to make his muscles look bigger and it will say LA and have palm trees on it that were popular years ago. Straight guys will now wear skinny jeans, but I remember when you were labelled as gay for wearing them.
L- I remember when I was younger, my dad took me to get some jeans and he suggested some skinny ones and I just brushed him off because they weren’t ‘cool’ at the time. But then your mates start wearing them and you just follow suit. Now I have 3 pairs of skinny jeans (laughs)
G-What’s your favourite item of fashion that you own?
L- To be fair, one of my favourite things is that I’ve got this blue Nike jumper with a yellow tick on the middle, outlined in white embroidery and on the cuffs, it has blue, yellow and white stripes. I bought it off eBay and the fit is great.
J- My Balenciaga Triple S shoes. Big thanks to Luke for that one.
L- Don’t drag me into this again.
G- Can you explain why you have such an obsession with the shoes?
J- Well, Luke and I were in the same flat last year and he showed me the triple S and they just glued into my mind. The price tag also caught my attention (£615) because I thought I’d never be able to afford them. I tried saving but you know, it just never worked out. The shape was just so obnoxious and after a year and a bit of wanting them, my student loan dropped into my account in January and I just thought fuck it, I’m going to buy them. My dad was pretty disappointed I spent all of my loan on them, but we’ve talked since though. I just love these shoes so much. B
GENERATION 