I tend to start every talk I give explaining why I started Ypulse by explaining that I have a case of "arrested development." That for me, my teen years were so intense that I am continuously drawn to working with teenagers or writing about them. I turned 36 yesterday (groan) and have been meditating on the question of why women in their 20s and 30s seem to be obsessed with all things teen (fashion, slang, gossip, etc.). The reality is that teen culture has come to define pop culture. Advertising, marketing and media tend to be aspirational, and as a society, we have been told to worship youth -- that even as we go through the natural aging process, we should do everything in our power to look and feel young. It's a billion dollar industry with countless products we can buy to help us try to slow the aging process, especially for women. Men grow older and become more "distinguished," while older women tend to just disappear.

I also think pop culture is the water cooler glue that gives us something mindless and fun to talk about at work or over drinks with friends. It's pure escapism. We're obsessed with younger pop stars because they're eye candy to look at (and we've been conditioned to respond to this standard of youth and beauty), and because we want to see what they're wearing (celebs have been the new "models" for awhile now). At the same time, being able to roll our eyes at Britney or Lindsay's missteps offers both a way to feel better about our own lives and be in on some kind of national conversation (though I can think of some more important conversations we could be having).

Participating in today's pop culture (which is driven by youth culture) has also created a way for parents of tweens and teens to relate to their kids -- and this is something this generation of parents wants, to be closer than they were to their parents. So if going to a Hannah Montana concert together or learning to talk "text" helps parents achieve this...they're going to do it.

As for dressing like teens, I definitely went through a phase in my 20s where I shopped only at the Macy's Juniors department and stores like Contempo Casual. My goal was to try to look somewhat trendy without having to spend a lot of money because I didn't have a lot of money. I'll never forget wearing a Contempo skirt with a snake skin print and having someone ask me if it was Prada. If you can mine Teen Vogue for ways to imitate couture on the cheap, why wouldn't twentysomethings check it out?

As long as teen tastes continue drive pop culture, and as long as the mass media rejects the reality of women aging, we'll all be in a state of arrested development.

Posted by anastasia