Why Are Millennials Obsessed With Emulating Their Grandmothers? There’s A New, Old Cultural Shift Happening

We’re all getting a bit sentimental lately. This past year, Tinder found that one of the most pertinent trends was “nostalgia stanning,” or making references back to times when things were a little less complicated. Then, there’s “nostalgia baiting,” a timely term which cultural critics have been using to diagnose remakes of classic movies or unfettered references to draw a wistful audience in. However, sentimentalism spans beyond dating tactics or Hollywood relying on callbacks to make money at the box office. A couple of style microtrends you may find within the homes and wardrobes of millennials and Gen Z might have you asking: Why in the world are young people so captivated by simulating old age? Well, it’s not so simple. Join us as we take a look at these “granny chic” styles and discuss the reason behind the cultural moment that is new traditionalism.

Your Grandmother Gives Her Seal of Approval

Coined by writer Emma Bazilian back in 2019, the “grandmillennial” is a woman somewhere in her mid-20s to late 30s whose deep affinity for tradition and deep aversion for today’s vapid hubbub could earn her the nickname of “old soul.” Bazilian called her a “New Traditionalist” based on her affinity for antiquity, but don’t be misled – the grandmillennial’s heart may be as vintage as the home decor she scored at last weekend’s estate sale, but she’s still a product of this younger generation.

Originally used to describe this type of woman’s design style, the grandmillennial may have needlepoint art on her walls and embroidered linens draped over her wicker ottoman. She likes the eclectic but not in an ironic sense. Keeping things classic provides her with a sense of calm in today’s hustle and bustle culture.

After the term took off, it has since been used to describe a subset of nostalgia-driven fashion. Sure, it’s giving “granny chic,” but I highly doubt you’d find a grandmother wearing many of these modern takes on her closet staples. Chunky knit cardigans, flutter sleeve dresses, dainty floral patterns, and pearl embellishments and jewelry are all quintessential pieces of the grandmillennial wardrobe. That said, a head-to-toe look is far less common than sprinkling just a bit of vintage flair into an otherwise contemporary ensemble.

If the grandmillennial had a little sister whose similarly vintage heart had her clamoring for her older sister’s hand-me-downs of hand-me-downs, this may be the girl donning what many now call the coastal grandmother aesthetic. The coastal grandmother trend got its start on TikTok after content creator Lex Nicoleta gave the aesthetic its formal diagnosis. 

Once again, this style took off for interior design but quickly became popular among online microtrend followers who didn’t quite click with the revival of kitschy Y2K fashion. The coastal grandmother is a little less formal than the grandmillennial, with her airy apparel perfectly suited for a golden hour stroll along the shore. She’s the minimalist answer to the grandmillennial’s maximalism, but the two trends bear more than a few similarities. Button-down shirts, nap dresses, cashmere sweaters, loose linen pants, floppy sun hats, and hair scarves are all part of the coastal grandmother wardrobe.

Take Your Foot off the Girlboss Gas Pedal

Some cultural commentators have said these trends indicate that millennials and Gen Z want to “skip adulthood,” but these are more than just looks – they’re also aspirational lifestyles. Many young women in their late teens through early 30s can’t help but feel a bit turned off by the festival or rave scene and may prefer a girls-night-in with charcuterie and wine. While party princesses get decked out in head-to-toe NastyGal outfits for their form of escapism, these women seek to escape by looking to the past. They may not be self-proclaimed “trad wives,” but they prefer the idea of slower living.

Within these trends lies an overarching sense of control, from the neatly button-up outfits to the Murphy’s Oil Soap’ed wood cabinets to the karate-chopped pillows. What may seem “uptight” to some is a psychological necessity to others – I mean, think about it, shelter and resources are pretty critical on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. And, while there are certainly “liberal” women who lean into these old-fashioned trends, it’s worth noting that there’s an undeniable connection to conservatism. This more conservative mindset often translates into preferring order rather than thriving within an uncertain, ever-changing environment. 

Taking a more intentional approach to living has more than a few benefits. For example, both “granny chic” trends place emphasis on a neat, tidy home. Researchers have found that clutter and mess can significantly increase the likelihood that a woman feels fatigued and depressed. A messy home can signal unfinished business to your brain, which studies have found can cause difficulty when trying to focus on a task at hand. Living with intention by reducing clutter, taking control of your environment, and creating a restorative, restful home is understandably a common behavior shared by those with vintage souls.

Along with a sense of control, following “granny chic” trends could also indicate that someone harbors some homesickness for the days of yore. The feelings of warmth and comfort associated with all things old-fashioned tap into an innate draw for nostalgia. Psychologists such as Krystine Batcho, Ph.D., believe that nostalgia motivates us to remember our own past, uniting us to our authentic self, reminding us who we’ve been, and comparing that person to the person we are today.

“The irreversibility of time means that we absolutely cannot go back in time so it helps us to deal with the conflict of the bitter longing for what can never be again together with the sweetness of having experienced it and being able to revisit it and relive it again,” she said during an American Psychological Association podcast.

That said, Dr. Batcho pointed out the differences between personal nostalgia and historical nostalgia, the latter being a phenomenon “triggered by dissatisfaction with the present.” Perhaps you’re daydreaming of the romanticized, idealized image of the Victorian era, feeling wistful about how much the world has changed since then. It’s hard to blame someone for clinging to any last relics of the days before the digital revolution, when breaking news was relevant for longer than five minutes and when face-to-face interaction with complete strangers resulted in connections rather than hostility. Nostalgia may very well be a protective mechanism, but it’s one that researchers believe is also connected to a greater likelihood of socializing, feeling empathy, and finding life meaningful.

The concept of slowing down to plant metaphorical roots within your geographic community has also been threatened by the advent of the Information Age. This cataclysmic shift seemed gradual at first, but in recent years, most manual things have grown rare. Our smartphones – more powerful than the computers that took man to the moon – have effectively replaced analog clocks, record players and boom boxes, encyclopedias, paper maps, rolodexes, and, well, other humans. Why chatter with the gentleman who stepped into the elevator when you could instead scroll through your social media feeds or send texts to friends?

Look, I’m no technophobe, but I can at least admit that there’s something troubling and almost nonhuman about how much real-world social interactions have changed. Observing the rise of “granny chic” makes me feel like I’m not the only one feeling a bit uneasy about our world’s trajectory.

Leading a More Vintage Life Doesn’t Come Easy

While there are undoubtedly more examples, grandmillennial style and the coastal grandmother aesthetic are two very obvious manifestations of this reactionary cultural shift. People aren’t just seeking out antiquated, broken technology but are looking for natural ways to integrate antiquity into their lifestyle. Aspirations to live a slow lifestyle grew in popularity after the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Google’s Consumer Insights found a 4X increase in “slow living” YouTube video views between 2019 and 2020, videos they believed to be especially appealing for those yearning to “retreat into a different world and mindset.”

The girlboss era, a societal overcorrection to lift up female leaders, was understandably dissatisfying. America had just emerged from the 2008 financial crisis, the job market was unstable, and graduating students took on crippling debt. Is it any wonder that many millennial women convinced themselves that it was possible to juggle full-time jobs, side hustles, manage personal relations, and have a robust social life? Establishing an admirable career and making tough sacrifices if it meant a bump in pay was once the M.O. for millennial women, but now that many have matured into grandmillennials, they’re relearning how to slow down, set firm boundaries, and actually say "no." 

A slow living lifestyle is antithetical to the millennial’s “grindset.” i-D by Vice contributor Laura Pitcher wrote that you too could adopt slow living by following this concept: “Everything a girlboss would do, you do the opposite.” Rather than booking your weekday evenings full of happy hours, you might unplug after hours by reading a book or spending more time in nature. Though Pitcher mistakenly claims that slow living is “anti-capitalist” in nature and says that “we haven’t achieved a slower pace of life until everyone has access to it,” she does raise a few good points about how true slow living (not just the aesthetic, or aspiration) must be earned. 

It’s true, if we all operated on a “grindset” and left very little time for leisure, we would experience burnout. But my generation, Gen Z, is apparently the generation that swung in the other direction – we are the generation that “does not dream of labor.” We’ve set our boundaries and are sticking to them, but in our capitalist society, if we don’t make some meaningful contributions then we don’t deserve handouts and limitless leisure. But that doesn't mean we have to accept exploitation at the hands of unhinged, crony corporatism or glumly recite the timed, positive affirmations like Amazon Warehouse employees are subjected to during their mindfulness breaks. 

Anti-capitalists like Pitcher mention these sorts of dystopian moments as fuel to the fire for slow living, but for every exploitative employer, there are plenty who actually prioritize a healthy work-life balance. But until tech automation replaces much of the manual, tedious labor that anti-capitalists bemoan, those honest jobs still need to be filled. And speaking frankly, manual labor shouldn’t be anything to be ashamed of.

Patrice Onwuka, director of the Center for Economic Opportunity at Independent Women’s Forum, pointed out in a recent op-ed for Real Clear Policy that workplace flexibility is an increasingly important priority for American workers – especially women. As such, many women prefer freelance jobs or their status as an independent contractor to balance their own self-care and provide care for their loved ones. 

Left-leaning American policymakers don’t seem to understand this, however, and have introduced legislation that would force freelancers to be reclassified as employees. Proponents of this, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, believe that reclassification is a net positive so that workers can unionize and “fight corporate greed,” but ironically, this eerily Marxist legislation would only worsen women’s chances of ever achieving slow living. It’s genuinely not pro-worker or pro-woman, as Onwuka explained, it’s just pro-union.

Closing Thoughts

Obligatory girlbossing is a destructive societal standard, but “dismantling capitalistic systems” certainly isn’t the answer. In theory, we all have access to slow living (that’s the American dream, baby!), but we have to put in the work and put in the hours to get ourselves there. Our grandparents did it, which is how they amassed their enviable, authentic “granny chic” home decor in the first place. 

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