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The 14 to 34 years old have developed a great capability of self-expression. While marketers tend to place them under the same umbrella, Generation Y is probably the one since the last 3 generations with a strong will of differentiation. They also tend to believe that one should accept how and who you are rather than following any kind of reference. At the same time, we understand that the 4 big institutions of modern society have simply lost its identity builder factor: Family, State, Military and Religion. Without references given by society, the young generations need to create their own and choose to build their identities by themselves. Here are 5 main trends for 2015 that will blow your mind, unless you are under 35 years old.

Zombie Walks and how to get a bite

With the huge success of the TV series “The Walking Dead”, being a Zombie is probably the coolest thing that could happen to you! Really. This trend had pushed The Resident Evil saga to become one of the most successful blockbusters in theaters and the Walking Dead just nailed it. While some people truly believe we might get attacked by Zombies one day, others rather prefer to join the “dark side” and become a Zombie. If you cannot beat them, join them. So far away from Halloween hand-made costumes, the Zombie Walks became a true annual appointment for fans to express themselves. Literally, people will dress like Zombies and walk in the city streets. It happens in several capital cities around the world. We already talked about it previously. You can see our dedicated article here.
In 2014, Rio de Janeiro was one of the high-lights for Zombie Walks. Here are some chosen pictures from this year. It features Nathalia Antunes as model and self-make-up artist and photos by BurunoValiente.
Zombie Walk RioZombie Walk Rio 2014
As we can see very talented young people express the best make-up ever seen in the street. Some of them are as good as the ones you can see in a Hollywood movie.
In 2014, Rio de Janeiro was one of the high-lights for Zombie Walks. Here are some chosen pictures from this year. They even have a dedicated group on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/zombiewalkrj
https://www.facebook.com/groups/zombiewalkrj

Zombies definitely represent a certain freedom of self-expression. They are free to behave as they want and because you are not “yourself” anymore you can free your mind from your daily problems, limits or even physical allure. It is also something you do together as Zombies always go in groups. It is not like the lonely Vampire or Werewolf. Doing something in group, especially if you can express your own individuality, it is something great to do. You have the comfort of being in a group and still affirming your own personality. The movie and video game industry are completely recycling this trend and exploring opportunities with a great success. Films like:

  • I am Legend by Francis Lawrence with Will Smith
  • World War Z by Marc Forster with Brad Pitt

Cosplay, superheros are alive

We might think Cosplay was born in Japan but actually it was the USA who invented this trend. The idea is to dress like a super hero or like a character from a cartoon, video game or other manga. The first person to wear a cosplay in public is Forrester J Ackerman in 1939. Here is a picture of him back then:
Forrester J Ackerman cosplay
During the first Science-Fiction convention, WorldCon, he presented himself in a costume of “Man from the Future”. The movement started being organized with fans from StarTrek and StarWars that would dress up with their favorite character costume during all new film release. At the end of the 80’s, this trend was exported to Japan that took the movement to a much superior level. Their Manga and Anime backgroup mixed with the video game world generated a whole new range of possibilities. Today Japan rules in terms of creativity and cosplay originality.
Cosplay mania

Cosplay show

Cosplay world

Cosplay trends

Bronies, back to childhood? Really?

Remember the magical little Ponies? Well, some people not only remember it but would like to become one! They are called Bronies, a contraction between Brothers and Ponies. They represent generally young males with an adoration for Little Ponies. They dress like them, collect everything they can about them and secretly dream to become one. Probably a nostalgic trend from childhood, like a sweet memory from a carefree age.
Bronies pictures

Bronies mania

Sexting and snapchat, be careful with that sexy smartphone

Since the first smartphone came to the market, we are blowed away with the endless possibilities of mobile web. Every year mobile phones are smarter and smarter to a point that now we wonder how did we use to live without it. Socializing is definitely something people are happy to use their smartphones for. Mobile subscriptions have adapted to allow you endless data access and unlimited SMS. Thanks to these new features in our lives, 2 main trends have appeared: Sexting and Snapchat. Hot!
The first one is called Sexting. It consists in sexually teasing someone by send him (or her) explicit messages and images that generally you would not show to your parents. It is something more and more common, and it is getting more and more hotter.
Sexting Sextos

Sexting trends

Sexting pictures

Sexting and sextos mania
The second one is what Snapchat accomplished. Being the first social networks with ephemeral messages, the sender can control how long his message can be seen. From a few seconds to a much longer period. So people got naughty by sending openly naked photos from themselves to friends and lovers, thinking they would only see them a few seconds. Snapchat does dot keep any content in their servers, so no risk to see this spreading… Unless you know how to do a quick screenshot. And this was the main leak on snapchat. People would do screengrabs of the ephemeral sexy pictures so they would be able to see them again and again, and eventually to share them on instagram, Twitter or even by SMS. At the end of the day, it has actually became a game.
Sexy snapchat

Snapchat pictures

Self-expression is definitely something important to Millennials. The GenerationY has tremendous opportunities to share content they create (or find). The worldwide web and the development of technology allows everyone to become a broadcaster and a content producer. Welcome to the era of hyper-communication.

LA

Millennials trends 2015
Info sourced at wikipedia, cosplayphotographers.com, ink361.com, The international New York times. Featured image from http://img0.gtsstatic.com. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.