The Abercrombie Age

“Lascity’s penetrating cultural analysis takes stock of how commercialism distracted a generation from the need for political change until it was too late. It’s an unusually empathetic and rigorous inquiry into the plight of millennials.”—Publishers Weekly

“Lascity . . . explores teen consumer culture in the late 1990s and early 2000s and its relationship to the era’s popular culture as seen in television, film, and pop music. Each pop culture text highlights a different aspect of privileged frivolity’s reach and influence. . . . Recommended.”—CHOICE

“The Abercrombie Age is an entertaining read that legitimizes a specific group of millennials and their popular culture as serious objects of academic inquiry.”—H-Material-Culture

“The Abercrombie Age is an informed and timely investigation of early 2000s teen culture. Through thoughtful analyses of nostalgic media texts—from A&F Quarterly to Clueless—Lascity argues convincingly that millennials were sold a false promise of affluence that has not come to fruition. It will surely resonate with readers interested in pop culture, media, fashion, and their impacts on American culture.”—Lauren Downing Peters, author of Fashion Before Plus-Size: Bodies, Bias, and the Birth of an Industry

“With measured reasoning and an eye for detail, Lascity deftly catalogs the changing seasons of millennial culture, revealing how fashion advertising came to clothe a wide collection of aspirational identities.”—Kevin L. Ferguson, author of Eighties People: New Lives in the American Imagination