Vent: My teenage cousin called my designs "grandma core"

I was showing my 16 year old cousin some sketches I did for a fall collection at our family dinner last Saturday. She looked at my layered sweaters and long skirts and said they looked like what her art teacher wears. At first I laughed it off but it kept bugging me all night. Then I pulled up some old photos from 2015 when I first started designing and realized I basically draw the same stuff now that I did back then. She made me see I been playing it safe for almost a decade. The silhouettes and fabrics I use now are just nicer versions of the same ideas. Has anyone else had a younger relative just wreck your whole view of your work like that? I still think classic shapes have a place but dang maybe I need to push myself more.

3 comments

3 Comments

the_rose12d ago

I mean, I used to be all about sticking to my "signature style" no matter what, but honestly hearing how someone fresh sees it kinda changed my mind. idk, maybe we all need that reality check sometimes.

the_riley12d ago

But did she actually say what specifically felt dated about them, or just that they looked like her art teacher?

parker_webb12d ago

Man that's exactly what I'm talking about. I had a similar thing happen a couple years back when I asked my nephew what he thought of my old playlist and he just said it sounded like "angry dad music." It stung at first but then I really listened to what I was playing and yeah, half of it was bands I only liked because I thought they made me look cool in high school. The other half was stuff I'd outgrown but kept listening to out of habit. Sometimes you need someone who doesn't know your whole history to just call it like they see it.