September 2014: Global Millennials Who Set the Trends

In September’s GlobalCultureBlog, our Millennial bloggers interview someone whose style they admire and which is reflective of the city where they live. While our interviewees are very different personalities, we can pick out some trends in their lifestyles and philosophies.

Craft goes Glocal

Consumers are switching up their commitment to local craft food and beverage, as they discover imported small-batch brands. In Mexico City an artist discovers French cheese, washed down with Minerva, a local craft beer. In London, Mexican food has gone fresh & upscale at Wahaca. In Beijing, one of the city’s top club DJ’s enjoys St Louis beer brand Schlafly and Glenfiddich single malt.  

Old School, Designer, Vintage Style Mash-up

In New York a Brooklyn artist Derrick Adams mixes high end designers like Issey Miyake and Brian Wood with old school favorites like Clarks shoes. A London fashion stylist buys designer resale online at Covetique, while in Beijing, hip DJ Eddie admires longstanding fashion brands with history and reputation –such as Converse and Vespa.

Tribal meets Digital

In Bangalore, our trendsetter wears European styling in Indian colors and prints for her signature ‘global desi (Indian/local)’ style. She also loves to decorate with tribal art, and now she reads on her iPad, she uses books as art too!

Social Stylistas

Not surprisingly, Social Media is essential to our Millennial trendsetters. Instagram is popular for showing style and lifestyle with Millennials from LA to London but Twitter (or Weixin in Beijing) still rules for gossip or self-promotion.

Natural Beauty?

In LA, our style editor loves browsing the beauty aisle in WholeFoods and loves subtle Swedish fragrances from Byredo. Her London counterpart likes the Willpower & Grace workout, which combines body conditioning and mediation. In Moscow however, the beauty aspiration is more clinical, involving hard-core treatments such as laser therapy.