Hello! I use asks very infrequently so apologies if I am breaking any etiquette that I am unaware of or if this is a question you’ve answered in the past.
I’m pretty sure you’ve mentioned previously being in the same age bracket as Stanley and Xeno. So, in your professional opinion, how do you think they’d dress as teenagers? From what I’ve seen most the fandom just dresses Xeno in sweater vests with slacks and I’ve got next to nothing on Stanley beyond ‘vaguely cowboy’ or ‘generic teen boy’.(granted most the teen stanxeno fanart I look at is from the Japanese end of the fandom so this may be skewed) I really want to draw them in like 2008-ish.
(Also as someone who ACTUALLY DID wear sweater vests to high school and as a 16 year old generally dressed like a genderbent version of how I see most fanart draw teen Xeno? I’m personally not seeing it. Xeno doesn’t strike me as the type.)
Semi irrelevant aside, feel free to ignore this chunk if you wish:
I am approaching it from the HC of them growing up in a small-ish conservative town, but that is entirely my own head canons and I wouldn’t be asking you if I didn’t want to hear it from your perspective. So I’d love to hear if you’ve got any opinions on how that would skew things, but I also fully expect you to disregard this and approach it from the Massachusetts angle(The only reason I don’t personally adhere to the Boston origin is because I personally grew up in a rural conservative town and it’s easier for me to conceptualize. They give me unsupervised rural child vibes.)
No etiquette breach! My inbox is for most things people want to send me (although I do prefer if it's a specific topic/question and actually seeks some kind of response from me. This hits all the marks! Thank you, love this question)
Hahahah, my professional classification of "Being born the same year these two losers were."
But, oh, I do have thoughts on this. But don't worry, I didn't grow up in Boston, either, so the thoughts have nothing to do with that.
What I do approach it in the mindset of, "Oh God those two were definitely emo kids. Or scene kids, possibly, but honestly same difference."
"Oh God, those two shoplifted from Hot Topic."
Given what we see Stan and Xeno dress like as kids (for one, Xeno is wearing a graphic print t-shirt and cropped jeans, so he's not exactly going for the nerd fashion here, and his smart casual clothes as an adult are mostly turtlenecks and blazer, nary a sweater vest to be found), and what we see them dress like as adults: they were definitely in the emo/scene kid area, and so was I, so I Know this space.
I was also a huge nerd, but I cannot remember anyone wearing a sweater vest. That was Not The Thing. The Millennial sweater vest was a polo shirt.
2008 fashion (in part corroborated by my younger brother, who is a few years younger and ran in very different fashion scenes but did survive 2008 in middle school):
Cargo pants. So many cargo pants. I had so many cargo pants and I loved all of them. I want more now. Goddamn they were good. Xeno has always struck me as a cargo pants guy. They're comfy, easy to move in, and have pockets for so, so many things. They also tend to be relatively sturdy. I always think of teen Xeno in black cargo pants and black t-shirts and sneakers doing field tests
Incredible amounts of camo print. Sometimes colored camo. But lots of camo. Military-inspired fashion and army surplus were huge in the 00s. For Stanleys, I guess
Layered t-shirts. So. Many. Layered. T-shirts. Everywhere. On everyone. Short-sleeve t-shirt over long-sleeved t-shirt. Collar of the longer one could maybe peep out, but the bottom edge shouldn't, ideally. No button downs involved, just t-shirts
Speaking of button downs, these were mostly the purview of the preppy, fashion-forward gay guys. So maybe I could see Stanley in them, actually, but I feel like they would still be black, which was not out of the range of emo fashion, necessarily, although it was Dress Emo. But Stanley always seems to dress a few notches more formally than necessary. He is very particular and careful about his looks, so I could see him in a lot of very tightly fitted black button ups
Vans and Docs. Flat-soled skater shoes and combat boots. I think both would have been popular with these two
Studded jewelry. Xeno wears dog collars as an adult. He was wearing them and probably spiked bracelets as a teenager, too. I know this in my heart
Hoooodies. So many hoodies. The front-zip ones mostly. Man, Avril Lavigne had a clothing line at the time and I had a blood red hoodie with black skulls on it from her. Very fitted hoodies, mostly, not the bulkier shape-hiding ones, although sometimes those, too
Skinny jeans. Rise of men wearing skinny jeans. I think they're both a little active to have enjoyed wearing those, but you either had skinny jeans or (mostly for the girls) flare jeans, and they definitely seem more into skinny jeans, which were more popular. No other options available. And everything was the lowest rise imaginable and yes everyone would see your underwear. This was inescapable. I hated it. Yes, the men were also subjected to this hell
Makeup of the time in the emo/scene/goth scenes included what they both seem to be wearing as adults. Maybe painted fingernails also, but Xeno probably would skip that because it would flake off in the lab, so you're not supposed to do that
Lots of chains and extra belts. Stanley is still wearing extra belts in the Stone World, so I suspect he would be an extra chains and belts guy, but I think Xeno would also be a sucker for Extraneous Chains.
Long black trenchcoats. Xeno wears them as an adult, I feel like he would have worn them as a teenager, too
Stan probably got that undercut as a teenager
There were some other fashion trends, but a lot of them trend away from the subcultures Stan and Xeno seem to exemplify and indicate toward most strongly.
