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Although time has passed from one generation to another there are certain events, styles, and characteristics that bond the generations together. Generation Link is a page devoted to investigating these certain elements that unit the generation regardless of time.

We are all bonded together as people of the human race but women and men have their separate sisterhood and brotherhood bond. Our team decided to follow the link that bonds women together generation after generation.

Generation after generation is fascinated by cars. Teenagers at one time another dream of driving in a fast car with cool strips, hair blowing in the wind, ready to make an impression on a certain special person. Driving a car is one of the first signs to the world that this teen is now and an adult that can go places without mom or dad driving. Our team decided to follow the car link for each generation.

Another fascination is the fashion statement every generation is determined to call their own style. The straight laced look, the beet nick, the hippie look, the I don't care what I look like look, are teens announcing to the world they have arrive in their coming out party. Our team decided to branch together the fashion statement of the each generation.
Hope you enjoy our analogy and let us know what you think?

From the humble beginnings of four wheels, a rather shaky frame (what more for the shaky passengers who had just finished having a ride on bumpy unpaved roads) the form of transportation known as the automobile has improved almost as quickly as the speeds some sports cars can achieve. Originally, a past time for the rich and reckless, the sport of the automobile has evolved into a way of life. For the automobile, the focus over the pass of time has gone from the looks and speed of a car to safety and pollution. Millions of lives are lost every year through car accidents - little did the inventor and innovators of the car realize this until it was too late with the loss of countless lives. When the seat belt was introduced to the automobile, people campaigned to have the seat belt removed, feeling it to be a hindrance to the "driving" experience. The seat belt prevailed and has become a necessity to all cars that are used today.

The automobile is a way of life and if the car is going to continue being a major part of Twentieth Century life, things will be done to ensure the lives of drivers and passengers are safe. With the rapidly increasing number of cars in the world today things are being done to slow down the emission of pollutants made by cars. Laws are being passed in countries to make sure that all cars are brought in for a check up (kind of sounds like a real animal here) and are using the fuel efficiently. Innovators are working hard at improving the car and creating a car that will not burn pollutants into the air. The car is changing the way of life as we know, knew it and will know it.

Members of the G.I. and Silent Generation have celebrated the existence of the automobile - learning how to drive as soon as possible, a privilege in itself. Baby Boomers, Generation Xers and "Y" have and will celebrate the stepping stone in life known as getting your driver's license. Getting one's driver's license is like getting a passport to freedom for some. (It's here that images of teen rebel James Dean pop up in my mind, him revving the engine of his motorcycle and smiling that sly smile…oh SWEET!) The automobile frees teens from the clutching dependency of asking parents for a drive to the local hangout or riding your ten-speed all the way down to the drive in. With the automobile people weren't limited to their hometowns for entertainment. It was now possible to visit Aunt Betty (who lives a three-hour walk away) and make it back before dark. People now could go to the theaters in other towns, not having to rely on the sometimes costly trains that only would stop at certain and towns - maybe still miles away from where you needed to go. Roads were paved to accommodate automobiles, motels were put up for guests who were traveling by car, drive through services were created for the customer eating on the run and drive ins were made solely for the proud owners of automobiles who could afford to watch movies from the comfort of their own car. The world soon made way and is still making way for this contraption that has moved millions from Point A (the invention of the automobile) to Point B (the car as we know it today) and hopefully to point C (the car of the future, if there are still roads - let alone the earth and people to drive the cars there). The automobile entered and came at the start of the century - will it end with the century?

A common characteristic among women of all generations is their driving ambition and force to promote equality between the sexes. Woman have come a long way from not being able to vote to voting, shorter hem lines and barely there swim wear (a nice little ditty, isn't it?). Despite the old Western and European notion of women being "lower" than men, time has shown this is not the case. Women have proven to be just as capable as men at work as well as in the home. Women of the G.I. and Silent Generation took over for men with the onset of both World War One and Two, working in factories to keep production lines for machinery and weapons going, playing baseball to keep the people on the home front entertained and (to top that off, going beyond what most men of that era did) ran the household whilst caring for the kids. The Women's Movement has taken many steps, yet it still is working towards bringing equality to both sexes. With the Suffragette movement of the G.I. Generation women to the Feminist movement of Generation X, it is up to members of the Millennial Generation to move closer to equality.

Women have moved away from the traditional roles of mothers and nurses to more manual labour jobs like that of construction work or engineering. The G.I. and Silent Generations were brought up thinking that a woman's place is in the home. In the sixties scholastic studies were made of elementary school girls and high school girls. The studies showed that elementary school girls were more optimistic about life than high school girls, perhaps because they were not yet introduced to the fact that women were still considered somewhat inferior to men. Those elementary school girls grew up and became strong women of the Baby Boomers, as they paved new paths for women in areas such as computers and major league baseball. More women than ever are in the work force and more are continuing their education well into old age, entering into fields that in the eighteenth century would have been labeled scandalous.

Women of all generations have been working towards equality and ensuring that equality remains. In each and every generation, G.I. to Millennial there are strong women who lead others to an equal, more agreeable future.

The transition from Buster Brown suits and floppy bows, Fauntleroy suits, kilts, and dressy short pants to casual blue jeans and baggy trousers is an interesting study in social history. The modern boy would hardly recognize his counterpart of 100 years ago who might find himself in a lace collar and velvet short pants, sailor suits, or kilts. Parents at the time dressed formally and insisted that their children also dress smartly. Gradually styles changed in the mid 20th Century to more realistic short pants and knickers before the modern incarnation of baggy jeans and sweatshirts.

Parents, especially mothers, used to choose their son's clothing and until he was quite old he had little say in the matter. Children, especially well off children, were often dressed in fancy, formal clothes, even for play. The modern child would find children's dress of a century ago highly restrictive. It would certainly inhibit a child who wanted to enjoy the playground in the comtemporary scene. The modern child, even very young children have a great deal of say in how they dress, often demanding designer clothing. Informal styles are in vogue with children rarely dressing up and often under duress.

The world of fashion had its beginnings far before members of the G.I. Generation were born. Fashion changes over time, and it seems that members of all five generations have witnessed a faster change in fashion than ever before.

With more liberation as far as what is considered acceptable behavior and a lean towards more comfort than looks, fashion looks to be moving to a more practical, yet chic sleek style. (The chic sleek style is to fit the interests and the world of which members of the Millennial and Futuristic - nameless here forever more - generation shall be living in.)

Fashion links all five of the generations in a way that no other person, place or thing can: Fashion is a necessity of life.

What is seen on the runways of gay Paris to New York, is soon found as decor for homes. (I don't mean to say they hang up the dresses as decoration, but the design and style is often mimicked in home decorating.) Fashion is dependent on the events of what's going on during that generation - take the style of the Silent Generation - conservative to help with the war effort. Or look at the turbulent sixties as the younger Baby Boomers donned outrageous bell bottoms and wore natural style clothing, reflecting the fast changing world. As society learned to be more practical and with the increasing variety of activities, fashion has changed to fit the people's demands.

Movie stars, royalty, sports stars and other celebrities continue to be the trend setters in fashion. Members of the G.I. generation were just as influenced by royalty and the fashions of Queen Victoria and King Edward as Baby Boomers were influenced by Grace Kelly and Jaclyn Kennedy (considered royalty of Hollywood and North America, save when Grace Kelly became Princess Grace of Monaco…).

G.I. Generation members looked for elegance, whilst Silent generation members looked for practicality. Baby boomers were ones to cast off the shackles of the previous generations to take on a frivolity and enjoy clothing - going to the extreme of the punk rocker eighties. Generation Xers have mellow tastes in fashion when compared to their parents, for they have realized that money isn't everything and extravagant fashion can end up looking rather tacky - this is seen with the short lived popularity of Grunge. It's moved towards a sleek chic look for the Millennial generation as they prepare for a new Millennium. What the Futuristic generation' taste in style will be is left up to the events that have yet to come.

Women's fashion constantly changes to fit the times. One enduring trait as far as formal women's fashion goes is that of the black dress - elegant to casual, the black dress can be accessorized to fit any occasion - or era. Men's fashion has remained somewhat steady. Men of the Silent Generation, and even G.I., will find that their tuxedos are still as acceptable for formal occasions as ever. The casual wear is something that has taken on many changes with the changing of times. (Of course, it is an indisputable fact that guys look good in suits or tuxes - this coming from a teenage girl of Generation X.) Casual wear has always been dependent on the past times and hobbies of the people - before casual wear was a suit or a long dress (suitable for the past time of leisure walking), now it is jeans and a tee shirt (suitable for bungee jumping to dancing - whatever past time one enjoys).

Swim wear has endured as shorts, boxers and speedos, surprisingly nowadays not showing as much skin as before. Women's swimwear has changed with the women's movement - showing more or less skin, depending on how liberated women were. Advances with technology changed and are changing the style of swimwear, for the wearer's comfort and the garment's efficiency. Linking all five generations together is one thing that can't be avoided: FASHION.