A word I coined in the summer of 1997 to describe the
people (mostly young adults) who relied on MTV and cookie-
cutter clothes from the local malls and corporate clothing stores (
ie.Urban Outfitters) to design and define their "alternative" lifestyle. It came to me in '97 when I saw a
kid drive up in his
red, '65 mustang wearing a mall-bought
golf cap while sporting his inreasingly popular, brand new, fresh from the package wife-beater to show off his latest "tribal" arm-band tatt. The Mallternative clone can only participate in a prefabbed lifestyle that was mass produced for similar like-minded individuals designed to represent their 'unique' place in the world amongst all their other 'different' peers in the herd.
"Look at him with his pseudo-tattered, store-bought, knee-less, pre-stained jeans and his fake
tattoo t-shirt...He's SO Mallternative!"
"I am the same, yet I still think I'm different, in a uniquely special kind of
way...I'm Mallternative!!...hey, look, it's a Journey's right
next to a Hot Topic!!!"