new guard

From the antonym old guard.

new guard (plural new guards)

1. A person who is more willing to accept new ideas than their peers are.
2. Collectively, people who have recently gained prominence or influence within a specific field.
   • 1971 December, Zygmunt Bauman, “Twenty Years After: The Crisis of Soviet-Type Systems”, in Theodore Frankel, editor, Problems of Communism‎, volume 20, number 6, page 49:

     The fits and starts of recent East European political history have many of their deepest roots in this inherently ambiguous predicament of the new guard of middle- and upper-level leaders.

   • 2022 January 17, Liam Hess, “The new guard of young designers interrogating cultural identity”, in Dazed Digital‎:

     Across the UK, a new guard of designers is drawing on global influences to ask how we can use our pasts – whether cultural heritage, personal histories, or intergenerational trauma and healing – to forge a new path to the future that ricochets between the boundaries of sexuality, gender, race, and nationality.

   • 2023 November 30, Jonah Waterhouse, “What does New Zealand fashion look like? These 4 designers give a fresh idea”, in Vogue Australia‎:

     Docherty sees the new guard of New Zealand designers as representing the country’s multifaceted nature.

• new school

• “new guard”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.