What are the differences ( social and dress) between German young adults ( 18-25) and American?

Having hung out with a lot of germans, I don't really see much of a difference. They drink and party just like americans. A lot of them even wear abercrombie!

The shoes. Americans are generally much more conservative and boring when it comes to casual footwear. Wild colors, patterns and designs that are common in Germany are unusual in the U.S.

It's soo true about the shoes! Love the shoes in Germany. Other than that the 18-25 crowd dresses exactly like it's counter-part in the US. Hard to tell them apart anymore...besides the shoes. Everything hip-hop grear to preppy is worn there.

As far as the 18-20 year old range I don't agree with the last poster. A lot of their clothes are lot tighter where in America we usually prefer looser fitting clothes. The styling is actually a mix between our 80's fashion and our modern. Like stated before the shoes are the biggest difference. Americans wear heavy/thick soled shoes whereas in Germany the soles are very thin and look rather funny to the American eyes. Most of their influence in styling comes from MTV which is still playing a mix of 80's pop and rap. Sometimes you will see German youth in very overdone hip-hop styling complete with the sideways hat and pants falling off the back. They tend to over do it a bit as that's all they know from TV. Formal wear is the same as the states. Formal business and formal evening attire are relatively uniform between the states and Germany. A suit is a suit and a dress is a dress pretty much all over the world (varies in some Middle Eastern countries).

one of the differences in dressing is that germans do not wear sweat suits or in general athletic gear to go food shopping or to the mall. Germans think athletic gear should be worn to work out only. A lot more people wear jeans on a everyday basis than Americans do.

I am a 25 year old american living in Germany. If you plan to travel here and go out then you need to know just this...dress up a little, no tennis shoes!, no baggy pants!, if you are a dude then dress just a little metro...if you want female attention that is :) Other than that, people are the same as Americans, very cool and laid back. Make sure you drink a lot of German beer, its great!