Fashion + Beauty
Monday, December 7, 2009
Back-to-school style pressure: What was the one thing you wanted that you didn't get?
editor
When you get to a certain age, the serious, dramatic hassles of your youth begin to fade to the point that it is kind of unfathomable to think you once spent hours trying to find bad beer, begging your dad for permission to go to a party, negotiating a curfew or crying over your back-to-school clothes. This last issue came to my attention again today when I was reading a post over on Parenting about the intense pressure girls feel to have the right labels and clothes. Eighty-four percent of them said they need to dress the "right way" (whatever that means, it's a gross world sometimes) in order to fit in.
We started talking about it as a staff, and yes, while the numbers are way up today, we sadly felt the same self-consciousness and self-loathing whenever we had the "wrong" clothes at school—and we often had the wrong clothes. For some of us, it was wanting Guess jeans and getting Lee; a Britannia jacket served up in place of the truly desirable Member’s Only version; or L.A. Gear sneakers when what we pleaded for was a bright pair of Reebok High Tops. Others said we should shut our spoiled mouths, they wanted Keds but instead got Kmart bo-bos; asked for an Izod polo shirt and wound up with one from JC Penney with a tiger on the chest. It was rough all over.
What about you guys? What was the one thing you really wanted when you were in school? Did you get it?
Here's the parenting post right here:
Back to School: The brands, the labels and the pressure to have the right look
Related: reebok, member's only, high tops, clothes, back to school
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Posted by Mrs. Mommy Tue Aug 12, 2008 7:14pm PDT
I wanted the brightly colored reeboks and was only allowed to get the black ones because they went with all my clothes. I always thought I was going to die if I didn't get what was in. It is clear to say I survive. LOL.
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Posted by yummy23f_bunny Tue Aug 12, 2008 7:23pm PDT
new kids on the block: trapper keeper ... lunch box... and pencil case... instead i got my little pony merchandise
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Posted by badgerdog Tue Aug 12, 2008 7:26pm PDT
Okay, this will sure date me, but oh well. When Swatches became so immensely popular, I was in jr. high. All the "cool" girls had one, and my friends who had them loved showing them off to me because my parents wouldn't buy me one. I begged and begged, and finally, for Christmas that year, my parents bought me not a Swatch, but a Guess watch. Which, looking back on it now, was actually really cool, and it did actually come into being "cool" the next year (remember the Guess teddy bear sweatshirts?) But at the time, I was so disappointed. I never complained to my parents, though. They always thought they were getting me such fashionable clothing, even when it was awful, I just couldn't bring myself to hurt their feelings, LOL.
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Posted by vlvolove Tue Aug 12, 2008 9:50pm PDT
Calvin Klein jeans were the be all end all. My mom had six kids and they were out of the budget. She found a pair at the "outlet mall" that were "irregular" meaning the label was on upside down!She bought them and fixed them and no kid was ever happier on their 13th b-day. When I wanted a Swatch watch and "outback red" clothes from the Limited at fourteen? She said I should get a job...... Been working every since and I still have that watch... 24 years later.
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Posted by badgerdog Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:13pm PDT
LOL, Oh, I'd forgotten about "Outback Red"!! Yep, that brand was on my "wish list". Too funny.....
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Posted by Caitie Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:29am PDT
I wanted a fashion scarf. Every one else had one but me (My inner child). So for Christmas my Mom got me this small (like 2 feet, barley enough to rap around me neck) flannel scarf she got out of the lost and found at one of her jobs(she had three same as my dad). I made sure I wore it to school every day to make her happy. Granted I took it off when I got there. At least she got me a scarf.
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Posted by Laura Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:19am PDT
I wanted Izod. My mom received a pair of red Izod knee socks from a secret pal. So she picked off the little alligators from the socks and sewed them to a generic polo and istantly 2 Izod shirts! She was and still is great!
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Posted by Randi F Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:38am PDT
Girbaud was a hugely popular label when i was in middle school. my mom bought me a knockoff t-shirt once and i was so happy then somehow everyone could tell it was a fake and the humiliation of trying to fit in then FAILING was worse than not affording the stuff at all.
i also begged for 30 seconds for a Dooney$Bourke bag. my mom was not happy i was asking her to buy a seventh grader a $300 purse.
when i got into highschool, i sorta reinvented myself into this 'thrift store geek' and to my befuzzlement, everyone at school loved it and i became kinda popular.
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Posted by gem Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:41am PDT
I wanted a pair of Guess jeans. But our yearly limit was 2 pair of $20 pants. Even if I took my limit and only bought one pair, I still didn't have enough for the Guess jeans.
My mother found a pair of Guess jeans at a yard sale and came home very happy that she could finally get me a pair, but when I wore them to school, some girl recognized them and said, "Weren't those my pants?" !! She called me Yard Sale for the rest of the semester.
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