An Impressionable Age - How teenagers are changing their personal style (NYT)

[jpolla]

Thanks for the article. In London, and where i went to school, most kids were interested in what they wore but only if the label was visible! They would spend Hundred's on STONE ISLAND, lacoste etc and claim to love clothes but they just love labels and the street cred taht they get from other naive people.

 

[australian_girl]

I hate when adults try to write an article about whats happening with teens. Trying to get inside their minds. its ridiculous they couldn't possibly know. It's not anything new that highschoolers care about how they look. There are the groups that do and the groups that don't. Simple as that, no need to write a 1000 word article on it.

 

[MTRLBY]

i'm sorry, but kids that young trying to dress that mature just looks funny.
like watching a 10 year old in high heels.

 

[Whitelinen]

^ Maturity does not necessarily mean that.

 

[jpolla]

Yeh^ Maturity doesn't neccessarily mean dressing like an adult. I think the article is about teens dressing well, co-ordinating etc rather than the average 13yr old who wears millions of colours/labels all on show.

 

[Crystalicious]

I don't know.. for the most part I think it's fruitless to get teens to wear anything other than A&F andAE and the like, but I get quite a few emails from my readers at work and they seem to want to get into more "advanced" fashion. I find it refreshing when I get those emails, but I know they are just a handful of thousands.

 

[SevenWeeksLater]

I agree with everything Sakina said,but if the "cool" kids wear the teen magazine fashion staples of the season,then its bound to trickle down to rest of the HS population. Fortunetly,I havent started school yet so we'll see how accurate this article is. I'm kind of hoping that everyone sticks to their faded destroyed flair jeans,so I don't have to retire my skinnies

 

[Ace of Spades]

I think it's pretentious when all the kids at my school flaunt their "wealth" through labels and mannequin dressing. American Eagle and Abercrombie and Fitch nauseate me because that's all I see at school. It doesn't look mature, it looks mainstream. Every child should be entitled to their own fashion mistakes simply because of their age so if they want to wear their ringette hoodie and wrinkled jeans fine.

 

[widerlet]

I agree with the article. I'm 16 and I've noticed this past year so many people are getting into fashion. Like I have friends who dont look at anything other than jeans and t-shirts but now their getting into BELTS (woo) and accessories.
All of my friends have become increasingly interested in fashion (including me).
Maybe its just a current trend to be trendy [ ] but I think this article is very true.



From what you guys are saying I should be glad that my country only has one Juicy coture store and no one cares about it and we have no Abercrombie and Fitch/etc.

 

[sadsorrystate]

I don't particularly agree with this article. I'm going to be a soph in HS this year, and everyone seems pretty dead set on their A&F uniform- be it denim minis with their leggings underneath or destroyed, flared jeans.

Sure, some people are fashion foward, but definitely a very small percentage.

 

[cutxpaste]

Angie, I agree. it's not that teenagers are changing, it's that the style is. What was cool when I was in highschool (jeans, cords, this is when A&F and AE hadn't become overplayed and were just gaining recognition) is different to now. I don't think teenagers are more style saavy, but I do think the media gives the ones that are, more attention

I totally agree with you. I saw this article in the paper with my mother a few weeks ago and we both agreed. If designers are showing more "child-like" looks for fall, then teenage back-to-school clothing would reflect that. But designers didn't do that this season, so the clothes teens wear back to school are more "sophisticated"

 

[susie_bubble]

Hmm...I do feel in one respect teenagers in London - actually a CERTAIN kind of teenager in London - what I like to call the 'Peaches Geldof' girls (i.e. pseudo 'indie' girls...kinda like the ones that went to my school) ARE quite style savvy....
I'll see girls in Topshop saying things like 'OMG...that's SOOO Marc Jacobs' or when I interviewed some random teens for streetstyle pics, they were like 'Yeah...I like vintage Escada' and even just the way they put things together - even I find sort of inspiring - yes, there's still an element of conformity but I've also seen a lot of girls push the boat out a lot..... but this is very exceptional.... probably very geographic-specific.