There’s plenty to consider in options for back-to-school threads
August 29, 2012
By Sebastian Moraga
By Sebastian Moraga
Leanna Hoover, at right, and her friend Hannah Larson shop for clothes at the North Bend Premium Outlets two days before the start of their senior year at Mount Si High School.
The drawing by Snoqualmie Middle School alum Amanda Ryan sets the record straight: This is what you can wear at SMS, and this is what you can’t wear.
Shoulders uncovered, out. Fingertip skirts, in. Gangsta rapper-wannabe, out. Waists covered, in. No pajamas, no hats, no undies showing.
No problem? Most of the time, teacher Tom Burford said.
“We have a little bit of trouble at the beginning of the year,” he said. “Mainly, it’s the eighth-graders, they’ve been waiting two years to be the top dog.”
Other than that, very few get in hot water over cool duds, and when it happens, it’s mostly in the spring and usually the girls, school secretary Jean Christensen said. That’s when the sun is out and skimpy is in, and not just at SMS.
“I’ve heard there’s a bit of an issue here,” said Mount Si High School teacher Kim Sales. “Though I haven’t seen it personally. On warm days, girls wear either cleavage or these really short skirts, like way up here.”
Oddly, with days still sunny, those in charge of fashion trends here in the Valley said skimpy outfits remain on the shelf while other threads fly away.
“Denim,” said Lynn Carlisle, store manager at Maurices in North Bend. “Everybody shops for blue jeans at back-to-school time.”
Jessie Mullen, assistant manager at North Bend’s Rue 21, agreed, and said denim in colors other than blue are also hot items.
Furthermore, distant cousins of the jeans have also achieved popularity. A mixture of leggings and jeans, called jeggings, catch the eye of many girls.
“A very snug fit,” Carlisle said, “tight all the way down to the ankle.”
In an equally tight economy, shoppers try hard to find the best deals, said Kaylee Galloway, assistant manager at Maurices.
“They really look for the sales, they want to know if they can get a percentage off,” she said.
Even when not looking for the sales, some teenagers are savvy shoppers.
“Lace shirts are definitely in,” said Leanna Hoover, a senior at Mount Si High School.
Her classmate Hannah Larson had an even more discriminating eye.
“Things that make you look like you’re not trying too hard,” she said. “Sort of vintage-y, classy.”
Price is always a consideration, she added. Well, sort of.
“The cheaper the better,” Larson said, “as long as it looks expensive.”
Brook Gouge, an Issaquah mother of two, including a 12-year-old girl, said the prices in the Valley looked OK. She had already shopped for her daughter, and it had been a challenge.
“With dress codes, you have to layer things,” she said. “You have to be very careful. We try to get things she likes that are also appropriate. Lucky for me, she likes hoodies.”
Adyson LeeMaster, a year younger, has a different favorite. She likes mustaches. On herself.
“She draws mustaches on herself all the time,” her mother Camden said. Adyson clarified that they were rub-on tattoos.
No matter, said Katie Wilbert, assistant manager at North Bend’s Claire’s store. Mustaches are in among girls.
Plastic mustaches, mustache earrings, rings, necklaces, bracelets. You name it, mustachin’ is in fashion.
Some other favorites are a little more conventional.
“Hello Kitty is like a bomb,” Wilbert said. “She never went away, she’s always in style.”
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