Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 5, 1993 TAG: 9304060370
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WENDI GIBSON RICHERT NEWSFUN WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
FADS (OR WHAT'S HOT IS COOL)
If it's hot, the rage, a craze, or simply something nobody understands, but everybody's doing, it's got to be a fad.How else would you explain why so many folks - young and old - were wearing the brightly colored, woven friendship bracelets a few years ago? Or why, back in the '70s the thing to own was a pet rock (you could even buy them at the local dime store when I was a kid).
Today, at least for the moment, dime stores are even selling baby pacifiers by the dozens - to kids, not babies - because it's suddenly "in" to wear them on a string around your neck and suck on them throughout the day.
They're all fads - here today, gone tomorrow. And guaranteed to grab enough attention while they're around that a lot of folks are going to want to be a part of it.
Remember the New Kids on the Block? Totally uncool now, but the rage just a couple of years back. What about "Wayne's World's" Wayne and Garth? NOT uncool, necessarily, but certainly not as hot as last year when their movie was fresh on everyone's mind.
As you can see, if it's a fad, by definition it isn't meant to last. Webster's Dictionary defines "fad" as "a custom, style, etc. that many people are interested in for a short time; passing fashion."
Of all the fads reported to the MiniForum last week, the one with the clearest majority was troll collecting. One anonymous Belview Elementary School writer wrote that while trolls are the fad in that Christiansburg school, following the fad isn't always smart "because you might be out of style and end up with a bunch of junk no one wants."
Like the pet rock I still have, somewhere in my parents' house. Or the tattered and wrinkled New Kids on the Block poster now crushed in the back of your closet.
While trolls are the rage in many schools whose classes wrote to us, they're definitely not hot at Roanoke's Ruffner Middle School anymore. Fads don't simply exist all over the country or even in one state. They vary from school to school, even neighborhood to neighborhood.
The 14 Ruffner kids we talked to dismissed trolls as already having swept through their school. They now look at trolls as the "junk" the Belview Elementary writer referred to.
So, what's in at Ruffner? Definitely baggy pants with colorful boxer shorts peeking out from the waist, Reebok Classics tennis shoes, combat-like boots, silk shirts and brightly colored striped rugby shirts. They're all hot items now, but the 14 kids we talked to agreed these fads would be gone in a few months.
Except for the Reeboks, they added. They're in for the long haul. At least at Ruffner anyway. Kids at Addison Middle School, also in Roanoke, say Shack shoes are hot. So are Cross Colors brand clothes - the Member's Only brand of the pet rock generation. And, trolls are still an in thing, showing up as jewelry on ears, in hair and around necks.
What about at Roanoke's Green Valley Elementary School? According to writer Tony Erdmann, Eye Poppers, Cry Babies and Tear Jerkers are out. Creepy Crawlers, those rubber glow-in-the-dark insects, are in. Along with "that grunge thing" he says. "Personally, I like it. Old shoes, ripped pants, grungy band T-shirts like Nirvana and Sound Garden. I really don't think it'll last very long, but enjoy it while it lasts."
Tony knows the spirit of fad - what was the craze yesterday isn't now, like the Cry Babies. And what's the rage today won't be forever. Even the favorite sports team T-shirts and sweats at Willis Elementary School or Kriss Kross hair cuts at many schools won't always be the rage.
What do most of the writers think about fads? Many said fads could be both good and bad. And that if a fad is good, it's OK to follow it. Hanna Montgomery of Pembroke wrote: "It's good to get in a fad, but not into a dangerous fad."
Aaron Schilling of Roanoke's Huff Lane Elementary School has other thoughts on the fad front. "I think it's bad to follow everybody "because it's like that saying, `If they jumped off a cliff, would you do it, too?' "
Clearly, if you don't like a fad, you shouldn't follow it. Ruffner student Marshina Wilson says following fads depends on who you are. "I go my own route. . . . It depends on if you like it or not." Schoolmate Callie Robertson agrees: "I just wear what I like."