ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996                  TAG: 9603060097
SECTION: NEWSFUN                  PAGE: 1    EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER STAFF WRITER

HERE'S WHAT'S HOT

Fashion rules.

You can read that two ways - fashion rules like Michael Jordan rules or read it like fashion has rules that should be followed.

The first way is correct, not because Michael Jordan is so awesome, but because the second choice doesn't exist anymore - there are no fashion rules.

It used to be that only girls wore earrings, that boys wore pants that fit and T-shirts that weren't big enough to hold two people at once. Shoes weren't named after anybody and your friends couldn't tell who your favorite team was by reading your clothes.

Not anymore.

It used to be that kids didn't care very much about what they wore - they even let their moms pick out their clothes - until about middle school. And young kids didn't wear the same styles high school kids wore.

Not anymore.

Kids in baggy pants and huge shirts sit next to kids in jeans and flannel shirts. Girls with haircuts like the women on ``Friends'' ride the bus with girls with beads in their hair.

Ponytails, like some of your moms wore, are popular again. Nike shoes are always popular and come in more styles and colors than there are braids on Jessica Thomas' head. She's not famous - she goes to Hurt Park Elementary School in Roanoke and has so many braids there should be a contest to see who can come closest to guessing the number of them.

It took six hours to braid Jessica's hair and, even in braids, it hangs halfway down her back.

If there had been a contest for the number of beads in someone's hair, Tempestt Hodnett at Hurt Park would have been the winner. Her hair has blue and white beads hanging at the ends of every braid. Donesia Woods had the most creative braiding - her braids were in lots of circles.

Or ``you can just wear all your hair down with a braid in the front,'' wrote Tracy Herring from Spiller Elementary in Wytheville.

At Roland Cook Elementary in Vinton, ``The hottest hairstyle is really short hair for the girls. The guys are wearing the bowl cut,'' wrote Jessica Hurt.

Moving down from hair, we get to clothes. Don't you wish you owned the Starter jacket company? How many can you count coming out of school at the end of the day? Probably lots.

Moving farther downward, we get to shoes. Shoes used to be what you wore to cover your feet or play basketball in. Now, shoes are often the most important part of your wardrobe. You can't wait to get to school to show off your new Grant Hills or Attack Force or East Sides.

Kids must spend a lot of time looking down, checking out each others shoes.

With no fashion rules and young kids caring more about what they wear, the world has gotten more colorful - and interesting - kids can express who they are through their clothes. They're clued in at Maury River

Well, duh, everyone knows the hottest video in middle school is ``Clueless.''

Like, OK, don't you just want to look like Alicia Silverstone?

Pupils at Maury River Middle School in Lexington either love it - lots of them do - or hate it.

``It's totally the coolest movie around. The movie just rules,'' wrote Stefanie Mahood.

According to Ashley Moore, ``Everyone is talking about it and they all love it.''

Zach Crowder doesn't think so. ``You always see girls walking around saying `as if' for no reason at all. It comes out of their mouths all the time. Most of all it gets on my nerves.''

Whatever!

LENGTH: Medium:   88 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:   AURA M. KLEINHENZ/Staff Braids (lots of them) and 
          braids with beads are hits  with girls at Hurt Park Elementary in 
          Roanoke. Modeling the latest hair styles  are (from left) Sherley 
          Damicy, YaiSheena Townes, Tempestt Hodnett and Shane  Alexander.  
          color
          2. ROGER HART/Staff Catherine Steadman, 13 of Roanoke, wears her 
          hair in a style similar to those worn by several characters on the 
          hit TV show "Friends." color
          3. LAURA M. KLEINHENZ/Staff Throughout Southwest Virginia, Starter 
          jackets such as these worn by (from left) Danielle Robinson, Derrick
          Williams and Meagan  Albert of Roanoke, are hot.  color
          4. 7 5. Tyler Spradlin (above)  of Roanoke has his hair cut in the 
          popular bowl style. Dressed in baggy pants and plaid shirts are Hurt
          Park pupils (from left) Antwan Davis, Raheem Stone, Macklyn Mosley 
          and Robert Wickham.






































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