THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 22, 1994 TAG: 9408200049
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MONIQUE WILLIAMS, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
ASK KIDS WHAT THEY want for back to school, and you'll quickly find that they are not fashion plates.
``I get a lot of T-shirts and jeans,'' says Trish Callen, a ninth-grader at Salem High in Virginia Beach who prefers the sporty over the frilly. ``I like the boring stuff,'' she says.
Kids know what they want. Their shopping lists aren't likely to include the extraordinary, but rather the ordinary.
Amanda Callen, Trish's younger sister and a fourth-grader at Glenwood Elementary School in Virginia Beach, also knows what she wants, ``I want big shirts and stirrups,'' she says.
Surprised? Well, don't be. Kids love to conform, but as soon as somebody else starts a trend, they all want to follow. They yearn to look like all other kids or like their MTV icons.
Michael Simo, a seventh-grader at Larkspur Middle School in Virginia Beach wants ``the same old stuff every year'': tennis shoes, a backpack, jeans and T-shirts. His only request is that the clothes be real big - like three sizes too big.
``Kids like comfortable things,'' says Pam Ballard, manager at the Children's Outlet at Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach. They want clothes that move with them, play with them and work with them, she says.
Ballard says her little customers continue to ask for leggings, while their mothers prefer the new pleated, plaid skirts.
``Little girls want to look like the big girls,'' she says.
Kids are eager to dress in diminutive versions of what their parents are wearing, and Gerber-baby pastels and executives-in-training navy blazers have bitten the dust.
For small and big girls, bodysuits with or without ruffles are so hot, they're cool. They can be worn with vests - still an in-demand item.
Kilt skirts and the new riding pants (Jodhpurs) in knits also attract kids. Coveralls, shortalls and skorts - a carry-over from spring - make a strong appearance in every store and are offered by the hippest manufacturer (Guess) to the cheapest (Gitano).
Jeans remain the staple item in every girl's and boy's closet, no matter the age.
The clever manufacturer, however, will take basics and turn them into fashion by offering jeans in an array of blue washes and colors and by adding innovative treatments to garments.
As with adult ready-to-wear, the lumberjack-for-a-day look looms large, and carpenter pants and workboots have been downsized to Lilliputian sizes.
If you're confused about what to buy for the little ones, ``buy separates that you can mix and match,'' says Ballard. ``They are easy to dress up or down.''
Real big girls (16-plus) are rushing to buy '60s knock-offs as if they were going out of style, says Brenda Willis, manager of Up Against the Wall in Lynnhaven Mall.
Argyle vests a-la-Archie Bunker (would you believe?) are ``flying out the store,'' says Willis. Neons spandex dresses in Pepto-Bismol pink and Key Lime Pie colors need no introductions. Wide corduroy pants worn with undersized baby T's for that much sought-after undernourished, waifish look have been resurrected for an encore.
And what do big boys want? Anything Nautica and anything Tommy Hilfiger. And anything big. Big fleeces, big hooded tops and big pants.
Plaids are undoubtedly the most noticeable trend for both sexes this season. They come in cotton wovens and in flannels.
Sneakers by Vans and Puma in plaids, tapestry and suede are a hit with girls, and Doc Martens knock-offs, rugged boots and combat boots remain as popular now as they were a couple of years ago.
The coolest accessory for this season is the new backpack in - what else - plaids. ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photos by PAUL AIKEN
Amanda Callen, a fourth-grader at Glenwood Elementary in Virginia
Beach, wears Guess overalls ($44) over a striped shirt, also from
Guess ($20).
Trish Callen wears a floral print cotton shirt from Guess ($66) over
a cropped top from Energie ($8). The wrap denim skort is from Guess
($48).
Michael Simo wears a Tommy Hilfger top ($98) over a cotton polo
shirt by Hilfiger ($28). His cap ($22) is also from Hilfiger.
Photo
Pleated plaid skirts and zippered leather jackets are in fashion.
by CNB