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| Trying to be cool |
I always had my head in books and never thought about boys or clothes and make-up much. I wasn't worried about hairstyles. I pretty much combed it each morning and forgot about it.
I wasn't concerned about being popular; I wanted to be the smartest in the class.
Until seventh grade.
I began to notice something. Every day, I walked the eleven blocks to Tampa's Pierce Junior High School. As I walked, various kids would join me along the way there. A lot of the girls looked different than me. More grown-up. They wore make-up and jewelry. They had teased hair-dos. Their outfits were all cute and coordinated. These girls even shaved their legs!
I looked at myself. Something was definitely lacking.
What to do? What to do?
I came up with a brilliant plan for getting cute outfits. Christmas was coming and I wanted clothes. Brand name clothes. It was the first time that I ever even thought about clothes being certain brands. I knew my mother could not be trusted to buy the clothes I wanted so I asked if I could pick out my own Christmas presents that year.
Mom said I might regret it on Christmas morning when there were no surprises. Hey! I was 12 years old, nearly an adult. I didn't have to be surprised like a little kid!
She gave in and took me shopping. (She was happy to have to pick out less presents.)
I knew just what I wanted: an Izod pencil skirt. It was all the rage at my school back in 1968. Everyone wanted a skirt with a cute alligator emblazoned on it. (In junior high, we still wore dresses and skirts to school. We got to wear jeans beginning in high school in 1970. What a revolution THAT was!)
I found a yellow Izod pencil skirt. In total, I got 4 outfits but really only remember the skirt and a navy blue mini-dress that had a ruffle down the front.
It was hard to wait until Christmas morning to wear my treasures. I do have to admit that Christmas morning was not as fun since I knew every present I was getting .... rats, I hated it when Mom was right.
Finally, the day came when I was able to wear my new threads to school. I was expecting everyone to be impressed with my new look. Evidently, all the other girls had asked for the same thing for Christmas. We ALL were sporting Izod skirts.
Let's just say I never achieved fashionista status.
This post was written in response to Writer's Workshop prompt 1.) A seventh grade memory. It was interesting that this story is just one of several seventh grade memories - must have been an epic year! I couldn't think of anything that happened during sixth grade ... but I digress. If you'd like to share one of your memories, link up at Mama's Losin' It.
I think 7th grade was when I discovered fashion too - and desperately wanted to fit in! Thank you for sharing your story! :)
ReplyDeleteThe same thing happened to me with my new Guess jeans. Upon the return to school, everyone had a little triangle on their butt. That's when I learned that fashion trends are BS. In the words of Macklemore, "I call that getting tricked by a business."
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain Jerralea. My daughter is 12 and wants to go shopping. Junior High did have some hard moments. It's when I had to tell my mom the her homemade clothes (she was a very talented seamstress) weren't cutting it anymore. Lucky I had a great group of girl friends.
ReplyDeleteSame thing happened when I was in middle school with Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger t-shirts. Looking at those photos, I can't, for the life of me, figure out why we thought these t-shirts were the bombdotcom. I also did the whole "pick out my own Christmas gifts" and Christmas morning was such a let down! I never again picked out my own goodies.
ReplyDeleteAt least I'm sure this was a lesson learned for you. I never did care about fashion, hair, make-up or being popular. Peter Pan was my hero--I didn't want to grow up!
ReplyDeleteHi! Joining you from Mama Kat's :->
ReplyDeleteThis post is so much fun for me because of the surprise of the year. When I was in high school Izod was THE thing and I was coming from a school that had a totally different style, so I was definitely being "schooled" about fashion. I was so happy when I got my first "alligator shirt". But here's where the year surprised me, it was 1980 for me. LOVE how the classics don't go out of style. (It's still going strong in Macy's ;-> )
I'm happy to have connected with you!
~Ann
http://www.annagainandagain.com/
That's funny, I remember asking for clothes for Christmas in 7th grade too. But they weren't really all that cool, just the stylish duds from Sears or JC Penny that my family could afford. Thanks for sharing! Found your blog from Mama Kat's linkup!
ReplyDeleteLoved your post. It sort of brought me back to being in seventh grade... I think that was when I started to develop a bit of a fashion sense too and was more concerned over what I looked like, started caring more. I wish that fads weren't such a big deal when we're teenagers, but it's sort of something that happens to all us girls I guess when we all the other girls with something popular on, hehe. Aside from clothing though I was not concerned over popularity either- just having a nice, small, close group of friends has always been nice :)
ReplyDeleteHave a great day Jerralea!!
:)