It took me a while to get the concept of "current fashion". I just kinda threw on whatever I had lying around, or whatever was in the dresser drawers. One day, I think about 7th grade, I was sitting outside on the stoop at the end of the junior high building talking to someone, and somebody came up and made a crack about what I had on. I believe it was just jeans, a t-shirt - don't know which one - and black tennis shoes. Besides the fact that the jeans were probably too dark, the real faux pas was the color of the shoes. This was about 1985, and, little did I know, there was apparently a law passed that you had to have white tennis shoes, preferably high tops, and even more preferably Nikes or Reeboks.
This through a monkey wrench in my whole world! I never knew I had to worry about stuff like this! I started looking around school, and sure enough, I was pretty much the only person NOT wearing white tennis shoes, lighter colored Levi's (or maybe - maybe - Lee's) and a much more stylish t-shirt, preferably not one from "Exotic Animal Paradise" or something tourist-y like that.
I launched a campaign, much like "Ralphy" in "A Christmas Story" (which, by the way I finally saw today!) trying to get his Red Ryder BB gun, to somehow get myself some "cool shoes and clothes"! I begged Ma for a pair of Reebok or Nike high tops. We looked around at the stores, and we couldn't believe how expensive all the name brands were - also my first lesson in how expensive it was to try to "fit in"!
We finally found a pair of white "Mitre" high tops. The salesman said they were the most popular brand with soccer players. Of course in the mid-80s, there were absolutely zero soccer players in southwest Missouri that I knew of, so I couldn't verify this. We went ahead and got them, because it was that or nothing!
I never did get into all the really "high-fashion" stuff, though. Luckily, though, in Washburn it wasn't that much of a big deal to walk around in anything but jeans and a t-shirt! There were a couple of people here and there who had the whole "preppie look" going, but that's really about it. I did have several pairs of the Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses (or "Risky Business" sunglasses, as the novelty gift store "Kaleidoscope" in Springfield always called them) in several different colors and designs. I also, in 8th grade Home Economics class, made a few pairs of "jams", so I'd have some (what I considered to be) cool shorts. Oh, and later on I had the requisite Levi's jean jacket with a .22 caliber bullet stuck inside the little red label. I was never sure exactly why that was ever a style, I just went with it. Whatever.
Freshman year I finally made my way up to the mall in Joplin, I believe, where we went to Jeans West (JW) and Chess King to get some "nicer" clothes - sweaters, button-up shirts, etc. I don't believe I ever really wore them to school, except maybe on picture day, but I wore them to church and nice dinners, etc.
My sophomore year I got to go to the junior-senior prom as a "Sophomore Server", so I needed a suit. We didn't have a lot of money for a really nice suit, so Ma did the next best thing and made me a white "Miami Vice"-style suit. White slacks and jacket with a black tux shirt and white skinny tie. Oh, yeah, baby, I was friggin' stylin'! We're talking no socks, boat shoes, everything! Wow. I shudder just thinking about it! :-)
Tonight's swatch is neon yellow, green, pink, and orange, to match one of the many Swatch watches I had later on, probably junior or senior year. I must have gotten a good deal on them, otherwise I never would have bought them. I did finally get some Nikes, though - white with some neon green around the lace holes; I suppose to match the Swatches! :-) I never did get any "Guess?" jeans, though. By the time I could actually afford some, they were lo-o-o-o-o-o-ong out of style!
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