STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

erin · Chanel

budget spinoff: what was yours like in high school for clothes?

squishy · Coach

MUSE?! WHAT?!

and i thought tweens in R&R was bad.

my mom took me to the gap a few times a year, and that was it. i'd save up for months for clothes my mom didn't approve of. i think she spent ~$500 a year, and i spent about $100. this is a very very rough estimate, though.

Kitty · Hermes

I was in HS at the tail end of the grunge era, so there was still quite a bit of the "you look cooler if you look like you're not trying" thing going on. It was the cool thing to do to buy stuff at thrift stores, wear your boyfriends shirt/hoodie, etc. I remember people were still wearing converse and docs, etc. And you were super cool if you came to school with a t-shirt from the band you had gone to see the night before.

This started to change the last two years I was in HS and there was a lot more trendy types walking around the school, but people would get made fun of if they were dressed "too trendy" - like wearing those super-flare jeans.

I never had expensive clothes in HS and I was a tom boy for a loooooong time. My standard uniform was jeans, hoodie/sweatershirt, and some funky colored converse. That's why it's always so weird for me when I see girls who are like 12 years old carrying around purses and wearing high-heels.

-- Edited by Kitty at 21:40, 2007-02-18

Kelly · Hermes

In high school my budget was smaller than it is now (and I think it's small now - sometimes Target is even too rich for my blood). My parents bought some of my clothes, and I bought some. My mom basically refused to go anywhere that wasn't Value City (a local store that sounds like TJ Maxx or Marshall's - selling stuff a season or two old, or stuff that wouldn't sell in the regular stores). I didn't need a lot of casual clothes, since I could only wear them on the weekends - while I didn't have a uniform, we did have a dress code: girls in slacks or preferrably skirts, guys in ties, etc. I bet every piece in my wardrobe was about $10-$15. I had about 7 outfits that I'd just wear over and over. They were mostly solid colored pieces, and most of my bottom pieces were black, so I didn't really get bored since everything was so nondescript. I know that doesn't make sense. But I get a lot less bored pairing the same basics over and over than I do wearing the same interesting pieces over and over. I only got a couple new pieces every year, basically to replace things that were worn out the year before. I think most people in my class were the same way - just a couple outfits that we'd wear over and over. I was big into accessories, and I guess that's where I let my style through.

The stupid thing is, now that I'm out on my own and can shop wherever I want, I realize that I could've gotten cooler things at comparable prices by shopping at places like Charlotte Russe, Target, or Kohl's. But since my mom usually bought my clothes, I could only go where she dictated - and I didn't know any better, since that's where she'd brought me to shop my whole life!

-- Edited by ttara123 at 21:51, 2007-02-18

ILoveChoo · Hermes

oh god. nonexistant. GAP was a slpurge!! Myclothes were all from sears or penny's...once in a whiel from Ny and Co if they were having a good sale or I was willing to add my babysitting money in.

lynnie · Chanel

I shopped sooo differently. I always worked multiple jobs (my parents stopped buying me clothes in 7th grade because i was already super picky) and spent alll my money on clothes. So i probably wasted hundreds a month (i was making around $400 a week during the summers, and hostessed and worked weekends at the coffee shop in winter) on. tons. of. crap. Lots of pacific sunwear, etc. But spending over $60 on something was really expensive to me. I remember being in 11th grade- poring through a seventeen magazine- and seeing a Seven jeans denim jacket with fleece around the collar (the first time i had heard of Seven)- the price was $225. I was so sad because that was completely out of my league. Little did i know what would become of me...

FashionPrincess · Hermes

Moderate (although probably low to today's standards). I got clothes at the beginning of school and then for birthday and Christmas, with a little supplemented inbetween. I got stuff from Maurices (Paris Sport Club anyone?), Deb, 5, 7 & 9, etc and some department store stuff generally on sale.

ETA: Oh, and how could I forget, for shoes every year I got Eastlands, classic Keds and Reeboks

-- Edited by FashionPrincess at 23:21, 2007-02-18

luckylily · Gucci

Grrr...I'm having a hard time posting today.

My Mom was all about Nordstrom when I was in high school, so most of the clothes my parents bought me came from the Brass Plum department. My parents didn't spend more than a couple hundred $ for each new school year, so I got pretty creative w/ accessories and repeat outfits a lot. One thing my Mom would never dream of doing was buying something for me because of the brand. I was bitter in jr. high because she wouldn't buy Keds or guess jeans. At $38, the Guess jeans where practically considered high end at the time.

When I started making my own money, I shopped more off the GAP sale rack and at trendier stores.

theotherjess · Chanel

I would say moderate as well. I bought probably 80% of my clothes with my own money. I babysat a ton though and since I had no other expenses (except gas for my car) I could spend a lot of my money on clothes. I wore a uniform during the week though so it wasn't like I needed a ton of clothes. Most of my stuff was/is from Target, ON, Forever 21, etc.

Most of this still applies to me because I just graduated last year but whatever .

tri_sarah_tops · Marc Jacobs

FashionPrincess wrote:

Moderate (although probably low to today's standards). I got clothes at the beginning of school and then for birthday and Christmas, with a little supplemented inbetween. I got stuff from Maurices (Paris Sport Club anyone?), Deb, 5, 7 & 9, etc and some department store stuff generally on sale.

ETA: Oh, and how could I forget, for shoes every year I got Eastlands, classic Keds and Reeboks

-- Edited by FashionPrincess at 23:21, 2007-02-18

Me too! I think more than half of my wardrobe was Paris Sport Club and I thought my Eastlands were so cool. For jeans I usually wore Levi's SilverTabs, always bought on sale.

boobaby · Kate Spade

I graduated in 1994, so wearing thrift and oversized boy clothes was all the rage. I always think how lucky my parents were that I didn't want to spend a lot of money on clothes, but I know my mom would have loved to fork over the occassional wad of cash if I would just buy something pretty and figure flattering. Not YSL or $200 jeans, just the occassional Esprit top or Limited skirt. It kills me that my teen figure was wasted on that look.

The first half of high school, I dressed pretty cute and was really into shopping and fashion. I wore lots of mod-influenced dresses and skirts from both thrift and stores like the Limited. I had this awesome pair of Unlisted black platform sandals. 4 inch rubber sole, suede upper. They might be kind of hot now if I still had them. They were open toe and I wore them straight through winter with textured tights, etc. I loved those shoes. I begged my mom for them and she made me promise to keep my room clean because they were $40. The cost per wear was pennies. I wore them until they literally fell off my feet.

Then grunge happened and I started wearing men's 501 thrift store jeans and flannel, etc. Looking back on pictures, it was not flattering and I can see why my mom was trying to bribe me to let her spend some money on me. I can also see why that ugly over-sized thrift store plaid men's coat I wore mysteriously vanished.

During these two teen stages, one thing sticks out to me. I never, ever wanted to dress like a grown up. I had no desire to carry a status bag or buy high end things. I loved finding cute things at Target and thrift stores. I would never have worn pumps. I loved fashion and read Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, but the clothing featured was more art than reality for me.

halah · Kenneth Cole

I think I remember my mom budgeting maybe $200 for me for each school year to buy clothes. I graduated in 96. I remember my freshman and sophmore years spending almost all of that on pepe jeans or girbaud jeans HA. By my junior year I was heavy into the grunge (well more courtney love) look so most of my clothes came from thrfit stores. I remember getting my doc martins for christmas and it being a really REALLY big deal to spend that much on shoes.

cahabo · Kate Spade

My mom was so cheap. She'd never take me or my siblings to the mall. She thinks mall=expensive. She also would only take us clothes shopping before school started. Other than that we would only get clothes for Christmas, birthdays, and maybe a thing or two for summer. I remember that shirts couldn't cost more than $8 and we only got shoes from Payless! The summer before senior year I had a job so I was able to do a little "splurging". I remember getting a Roxy messenger bag, a Roxy t-shirt, a pair of Calvin Klein jeans, some Nike's, and other stuff my mom would never have bought me.

bloomie · Marc Jacobs

My budget in High School was basically zero--or at least that is how it felt. We didn't have yearly clothes shopping trips that I recall. We never shopped anywhere expensive, but I always had more than enough--just not name brands. I remember when I was in middle school (jr high) the lacoste polos with the alligator became real popular. I had a classmate who must have had them in every color. I finally got a kelly green one for either a bday or Christmas and it was such a big thing for me. I do have two older sisters -one is 18 years older and the other is 16 years older-- and the oldest one has always been more like a mother than a sister. She used to take me shopping occassionally to Leon's--the really nice clothing store in the town next to us and buy me an outfit. I remember we used to go to the mall alot with my oldest sister because she didn't want to go by herself and I would walk around and feel so depressed because I couldn't afford to buy all the pretty clothing. However, I am now glad that I was raised that way because in the important ways my parents gave me everything I wanted. They raised me in a Christian home, loved me unconditionally, and worked to provide me a great education. Also, the fact that I can afford nice things today (not Chanel-but I can go anthro shopping occasionally) makes me appreciate what I am able to do now. It makes me thankful that I do have a certain amount each month to spend like I want on clothes/shoes. I think if I had been a teenager who go everything she wanted I wouldn't appreciate it as much. It does make me angry when I see teenagers who are just ungrateful and don't realize that there are many more who don't get to wear nice clothing and good name brands.

-- Edited by bloomie at 13:54, 2007-02-19

kenzie · Chanel

My mom stopped buying most of my clothes when I turned 16 and got a job. She would still buy things on occassion, but the back to school shopping trips ceased at that point. The first half of high school was the grunge era and I just wore icky flannels layered with band shirts or thermals, jeans and grungy looking boots from American Eagle.

My last two years of high school, I turned into a major prepster and shopped at Gap and The Limited for the most part. I remember saving half of my paychecks and blowing the other half at the mall. And my friends and I thought Rave was the greatest thing ever. We'd go in there and terrorize the sales associates by trying on tons of stuff and being really loud. Karma's a bitch, I guess, 'cause I got mine when I worked in retail management for the first few years right out of college and wanted to drive my car off a bridge on a daily basis.

Hedvig · Coach

My mom has always loved shopping so she used to buy me quite a lot of new things. She's also a bargain shopper so it was never anything expensive, no name brands or anything, and almost always on sale.

I usually just wore jeans and a tee or a sweatshirt all through high school. I remember a pair of black jeans that weren't on sale but I just had to have. I think I was pretty surprised when my mom actually let me get them - it was definitely a splurge.

Lilykind · Hermes

I mostly shopped at the Macy's juniors dept and Old Navy. I almosy always wore LEI or Levis jeans, and supplemented with stuff from Woodbury Commons Outlets shopping trips (Gap/J. Crew, etc.). I did own Nikes and Reeboks, but they were just pairs that I got for $40 from the factory stores. I thought my family was cheap though because they bought everything on sale. I used allowance money to buy trendier stuff from Forever 21, Wet Seal, and DEB et. al....my best friend and I were the same size so we split the cost of outfits. I went to an uber-preppy high school with the Abercrombie/Coach/LV army though so comparatively I felt very poor. I am grateful now for that because my parents taught me the art of bargain shopping (and I guess a bit of humility/normalness in the process.

)

I started getting into designer brands/items when I was around 16/17 but I used my own spending money and I was also in college.

kisa · Dooney & Bourke

I shopped once yearly at the mall. I usually got 2 pairs of jeans from a Canadian store call "stitches" (at least I think it's Canadian) 20$ each. Then I would maybe get a couple of shirts to make an outfit, totally about 100 - 150$ Before I was 12 - 13 ish this usually took place at "zellers" unless my grandma wanted to go to the mall. I remember one time with my grandma I got a super soft short sleeved sweater that was 30 or 40$ and I thought it was the most luxurious thing ever!

In reality it was kind of gross, weird and velvety sort of. Ah well! It was cool in 5th grade! I used to think that 70 - 80$ was expensive for jeans, and 40$ was expensive for a purse...if I only knew.

Kelly · Hermes

kisa wrote:

I used to think that 70 - 80$ was expensive for jeans, and 40$ was expensive for a purse...if I only knew.

hahah I still think that, which is ridiculous because I wear jeans almost every day - i should be willing to spend more than my $40 limit

zeitgeist4 · Gucci

In high school I was over the whole "trying to dress like the popular girls" thing, so I didn't shop at any popular stores. I had never even been to Gap. Like Kitty said, when I started HS grunge was still sorta in, so anything bought at a thrift store was cool. Then I changed to Goth, and those were the days when Hot Topic wasn't prevalent, so the pickings were slim. I was happy in a black jacket (got a new one each year), band t-shirt, black pants, and some cool black boots. Definitely not a big spender on clothing.