How are you supposed to find out what's in style this year without kids. Where are the kids?

They're probably catching a few last rays at the pool or squeaking out one more paycheck from their summer job. They aren't dragging their moms to shop like they used to do.

Following a national trend, school kids in Lancaster have much more of a wait-and-see-what's-cool-at-school attitude to their buying this year.

Like Tawni Bechtold, 12, of Manheim Central Middle School.

"I do like half of it before school and then I wait a little bit after school and get more then when I see what other people are wearing,'' said Tawni, who was admiring some baggy camouflage pants.

That's the same tactic used by 12-year-old Eric Refford, who will attend Garden Spot Middle School this year.

"I'll get some stuff today,'' said Eric, "like Adidas basketball shoes, but I'll see what other kids are wearing.''

"We don't buy everything before school,'' said Eric's mom, Kris Refford, We look at prices. Some stuff goes on sale in mid-October.''

Which is fine with Eric.

"I don't like shopping that much,'' he said. "I'd rather be home playing PlayStation with my friends.''

Ahhh, nothing like summer and kids in the new millennium.

Besides, the clothes that are prominently displayed at the most popular stores are exactly like the clothes you've been yelling at your kids to pick up off the floor of their bedroom all summer.

No, actually they're worse.

Imagine a pair of jeans that was balled up wet in the back of your kid's closet after a muddy game of Capture-the-Flag and you've just discovered them after they've been festering in there for several weeks.

And let's just say when you try to pull them out to put them in the wash, they catch on the door of the closet and you rip them. Several times.

And for a really good laugh, let's imagine that they cost $50 of your hard-earned money.

That's exactly what's for sale. Honestly. For a good chunk of cash, you can get something that looks like a rag. I wish I would have thought of that.

And the shirts and skirts are not only incredibly skimpy this year in both in their size and substance, the pants have flies that are barely three inches long. They hang lower on the hips than I ever thought the laws of physics would allow.

I suppose the explosion of camouflage outfits has something to do with the nation during wartime. But I'm having a hard time seeing how pink, velvet camo is serious enough to symbolize anything.

And can I mention right here that the only thing decently dressed in several of the stores was the chair in the entry way. This observation includes the mannequins, who apparently aren't seductive enough in their ripped-to-shreds garb. No, the shirts have to be mostly unbuttoned, the pants unzipped with the plastic people baring a good part of their anatomically correct plastic parts.

And don't even get me started on the photos of the models in the store.

In fact this week The Philadelphia Daily News called one of the Abercrombie and Fitch catalogs, "Abercrombie and Flinch.''

You get the picture.

It makes a parent want to give thanks for the Disney Store.

Where unfortunately for some, the Nemo lunch boxes are all sold out, proving some parents are still making timely back-to-school purchases.

Not to worry. There's still plenty of Buzz Lightyear, Lion King and Stitch thermos and lunch pail sets for the boys and princess grouping lunch boxes for the girls.

I'm highly suspicious of the reason, but the girl lunch boxes all have groupings of princesses -- Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine and Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, in various combinations. Why is that? Isn't one princess good enough to carry the product by herself. And why is Belle a princess? It's probably better if I don't know.

There are several stores in the mall and around Lancaster County that are good for the basic essentials of back-to-school and don't cause parents to sound like, well, their parents.

Carolyn Wagner of Adamstown did a little basic back-to-school shopping for her fifth grader, Sarah, and her second grader, Hannah.

But she was stumped buying pants for them.

"We get a little bit here and a little bit there,'' said Mrs. Wagner. "But I'm just buying shorts right now. These pants are so long. Who are they making these pants for?

Now I didn't have any answers for her since I have a pint-sized 16-year-old daughter and a tall but wafer-thin 14-year-old son to buy for and I ask myself the same question all the time.

And suddenly I wonder if all those manufacturers feel guilty about the skimpiness of the other clothes so they are making it up in the length of their jeans.

In a back-to-school world, it makes perfect sense.


blog comments powered by Disqus