Being in style requires just the right mask

Fashion is important for teens all over the world. Of course, fashions change or sometimes morph into something totally unexpected, but to be “old fashioned” is a curse … especially if you between twelve and seventeen. It has always been important to be in style, but over the past forty years or so, it has become a social necessity … growing up in America.

My girls went through jumpsuits, overalls with fancy bedazzlement, leg warmers, Doc Martin boots, and much more. When Number One child was about twelve, she picked up the tag on a shirt in Penny’s and said, “Well, you can tell this is a good one.” She pointed to the small print where the “style number” was listed along with the size and color. “It even says it has ‘style,’” she said. That was about the time we were all wearing shoulder pads, big collars, and dresses that looked like they came out of a seed catalog. Flowers were “in.” Plaid was “out.”

As Heidi Klum said on Project Runway, “One day you are in, and the next you are out.” That can be a frightening statement to the parents of a pre-teen. At the time, a pair of rhinestone-trimmed jeans for a ten-year-old girl cost about twenty dollars. Before Number Two child outgrew these jeans, they were out. Of course, she had shared her “jewels” with all her friends at school, so the jeans had a little less pizzazz by that time.

It is important to be in style, but schools have dress codes that must be considered. My daughter, the mother of two teenage girls, said even with “distance learning” under Covid19, her daughters’ school reminded the students not to forget dress code. I guess they expected them to get up out of their beds, comb their hair, and put on some clothes before going on-line. All they had to do was to tell those girls that the boys would be seeing them in the “group” Zooms. So, they may be wearing pajama pants that don’t show and the back of their hair may be a little ratty, but they will look good on the screen.

With the Coronavirus still looming and schools welcoming back students under social distancing, masks have become an important part of the fashion world. One fashion writer gave suggestions like: “Masks should pick up the neutral color in a multicolored outfit” or “Masks which are multicolored should be worn with a neutral outfit.”

Some schools are allowing the students to wear any mask as long as it is not vulgar or inappropriate. Teachers may have to have a few spares to exchange for some of the popular, political, and positively negative masks that show up. While some schools are requiring plain masks; others will accept disposable masks, cloth masks, neck gaiters and face shields. We’ll probably see some guidelines from the CDC if this goes into 2021, but for now the schools are just trying to deal with the situation.

The whole “mask thing” has become quite the fashion statement … all the way from Congress down to the public schools. Soon, outfits will come with a matching mask … much like the bibs on a baby outfit. Kids who never picked up a needle and thread are perusing the remnant boxes at Walmart and JoAnn’s Fabric Stores for just the right color, looking for trim, searching for decorations so they can show their loyalty to their schools, patriotism to their country, status in their classes, and their fashion sense in a world of “must haves.”

At least they are wearing masks. Let’s hope they are washing their hands and social distancing.