CONVERSATION TURNS TO CLOTHES

With the first day of class just a few days away, many students are shopping for back-to-school clothes.

Looking cool is always a must.

But some of the latest styles you want to sport might not be what your school or parents want you to wear.

Children's Express conducted a roundtable discussion with a group of teens at Boys & Girls Club Inc. in Zionsville on their ideas about fashion.

LATEST LOOK

LORA SNIDER, 16: In our town, it's the grunge look - the baggy jeans, the corduroys, Air Walks.

AARON TINSLEY, 15: I like to wear baggy jeans and I hate corduroys because they're ugly and uncomfortable. I like to wear baggy clothes that are comfortable.

MEGHAN SPENCER, 14: I don't really care what I wear, but it has to match.

LORA: In our town, there's a lot of preps and they do have a lot of money and everything. Some of them do brag a lot and spend $30 or $40 on a pair of shorts or a skirt. I don't. I usually just go to the cheapo stores and get whatever I like.

AARON: I think that the peer pressure groups pressure people into wearing certain things just so they can fit in.

MEGHAN: I don't think fashion is important because it doesn't matter what you wear.

AARON: I think it's kind of important because you can kind of get to know the person by what they wear and how they wear it.

LORA: (Kids) can dress however they want. If you feel like you want to be a bum one day, then yeah, go for it. . . . If (you) don't like our styles, it's all right.

AARON: You always see new styles.

INFLUENCE OF PARENTS

AARON: My parents kind of get on my case about what I wear sometimes - if it's too grungy or dirty.

LORA: My mom has a problem with the baggy part and with the holes and stuff - she doesn't like that.

MEGHAN: My parents buy my clothes because they know what I like and they like what I wear, so they buy my clothes.

AARON: My mom just gives me money to buy what I want.

LORA: I usually work to get money. . . . I don't want to spend all of my mom's money because she has supported us long enough.

AARON: I don't like to work.

VIOLENCE AND FASHION

LORA: It gets around quickly that somebody stole something. . . . Usually it's not shoes or anything. It's mostly like speakers or somebody's radio, (maybe) jewelry.

AARON: I think people (who steal clothing) are just looking for reasons to get in fights and beat each other up.

LORA: We really don't have a problem with that because everybody wears the same thing. . . . Somebody comes out with new stuff and everybody will go out there and get it.

EDITED BY: Megan White, 15. ASSISTANT EDITOR: Robert Hornberger, 16.