I’ve been so busy I totally missed back-to-school time! What WILL the kids do without my back-to-school fashion roundup, I ask you? I mean, they’re probably going back to school this week wearing pajamas, all, “AMY DIDN’T TELL US WHAT TO WEAR” and that makes me SO SAD. I’m sorry, youth of America. I’ve been busy working and working and working and sometimes sleeping. I know I’ve let you down. Here, I’ll fix it. Better late than never. I hope some of these things are still on the shelves.
BACK TO SCHOOL 2012 FASHION STAPLES
(via random websites on the interwebs that all say they know what’s up)
Boyfriend jeans

I like that you have to peg the legs. We did this when I was in school. TWENTY YEARS AGO. What was old is now new! I AM COOL AGAIN! (Pee ess I was never cool.)
Apparently this is what they call jeans that are all slouchy and distressed and fit all loose. I don’t have an issue with these. They look comfortable. Although I don’t think you could actually wear your boyfriend’s jeans. They wouldn’t fit. How often do people date someone that’s exactly the same size as them? Also, high school boys smell weird and you shouldn’t be getting naked with them anyway, you’re only a kid. Stop that.
Skinny jeans
This website calls skinny jeans “Spanx you can wear on the outside!” and I think that’s misleading because the point of Spanx is that your clothes cover up the Spanx and also all of your random fat-rolls that are thrown asunder by the Spanx. If you’re wearing your Spanx on the outside, people will see all MANNER of ills. Also, I feel like skinny jeans are cutting off circulation to your hooha, and you’re going to want that for teen sex. Also, look, there’s like scientific proof that skinny jeans are bad for your health. SCIENCE KIDS! It’s not just a class you take after homeroom! Skinny jeans pinch one of the nerves in your outer thigh and make your legs tingly, not the good kind of tingly like when Jimmy McGee walks by in his letter sweater, either. (What? Kids don’t wear letter sweaters anymore? Shut up, I don’t know.) So I’m saying no no no nein on the skinny jeans, even though they’re supposedly what all the cool kids wear. Who wants to be a cool kid, anyway? If you watch any afterschool specials, the cool kids always die from driving while texting or whatever anyway.
Leggings/jeggings
STOP TRYING TO MAKE FETCH HAPPEN. IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Oh, wait, shit, fetch happened? These stupid things are actually popular? Ugh, I feel like if you wore these you’re walking around with only tights on. They make me nervous. I didn’t understand them last hear and I don’t understand them now. Just don’t wear them. Ignore them and maybe they’ll go away.
Accessories

ZOMG THIS WEAR THIS. Because when the other kids see this, you’re totally elected queen of the prom. No question about it.
This site tells me that bangle bracelets, big brooches, and wicker handbags are all the rage. GRANDMA DID YOU WRITE THIS? Seriously, if these things are in style, my grandmother is CUTTING EDGE BABY. I don’t know too many teens but the ones I do know aren’t wearing grandma-chic. Ignore this tip. If you wear these things, people are going to laugh at you. THEY’RE ALL GOING TO LAUGH AT YOU, CARRIE! THEY’RE ALL GOING TO LAUGH AT YOU!
Boots
Here we read that thigh-high boots are in for 2012. You know who else wore thigh-high boots? Vivian Ward.
I don’t think you need to be wearing thigh-high stripper boots to high school. If you want to wear them on your time off, that’s your call, but you’ve got like 80 more years of your life to be skeezy, so why don’t you wait a few years? Wear practical shoes to school. I don’t even know that any of us wore heels when I was in school. We wore sneakers. Sometimes we wore flats, if we were dressed up. Is dressing like a teenage prostitute the thing? We here at Lucy’s Football do not approve of you looking like a teenage prostitute. We think you are much too classy for that.
Puffed shoulders
Apparently, puffed shoulders are the thing? I don’t approve. What do you think this is, the 30s, and we’re all in leg o’mutton sleeves?
No no no. This is foolish. Listen, I feel like a lot of these tips come from Gossip Girl. YES. The clothes on Gossip Girl are gorgeous. But they’re totally impractical and no one dresses like that. Everyone thinks they’re a Serena or a Blair but in all actuality everyone’s either a Vanessa or a Dorota. You know it’s true.
Superdistressed jeans
Um. These are a mess and if you want jeans that are a mess I’ll give you every pair of jeans I’ve thrown away after spilling something on them that I can’t get out of them. You look like you had an accident while bleaching evidence of a tub-murder out of the hotel where you work. When I was a wee Amy, I wanted jeans that were acid-washed and my mom said the same thing to me and I was all “PARENTS JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND” and now I understand. Sorry, Mom. These look ridiculous.
A natural, clear complexion
OH THIS IS AN EASY ONE BECAUSE YOU CAN BUY IT ANYWHERE! Ugh, come on, what the hell? Listen. Some of us (I’m not pointing FINGERS, here, but ME ME ME) had something catastrophic happen when puberty set in, and the acne fairy visited. Now, I know you’re all saying “oh, yep, me too, Amy, me too.” No. I’m not saying once and a while I had a little zit like in the Judy Blume books. I’m saying, you know those terrible before-and-after photos they show on the Proactiv commercials that are probably photoshopped where the person looks like he or she was ground zero at a nuclear bomb test site? NEWS FLASH. There’s a slight change they’re not photoshopped. Because SOME PEOPLE (ahem me ahem) looked like that in their teen years. Well, some of the teen years. It got so bad that my parents shelled out major buckaroos and brought me to a fancy-schmancy dermatologist who prescribed me the medication that saved my remaining two marbles of teenage self-esteem. However, I’m pretty sure it will cause birth defects to any future children, so I’m not having any. Among other reasons. So for five years, I used this medication religiously, and it worked SO WELL that people were all “UGH AMY HAS THE BEST SKIN” which made me laugh and laugh because it was all a TRICK brought on my MEDICATION and I don’t use it anymore because the side effects were that I couldn’t go in the sun ever and it randomly made pieces of my face peel off and plus it was very expensive, and after the teen years my face stopped revolting (and BEING so revolting) for the most part, but now sometimes randomly I’ll break out, like my face will say, HA HA, just wanted to let you know I’M STILL HERE YOU JERK, and I’ll sigh and say YOU STUPID GENETICS. So, in case you were wondering, kids, I know people tell you that acne stops when you’re out of your teen years but it’s totally a lie. My mom’s in her sixties and still breaks out. Sorry. I hate to break it to you (HA GOOD ONE! Break!), but it’s true. Some of us are just more blessed than others in the ways of disgusting breakouts.
Anyway, it’s mean to put “glowy skin” on a list of things kids need for back-to-school. Because it’s not like all the kids can just get that. It’s genetics. And it’s who can afford the fancy dermatologist who’s willing to prescribe medication that’s not quite legal in the States yet. THANK YOU DOCTOR WHATEVER YOUR NAME WAS!
So there you have it, kids. Apparently, you need to wear stripper boots and tight tight pants and shirts with poofy upper-arm areas and my grandma’s jewelry. You are going to look ridiculous, so I suggest as soon as you put all of this on, you take it all off again, put on some nice khakis and a t-shirt with something geeky on it and a pair of comfy Chucks, and you go back to school RELAXED. And if one of the chicks walks by with puffy sleeves and stripper boots you can laugh and laugh because you KNOW she’s going to eat it on the stairs. Those stairs are slippery, yo.
HAPPY BACK TO SCHOOL KIDDOS! Learn all the things! Have all the fun! Be nice to each other, please!
September 6th, 2012 at 12:06 pm
excellent.
and i have stolen the carrie picture and am pretending it’s an award. because.
LikeLike
September 6th, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Hee! I can’t wait to see it! That is an AWESOME award!
LikeLike
September 7th, 2012 at 4:01 am
did you look? i just slipped it in with my awards.
i need to have a bit of a tidy up, though. i think i have way too much stuff on my sidebar.
LikeLike
September 7th, 2012 at 10:56 am
I did look! Heh. I love it. I haven’t seen “Carrie” in years. I need to watch that again.
I keep taking things out of my sidebar, too. I get bored and redecorate periodically.
LikeLike
September 7th, 2012 at 11:14 am
i’ve gone a bit ‘blog blind’. i need fresh eyes on it.
i haven’t seen Carrie for ages either. maybe get it in for the festive season, it IS rather christmassy after all!
LikeLike
September 7th, 2012 at 10:00 pm
Sure, with the red (blood) and the green (um…jealousy?) Heh. Very Christmasy!
LikeLike
September 7th, 2012 at 12:25 pm
i’ve just had a right old tidy up!
i will have a little spring clean of my pages as well, presently.
LikeLike
September 7th, 2012 at 9:59 pm
I’ll have to go check tomorrow when I am not falling asleep! Stupid having to get up early. It is not my favorite. Not at all.
LikeLike
September 6th, 2012 at 12:08 pm
Even when I WAS skinny, I wouldn’t have worn skinny jeans. Ew.
LikeLike
September 6th, 2012 at 8:15 pm
I’m glad when I was younger tight jeans weren’t a thing. Well, sort-of tight-ish, but not WHOREY tight. I can’t say I never had to lie on the bed to zip ’em up as a teen, but they didn’t give me a…ahem…cameltoe or anything. I HAD MY LIMITS.
LikeLike
September 6th, 2012 at 12:31 pm
The one advantage to skinny jeans (worn by the 14 year old, NOT me!) that I can see is no more crop tops–you need longer shirts to cover the underwear flashage that inevitably occurs when standing up (one advantage of the high, high waists we had in the ’80’s).
LikeLike
September 6th, 2012 at 8:13 pm
Ugh, crop tops! I avoided that trend like the PLAGUE. I never had the build for anything that short. Ugh.
LikeLike
September 6th, 2012 at 12:57 pm
Sing it, sister. I’m terrified for Zofia to grow up and have to sell her body in homeroom. I’m not ready for that kind of stress.
LikeLike
September 6th, 2012 at 8:11 pm
BTW, your daughter is ADORABLE. What a cute kiddo! She’s just full of life and happiness, you can just tell! :)
LikeLike
September 6th, 2012 at 1:20 pm
You know what I miss for back to school – SADDLE SHOES! Yes! The old black & white ones! Though, my soph year at high school the tan&brown suede ones were popular, and I got a pair for ‘back to school’ and I SO loved them! But, still, I wasn’t cool. I was a jock, and this was back when girls weren’t SUPPOSED to do sports. And I was ‘a brain’. So, I had a double-whammy of non-coolnesss. But, thankfully, I didn’t (much) care, and was (mostly) happy to be me. I’m so thankful that I was able to withstand the scorn & disdain of the cool kids and stay true to myself!!
But, still, saddle shoes! I’m seriously thinking of buying a pair…!!
LikeLike
September 6th, 2012 at 8:11 pm
I bet they still sell them somewhere…everything’s somewhere nowadays!
LikeLike
September 6th, 2012 at 3:38 pm
okay, I’ve gotta say, I LOVE my skinny jeans. But jeggings. NO. That’s just pushing it too far. And everything else on this list is pretty ridiculous except maybe thigh high boots WITHOUT heels, because heels are annoying and trip-prone and BLAH. :D
LikeLike
September 6th, 2012 at 8:10 pm
If I was skinny, maybe I’d love skinny jeans. I am…um…not…so I like boot-cut. They are comfy and I like that they make my legs look long.
I’ve never owned a pair of boots. Well, winter boots, but they barely count.
LikeLike
September 7th, 2012 at 2:09 am
See I don’t think i’ve actually owned a pair of real winter boots, thigh-high flat boots is what I would consider winter boots. Then again, I don’t exactly live in a place where it actually snows. It’s like wimpy snow compared to the East Coast. :P
I like boot-cut jeans too. And flares :P
LikeLike
September 7th, 2012 at 10:57 am
Oh, I have BIG WINTER BOOTS. I have furry ones (not real fur!) and leather tractor boots like lumberjacks wear and boots for all the iciness. I am PREPARED! We get storms here!
LikeLike
September 6th, 2012 at 7:02 pm
Skinny jeans: I couldn’t agree more. Save yourselves! Save yourselves! Don’t wear these!
Jeggings: These look like Shakespeare got high in the 60s and then decided to design clothes and really should have stuck to writing plays and the occasional sonnet.
Grammy jewelry: Oh nooooz! Not good, very bad, wrong!
Vivian (she says who, she says when): LOLOL
Puffed shoulders: Yeah. These are like shoulder pads in that they are in the football school of design. This is a bad school of design. Very bad.,
Super distressed jeans: Um. Hmm. Confession: I went through a phase of really liking these back in the day. Now I don’t.
Skin: Okay, here’s the way it works: all the girls and boys that had great skin in high school and college are going to end up looking like Keith Richards in their 40s. Yes, it’s payback time!
You are an awesome commentator on our times.
LikeLike
September 6th, 2012 at 8:08 pm
Heh. I am OF THE TIMES.
I had some pretty ratty jeans, back in the day. Now I just want jeans that are all in one piece, so I can make them last a long time. I’m all about quality now. Because I am OLD.
I had bad skin, and then good skin due to pharmaceuticals, now I have iffy skin. Will I look like Keith Richards? I’m just worried the medication will make me grow a third arm or something.
LikeLike
September 7th, 2012 at 7:52 pm
Damn! Anne Shirley would be cool again with those puffed sleeves!
LikeLike
September 7th, 2012 at 9:49 pm
Ooh, could I have a Gilbert? Not HER Gilbert, she gets him. My OWN Gilbert? I’d wear puffy sleeves if I could have a Gilbert.
LikeLike
September 8th, 2012 at 3:31 pm
Yes, but I want a Gilbert too. I’ll get mine with my “alabaster brow”.
LikeLike
September 8th, 2012 at 7:04 pm
I also kind of liked (and it’s been years…and I’ve forgotten his name) the older man she was interested in. With the daughter? I wanted her with Gilbert, but oh, I liked the older man so much, too. I was sad for him when she left. But happy she’d be with Gilbert. Because, sigh, Gilbert.
LikeLike