Students all decked out in nice, colorful clothes are something you will not see at North Atlanta or really any other high school nowadays. These days, it’s all about comfiness and convenience: athletic wear, crop tops, neutral colors, hoodies, and sneakers can be seen throughout the halls. Just a couple of years ago, the teachers were in high school, with just about the opposite style. This included skinny jeans and unforgettable hairstyles. Now the teachers are back in high school, feeling a full-circle moment, because now they have to keep up with the ever-changing wardrobes of teenagers.
Erin Turner, an AP Lang teacher who attended high school at Effingham County High School, outside of Savannah, from 1990 to 1994, vividly remembers the fashion. At that time, fashion choices were not hard to forget; they were bold, memorable, and sometimes over the top. There were so many elements that she loved and hated, but the one that stood out the most to her was the hair. Big, teased, curly hair with lots of hairspray was not her favorite. Not only was it a lot of work, but it also didn’t even look good. The hairstyles might have been bad, but her biggest regret comes from trying to dye her hair red. “It turns out if you are blonde and you try to dye your hair red, it turns pink,” said Turner. “That was before pink hair was cool.”
A couple of years later, Arianna Valentin, now a science teacher, started high school in 2012 in a suburb of Phoenix called Gilbert. The fashion trends were noticeably different from the 90s, and a little closer to what they are now. Skinny jeans with shirts from popular brands like Aeropostale, American Eagle, Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Free People were the most common outfits. There was a shoe change from Dr. Martens to Converse and Vans; it was impossible to walk down the hallways without seeing a sea of them. This is similar to today because Valentin says the hallways are cluttered with students wearing the same outfits. She misses the originality and wants people to be comfortable in their skin, as long as it is not with one specific accessory. “Euwalkh, oh my goodness, I hated the peplum tops with obnoxiously large circle-shaped jewelry,” said Valentin.
On the contrary, Thomas Williams, a Spanish teacher who went to high school from 1986 to 1989 in Atlanta, was not as obsessed with jewelry. He loved the shoes, Air Force Ones and Chuck Taylors being his favorite. In fact, these shoes are still very common today, and Williams sees students wearing them in his classroom, just like twenty years ago. In his high school, unlike North Atlanta, they had a uniform, but kids still found ways to express themselves through concert T-shirts, polos, Members Only jackets, and CB jackets. Even though some trends eventually come back, Williams would not bring any of them back himself. “We need something fresh,” said Williams. “You guys need to come up with your own things.”
Fashion in high school has definitely come a long way from the 90s with crazy big hair, to the early 2000s with skinny jeans and a cute top, to now, where students mostly dress in athletic wear and comfy clothing.
