Clothes. Kids clothes. Boy, I’m glad I don’t have to buy them anymore! Watching the students’ styles over the past decade or so has always been entertaining, and often hilarious. Of course this is a two way street and the kids are amazed when they see old pictures or movies of those of us in past generations.

I grew up in a small, rural town where high school clothing "style" usually didn’t get much past freshly laundered. There were only a couple families in town that had the money to shop at department stores. When something did come into "style", it was the look, not the brand that made the difference. No "Tommy Feelbigger" stuff for us! Blue jeans were just bright blue jeans. I do remember "steady shirts" and possibly more vividly the angora sweaters the girls wore. I always felt quite well dressed wearing the clothes we had ordered from the Sears Roebuck catalog. My grandparents usually bought my shoes. A pair of leather shoes and a pair of "gym" shoes were all you needed. No one made a big deal about wearing the same thing two days in a row either. Where have the people gone, like my mother, who could darn a sock, or "turn" a shirt collar so the fraying didn’t show?

I guess this kind of background has made me much more conscious of "go" than "show." Each to their own style is okay with me, but what really disturbs me is the class or "clique" consciousness the students have regarding clothing. "If you can’t dress like me, you’re nothing." The "put-downs" often unspoken, have got to be harmful to a young person’s self-image, so fragile and developing.

Prom season is almost upon us. The "dress" books are circulating among the girls. Parents are making reservations for limos. How many hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars are spent on this ego trip? Dinners, limousines, dresses, and tuxedo rentals. It seems like madness to me. Why not forego the competition to outdo the other people and just have a Prom for fun? Dance a little, have a good meal, take some pictures for your scrapbook, and go home. All these extra dollars could certainly be used to help the kids in a much more effective way!

Yeah, I’ve heard that "clothes make the man" and years ago I admit to reading Dressing for Success, but isn’t it time we stopped this nonsense and started valuing people for what’s on the inside? You can’t read a book by its cover…