Who could forget the overwhelming smell of Axe Body Spray lingering in the hallways of Gates? Do you remember showing off your new Silly Bandz even though they cut off your circulation? How about that Webkinz collection lining your shelves, fueling your addiction to Webkinz World and Cash Cow. Some look back at these trends with a sense of nostalgia, while others remember them and blush with embarrassment for ever having followed them. Even if you don’t want to admit it, let’s face it, this was the reality of our childhoods.

The trends we follow throughout our lifetime may go out of style, but they always seem to hold a special place in our memories. When asking SHS students about the trends they used to follow, many would excitedly talk about their old collection of Japanese erasers or Silly Bandz, while others would cringe at the thought of once owning these things.

Senior Emily Ivas said, “In elementary school Smencils were the thing to have.” We can all remember lining up at lunch with a handful of quarters waiting to buy a bunch of root beer, blueberry, and cherry scented Smencils.

Some of the fashion trends from our elementary and middle school years are questionable and embarrassing to remember. Every girl who wanted to be considered stylish wore rolled down Uggs (the perfect place to hide a cell phone), skinny jeans, a tight Abercrombie graphic t-shirt, and a black North Face jacket. If you didn’t follow these trends, you were bound to feel a little left out.

Senior, Curran Wait said, “I used to wear a ton of those rubber bracelet things.” As kids, everyone used to collect bracelets like Silly Bandz, rope friendship bracelets, or the thick rubber bracelets with words written in them that Wait mentioned. While these bracelets aren’t what we would consider fashionable now, at the time the more bracelets you had the cooler you looked.

While some look back wishing they had never followed these trends, others remember wishing they had. Junior Trent Linker said, “I never had Heelys because I wasn’t hip enough.”

Yet, most people look fondly upon their old favorite TV shows. That’s So Raven and Ed, Ed, and Eddie are among the students’ favorites. These TV shows bonded our generation together through laughter and inside jokes. If you ask anyone to sing the theme song of their favorite TV show when they were younger they could probably still do it.

“We’d all sing the theme song to iCarly when it came on,” said freshman Kelly Leary. Friends bonded over their favorite TV shows, discussing the latest episode, or even going to someone’s house and watching the show together.  Every Tuesday night, most girls went to their friend’s house to watch Pretty Little Liars. If you didn’t like drama shows like PLL, you might have watched comedies that you and your friends always imitated to make each other laugh like Jimmy Neutron or Drake and Josh.

Many students also used their favorite TV shows to discover new trends to follow. If a character in your favorite TV show wore something that was trendy, then pretty soon, all the girls in school would be wearing the same thing.

Junior Gina Collari said, “I had a feather… I was like OMG Lucy Hale would do that in Pretty Little Liars… I wanted to be like Aria.”

While looking back and laughing at these past trends, it will be interesting to see how time will affect the way we remember the trends we follow now. What will we think twenty years from now? Will Lululemon leggings and Starbucks become outdated things of the past? Maybe high waisted crops and crop tops will be as unfortunate a fashion trend as Juicy Couture sweat suits. Even as trends go in and out of style most of us will be able to look back at the trends we once followed fondly and with a sense of humor.