It’s the start of a new year for Scituate High School students and with the buzz over classes, comes an underlying phenomenon called fashion. Reformed and refreshed from last year’s trends, the new season of fashion is marked by September as students scramble for back to school shopping and Vogue magazine releases its annual back-breaker. Every day high school students make decisions in fashion based upon social and individual instincts. Their fashion choices describe who they are, how they feel, and what they think.

            For the dreaded first day, the hallways were especially crowded, making a nonchalant observation of the clothing choices of a passersby extremely easy. For the girls, floral prints, colored shorts, knit sweaters, white jeans, stylish sandals and delicate shirts seem to be the current trends. As Erin Duffey, a senior described, “People seemed to be going for an indie – mix, subtle look; nothing too crazy.” Most of the boys resumed their usual t–shirt and shorts tradition, but it is the shoes that are the most significant expression of individuality as brightly colored high tops were evident to have stormed upon the scene. Particularly, senior Erin Gerhard noted that the shoes were, “black and white sneakers – the nike ones.”  Not all chose to dress extravagantly however, since a rather large group of casually dressed teenagers entered the school with tired expressions worn upon their faces.

There is always the youngest of the batch, the new freshmen who arrive with their excitement exploding and bouncing between each other. Most freshmen girls opted for a sleek dark wash jean, a nice and pretty soft shirt on top, and a summer shoe of flip flops or sandals. The look was neat and thoughtful, rightfully fitting the essence of their youth. The sophomores, being more familiar with the school, dressed similar to the freshmen, but with more personal flair. Shirts tucked into a skirt with a solid color or intricate pattern displayed increasing confidence. As for the juniors, they demonstrated higher maturity as each person seemed to have a separate style and chose pieces like a knit dress or a chic sweater paired with a colored short. Finally, the senior class was a mixture of those who made effort to beautify in the morning and those who after a tedious night of finishing summer work, simply did not include fashion on their list of priorities. The seniors who dressed up selected clothes with real, genuine maturity portrayed by the uniqueness of each outfit. Dresses were original, shoes were fancier, and the usual outfits were altered slightly based upon the person’s likes to make the feel of the look entirely different; like a hot red pencil skirt with a tank top decorated with a wolf.

The students who dressed well and looked very put together, evidently also were the liveliest among the masses. The ones who dressed down on the other hand, were no less ready for the day, they merely care less about their image and that alone is confidence that fashion cannot buy.