Lunch totes are also a maik of class. Dinosaurs reign for up to 12–Barney lunchboxes for preschoolers; Jurassic Park for older kids (packed with a Lunchable, Oscar Mayer’s portable smorgasbord). The eco-cool carry reusable nylon, Velcrofastened Snack Sacks.
Parents get one price break: baggy styles are still in, allowing kids lots of room to grow–“poet blouses” for girls, tent-like Umbro and Girbaud shorts for boys. Top T shirt: inevitably, Beavis & Butt-Head. Tattoos, piercings and vegetable-dyed hair are filtering from college campuses to high schools. A must: braided-hair extensions, A la Janet Jackson in “Poetic justice.”
As with adults, shoes make the ultimate taste statement. In sneakers, younger kids are avid for light-up heels; older kids go retro with suede Converse low-tops or multicultural with Nike’s Kente cloth-patterned shoe. Girls are slipping on clunky ’60s-ish Mary Janes or Edwardian lace-up boots for the parlor-room-meets-dominatrix look. Some of these fashions may even last the semester.
