Dressing around the pop stars

Young Chang

Parents, school board members and teachers: You can exhale now.

The scoop from teen fashion gurus in Newport-Mesa is that

Britney’s on her way out and Vanessa’s swooping in.

Pop sensations Britney Spears and Vanessa Carlton, that is.

While last year’s popular look involved the really, really, really

low-riding jeans (did I mention they were low-riding?) and

belly-baring tops, the look of choice for the upcoming academic year

resembles more the little girl than the clubbing girl.

“Like Vanessa Carlton,” said Morgan Hayes, who will be a senior at

Corona del Mar High School on Tuesday. “She kind of has a hippie,

low-key look, kind of mixes and matches things together. Kind of a

bohemian style.”

This means a lot of peasant-like blouses with ruffles and laces at

the sleeves and jeans with a bit of a ‘70s flare.

Those who stick to this look will automatically dodge the arrows

of the much-talked about, the much-fretted about, the much-disputed

dress code. Most of the code contains the usual rules: no hats, caps,

tube tops, pajamas or clothing with obscene or violent messages.

The more juicy items proclaim no spaghetti straps, no crop tops,

no excessively short skirts, nothing that exposes the “mid-section,”

no flip-flops and no sandals.

School Board trustee Wendy Leece budges on the sandal issue,

saying flip-flops are unacceptable while sandals -- as she wore

during the time of the phone interview -- are understandable.

“As parents, we have to take responsibility when we send our

children out the door,” she said. “Make sure they comply with the

dress code and make sure that when they get to school, that they have

the same thing on that they left with.”

While sandals are fine, it’s the cropped-top Britney-reminiscent

tops that bother Leece.

“Belly buttons are not appropriate for the classroom,” she said.

“That’s appropriate for playtime or if they want to wear it on the

soccer field or the beach. If you have a casual dress code, the kids

don’t take their education seriously.”

If the free-flowing/bohemian/and-also-still-somehow-little-girl

look indeed does last, there will be less room for fashion disputes

between students and faculty.

Jamison Steele, a Newport Beach 15-year-old, went shopping on

Thursday for some back to school clothes. She looked for a lot of

collared shirts and rugby shirts with stripes. For skirts, she

searched for corduroy and denim. And when it came to an overall look,

she turned more to the memory of Jennifer Aniston’s character Rachel

on “Friends” than Spears.

Jamison said the preppy look is also coming back, which

automatically allows for a more conservative look at school.

Morgan’s sister, Nicole, agreed.

“That’s the new thing. Especially since a lot of punker music is

in, a lot of preppy is coming back out because of the music and stuff

like that,” she said.

The most popular accessory this fall, and perhaps this school

year, looks to be the hat.

Slouchy ones, fisherman-y ones, pretty much anything sort of

hippie-like that isn’t a baseball cap.

Nicole says she plans on wearing a navy blue one on the first day,

which she’ll have to take off when she goes in the classroom.

She agrees that dress codes can be hard to abide by sometimes,

especially when the rules are so stringent to say sandals aren’t

allowed.

But, in general, she agrees that clothes have become more

scandalous in recent years because young girls look at pictures of

Christina Aguilera and Spears and try to imitate the look.

At times, she can see why dress-patrolling would be necessary.

Leece, as a mother to five, says that the system of rule makers

and rule keepers/breakers is natural in school settings.

“When parents send their kids to school, they are in a sense

allowing the administration and kids and staff to make those

judgments,” Leece said. “So the ball is in the court of the staff.”