Seventeen Again

Summer is here.  Which means retailers are already starting to tease us with Fall Fashion Previews (yes, I had to capitalize all those important words).  J. Crew sent out such an email with this image:

Hard to think about accumulating more sweaters and woolly items when a good part of the country is scorching in triple-digit heat.  But, you know, fashion could care less about temperatures.  Anyway, all the colors and patterns made me think of old Benetton ads, back from, um, the late 1980's.  This compelled me to dig out my old stash of Seventeen magazine clippings.  And while I couldn't find what my brain recalled from Benetton, I did find this gem that pretty much tells the same story:

Holy high school!  Everything old is new again, right?  I remember how much I loved these ensembles.  And I'm pretty positive I'm quickly becoming "that" old person who whines that today's music/fashion/kids/insert-whine-of-choice-here just isn't like it "used to be."  Seriously, my current stash of Lucky magazines (and I do love them) just doesn't instill in me the same excitement as this publication did while I was sporting braces and purple mascara.

And while we're yapping about younger versions of ourselves, certain people will especially get a kick out of this artifact:

I found plenty of other pictures of Hollywood stars that made me just smile and exclaim, "Wow!  Look at her!"  Then I'd groan, "Dang, that was a long time ago" and promptly reach for the tequila.

With the stash from the past uncovered, I'll plan to pepper my blog with some highlights throughout the summer.  With the release of the always highly-anticipated September Issue from Vogue, it seems fitting to remember the ridiculous giddiness I felt when Seventeen's Back to School issue landed in the mailbox.  Who was your favorite celebrity to grace the pages of your teenage mags?  And what clothing brand or store brings you right back to the start of high school?  





Images:  (1) J. Crew, (2 & 3) Seventeen Magazine