The Preteen Zeitgeist Peril
Rahnesha White has a joyous smile on her face as she moves purposefully among the displays at the Gap Kids store in Sherman Oaks Fashion Square.
Personally, I would rather be in labor than 11 again and shopping for school clothes. But Rahnesha, who starts sixth grade at Millikan Middle School in a couple of weeks, seems to be having a wonderful time.
Her mother, Elizabeth White, has burdened the youngster with a minimum of taboos in choosing a back-to-school wardrobe.
“The only thing I don’t want her to buy is any little spaghetti-strapped top for school,” White says.
But there seems to be little danger of that. Rahnesha’s wants are modest in every sense. She’d like a sweatshirt or T-shirts with the Gap logo, some bell-bottom jeans and perhaps some khakis. She also thinks a transparent backpack would be all that (the phat, bad, excellent, far out or cool of yesteryear).
“Those are beautiful,” Rahnesha says of the clear backpacks, as an adult wonders why anyone would want to expose the contents of her carryall to the sharp eyes of her judgmental little peers.
Since I haven’t been in the offspring-outfitting business for more than a decade, I have prepped for this visit to the mall by reading up on back-to-school fashions. I have also verified a few unlikely findings with friends who ignore the preteen zeitgeist at their peril.
Yes, they tell me, Hello Kitty--next to whom Babar looks like a serial killer--is popular with young girls, giving the lie to the notion that today’s kids are far more sophisticated than past generations. These same friends fill me in on the wonders of Milky pens, which allow you to write notes to your pals on black paper.
At Gap Kids, the boys’ side of the store is hung with neon-colored vests of a material not found in nature, and pants with zippers that run from thigh to ankle, allowing the wearer to expose as much or as little leg as he chooses.
I cannot imagine why any boy would want to do that, but then, my mother couldn’t understand why I had to have a black-watch plaid kilt and a circle pin.
Conventional wisdom is that ours is a nation of Stepford children, programmed to move in zombie-like lock-step. But Rahnesha exudes a confidence in her own good taste that I don’t remember having before I was 30.
For instance, when asked if quilted vests are popular this year, she answers: “They are, but I don’t want them.”
Nearby, at Limited Too, Karina Passi is shopping for school things with her father, Kari. Karina is 12 and will be a seventh-grader at Millikan this year.
Karina is the shopper that the dreams of marketing directors are made of. She isn’t just loyal to this youthful adjunct to the Limited, she describes herself as “head over heels” with it.
“She’s the poster girl for the store,” says her father, who has been standing quietly by as Karina has chosen pencils, a pencil case and a backpack, all with the Limited Too logo.
“It must say ‘Limited Too’ or it’s not hip or in,” Passi explains, with an indulgent smile.
My reading has led me to believe that pockets are all this season, on everything from cargo pants to backpacks.
But Karina has bucked the trend and opted for a classic black backpack with just a few compartments.
“I don’t really need a million pockets,” she explains, making far more sense than people her age are expected to.
Karina appears to have convinced her father that her passion for Limited Too merchandise has redeeming social value.
She argues that her pleasure in her logo-laden accessories somehow pays off in better grades.
Whether her father actually buys this or not, he lets her follow her heart through the store.
“She gets all A’s,” he says, with obvious pride. “She can get whatever she wants.”
In fact, Passi has kept the family credit card firmly in his own hand.
“I was going for one of those lamps,” Karina confides, “and I was hoping for one of those chairs. And I just love their inflatable glitter pillows in the shape of a flower.”
Vast numbers of girls Karina’s age adore shopping here, which makes you wonder how a particular style or store seems to catch on with an entire age group.
Why did everyone discover Pokemon last year? Why Old Navy and Milky pens? Do these kids have some means of communication we don’t know about? In Karina’s case, you can’t blame American television or the teen magazines. Her father is from Finland, and she spent the summer there with her family, far from the cultural tom-toms that speak only to our young.
“When you get older, you can go next door,” Karina says, teasing her father as she points to the Limited.
“Really, I didn’t know that,” he responds in kind.
Karina reports her father has warned her that, if she ever starts smoking, there will be no more trips to her favorite store. For that matter, there will be no more allowance--ever.
“She had to make a choice between smoking and Limited Too,” Passi says.
“Thank God, they don’t make Limited Too cigarettes.”
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Spotlight runs each Friday. Patricia Ward Biederman can be reached at valley.news@latimes.com.
