Sunday, September 30, 2007

Why I love School Uniforms


This last friday was free dress day where the kids pay a dollar to the PTO and they can wear whatever they want to school. When I first heard this I was very excited to add some variety and spice up the traditional polos and khakis. After 15 minutes of tantrums and negotiations I wasn't too keen on the idea anymore. We finally agreed on an outfit that wasn't sleeveless or too short and actually matched. Rewind to 2 months ago and remember how I was less than thrilled on the idea of uniforms, fast forward to now and I am more than ecstatic for them. Not only because I don't have to fight her every morning, but also because once she got home she had to brief me with a full report of what all her friends were wearing and who had the cutest clothes. This sounded all to familiar to me as I took a stroll down memory lane to my own experiences with clothes....As I disclose these memories I am feeling very vulnerable and can't believe that I'm admitting to my own dorkiness, but I guess admitting to sabotaging my own journal was enough proof of my coolness factor, so I might as well lose my last shred of dignity :)


So growing up in a family of 10 kids there obviously wasn't enough money to buy all of those name brand clothes that the other kids were wearing, so I took matters into my own hands (just keep in mind, this was elementary and middle school, I like to think I wasn't this bad in high school!). I held nothing back on my quest for coolness. Whenever I managed to get my hands on something name brand, I wore that thing with pride. It didn't matter that I probably got it at the local second hand store and was hideous looking and totally out of date, as long as it had a namebrand it was more than cool in my eyes. I remember I would purposely flip up my GAP tags on my shirt so that somebody would tuck it in for me and see that I was wearing something from the GAP. I had my one coveted pair of "Guess" jeans that I wore all the time. Obviously with all the use they got it wasn't long before I wore a hole in the knee. Not wanting to retire the beloved "Guess" brand or put a perfectly good patch to waste, I unstitched the triangle patch on the back pocket (remember those?) and sewed it on to another pair of jeans! (I'm sure no one noticed the large "Jordache" tag adorning the belt loops). Don't worry, it gets worse. I saved up my money and bought a pair of Keds (were those even cool or was it just me?). Once those wore out I put my recycling skills to work once again by carefully peeling off that rubber tag on the back and hot glue gunned them to the back of some generic white tennis shoes. I'm sure there was dryed up glue oozing around the corners, but gosh darn I felt cool (I probably did it only because there was no way to create a good LA Gear or K-Swiss knock-off). I also have fond memories of making my own "stone washed jeans" by pouring bleach on a new pair of not-so-cool jeans (Janess, don't you remember mom sanctioning this act? What a great mom.). I wore them with pride until my 4th grade teacher was giving a lesson on something that had to do with hippies and she talked about how they used to do the same thing with their jeans. I felt a little silly wearing them after that. And to top it all off I created a clothes calendar. Yes, I said a clothes calendar. At the beginning of each week I would plan my outfits and keep a calendar of what I was going to wear. Of course as I wrote down my outfits I had to include the brand incase someone might just happen upon my calendar and, heaven forbid, think that everything I owned wasn't name brand. A typical day looked like this: Monday-red GAP jeans, white Banana Republic T-shirt and brown Birkenstocks. Yes, I still remember that as being my absolute favorite outfit (although my pink "Duck Head" shirt was a close second).


So there you have it, I'm a self proclaimed dork, but atleast I can look back and laugh! So when Kylie is old enough to start complaining about the uniforms I may just have to share with her this little gem of a memory and then she can be grateful that she doesn't have to deal with all that (and be grateful that I haven't carried on my little name-brand recycling craze to her own ward robe!)

20 comments:

Marisa said...

Yay--I'm the first to comment. I love the look of your new blog. don't you just love that website--it's so easy?!?

I loved your stories! I don't know if it was just the time (the days of Espirit, Guess, Girbaud jeans, etc.) but I would do the same thing. I remember always walking in front of my sisters "cool" friends so they could see my Guess patch. Your stories sent me down memory lane. My jr high journals consisted of me naming every single person at a party or who I was hanging out with...so my kids would know how cool I was--ha, ha.

foreveryoung said...

Thanks for trying to make me feel better, but I do recall that you were one of those cool people that I was trying to impress! You and Tori N. ruled Barrett Elem. with your stone wash jeans, with the zippers and bows on the back, remember??

Kelly said...

I had a "Duck Head" shirt that I wore ALL the time in 6th grade. It was hideous! It was peach colored, but I thought I was soooooo cool...

Chelsea said...

Oh yes, THE NOTORIOUS GUESS PATCH. I remember being so crazy over it & I recall having a patch that I got from somewhere ?? & trying to talk my mom into sewing it onto a 'lamer' pair of jeans, How RIDICULOUS! So now you know you werent the only one!

Kathi said...

Too funny!! Seriously, what would my younger version of me think when I buy most of my shirts from Target(Well before the move....now my options are WalMart or JCpenny:>). Pretty sure that woudn't have been a cool brand then. Ok, what website are you getting all your cute stuff from??

foreveryoung said...

you guys make me laugh, I'm glad I'm not alone with my confessions of a dork! The website is mattiekay.blogspot.com, she has tons of fun free templates that are easy to use.

foreveryoung said...

sorry, only one "t", it's matiekay.blogspot.com

Jodee said...

I love you Jamie! You are cracking me up! I guess I must have been out of it but I never knew Guess Jeans were so cool! I guess I wasn't cool! I do remember the jeans with bows and zippers on the back, those were the best! I love all your little tips on trying to be cooler than you are- you may not have been the cool kid, but you sure were the most clever!

Shanen said...

Jamie you are too funny, I love that post. I too am a huge fan of the uniforms. It makes getting dressed in the mornings much easier.
I am gonna have to check out that website, I love your new design.

Brooklyn said...

Jamie! Don't feel bad, becasue I did the same thing!!!!! My sis and I had to share clothes, and we woul have to "rotate" the name brand stuff, so we both had a chance to wear the seldom name brand items we owned. I remember getting a hand me down guess t shirt from my best friends older sister and cherised it! It's these memories though, of "roughin' it" that make us grateful. And you know what, I STILL get clothes at namebrand, and ross, and marshalls, so hey! I guess it is a life lesson to be frugal. :)

Brooklyn said...

ps, love the blog layout! (It matches your pillows)! and how can you not love uniforms when you look like that~ her little knee highs, and dress! soooo Cute!

Janessa said...

I'm am dying from laughter Jame! You are truely cool now if you can admit to all your attepmts at coolness as a youngin'. Good times. Do you remember how Tyler would run just ahead of us as we would walk to school in our glued/patched "name brand" clothes and shout, "Jamie shops at D.I.! Jamie shops at D.I.!" I thought you'd hate him forever for that one, but you seem to be over it. You were always the cool on in the family!

Rohm Family said...

did you really destroy your journals??? I loved your stories, you had me fooled in middle school- I thought all your stuff was authentic:) You should have let me in on your little secrets, I remember wearing a girls camp T-shirt my first day of High school, Jamie why did you not help me!!

foreveryoung said...

No worries, Wes, I didn't destroy them, I still have all of them, (along with every note we wrote back and forth about KF) I only sabatoged them by writing things in them that made me seem cooler than I really was. Just so my kids would be impressed one day :) Yes, I was lame. Also, I don't know what you were talking about, you were my style idol. Remember those cut-off jean shorts you gave to me? I think I'm wearing them in every picture in my scrapbook! Good times...

DAVE AND CANDACE BOLLARD said...

Jamie, you crack me up! You are very brave to admit those things in your post. I was just a dork all around. I guess because I had no sisters, I didn't even care that I wore clothes that weren't cool or in style. Thank goodness for great friends that loved me anyway!

Tiffany said...

Love the story...I remember being ecstatic when I got a pair of high top black Reeboks...I could peg my jeans and tuck them in my socks that were peeking out of the shoes. I felt like I was someone then. SCARY! Anna doesn't wear a uniform now but will during middle school...hallelujiah!

Rachel said...

You crack me up Jamie! I can totally picture you sewing the tags on little miss Martha Stewart!

Melissa Stadler said...

I love, love, love that about you Jamie. There is nothing like hearing the actual stories of trying to re-create Guess jeans and a pair of Keds. Oh how we TRIED so hard to be cool! I was right there with you my friend. I have my RED Guess Jeans and rainbow striped Polo brand shirt and I felt like the coolest kid in school when I wore it.
I do have to say that growing up with 10 kids I am sure really shaped who you are...you are so one of the most down-to earth and sweet people I know. :)

The Morris Fam said...

I can't tell you enough how much I love you- you always make me laugh. I totally admire your resourcefulness. You have skills and creativity- not to mention organization! You totally made me reminisce my embarrassing elementary and middle school days when Girbaud was such a hit and I would borrow my girlfriend's all the time because I of course never owned a pair. The only brand names I owned were from the outlets or Ross. Got the love the humiliation of being a kid huh?

Sheba Price said...

Jamie I too remeber the "Guess" days! I went to catholic school for seven years in New York City until I moved to Arizona and had to pick up on my "fashion" skills. Good-bye uniforms h-e-l-l-o-o-o Guess, Outback Red, Bannana Republic, Forenza, Benneton, Esprit and so much more! Can you tell I suffered too? If you didn't have one of those Esprit bags you were not sheek! Okay people I know you remember this! Oh and by the way I had to babysit and save my money to buy my very first pair of Guess Jeans in eighth grade that cost a whopping 78 bucks! I wore that thing all the way to my Junior year! Pathetic huh? Thank goodness I am not the only one with a story!:)