Ally: In today’s post, I will be playing the part of Joan Rivers as she is seen on E!’s Fashion Police. In that I mean I will be offering my uneducated opinion on the state of young people’s fashion sense. Specifically, I will be be focusing on my new favourite guilty pleasure. The teen drama “Skins”. Now I’m watching the North American version:
I hear the UK version is a must-see.
One of the things I have noted is that the kids on this show actually dress like…kids. By that I mean, their clothes are largely distasteful, thrown together and perhaps a little…slutty. Basically, how we all dressed when we were 15/16/17.
My favourite character is Tea, who dresses totally bad-ass.
You can't see it, but she's wearing beat-up converse in this sceen. Love.
I also love Cadie. You know what’s annoying though? I’m trying to find photos to provide some proof for my thesis up in here, but all I’m finding are images from MTV’s stupid ad campaign promoting this show. Like this:
WTF?
Cadie would never wear that in an actual episode.
My point is that this series paints a portrait of teens in actual teen garb, unlike say, Gossip Girl where Prada is a right of passage.
Have any of you watched this how? Thoughts? Many critics felt it was far too inappropriate (likening it to child pornography – which I think is ridiculous). I think it’s a quite accurate portrayal of the teen years and the crazy melodrama that takes place.
I’m going to pause, let L-A weigh in, and regroup in the a.m. Parents are in town from rural NS and I’m sure they would rather not have me on my computer googling images from teenage dramas.
L-A: Hilariously, while Ally is watching a show about teens drinking and having sex, I was watching a new BBC/PBS series of Upstairs, Downstairs. And that is why I’m the geek. But let’s focus on the series I haven’t seen yet. Because based on this…
…and these…
Want this outfit. Will take my booze in a glass though. This is the upside to being an adult.
I can guess that they probably dress like teenagers: ill-advised and sometimes inappropriate. I can also guess that I will totally dig this show.
But I’m not scandalized by their outfits. Sure they’re kind of slutty and ill-advised. But any outrage I could muster up needs to be tempered by memories of this:
Yep, that was 1995. And the fashion worn by kids of the day? Often ill-advised and sometimes inappropriate. And this was the same year Clueless was released, so I can safely say that minus the AIDS, most kids in the mid-90s were more Kids than Clueless – in the same way kids today are more Skins than Gossip Girl (or any show on the CW. Or even ABC Family).
So kiddies on TV: You be you in your short skirts and low cut tops. I save my moral panic for something else and spare your choice in clothing. I even spare your heavy focus on drinking, sex and drugs. Because based on my own experiences, some kids are going to do that without the aid of the TV and others are not going to be influenced by TV. And if anyone’s going to influence them, it’s the kids who were already drinking and sexing before MTV remade this series.
(p.s. I think this show will get me through the withdrawal that’s going to happen after tonight’s season finale of Pretty Little Liars. Is it weird that I seem to watch only TV shows about teenagers? I do watch other things. Like Upstairs, Downstairs. I bet you can count the number of teens voluntarily watching that on one hand).
0 0Source: http://fashionablethings.com/2011/03/21/old-people-analyzing-the-style-of-todays-youth/
