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Conformity vs. personality: The evolution of grade school style

Amber Martin,
Grand Central Magazine

Middle School students tend to look like alike and have the same attitudes, and thoughts. Photograph by Julie Demers
(Click here for more images.)

Walk into a middle school. Question: What do you see? Answer: Hundreds of puberty-ridden, hormonal know-it-alls who have an answer (albeit usually a ridiculous one) to everything and look like clones.

Children in the middle level tend to have the same attitudes and thoughts; they’re the center of the universe, they know everything, and they try to act older than their age. Not only are their attitudes uniform, but so are their outfits. All of the girls are wearing the same dark denim jeans (because it’s the latest trend), a Hannah Montana t-shirt (because she’s just the coolest), and tennis shoes (because no one wants to go to recess in high heels).

Often recess is the only time school can be fun in a middle school world. And it’s during then that girls will often trade in their skirts and fancy tops for jeans and a T-shirt rather. Caitlin Field, a seventh grader at Clare Middle School, explains that “most of us wear jeans and a T-shirt, not skirts or dresses.” Limiting one’s wardrobe to jeans and a T-shirt also limits the variety of styles or “looks.”

In middle school a girl’s dream is to fit in and to be liked. In order to do these things, it’s important to wear whatever the popular girls are wearing. This means shopping at the same store, wearing brand name clothing and being “in the loop.”

“[The students] tend to be followers at the middle school level,” said Blanch Hale, a secretary at Saranac Middle School in Saranac, Mich. “Whatever the fad is, it seems to grow.”

The focus of many girls in middle school is to fit in, but when their time comes to step out of their bubble and into the other world that is high school, they are in for a shock. For once their exclusive group is no longer the center of attention. Not everyone is wearing the same thing and people’s attitudes vary greatly. It is during those first few months as freshmen that they begin to develop their own style.

In high school people begin to dress based on their own life experiences and beliefs. Style becomes a way to express feelings and ultimately a way to stand out. Students begin to squash the insecurities inside of them and dare to be themselves.

In high school style becomes a way to express feelings and allows girls to stand out. Photograph by Julie Demers
(Click here for more images.)

No longer is it cool to wear the same name-brand clothing or have the latest accessory, because everyone finds their own niche based on personal beliefs, life experiences and interests. “I definitely became more open-minded, and my clothing reflected that,” said Katie Minard, a senior at Saranac High School. “My outfit reflected my mood, however I felt that day; whereas in middle school it was all about the brand-name clothing. Back then it was all about being the coolest, you know? The top dog,” she said.

It is when freshmen learn to step out of their shell and express themselves through their personal style that cliques are developed. The punks, band geeks, preps, over-achievers and jocks; each of them learns to stand out through style, and it’s their style that leads them to their friends and cliques.

This change in style from conformity to personality is seen in more than just public schools. “Here the students have to wear uniforms, but in middle school and high school they are allowed to wear accessories,” said Debra Zischke, principal at Liberty Christian Academy, a private school in Tavares, Fla. “I have noticed that the students in eleventh and twelfth grades accessorize more, to stand out.”

When it comes to fashion and style, middle school and high school are completely different. Middle school is like the world of Barbie; everyone looks the same, shares the same plastic smile, and has the same wardrobe.

High school is the opposite. The Barbies are thrown into a world of differences, personality, and cliques. And it is through this experience that they begin to learn that style isn’t about fitting in, but about being you.

Personal style becomes a means of expression, and it finds its own clique to fit into.