fads i remember

Last night I watched a movie in which Jennifer Aniston sported a bucket hat. My first thought was: "Adults wore those, too?" My second thought was of my own denim bucket hat with Winnie the Pooh stitched on the front.  From there, memories of other fads just kept coming ...

Tights and bulky matching sweaters: I had a big pink sweater that hung down to mid-thigh that had a picture of puppies on it. The green in the picture of puppies was perfectly matched by my green tights. One girl in my grade four class came to school wearing the older version of this fad: solid colour sweater (with a half-zipper) and solid tights. Specifically, she wore a bright yellow sweater with black tights. I remember thinking she looked so cool! When we complimented her, she modestly cooed: "I thought I looked like a bumblebee!" Today, tights are back -- minus the bulky sweaters, of course.

Platform thong sandals: I remember when thong sandals first appeared. I remember giggling at the name and getting used to that strange feeling of plastic between my toes. I had my own pair of platform thong sandals. I remember the popular crowd from a few grades ahead of me piling on the bus, all of the girls wearing the exact same Old Navy black thong sandals.

MSN: Three-way conversations. Cryptic names. Talking to boys on MSN that you never had the nerve to talk to in person. At my school, the MSN craze came right along with the firehotquotes.com craze -- all of our MSN names were stolen from that site. (example: "U laugh because I'm different, I laugh because ur all the same.") Blocking someone from MSN was the ultimate insult.

Hotmail: (with ridiculous, stupid names that were impossible to remember -- mine was airicka_52@hotmail.com)

Butterfly clips: Although painful if you ever accidentally lied down on one of these, I thought they were so pretty! The pale colours, some of them sparkly ... One girl at my church always had a perfect arch of butterfly clips across her head.

Yo-yos: When I think of yo-yos, I remember sitting on my elementary school bus watching as a grade 8 boy walked down the aisle to his seat at the back of the bus. As he walked down the aisle, he spun his yo-yo and did tricks with it. What confidence!

The backpack purse: These were dressy little purses that you wore on your back. I had a glossy black one that I took great pride in hanging on the coat hook at church before going to Sunday School.

Furbies: Was there ever a creepier toy? I never had one, but I remember sleeping over at a friend's house who did. She had to put the furby in her closet, where it mumbled for a few minutes and finally stopped.

Mr. Noodles: Maybe this was just a fad at my elementary school -- I don't know. All I know is that it was the coolest thing to eat Mr. Noodles raw as a snack at recess. My mother didn't provide us with this snack because she said it was unhealthy, so I had to trade my Fruit by the Foot or Fruit Roll Ups (so healthy!) for them.

Beanie Babies: I was never into this fad as much as some of my friends, whose shelves of untouched Beanie Babies I coveted. My sister and I had a few. Even though we invested in plastic covers for the tags (apparently if you damaged the tags your "collector's item" was totally worthless), we couldn't help but play with them.

Avril Lavigne: This goes along with skateboarding culture first appearing in my world, complete with the guys' skater hairstyle that flipped out at the sides (sooo cute). I remember being at a friend's house and first hearing Avril Lavigne's song "Complicated." I lied on the bed listening and, in my mind, it spoke directly to my relationship with a boy in my grade 8 class.

Britney Spears:  I remember my friend opening her new Britney Spears CD and popping it into her blue and silver CD player. We listened to it the entire evening. How did the innocent, tanned Britney Spears from that CD cover become the Britney Spears of today? I have no idea.

Tamagotchi: That stupid little toy the size of a keychain that would die if you didn't give it adequate care. In grade 4 I remember owning a pair of Tamagotchi shoes -- white runners with plastic tamogotchis on them (I wish I could find a picture of a pair of these, but I can't.)

Skip it: (mine was purple)

Bop-It 

Flare jeans: Huge, billowing flare jeans.

Low-rise jeans: Forever connected to the Britney Spears craze.

Skorts: An earlier fad (I don't know if this was just a fad for my age group). The perfect mix of skirt and shorts.

Overalls: I had a pair of dark jean overall shorts with flowers stitched on them. I thought I looked really cool, especially when I paired it with one of my older sisters' spaghetti strap tops.

Northern Getaway sweaters: The ones with the pictures cats dressed up as the Backstreet Boys, with the pun, "Catstreet  Boys." Or cartoon mice resembling the Spice Girls, labelled, "Mice Girls."

Boy bands: Nick Carter was my favourite Backstreet Boy (you had to choose one!). My sister and I would go to the corner store to collect the stickers needed for her Backstreet Boy book. When Nsync first came out, we were wary of them because of our loyalty to the Backstreet Boys. It didn't take long, however, for them to win us over.

Sailor Moon (this is an earlier fad -- I remember playing Sailor Moon at recess in grade 1)

At our school, it was cool to make up secret languages. Every girl in the grade learned Fu (something that began as an elite language), and it drove the boys crazy that they couldn't understand it. Fu consisted of putting the letter "g" after the first letter of every syllable (ex: went = wgent -- prounced "wouldagent", shopping = shgoppging -- pronounced shouldagoppouldaging"

Scooters

Charm bracelets: Looking back, they really weren't pretty pieces of jewellery. Silver squares that would slowly be replaced by silver squares with symbols on them. Your charm bracelet became a way to explore and express your identity and all the important milestones in your short life.

Bandannas

Pigtails (or pigtail buns, placed low at the back of your head, often paired with a bandanna)

WWJD bracelets: These were so cool, and they were soon joined by PUSH (pray until something happens) and FROG (fully rely on God) bracelets.

Scrubs: This fad never reached my grade, but I remember some of my older sisters' friends wearing scrubs as a fashion statement.

Lip smackers: One year at my birthday party I received dozens of lip smackers. They came in every colour and flavour. I had a little blue tin to store mine in -- my first collection of beauty products.

Hairstyles: Hotties like Nick Carter sported the mushroom cut (with the middle part). For a few years, it was cool for girls to wear their hair pulled back with two lone strands of hair hanging on either side of their face (see my grade 4 school picture for my version of this style). At her grade 8 graduation, my oldest sister wore her hair back with two wisps of curled hair on either side of her face -- when she came down the stairs I said in awe, "You look like you're sixteen." The highest compliment.

... that was fun. Maybe one day, years from now, I'll look back at this record and smile again. It's amazing how little details like this jog one's memory!

If you want to add any other fads you remember, comment below!