Good News, Bad News

There's good news and bad news in this story on Teen trends.

Good news: "Teenagers are turning from hip-hop ..."

Bad news: "to prep".

Worse news: "The runaway leader in teen fashion is Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Co., which also owns the Hollister brand. Hollister and A&F were the top two clothing brands among teens, said Jeffrey Klinefelter, a senior analyst at Piper Jaffray."

Much Worse News, with two teenagers in the house: "New fashion means new shoes, as teens look for footwear to match different styles. Teens are planning to boost their footwear spending this year by about 34 percent, according to the survey."

I never minded hip-hop music - at least back during the glory days of NWA and Public Enemy, when one could tell one song from another - and I still love, say, Eminem. But the fashions - especially the baggy pants halfway down the kids' butts that were en vogue when my stepson was in high school - gave me a headache.

Almost as big a headache as prep clothes gave me, when they were vogue-y when I was in college.

I, by the way, was grunge before grunge was cool. Like, seven years before it was cool.