Things Of A Bygone Era

Gap Body scents....Dream was definitely their top seller...I think in lotion form. But there was also Heaven for the slight nonconformists, and Om had a short heydey in the older-than-middle school crowd. Mmmm. They were yummy.


Butterfly clips...Those were big like whoa. They broke so much though, and didn't hold hair well. I suppose they were mostly supposed to be ornamental.


American Girls...I have Kirstin, of course. And I never took her hair our of the gorgeous braid things because I was too enamored with the sleekness. Judging from the looks of other peoples' 10 year-old American Girl dolls' hair, I was better off leaving it. I really think that what American Girl doll you had slash wanted is quite telling too.


Mini Sephora perfumes...I gave and received those for so many birthdays. And the names were all in french so often it was a fairly normal scent like caramel or strawberry that just had an exotic sounding name. I still have some, but after years of keeping them in a cupboard they kind of all smell the same.


Beanie babies...Lines around the block for those. Enough said. I still have the "special" Princess Di one thanks to the other Stephen and his familia.


Gellie Rolls and Milky pens...Is that how they were spelled? Those pens resulted in countless hours of carefully crafted hand art, much to the displeasure of 6th grade teachers. But they would always stop working every now and then and girls would proceed to alternately shake the shit out of them and huff into them in order to make them write on skin again.


Bubble tea...Yes, its still a huge and enjoyable fad. I appreciated it more when it was a novelty though. The very very bestest flavor ever is the Pink Lady at WOW Bubble Tea on the Ave. Azns+enormo flatscreens+Christian choruses, anyone? Olive, KK and I used to laugh endlessly at that. And then we would go into the quad and spit the our leftover tapioca bubbles in the general direction of unfortunate strangers.


Dicks...Still a winner in my book.


J Crew flip flops...High school girl must-have. Plus very popular among preppy boys.


Bib overalls...All the rage among 5th grade girls. We were soooo rad.


Jellies...Also popularized by Gap. Gap kids, mainly. Recently has made it back into the mainstream now that all the 2nd graders that wore them are now in their twenties and having early adult life nostalgia crises.


Otis Spunkmeyer cookies...Again, I think my spelling has gone awry. And they qualify as a fad, more of a religion really. But most people I know haven't had them since middle school since that was the one place that they were readily available.


The Spice Girls...I always had to be Scary, which was ridiculously annoying. I do have an amazing studded camo miniskirt and a knack for putting my hair up into cone-shapes as a result though.





Fads are often annoying. But let's be honest, they are fucking fun more often than not. And very unifying...until you get to the my Abercrombie skank-top is better than your American Eagle graphic tee age.