Insider's Guide to High School Opinion The Tattoo

Make your own fashion statement

Abercrombie and Fitch ad.

BRISTOL, Connecticut, U.S.A. — Out with Abercrombie and in with the flowy, bohemian look.

That summarizes this year’s new look.

But, if anyone should be talking about fashion, it is definitely not me — I tend to have a style uniquely my own.

It’s not like the type of style that you could categorize as preppy or freaky; it is just whatever I find that I enjoy wearing.

Wondering where to hone your style? The malls of course, right? Not true.

This year’s round of school shopping was challenging because every store carries the same look, the pants that are bleached out in all the wrong places and the thin, flowery shirts.

When I go to the mall, I usually go right to the clearance rack, but not because of the prices. My reason? That is where most of the stuff is that nobody else wants to wear.

Most likely if you shop in the clearance rack you normally don’t have to deal with the tragedy of going to school and finding out that five other girls are wearing the same shirt as you.

If you are creative, you may even go to the extreme of making your own clothes.

When you make you own clothes, you have the pleasure of knowing that no one is wearing the same thing as you.

Don’t feel like making your clothes?

It’s not too hard to embellish the clothes that you already have. Just whip out the Bedazzler, a few studs here and a few patches there, and voila!

Some might say that I’m gross for even suggesting it, but it’s not too bad shopping at the Salvation Army.

Every time I go there, I find something pretty neat that I wouldn’t find anywhere else.

With the new band shirt-Converse-dyed-headed-kid look coming in, it’s actually almost acceptable to shop there.

It doesn’t truly matter what you wear, as long as you enjoy wearing it, and remember what you wear represents who you are, as much as no one really wants it to.

Nicole Bernosky is a Reporter for Youth Journalism International.