By Lindsey Underwood

Fashion is complicated, and difficult to define. It is the style in which people dress, and it is also how we express ourselves.

But for a teenager, it is often simply what everyone else is wearing.

As a high school student, there is always pressure to conform. Living in Vermont –where fashion doesn’t seem to exist sometimes – conformity comes easy. I work in a popular clothing store and follow the trends closely, so I know what’s available but also what our state does not offer. With about five stores that are targeted toward teenagers, it’s not hard to be wearing the same thing as everyone else.

Being a teenage girl, I’m looking beyond just the Vermont fashion scene. I enjoy fashion so much that I plan on studying journalism in college with hopes to write for a fashion magazine. As a result, I pay a lot of attention to fashion in the worldwide media and throughout my home state of Vermont.

There are fashion styles that are unique to Vermont and are widely seen throughout my high school. Many of these styles reflect people’s interests and lifestyles. There are the outdoorsy people, dressed more in styles similar to Carharts and camouflage, and the environmentally friendly that prefer to wear a blend of flannel and tie-dyes.

The most popular however, and the only Vermont fashion trend I follow, is the winter clothing trend. Winter clothing is very important to Vermont seeing as we wear it majority of the year, but it means something else to high school students: snowboard and ski apparel.

This style trend is about more than trying to look like Shaun White and Hannah Teter, it’s about expressing your interest in not only the sport, but the lifestyle.

With brands like Burton, which originated in Vermont, it’s hard not to spot one of their signature coats anywhere you go. Burton Snowboards does have a very unique style, but when that’s the only option being offered, your stylish clothing is going to be the same as what everyone else is wearing.

Sometimes, that’s exactly what teenagers want. Everyone has a desire to fit in while they are in high school, and that leads to conformity in fashion. What about those students who don’t want to be the same as everyone else? They can be faced with the penalty of being though of as different.

Besides conformity, there’s another factor that plays a role in teen fashion: the dress code. With some of the styles targeted at teenagers, it’s an easy thing to break.

In my high school, I often see many girls wearing off-the-shoulder shirts, crop tops, and too-short shorts. But don’t be fooled; there are still many boys who also ignore the dress code. With their pants falling underneath their waists, there’s always a pair of boxers to be seen in the halls of CVU. Don’t worry though; their double XL tall tees are committed to covering their behinds.

I’m personally not bothered by these trends, but I often wonder what the rules of the dress code even state. It could be that the rules are just not enforced well enough. Or maybe the teachers don’t care enough to take action when they see an obvious violation.

I think this causes many students to disrespect the dress code. Most teachers haven’t even bothered to have a conversation with students about the dress code and about why it exists. With a large percentage of these teachers still being fairly young, many of them are wearing some of the same brands that the students wear.

But, some of these clothing trends do make other teachers feel uncomfortable; especially the older teachers that also have kids our age.

Parents are still a big part of teenager’s fashion choices, even if the majority of teenagers are at the point where they are buying their clothes themselves. Before you are 18, your parents are still entitled to making decisions for you.

Does that mean that parents decide what you wear? No, probably not – but most parents do set guidelines for their kids about what’s appropriate and what’s not. I think teenagers would dress differently if it weren’t for their parents. There are many popular trends that are not parent-friendly, but would be more common if not for their rules.

But, as our parents tell us, fashion in high school is really a small part of the big picture. We put much more focus on it than we should. As we all get older, we’ll start to get a better idea of what’s really important and how we prefer to express ourselves.

As for now, we’ll all still be trying to fit in.

Lindsey Underwood is a senior at Champlain Valley Union High School.