First fall weather makes me dream of Seventeen Magazine’s 1983 Back to School Issue
Posted on 09/27/2009 08:52 pm by kagranju
Tonight feels like fall, and when I was a teenager – between the ages of about 13 and 17 – that first hint of fall weather meant only one thing: the arrival of the much-anticipated Seventeen Magazine Back to School Issue. The magazine, which would land in our rural Tennessee mailbox each September, was a wondrous thing that represented all the yet-to-be-revealed, but undoubtedly exciting possibilities for my life ahead.
This particular issue of that magazine during the 1980s was as ponderously and gloriously heavy as a giant, glossy phonebook. Its heft came from the enormous ad revenue that packed its pages, an abundance of riches that the downsized print media industry can only dream of today. But those were the glory days of magazine advertising, with Guess, Fiorucci, Esprit & Bennetton all vying for my adolescent attention.
My sister and I would linger longingly over every square inch of every page of the magazine as soon as it arrived, savoring each fashion-forward image. We generally spent the most time with the full-page Ralph Lauren ads, with their P.G.-Wodehouse-meets-Bret-Easton-Ellis tableaux of bored-looking 20-somethings (so 80s fabulous). Some of these Lauren ads ended up adorning my bedroom walls.
The Laura Ashley ad pages somehow smelled exactly like the actual Laura Ashley Shoppe -surely it had an extra “e” on the end? – in Nashville. I’d love to figure out what marketing magic Laura Ashley’s American advertising agency employed in the 80s. It was some kind of masterfully persuasive sleight of hand (subliminal, maybe?) that somehow managed to convince an entire generation of 15 year old girls that they really did want to dress exactly like explosively floral tea cozies or alternatively, just like Victorian toddlers removed temporarily from the nursery to enjoy a gentle stroll around the garden with Nanny.
I loved, loved, loved my bright red cotton, Laura Ashley dropwaist middie sailor dress, which I honest-to-God wore in public with a straw boater hat, complete with grosgrain ribbon flapping behind. All I needed to complete the look would have been an absurdly oversized lollipop (and had the Laura Ashley advertisement in the pages of Seventeen Magazine suggested that such a thing would be the perfect complement to my boldly ambitious attempt at Sloane Ranger chic, I would have happily carried giant candy on a stick wherever I went.)
Today, fall means something else to me: cold weather coming soon (hate it), Christmas shopping to plan (and afford), less daylight to get things done… But I do sometimes enjoy remembering back to a time when that first cool day was all it took to open me up to the gorgeously photographed possibility that corduroy knickers – perhaps paired with argyle socks and suede oxford saddle shoes from Bass – could make all my dreams come true.
09/28/2009 at 6:21 am
“Go Bass or go barefoot!” This really takes me back. I also savored (and saved) every copy of Seventeen, along with Young Miss. I wanted the knickers but they must have been a little too fashion forward for Knoxville; I only knew one girl who had a pair.
09/28/2009 at 8:16 am
Apropos of little, one of my best friends in h.s. was named Laura Ashley. She was born before the store was and was bitter about having her name co-opted in the mall.
09/28/2009 at 8:20 am
I had a pair of knickers when I started college in 1971 – I didn’t even realize they had come back around in the ’80s. And I think I have that jacket in my closet.
09/28/2009 at 8:56 am
Oh how I remember that EXACT issue of 17 magazine because it was the first one my mother ever let me buy!
09/28/2009 at 9:04 am
I can remember when Phoebe Cates was their favorite covergirl. One summer, my sister and I were thrilled to pal around with a friend of hers who summered in our home town. They went to private school together. It was oh so fabulous.
09/28/2009 at 1:00 pm
What a wonderful innocent memory! And then things get more complicated.
09/28/2009 at 6:57 pm
I loved this piece! I think we are about ten years apart in age, but I could STILL TOTALLY RELATE to the Laura Ashley thing, except for me it was Jessica McClintock. Nice stroll down memory lane. And your life list was great too. I especially appreciated the one about bass players vs. trombonists. My husband and I played trumpet together in high school band…then married eight years later.
09/28/2009 at 9:06 pm
Thank you for this. Brings back so many memories – I completely remember this cover and others come to mind. All that’s missing now is a Debbie Gibson (oops Deborah Gibson) song for it to be 1988 again.
09/29/2009 at 7:48 am
Nice post. I was never into fashion in my teen years. (That didn’t kick in until I turned 40!) I prefered Tenn to Seventeen.
09/29/2009 at 8:48 am
Seventeen magazine was THE THING back then, that’s for sure.
Remember Jayne Modean? I also remember Whitney Houston modeling frequently. My favorite shoes were my pink Candies sneakers, Bass Weejuns, and blue suede Minnetonka moccasins. Oh, and the Famolare ‘Get There’s.
We also loved Lip Smackers (everybody rocked the strawberry) and Bonne Bell Ten-O-Six lotion. That stuff left sticky brown residue, but we “cleaned” our faces with it, daily, for some reason, lol.
10/04/2009 at 11:25 am
I just wrote an ode to my early ’80s obsession with designer jeans, over on Can I Sit With You?. You might find it amusing: http://www.canisitwithyou.org/?p=496
Oh, Seventeen! How I craved that magazine, though I’d have to go over to a friend’s house to paw at it.
10/04/2009 at 7:40 pm
Never got 17 Mag, but O how I loved Laura Ashley, Ralph Lauren, Jessica McClintock (my wedding dress was from there), all things prep school and Victoria Magazine. Those oxford saddle shoes brought back memories.
10/06/2009 at 1:44 pm
I always get nostalgic at ‘back to school’ times and get an urge to go stationary shopping as the end of August appears…