This Ones For The Girls

Abercrombie and Fitch. When I was in high school they were all the rage. A&F jeans were way cooler than Levi. A&F shirts were like a uniform. My first A&F shirt was actually a gift from a friend. We didn't buy our clothes at the Mall. It was because of this that I came to view buying clothes at the Mall as some sort of luxury. We were always at department stores and discount chains.

As a teenager, A&F was tre cool. As a young adult, A&F is trashy. Or let me rephrase, as a young adult female, A&F is trashy.

The sizes are made for midget people. Or at least, tinier versions of normal sized people. I go up two sizes in that store, which tells you something about who they are trying to market to. The story here says that they are marketing to young adults. Nah-uh. Not with sizes like that!

But the story is that a group of teenage girls are staging a "girlcott" against the store and its racy t-shirts. A list of the shirts and their taglines are provided below.

Let's just give you a list shall we?

Blondes are Adored, Brunettes are Ignored -- not nice and really untrue
Do I Make You Look Fat -- extremly not nice and inapropriate when the shirts probably only available in size negative -3
I'm Not With Stupid Anymore -- not nice
The Tough Go Blond -- this is tired
You Were Never My Boyfriend -- again, not nice
Explain to Me Again Why I need A Boyfriend? -- i'm okay about this one too, except that like all the others it sounds angry and unhappy
College Girls Have All The Fun -- I'm indifferent about this one, if worn by a college girl I think its okay
Careful, I had a Bowl Of Bitchy For Breakfast -- shirts that swear are trashy
No Money No Car No Chance -- mean spirited
What's A Nice Girl Like Me Doing In A Place Like this -- Honey, if you're wearing this shirt you're probably not so nice

The list goes on. They are divided into catagories, one labeled College. And I have to say this is where I get upset. On one shirt its says "Freshmen 15" and then underneath the names of 15 men.

TRASHY. Ladies if you wear this shirt or really any of them, you're making yourself a target for trashy yucky people. Do you see a lot of successful people walking around in normal life wearing shirts that say things on them? If you can't adequately present yourself in a fashion that shows your personality or emotion, I think you need to address that problem rather than walk around wearing shirts that talk for you.

This is just another example of young women torturing themselves through comparison to pop culture. If my daughter ever even looked at one of these shirts and considered buying one I'd have to cringe. If she was still living in my house she would not own it nevermind be seen in public in it. Where are all the shirts that say "Happy!" or "Smile Someone Loves You" or "I believe in myself and my own true beauty and don't need anyone to tell me what that looks like?"

These shirts are just a minor incident in my problems with A&F. They are elitests, for one, and sexists, for two. I don't even want to go into what the Men's shirts say. But they are equally as tasteless. And you know what? When I see a guy in a shirt like that I think, "I bet he's single." And I'd wager a guess that 80% of the time I right.

And you know what else? I'd bet the same thing if I saw a girl walking around in one of these T-shirts. Happy people don't buy shirts that speak for them ... happy people let their attitude and pleasantness shine through no matter what they are wearing.