From ‘Sunday Best’ to ’90s Neon: The Evolution of Back-to-School Fashion

It is back-to-school shopping season, and American families will spend $82.8 billion this year, most of it on clothing, the National Retail Federation estimates. It is second only to Christmas for many retailers.

Families with children planned to spend an average of $237 on clothing per child, according to data from the federation. And most of that shopping is still done in department stores, said Ana Serafin Smith, a spokeswoman for the group.

So what is popular this year? Everyone agrees: It is ‘80s and ‘90s nostalgia. Think neon, fanny packs and “dad sneakers.” Street-style activewear is also in demand, as is apparel with messages about inclusivity and peace.

It is a far cry from the plaid jumpers, skirtsuits and berets that appeared in a 1952 article in The New York Times advertising dress patterns for sale. Virginia Pope, then the paper’s fashion editor, described how to use the patterns, which were available for 25 to 35 cents and a self-addressed stamped envelope.

“Little sisters of the back-to-college girls receive a share of the limelight at this time of year with their own pretty little back-to-school fashions,” she wrote.

“The young lady will be dressed in her Sunday best if the long-sleeved suit is fashioned of a fine worsted or woolen fabric. If she likes to imitate big sister, let her have the suit in camel’s hair colored flannel. Or for dancing school, the jacket in velvet and the skirt in faille.”

Pope was the fashion editor from 1933 to 1955, and Bill Cunningham, the legendary Times fashion photographer, once wrote that “for many in the American fashion world in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s, Miss Pope was also a hero.”

In 1936, Pope wrote enthusiastically about the options for American girls to wear as they returned to school, praising them as “the effects of a new youth movement.” She noted that many were designed by young American women, and their garments were “fresh and full of vigor.” She described the cuts in detail, and applauded the presence of pockets. (Designers, please take note.)

“It is true that the American girl has a style of her own,” she wrote. “It is the outgrowth of her active and athletic life. The daytime and sports clothes designed for autumn seem more truly to express her than ever before.”

In the following decades, the fashion industry took off and became a multibillion-dollar industry. An article on Sept. 5, 1965, chronicled the elaborate events that retailers were putting on to attract shoppers during the back-to-school rush. The Manhattan department store Stern Brothers put on fashion shows for grade-school children and undergraduates, the latter featuring appearances by Johnny Mathis and the Supremes.

The article noted that a strong economy was responsible for the boom, but added that “new youthful styling,” also known as the “Youthquake,” or the “Mod” or “British Look,” for boys and girls was a factor, as well as the “discotheque or ‘go-go’ look.”

It also detailed an old-fashioned influencer operation. Abraham & Straus, then Brooklyn’s biggest department store, started the program in the early 1940s. It appointed a full-time youth coordinator and two boards made up of teenagers, who kept company executives in the know about “the desires and needs of the teenage world.” They also kept their schoolmates informed about the store’s offerings, through word-of-mouth, newsletters and school newspapers.

By the early 2000s, the businesses sponsoring similar back-to-school fashion shows included AOL, which held one at a skate park in Brooklyn, a 2004 article noted, in an attempt to “establish style cred with its youthful market.”

These days, of course, designers can take their wares straight to consumers on Instagram and other social media platforms — sometimes via powerful influencers like Kylie Jenner, who of late has strongly embraced the revival of ‘90s neon.

Young people are also taking fashion cues from pop culture, like the Netflix movie “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” (A decade ago, The Times said the same about “Gossip Girl,” and the influence of celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Mischa Barton.)

Previous back-to-school fashion trends — like a turn away from revealing and tight clothing, which The Times reported on in 2011 — also appear to be going strong. Teen Vogue is featuring long, flowery “prairie dresses” paired with chunky sneakers, which it called “the coolest BTS style combo.”

“One of the things that’s really exciting about all these trends is we’ve seen them on the runway and in street style,” said Jessica C. Andrews, the fashion features editor for Teen Vogue. “Now they’re trickling into more affordable, accessible brands.”

That is true both for adult and children’s fashion. In recent decades, children’s wear designs have increasingly overlapped with the general apparel market, as mentioned in a 1999 article. Many popular labels offer children’s wear lines, and options for “mommy and me” or “daddy and me” outfits abound.

“More and more parents are looking for their kids to dress similar to their style,” said Tiziana Indelicato, a branding executive and co-founder of petitePARADE, a biannual runway show for children’s wear.

Of course, for younger children, and those who are less concerned with fashion, comfort remains king. In 2015, The Times reported that some boys were refusing to wear stiff jeans, preferring sweatpants. Lines like J. Crew’s Crewcuts, Lands’ End and H&M were adding slim-cut track pants and stretchy denim to accommodate them.

And some schools have dress codes and uniforms, so the fashion-forward must direct their efforts toward trying to accessorize, say with bright tights and jewelry.

Edwards added that her readers are all about “democratizing fashion” and celebrating different body shapes, races, ethnicities and abilities.

“They support the brands that celebrate them,” she said. “And it definitely gives me hope for the future to see that.”