Went shopping with Nik after school. This was the result: Letter of Disgrace to the Fashion Industry This is a letter of disgrace to the fashion industries with hopes that someone will shape up and put quality back on the racks. For fifteen dollars, an average teenager can buy one shirt that barely qualifies for a shirt and requires another shirt to be bought (which cost another $16) to wear beneath the first one; both of which are see-through or semi transparent or have holes and tears in them. The rest of today’s fashion consists of yesterday’s throw-a-ways; old curtains that could have been hanging in my grandmother’s living room have been altered to resemble something of a shirt or a ragged skirt. Not to mention the fact that you must be between a size negative and a three to fit into anything. What is the fashion world trying to prove? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that all of the designers are making bets to see what horrible things they can make up and actually have people pay for, let alone wear. What happened to quality? What happened to getting your money’s worth? What happened to real fashion sense? I baby-sit a couple of little girls who could probably make me clothes of better quality than what’s available in stores. And what they make might actually fit me. Designers need to stop looking at the pretty models in the fashion magazines and start opening their eyes to the streets. If you’re going to make small sizes, make sure you’ve got the length right so that girls aren’t wearing jeans that barely reach their ankles. And about those jeans, lets get a little more practical here. No one likes seeing girls walk around with excess skin hanging over their pants; help us out here! And stop trying to confuse young and new shoppers with these horrendous fads that are horrible blends of the sixties, seventies, and eighties. Not everyone likes looking like a Picasso painting. For the stubborn designer actually proud with their work, perhaps retail can get real and drop those prices down where they belong. I simply refuse to pay twenty bucks for a skirt that was made of scraps and sewn together in two minutes. No one minds a little creativity, but retail needs to get real. You’re insulting your customers. Carrie Caulfield