7 Fashion Hacks From Our School Days That All Desis Grew Up With
Niharika has a passion for all things art, music, and travel and has over 4 years of experience in writing for social media. During her spare time, she likes experimenting in the kitchen, playing vide... read full bio
Image: Shutterstock
High school was a difficult time in most of our lives. It’s when our hormones started raging and we were tired of being confined to the typical, droopy and horrendous uniforms we had to wear. Of course, we now understand why everyone was made to wear uniforms so that nobody felt left out if they couldn’t afford something. But sometimes, the teachers would take policing our uniforms too far. Have you ever had a teacher grab onto your ponytail and threaten to cut your hair short because you didn’t plait it? Or if you decided to wear a colored scrunchy instead of the boring navy blue or dark-colored hair bands and the teacher asked you if you were walking in a fashion show? Everyone wanted to be a cool kid back in the day but there were very few of us who could get away with it. Well, if you can relate to any of these above things then we guarantee that you will relate to the other seven fashion hacks from high school that all of us have tried at some point in our lives. So read on to find out more:
1. Folding Up Our Skirts At The Waist Band To Make It Shorter
Ladies, you’d be lying if you said you hadn’t tried this hack at least once in your school life. Most schools in India enforce strict below-the-kneecaps skirt guidelines and wear slacks underneath the skirts as well. Despite schools being super strict about this with girls, many of us would disappear into the washroom during lunch break and fold our skirts at the waistband to feel a little more confident. However, we’d have to fix up our skirts before we entered the classroom of a strict teacher.
Anyway, it was more about building up a personality rather than showing off the legs. Because midi skirts are so loungewear. If we had to go through the stress of doing well in exams and completing assignments in time, we might as well do it while looking good!
2. Pulling Our Shirt And Sleeves Collars Up To Look Gangsta
If shirts were a part of your high school uniform then you can relate to this point. There was nothing more gangsta than hiking up your shirt collar and pulling up our sleeves. How else would someone get to know how cool we are, right? This look was probably the worst boy look in high school and most guys probably did this to stand out from others. How else would girls understand that they were different from other guys. Of course, if you were a tomboy growing up this was probably a look you preferred going for too.
3. Tying The School Sweater Around Our Waist
One of the most ultimate and cool moves back in the day was tying up your blazer and cardigan around your waist and acting like you were Karlie Kloss. While we do agree that this was a convenient way to make sure that you didn’t lose your blazer, it probably stretched them to their max elasticity. You probably felt like an absolute queen strolling down the hallway in this modified uniform, until your teacher walked past and you’d have to run across the corridor with your gang. It has more of a practical purpose to serve but the look was off the charts as it outlined your silhouette by cinching your shirt by the waist.
4. Leaving Your Ties Loose
For all those of you who had to wear annoying ties as part of your school uniform, we send you our condolences. It was the biggest pain to sit and tie your knot up. But if you were one of the cool kids, you probably flipped off all the rules and left your tie loose and as is. If the strict teacher was absent that day, you’d probably skip wearing the tie altogether.
5. Rolling Down Your Socks To Ankle Length
Back in the mid-2000s, wearing ankle-length socks was the in thing and we probably spent a lot of time converting our regular socks into ankle-length socks. Honestly, we don’t get why this was a trend because it always left our legs freezing. However, ankle-length showcases a look of its own complete with low-top sneakers or trendy mules.
6. Adding Extra Accessories To Make Up For A Strict Uniform
Every kid has waited with bated breath for Children’s Day or Fancy Dress days to arrive so that they could go all out with their accessories. You’d probably spend all morning or maybe even all night deciding whether you wanted to wear the bright hoop earrings or the colorful new sneakers your mom gifted you when you were younger. Back in those days, these were considered important life decisions. If only we could go back!
7. Wearing Bright Colored Nails
One of the easiest ways for young high school girls to rebel against the strict school uniform rules was seeing if we could sneak colored fingernails. This plan would work incredibly well while standing in the assembly line or while chilling with friends, but if the principal decided to make the rounds of your classroom and check everyone’s fingernails, you’d be in trouble.
Here’s a nostalgic hack if you still remember it. Girls whose schools were very strict resorted to clear nail paint to feed their own wishes. Sometimes, bright-colored nails were just not the resort and this worked instead. Some of us used to simply apply in one fingernail, which was mostly the thumb.
High school feels like it happened decades ago (for most of us millennials, it did). Many of the problems we faced when we were teens in high school, felt like they were the biggest problems in the world until we grew up. However, it is good to revisit or bring back a few of those style hacks for a nostalgic desi throwback. How many of these points could you relate to? Let us know in the comments section below!
