Lifestyle
'First impressions are everything': What 9 teens wore on the first day of school in L.A.
As a kid, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I was going to wear on the first day of school. I loved going shopping for new supplies, clothes and shoes. Then, the night before the first day, I would lay out my look — backpack and all — and daydream about how I was going to show up the next day. (This TikTok from comedian Big Homie Blocks perfectly describes the feeling.)
For many students, the first day of school can feel like New Year’s Day. It’s a chance to reimagine yourself and give a glimpse of the new you. The way you do this is through your outfit. Perhaps you were more into the preppy look last year but now you want to explore more unisex styles — the opportunities are endless.
Monday marked the first day of classes in the Los Angeles Unified School District. As students scurried in between classes and reunited with their friends at Venice High School, we were able to ask them: What did they choose to wear and why?
While some students took more than an hour to get ready, others dressed in minutes, throwing on whatever felt most comfortable. But even if they didn’t “dress up,” per se, most students agreed that they put in at least a little extra effort — pajamas were an obvious no — for the first day of school. Here’s what they had to say. Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Melanie Chevarria, 16.
“I like girlie clothes. I like to maintain myself. I like doing my hair and stuff. It’s fun for me,” Chevarria said.
Melanie Chavarria, 16, junior
Tell us about your outfit. I got this whole outfit from Forever 21, except the shoes. I got them from Foot Locker.
What inspired your look today? I wanted to look like I was going to school, but also cute and girlie.
How long did it take you to get ready today? An hour and 30 minutes. It was mostly stuff I did the night before. I scrubbed my face. I shaved my face. I did a face mask and everything so I wouldn’t have dry skin to make sure today could be good. My mom helped me pick out my outfit, and I then I put it on my bed the night before. I was really excited.
What is your favorite part of your outfit? Probably my hair. It took 20 minutes. I wanted to incorporate the bows.
What do you think your outfit says about you? I think it says that I’m excited for school. I like girlie clothes. I like to maintain myself. I like doing my hair and stuff. It’s fun for me.
How does this outfit translate to how you want to enter your junior year? I think that I’m more put together now. I want to be more on a set track and have more things prepared instead of just going with the flow. [This summer], I got all my stuff together. I got everything I needed, like my notebooks. I think first impressions are everything. Also, going to school feeling your best can set the mood for the rest of your year and how other people see you first. I feel like everybody should try to make themselves look nice to feel better.
Taylor Gallen, 14, freshman
Tell us about your outfit. I think my top and my bottoms are both from Cotton On, and then I have on Converse. I got my earrings from Lovisa. They have good ones that don’t hurt. I have very sensitive ears. I have no idea where my necklace is from. My dad gave it to me. Technically, there’s supposed to be a turquoise piece inside, but it came out and I don’t want to put it back in because I like it better this way.
What inspired your look today? Nothing in particular. I mean, this sounds bad, but [I wanted to] blend in a little bit so I can get used to [high school] first and then I can come in a hot pink shirt. That was one of my options, but I was like, “Maybe I’ll just go a little bit less.” And I have a pink backpack, so I already have some color, and I have pink on my shoes.
What is your favorite part of your outfit? Maybe my necklace or my shoes. I’ve had my shoes for a long time. I don’t really do shoes. I told my mom, “Stereotypical girls have a lot of shoes. I have a lot of sweatshirts, and I have a lot of dresses. That’s my thing.’ This is my one pair of shoes that I always wear. These Birkenstocks and slippers.
Gallen’s white Converse sneakers, a staple piece of her wardobe.
How long did it take you to get ready today? Maybe an hour and a half. I already had my outfit picked out, but I had to do mascara and my hair. My hair took the longest. And then I had to eat, and then I had to walk my dog.
How much time and effort did you put into your look? I was focusing on what backpack I wanted because I got two yesterday and then I couldn’t decide, and then I decided this morning right as I was leaving. I like the one I went with, but I hate [making] decisions.
What does your outfit say about you? I think personality, but also feeling in that moment. If I’m with people who I already know, I’m going to be wearing a bright green top and other pants. But you know, new things, new people, new adventures. I’m like, “Maybe I’ll stay a little in the middle.” Especially because… I mean I have bright red hair, that’s something. [Laughs] I have a bright pink skirt — I’m not going to wear that until second semester.
How does this outfit translate to how you want to enter your freshman year? I do really like leadership, I think it’s a professionalism type thing, but then also by dressing in a certain way, you come off with a different energy, like I’m here to do this or I’m here because it’s an easy A.
Rosby’s bright orange jacket is from Bape. “I think it [my outfit] brings personality,” she said. “You got the patches. You got the color, so it’s different.”
Dallas Rosby, 16.
Dallas Rosby, 16, junior
Tell us about your outfit. I got this jacket from Bape. My tank top is from Walmart, the shorts are from Shein and the shoes are from Foot Locker. All of my jewelry is from Lovisa. I got it at the Del Amo mall.
What inspired your look today? This is my everyday life and how I go out.
What is your favorite part of your outfit? My jacket. I usually pick out my shoes first, then I just find something that matches it.
How much time and effort did you put into your look? I just picked it up. It took 10 minutes this morning.
How long did it take you to get ready today? Not that long either. Maybe 15 minutes.
What does your outfit say about you? I think it brings personality. You got the patches. You got the color, so it’s different.
How does this outfit translate to how you want to enter your junior year? I think it’s different because last year I came in with sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Now, it’s definitely more fashion.
Bruno Ciment, 15. “I’m just casual. I still have summer mind. Not taking it too seriously yet,” Ciment said.
Bruno Ciment, 15, sophomore
Tell us about your outfit. Well, honestly, I have a pile of unfolded laundry on my chair and this was on the top. I didn’t put a lot of thought into it.
What inspired your look today? I’m just casual. I still have summer mind. Not taking it too seriously yet.
What is your favorite part of your outfit? Probably my shirt. It’s a pretty nice shirt. It’s neutral and can work with a lot of things.
How much time and effort did you put into your look? Not much.
How long did it take you to get ready today? Probably 20 minutes.
What does your outfit say about you? I’m flexible. Just go with whatever there is. Don’t stress about it too much.
How does this outfit translate to how you want to enter your sophomore year? I think it translates that I’m trying to enjoy it and accomplish what I want to. Not overthinking.
Ava Samuel, 16.
“I got my nails done on Friday. I like to have something different on every nail,” Samuel said.
Ava Samuel, 16, junior
Tell us about your outfit. I found this shirt sometime this summer at a vintage store on Melrose called Newfriend Vintage. These jeans are from H&M, and then I just have Sambas on. The glasses are from Temu — they are not real. I got my nails done on Friday. I like to have something different on every nail.
What is your favorite part of your outfit? I really like this shirt. I tucked it into my bra so it has some shape. Then the green from my shoes with the green shirt. I also really like my hair.
How much time and effort did you put into your look? Not a lot. I mean I had the idea that I was going to wear this shirt, but I put it together last night. I braided my hair last night for fun and then I was like “This is actually kind of cute.”
How does this outfit translate to how you want to enter your junior year? Very chill, like I’m not trying to overthink anything. I’m trying to stay calm and not stress myself. I’m taking AP bio, U.S. history and literature.
Friends Seth Romo, 18, Dylan Rezvani, 17, and Shane Flores, 18.
Dylan Rezvani, 17, senior; Shane Flores, 18, senior; and Seth Romo, 18, senior
Tell us about your outfits.
Rezvani: I’m wearing a Gucci chain, a $60 [Nike] Dri-FIT, pants from Zumiez, but I cut them off because it was kind of ugly. $110 on the shoes.
Flores: I got the chain, authentic gold. I have a thrifted $10 hoodie, Chrome Hearts sweats (currently $1,000+ on resale sites), a pretty expensive piece, and then Yeezy slides.
Romo: I got the Goodfellow T-shirt on, Nike sweats and Yeezy slides.
Shane Flores’ wore Chrome Hearts sweats, paired with Yeezy slides and socks.
Dylan Rezvani’s chain necklace comes from Gucci. The bling is his favorite part of the outfit.
What is your favorite part of your outfit?
Rezvani: The jewelry.
Flores: My sweatpants, because they are exclusive.
Romo: The comfiness of it.
What does your outfit say about you?
Rezvani: I think I deem myself very approachable based on my clothing.
Flores: I like to be comfortable with a little bit of fashion in there.
Romo: I’m a pretty chill person.
Faith Lister’s jewelry is from various thrift stores — she acquired a lot of pieces from a summer vacation trip to England.
Faith Lister, 15.
Faith Lister, 15, sophomore
Tell us about your outfit. I have this sweater so that I’m in dress code. My baggy jeans are from Subdued. My jewelry is from some thrift stores, and I got a lot when I went on vacation this summer in England. My friend has a house there.
What inspired your look today? I just want something comfortable and something that kind of shows my style for the first day. Something new. Dress to impress.
What is your favorite part of your outfit? I like my jeans. I’ve been into baggy jeans recently. It’s harder to find this brand Subdued here.
How much time and effort did you put into your look? I thought about my outfit for the whole summer pretty much because I love back-to-school shopping. I woke up this morning at 5:45 so I could take my time and call my friends. We were showing each other what we were going to wear, what time we were going to get here [and] doing our makeup on FaceTime.
Another look at Lister’s layers of jewelry and orange-tipped nails.
How long did it take you to get ready today? It took me an hour and half in total for the outfit, makeup and everything.
What does your outfit say about you? It’s definitely harder to dress in school because there’s dress code, but I would say my outfit kind of shows how I dress outside of school. I like wearing summery, beachy outfits so I decided to wear something that kind of represents that.
How does this outfit translate to how you want to enter your sophomore year? It’s starting to be more transformative … like trying to find my own personal style, rather than just wearing what’s trendy. Obviously, in my freshman year, I was trying to wear what was cool, like the new thing. Now it’s like more me.
Milly Alcock in Supergirl.
Warner Bros. Pictures
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Warner Bros. Pictures
Hollywood’s newest Supergirl is kind of a dirtbag — in the good way. Fearless and grumpy, Supergirl (Milly Alcock) sets out on a quest to support a new pal’s revenge journey and to make a point that should be clear by now: Never mess with a lady’s dog. Also featuring David Corenswet and Jason Momoa, is Supergirl a worthy follow up to Superman?
If you want more DC superhero action, check out these episodes:
‘Superman’ takes off and nails the landing
‘The Batman’ puts the emo in emote
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Lifestyle
L.A. Affairs: After decades of near-misses, I finally told him: ‘I’m not leaving here without you’
It didn’t take endless quarantining with my spouse during the COVID-19 pandemic to end my marriage of over two decades. By the summer of 2019, menopause — and the extra-added “bonus” of frontal fibrosing alopecia that it awakened — was pummeling me physically and mentally to the extent that I no longer had the capacity to function inside the dysfunction of my life.
The relief that came with the decision to finally let go was completely dwarfed by the immense pain of severing a family in two. I cried as I packed. I cried as I unpacked. I was rolling endlessly in a dark wave that would not stop; my feet could not tell sand from sky. Once I managed to break the surface, I reached out.
I called Tish, Diane and Michelle, three smart, strong, nurturing women who’d been through and survived divorce. I also called my brother, Dan, and my friends Doug and Steve, three kind, creative, funny men who always “got” me.
As for Steve, we met in the spring of 1984 when he auditioned to be the drummer for the Secrets, the band Dan, Doug and I had started the year before. In our small-town high school of fewer than 400 students, he had flown completely under my radar, as he was two years younger, and he joined marching band the year after I’d ditched my baritone horn for a microphone and Pat Benatar tights. Steve aced the audition, and the four of us clicked immediately over our shared love of the Pretenders and all things Monty Python. By mid-June, the Secrets were playing local bars and biker parties in the middle of nowhere, and I was head over heels in love with the drummer.
It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with a boy from my hometown.
I had spent my whole life dying to get out of Middlebourne, W.Va., and had been champing at the bit to leave for college, but by late August, that no longer meant freedom; it meant that I’d have to leave Steve behind. I told myself we’d defy the odds and make it work. He was my soul mate. But we were just kids, and there was no internet, no cellphones with unlimited text and calling. By February 1985, the divide was too great. In a moment of loneliness, I cheated on him. It was over, and I was firmly told to take my place in the friend zone.
I spent the following year flailing and failing in college before making the bold, half-baked decision to drop out of the West Virginia University theater program and move to Los Angeles, a place I’d never been, to pursue a singing career. When Steve found out that I was moving across the country, he softened his friend-zone stance and told me he loved me. On July 13, 1986, he went with my parents to Pittsburgh International Airport to see me off.
For the next 33 years, we would come together and drift apart — sometimes as lovers but mostly as friends. During a visit to my Hollywood apartment in 1988, when he was still in college and the timing was still wrong, I told him, “Who knows. Maybe in 30 years, I’ll come back and get you.”
In November 2019, Steve came to visit me for a long weekend.
I picked him up at Los Angeles International Airport and took him straight to Zuma Beach for a picnic, where we watched dolphins jumping in the waves while the seagulls stole our potato chips. The following day, we cozied up for an afternoon of wine and cheese at Cornell Wine Co. in Old Agoura, then made our way over Topanga Canyon for dinner at Canyon Bistro & Wine Bar.
The night before he flew home, we watched the sun set from our table by the lake at Zin Bistro Americana in Westlake Village. I felt giddy, excited, seen, understood and appreciated in a way I hadn’t felt in a very long time. While it was tempting to jump right in with both feet, we decided to date long distance and take things slowly.
On March 26, 2020, while Steve was still recovering from being profoundly ill with COVID, I arrived at his doorstep at 6 a.m. and proclaimed, “I’m not leaving here without you.”
Two weeks later, after packing most of his belongings into U-Haul shipping crates, we left Parkersburg, W.Va., in Steve’s red Volkswagen Golf with two suitcases, one Treeing Walker Coonhound and one Aussie/Chow mix. I-40 West was practically empty; just us and the occasional car or Amazon truck.
We arrived in California on Easter Sunday and joined the rest of the world in quarantine, not knowing how it would affect our work and financial future. We took a lot of long walks to help deal with the stress of the not knowing, but the magic panacea for me came the day Steve’s Harley-Davidson arrived in one of the crates.
We cruised up and down PCH, and roared our way up and over Mulholland Highway, Stunt Road, Malibu Canyon and Decker Canyon, stopping along the way to stretch our legs, feel the sea spray on our faces and take in views from the valleys to the coastline. We were surrounded by so much beauty; it was almost impossible to let trepidation win.
On one particularly memorable ride on Mulholland Highway between Kanan Road and SR 23 near Saddle Rock, we came around a bend and — bam! — right in front of me was the greenest mountain range I’d ever seen in California, gleaming spectacularly in the sunlight. As I inhaled its gorgeousness and exhaled my stress, I thought, “I can’t believe I get to see this. I can’t believe I get to do this. I can’t believe I get to be with Steve.”
In September 2024, I got to marry Steve.
As my brother, Dan, said at the reception, “What a long, strange trip it’s been.”
The author lives in the suburbs of Los Angeles with her husband, Steve, and their dogs, Coco Puff and Kira.
L.A. Affairs chronicles the search for romantic love in all its glorious expressions in the L.A. area, and we want to hear your true story. We pay $400 for a published essay. Email LAAffairs@latimes.com. You can find submission guidelines here. You can find past columns here.
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