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.
You want to see some real fashion ingenuity? Watch the N.F.L. draft.
I’m not saying it’s all good, but where else are you going to see someone in a double-breasted suit made by a company better known for making yoga pants? Or an Abercrombie & Fitch suit jacket so short that it exposes the belt loops on the pants beneath?
On the whole, the style on display at the N.F.L. draft last night was very overeager senior formal: a lot of suits in colors beyond basic blue. The quarterback Ty Simpson wore a custom suit by the athleisure label Alo, which, I have to say, looked better than I would have envisioned had you said the words “Alo Yoga suit” to me.
I thought it might have been from Suitsupply, but the conspicuous “Alo” pin on his right lapel put that idea to rest. Simpson, smartly, unfastened that beacon before appearing onstage as the 13th pick to the Los Angeles Rams. He had, perhaps, satisfied his contractual obligations by that point.
Earlier in the evening, as the wide receiver Carnell Tate threw up his arms in exaltation after being picked fourth by the Tennessee Titans, his cropped Abercrombie & Fitch jacket revealed a swatch of rib cage. He looked like a mâitre d’ who had just hit the Mega Millions.
During the N.B.A.’s extended fashion awakening, its draft has become a sandbox for luxury brands to cozy up to would-be endorsers. The Frenchman Victor Wembanyama broke a kind of cashmere ceiling when he wore Louis Vuitton to go first overall in the 2023 N.B.A. draft.
The N.F.L. draft has none of that. The brands you see are often not brands at all, but custom tailors that reach the league’s neophytes through a whisper network among players. The draft is also a platform to raise the curtain on longer-term brand deals that better suit these rookies. We may, for instance, never see Simpson in a suit again. Nearly every photo from his time at Alabama shows him in a T-shirt or hoodie. It makes sense for him to sign with Alo.
Football is the most mainstream of American cultural entities. And it’s one that still hasn’t, in spite of the league’s best efforts, taken off overseas. Few players, save some quarterbacks and a tight end who happens to be engaged to a pop star, feel bigger than the game itself. If you’re a new-to-the-league linebacker, you’ll most likely never harness the star power to grab the attention of Armani, but you might have just the right pull for Abercrombie.
The N.F.L. draft is therefore one of the few red carpets where the brands worn by the athletes may also be worn by those watching at home. How many people watching the Oscars will ever own clothes from Louis Vuitton or Chanel? People may comment online about Lady Gaga wearing Matières Fécales to the Grammys, but how many of those fans and viewers could afford to buy clothes from it?
The Japanese designers changing fashion
Yesterday, I published a deep dive into how a newish crop of Japanese designers are soaking up all the attention in men’s fashion right now. This was a piece I was writing in my head long before I sat down and finally started typing. I remember sitting at a fashion show in Paris over a year ago — I believe it was Dior — and being asked by my seatmate if I’d made it over to a showroom in the Marais to check out A.Presse. That Tokyo-based brand is now part of a vanguard of Japanese labels that, on many days, seems to be all anyone in fashion wants to talk about. I spent months talking with designers, store owners and big-time shoppers to make sense of why these brands have kicked up so much buzz and, more than that, what makes their clothes so great. You can read the story here.
Other things worth knowing about:
Thirty years ago, comedian and actor Tig Notaro didn’t have a clear direction in life, so she followed some childhood friends who wanted to get into entertainment to Los Angeles. Secretly wanting to do stand-up, Notaro decided to try her luck at various outlets in town, which became the start of her successful career.
“I stayed on my friends’ couch near the Hollywood Improv on Melrose, and a couple months later, got my own studio apartment in the Miracle Mile area,” Notaro says. “I love all the options for everything in L.A. — the entertainment, the restaurants. I like to stay active. So many people love the hiking options in Los Angeles, and I’m one of them.”
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Notaro appears in Season 3 of Apple TV’s “The Morning Show” and is a series regular on Paramount+’s “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” as she was on “Star Trek: Discovery.” She’s also a touring stand-up comic and hosts “Handsome,” a comedy podcast, with Fortune Feimster and Mae Martin. The trio will be taping a live show May 4 at the Wiltern with the cast of Netflix’s “The Hunting Wives.” The live shows include interviews, but also “incorporate some ridiculous things,” she says. For example, upon hearing that some of the hosts always wanted to learn to tap dance, Notaro “hired a tap instructor to come to our live show in Austin and teach us how to tap dance in front of the audience.”
Notaro lives near Hollywood with her wife, actor Stephanie Allynne, their 9-year-old fraternal twin boys, Max and Finn, and three cats, Fluff, Linus and Skip. When she’s not touring, her ideal Sundays include sampling vegan restaurants, wandering through bookstores or museums, and doing something physically active with the family.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
6 a.m.: Up with the kids
Because we have active children, we still wake up at 6 a.m. or 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, but there’s not as much of a rush to get going. Stephanie and I will often have coffee and chat in the living room together. I love that part of the day. Stephanie may cook breakfast, but Max and Finn are pretty self-sufficient and can make certain little meals for themselves. Max is really starting to take an interest in cooking, so he’d make breakfast for himself. Our family is vegan, but he eats eggs, so he makes himself an egg sandwich with avocado a lot of times.
9 a.m.: Daily morning walk
After breakfast, we usually have a morning walk around our neighborhood. That’s a daily thing I like to do, regardless of what’s going on. Now that I’m not touring as much, tennis is back on the schedule. So I’d go to Plummer Park in West Hollywood and play for a while, then join the family for lunch.
11:30 a.m.: Hike with a side of chickpea sandwich
I love Trails, a cafe in Griffith Park, where you can eat outdoors. It serves simple food, and has good vegan options. I usually get their chickpea salad sandwich. The food there is great. Afterward, we’d visit Griffith Observatory, where there’s lots to see. There are lots of great trails in the park, so we’d go for an hour hike before leaving.
3 p.m.: Browse the shelves for rock biographies
Bookstores are fun, so we’d head downtown for the Last Bookstore, which is in a historic building with lots of vintage books. I really love all things plant-based, and I’m a very big music fanatic. So I love to look for vegan books, nutrition books, rock biographies and autobiographies. It’s just fun to browse around the stacks.
If we didn’t go to the bookstore, we’d probably go to LACMA. Our sons are huge fans of art and want to go for each new exhibit. They love Hockney, Basquiat and Picasso, to name a few.
4 p.m.: Cuddle with cuties at a cat cafe
We’d then make a quick stop at [Crumbs & Whiskers], a kitten and cat cafe on Melrose for coffee, snacks and to pet the cats. It’s best to make reservations in advance. There’s cats all around the place that need to be adopted. You can visit and pet them, or find a new roommate. I’d love to take some home, but we already have three.
5:30 p.m. Italian or sushi, but make it vegan
We’re an early dinner family. One restaurant we like is Pura Vita in West Hollywood. It’s the greatest vegan Italian food, and for non-vegans, nobody ever knows the difference. It’s the first 100% plant-based Italian restaurant in the United States. They make an incredible kale salad and I love the San Gennaro pizza. It’s got cashew mozzarella, tomato sauce, Italian sausage crumble and more.
Then there’s Planta in Marina del Rey. It’s right on the harbor and you can sit outside and look at the boats coming in and out. They have sushi, salads and other plant-based entrees. They’ve got a really great spicy tuna roll that’s made out of watermelon. They are magicians.
Or there’s Crossroads Kitchen in West Hollywood. They play the best classic rock, and the atmosphere is upscale, fine dining. The appetizers that we always get are called Moroccan Cigars, which are vegan meat substitutes fried in a rolled batter. I really like the grilled lion’s mane steak, their mushroom steak with truffle potatoes, or the scallopini Milanese, that has a chicken or tofu option. I get the chicken with arugula on top. I always love to have a decaf espresso with dessert, which is either a brownie sundae or banana pudding.
7:30 p.m.: Comfort watch or word games
After dinner, the kids often like to watch an episode of “Friends,” a show that all ages enjoy, sports or “The Simpsons.” Or we’d play a game where each of us will add a word to a sentence and create a weird or funny long sentence until one of our sons says period. Then they’ll try and remember the whole sentence and repeat it back.
9:30 p.m.: Bubble bath then bed
The boys usually go to bed at 8:30 p.m. and bedtime for us is 9:30 p.m. Stephanie and I would read or chat. I like to take a bubble bath, if people must know. The best Sundays for me mean finding a good balance of relaxing and being active. I feel very lucky that my family and I can do those things together.
When Marian Sherry Lurio and Jonathan Buffington Nguyen met at a mutual friend’s wedding at Higgins Lake, Mich., in July 2022, both felt an immediate chemistry. As the evening progressed, they sat on the shore of the lake in Adirondack chairs under the stars, where they had their first kiss before joining others for a midnight plunge.
The two learned that the following weekend Ms. Lurio planned to attend a wedding in Philadelphia, where Mr. Nguyen lives, and before they had even exchanged numbers, they already had a first date on the books.
“I have a vivid memory of after we first met,” Mr. Nguyen said, “just feeling like I really better not screw this up.”
Before long, they were commuting between Philadelphia and New York City, where Ms. Lurio lives, spending weekends and the odd remote work days in one another’s apartments in Philadelphia and Manhattan. Within the first six months of dating, Mr. Nguyen joined Ms. Lurio’s family for Thanksgiving in Villanova, Pa., and, the following month, she met his family in Beavercreek, Ohio, at a surprise birthday party for Mr. Nguyen’s mother.
Ms. Lurio, 32, who grew up in Merion Station outside Philadelphia, works in investor relations administration at Flexpoint Ford, a private equity firm. She graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in history and psychology.
Mr. Nguyen, also 32, was born in Knoxville, Tenn., and raised in Beavercreek, Ohio, from the age of 7. He graduated from Haverford College with a bachelor’s degree in political science and is now a director at Doyle Real Estate Advisors in Philadelphia.
Their long-distance relationship continued for the next few years. There were dates in Manhattan, vacations and beach trips to the Jersey Shore. They attended sporting events and discovered their shared appreciation of the 2003 film, “Love Actually.”
One evening, Mr. Nguyen recalled looking around Ms. Lurio’s small New York studio — strewed with clothes and the takeout meal they had ordered — and feeling “so comfortable and safe.” “I knew that this was something different than just sort of a fling,” he said.
It was an open question when they would move in together. In 2024, Ms. Lurio began the process of moving into Mr. Nguyen’s home in Philadelphia — even bringing her cat, Scott — but her plans changed midway when an opportunity arose to expand her role with her current employer.
Mr. Nguyen was on board with her decision. “It almost feels like stolen valor to call it ‘long distance,’ because it’s so easy from Philadelphia to New York,” Mr. Nguyen said. “The joke is, it’s easier to get to Philly from New York than to get to some parts of Brooklyn from Manhattan, right?”
In January 2025, Mr. Nguyen visited Ms. Lurio in New York with more up his sleeve than spending the weekend. Together they had discussed marriage and bespoke rings, but when Mr. Nguyen left Ms. Lurio and an unfinished cheese plate at the bar of the Chelsea Hotel that Friday evening, she had no idea what was coming next.
“I remember texting Jonathan,” Ms. Lurio said, bewildered: “‘You didn’t go toward the bathroom!’” When a Lobby Bar server came and asked her to come outside, Ms. Lurio still didn’t realize what was happening until she was standing in the hallway, where Mr. Nguyen stood recreating a key moment from the film “Love Actually,” in which one character silently professes his love for another in writing by flashing a series of cue cards. There, in the storied Chelsea Hotel hallway still festooned with Christmas decorations, Mr. Nguyen shared his last card that said, “Will you marry me?”
They wed on April 11 in front of 200 guests at the Pump House, a covered space on the banks of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River. Mr. Nguyen’s sister, the Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen, who is ordained through the Unitarian Universalist Association, officiated.
Although formal attire was suggested, Ms. Lurio said that the ceremony was “pretty casual.” She and Jonathan got ready together, and their families served as their wedding parties.
“I said I wanted a five-minute wedding,” Ms. Lurio recalled, though the ceremony ended up lasting a little longer than that. During the ceremony, Ms. Nguyen read a homily and jokingly added that guests should not ask the bride and groom about their living arrangements, which will remain separate for the foreseeable future.
While watching Ms. Lurio walk down the aisle, flanked by her parents, Mr. Nguyen said he remembered feeling at once grounded in the moment and also a sense of dazed joy: “Like, is this real? I felt very lucky in that moment — and also just excited for the party to start!”
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