The High School Clique You'd Be in Now, According to Fall Trends
Welcome to fashion high, where you’ll find all the cliques you remember from your days in the high school cafeteria. Only this time, everyone is sitting together based on which F/W 18 runway trends they’re wearing this season. The result? Five stylish high school cliques with their own distinct brands of cool fashion for the season.
Whether you’re dedicated to chunky new-age sneakers or you’ll never stop wearing head-to-toe black, there’s a clear group of like-minded friends you’ll be sitting with. Want to see which high school clique you’d be in now? Scroll down to check out the five most stylish high school cliques from the class of fall 2018—from party girls wearing puffed-up ’80s dresses to art kids decked out in bold neon. Here, you can figure out which one you’ll be joining this fall—whether you knew it or not.
High School Clique: The Party Girls
F/W 18 Trend: Animal Print and ’80s Glam
High School Mascot: Demi Moore in St. Elmo’s Fire
Have your eye on all things ’80s? Do you think the bigger the puffy sleeve the better? You fit in with the party girls who will be wearing everything from Saint Laurent’s bold-shouldered blazer dresses to statement pieces from Magda Butrym to all things leopard.
There were nearly identical versions of this dress floating around all of the cool parties in the ’80s.
You’ll want to pair this with some over-the-top crystal earrings.
Replicate the runway look from Tom Ford’s show and wear the blazer without anything underneath.
High School Clique: The Goths
F/W 18 Trend: Modern Matrix
High School Mascot: Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club
If you’re ready to step into the future with all-black everything, you’ll be hanging out with the rest of the goths. Snap up a zipper dress straight from Alexander Wang’s runway show and get a pair of angular sci-fi sunglasses from Poppy Lissiman.
High School Clique: The Preps
F/W 18 Trend: Check Prints
High School Mascots: Stacey Dash and Alicia Silverstone in Clueless
Chances are you’ll be hanging out with Cher and Dion if you’re slipping into your check-print pieces this fall. You probably have tartan sitting in your shopping cart already, including Versace’s very Clueless-inspired looks. And yes—twinning is encouraged.
The whole Versace show instantly made me think of Clueless.
If Cher Horowitz lived in NYC, she would definitely own this.
To wear with sweaters and a blazer layered on top.
High School Clique: The Jocks
F/W 18 Trend: Chunky Sneakers and Athleisure
High School Mascot: Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You
Never met a pair of sneakers you don’t love? You and the rest of the jocks have that in common. This season, trade out your more practical running shoes for chunky styles with thick soles—like the bejeweled style spotted at Gucci.
The crystals are removable, but why would you want to do that?
High School Clique: The Art Kids
F/W 18 Trend: Bold Neons
High School Mascot: Rachael Leigh Cook in She’s All That
If you’re one of the early adopters of bright, funky neon colors, you and the rest of the art kids will be hanging out. You aren’t afraid of out-there shades like fluorescent yellow and highlighter pink, and you’ll be the first ones wearing Balenciaga’s electric plaid knife mules.
Next: Shop my best purchases from this month.
Kristen Nichols is the Associate Director, Special Projects at Who What Wear with over a decade of experience in fashion, editorial, and publishing. She oversees luxury content and wedding features, and covers fashion within the luxury market, runway reporting, shopping features, trends, and interviews with leading industry experts. She also contributes to podcast recordings, social media, and branded content initiatives. Kristen has worked with brands including Prada, Chanel, MyTheresa, and Luisa Via Roma, and rising designers such as Refine and Tove, and her style has been featured in publications including Vogue.com, Vogue France, WWD, and the CFDA. Before Who What Wear, Kristen began her career at Rodarte, where she worked on assistant styling, photo shoots, and runway shows, and at Allure, where she moved into print and digital editorial. She graduated from the University of Southern California, where she studied art history and business, and currently lives in New York.
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