It’s back to school season and I can’t help but feel a little nostalgic. As a child the end of summer meant no more vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles from the ice cream truck, parking my bike in the hallway, shutting my roller blades away in the closet, and saying farewell to playing hide and seek all day long. It also meant going shopping for school clothes, not for myself, but for my cousin Renee.
Renee lived in Boston. During summer vacation she would visit me in New York and we’d hit the mall (EVERYDAY) to shop for her fall wardrobe. I went to private and Catholic schools my entire life so the only things I needed to shop for were a pair of shoes, a book bag, and notebooks and folders (Lisa Frank of course). My school wardrobe was your standard ugly plaid skirt, button down shirt, and a cardigan. I’d live vicariously through Renee as she tried on her items and bought her new outfits. We paid special attention to the first day of school outfit- that one was the most important.
In high school it was the same deal. I went into the school recreation hall, someone took my measurements and wrote down my order: one navy kilt and one gray kilt; slacks in navy, gray, and khaki; short and long sleeved Oxford shirts in blue and white; two vests- one blue, one gray. I was told my skirt could be no shorter than one inch above my knee and that I should purchase at least one very hideous pullover v-neck sweater. I ordered a blue one and a gray one. On the first day of school I wore a pair of opaque gray tights with diamond shaped cutouts in a feeble attempt to bring a little of my personal style to the gray kilt, white shirt and gray vest combo.
Fab first day of School outfit (Mudd for Kohl’s)
The summer before I went to college was the first time I was really able to shop for school clothes and I went CRAZY. Literally. I went to Boston for a few days and Renee and I both went shopping for school clothes. I bought 20 pairs of jeans that summer. Yes, 20 brand new pairs of jeans (financed with the money I got for graduation. In hindsight, that money was probably meant to buy food and textbooks. Oh well, I looked fly). I must’ve missed the memo about having little to no storage space in a dorm room. The lack of space was worth it though. I took great pleasure in picking out an outfit for school each night (it saved me time in the morning). I loved popping the tags off of my new clothes as I dressed for class each day.
I bet you’re wondering what the point of this all is. Well, here it is. Kohls is teaming up with O So Chic to help one lucky reader with their back to school shopping. Woot!!! The winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to Kohl’s. You can find the perfect outfit for the first day of school courtesy of Candies, Abbey Dawn, and Mudd, all being sold exclusively at Kohl’s. All you have to do is fill out the form below and we’ll choose a winner at random.
Consult our Fall Fashion Guide to find out the best trends for your fall wardrobe. If you can’t/don’t need to buy new clothes, don’t worry, you can use the gift card to pick out a fabulous new book bag with our Fashion Meets Function | Book bags guide.
