Pop star style appears at mall

By Jamie Teibel

While Britney Spears' midriff got more coverage as it grew less covered, the hangers and shelves at Tippecanoe Mall's Wet Seal filled with slashed and cropped glittery T-shirts.

"It’s like watching a good commercial — once you see a good one, you’ll see it again and again," said Larry Smith, a professor of music who studies popular music.

However, Angela Pasyk, a sophomore in the School of Liberal Arts, said she isn't influenced by what the artists are wearing. "I think most artists would look very foolish walking around campus wearing what they do on TV," she said.

Jessica Glant, a junior in the School of Liberal Arts, agrees, "I listen to them because of the way their music sounds — not the way they dress."

But even though many deny it, a trip to Tippecanoe Mall and a few of its trendy stores proves that Pink, Justin, Lance and J. Lo are leaving their mark on the arms, ears, legs and feet of area young people.

"Most of the junior high and high school girls are striving to look like the pop music stars they envy and idolize," said Stacey Weimer, an employee at Wet Seal. With some of Wet Seal's merchandise, including big hoop earrings and gem body tattoos, looking like these teen idols is just a credit card swipe away.

The artists' influences affect mostly pre-teens, according to several area retailers, but college students also fall for the graffiti-print pants, the rhinestone sunglasses and the platform shoes. Many of the stores' customers are between the ages of 16 and 26.

Dennis Stansbury, a junior in the School of Consumer and Family Sciences and an employee at Hot Topic, said music artists and what they wear in their videos influence everyone.

"You see some outfit or style on TV and you say 'I like that.' Then you go out and buy it," he said.

Michelle Clark, an employee at Aeropostale, said she thinks some girls who imitate celebrities copy looks from music videos that show too much skin.

"Young girls wearing these outfits are trying to look like the stars but are actually portraying an image that might not be who they are or what they stand for at all," she said.

Stansbury also thinks imitating pop music stars destroys teen-agers' self images because they fall short of the ideal.

"They see Britney Spears and Ricky Martin and that's what they see as normal," he said. "They then try to fit into these cookie-cutter images and when they can't, they think something is wrong with them."

But some employees of several trendy clothing stores at the mall don't take the fashion trends so seriously. Many retailers said people imitate famous looks because they want to look good. People want to add to their own style, Stansbury said, so they use the styles of famous people to do it.

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