Joe Fresh top via Savers (similar here), Zara dress (old, similar here), Target belt, Amazon socks, J. Crew shoes via Poshmark (similar here)
There were many parts of schooling I hated throughout my nine years at Kamehameha—several cruel teachers (remember when my middle school band director called my parents to tell them I was in a gang and when my junior year AP English teacher tried to fail me on a huge winter break project because I was bedridden on a band trip and couldn’t get down to the lobby computer to submit an essay on New Year’s Eve?); traumatic PE experiences including showering in one communal shower with mean girls in fifth grade, getting a D as my final grade because I couldn’t run/swim during the biathlon quickly enough, having to run my senior 10K even though I had vertigo, teachers calling out our weight and body fat percentage in front of the whole class, etc.; and having to wear a uniform that absolutely did not fit my body. I appreciated how having a uniform made dressing for the day quicker and easier, but the mid-rise uniform shorts sliced me at the widest part of my torso so I was left with an obvious camel toe and muffin top. No matter what size shorts I tried on, nothing fit me correctly. And we know kids can be quite mean about others’ bodies, don’t we? Thankfully now that I’m technically an adult, I can take inspiration from my high school uniform and style an outfit that fits me and looks cute! Skirts, button down shirts, and long white socks are some of the main elements of most school uniforms, so I included almost all of them in my schoolgirl look. I don’t shop at Zara anymore (I’m a primarily secondhand shopper now!), but I have two of their mockneck knit dresses that are primary staples in my closet. This blue one is a great Kamehameha color and I love how it looks like a skirt when I throw on an oversized white button down like this Joe Fresh blouse I found at Savers for $7! To create a waistline, I belted the blouse and dress with a black leather belt from Target, which is perfectly in dress code for Kamehameha standards (I once got detention in middle school for wearing a black belt that had some white and red etchings on it and I had to walk in a single file line with my fellow detention students throughout the dining hall while we watched our classmates eat lunch—super cool!). Any uniform outfit wouldn’t be complete without socks and shoes, so I wore my frilly ankle socks and black J. Crew loafers from Poshmark (last seen in this outfit!). Childhood me would be thrilled with this look and that I actually made it out of school alive! Someone remind me of these memories when I’m paying bills and yearning for my high school days…
