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Sign of the times
The peace symbol is making a comeback as hot fashion item among teens, tweens
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Shelly Steelman's birth certificate says her life started in 1993, but at first glance, she looks like she stepped straight out of the late 1960s.
The red-haired Oakcrest High School junior wears a multicolored peasant dress and black tights. She sports a peace-symbol necklace, ring and earrings to finish off her ensemble.
Steelman owns other peace-sign accessories - including shoes, a belt and bags - that she didn't wear on this particular school day.
"I usually feel good," said Steelman about wearing the peace sign. "I'm feel I'm representing something good. I want to stand for something that's good, not a (clothing) brand. A lot of my classmates wear the peace sign. It's gotten popular during the last three years."
Designers have been incorporating the peace symbol in clothing and accessories for a few years now, but it is only recently that the symbol has exploded as a fashion statement for tweens and teens.
Retailers supplying the fashions to this influential bloc of spenders have been feeding the demand for all things peace. Peace items can be found in a variety of stores, including Target and Claire's.
Peace-sign clothing and accessories were available last year, but not in such great volume, according to Christie Foster, the store sales leader for the Justice store in the Hamilton Mall. About 80 percent of the items in her store, which include tote bags, jewelry, socks, and panties, now sport the peace symbol. The target age for Justice customers is 7 to 13, but the prime shoppers are between ages 8 and 10, Foster said.
"That's what the older kids are wearing," said Foster, who added American Eagle, Aeropostale and Hollister's are carrying peace-sign items for teens. "The little sisters want to be like the big sisters."
Sisters Emma, 12 and Corinne Griffith, 10, each own clothes with peace symbols on them. The Egg Harbor Township sisters brought all their peace-sign items this year. Emma Griffith picked up a couple of shirts, a scarf and a bracelet, as well as necklaces and rings. Corinne Griffith's peace stash includes shirts, pajamas, bracelets and a necklace.
"During the summertime, I saw my friends wearing peace signs. It did influence me a little bit. You're seeing it everywhere, including the people on TV. It looked cute," Emma Griffith said.
The sisters chose their peace-sign clothing because they like the look, but there's a more serious reason for the symbols return to popular culture, said Emma Griffith.
The peace symbol was originally designed during the 1950s for the British nuclear disarmament movement.
It was adopted in this country by the 1960s anti-war movement, then the counterculture and, finally, the popular culture of the time.
The symbol has made its return as the country has now been at war for the last eight years, Emma Griffith said. Her younger sister is just caught up in the fashion of it. She plays dress-up games for girls online at such sites as www.girlsense.com and www.stardoll.com and puts peace-sign clothing on the characters.
Renee Thompson, 57, knows first hand about the 1960s and the peace symbol. Thompson lived through the 1960s and marched against the Vietnam War.
This spring, Thompson went camping near Woodstock, the site of the historic 1969 music festival.
The retired social worker saw people who looked like hippies when she stopped in downtown Woodstock. She lives in Forked River, and after her trip, she started noticing more people in Ocean County wearing peace clothing and earrings and using pocketbooks with the peace symbol on them.
"It inspired me to open the business," said Thompson, owner of The Hippie House on Route 9 which opened the last week of June.
Along with a shirt with a big peace sign on the front, one of the store's biggest sellers is a peace sign bracelet in neon or tie-dye colors. The bracelet, Thompson said, is popular with children ranging in age from 5 to 13.
"I don't think the kids truly understand, but they are learning. Grandparents are explaining it (the peace symbol) to their grandchildren," Thompson said.
For many tweens and teens, the peace symbol is purely a fashion symbol. They are too young to know firsthand the history attached to it.
Veronica Mucciarone has long been a fan of the peace symbol. The 14-year-old Margate girl's first grade photo has her in a gold dress with a peace symbol on it.
Mucciarone now owns a peace sign shirt, earrings, rain boots, necklaces and rings. It's part of her appreciation of the culture of the 1960s - she once sang the songs "White Rabbit" and "Piece of My Heart" during a show at her school, Charter High School for the Performing Arts in Somers Point.
The teen doesn't connect the peace sign with an anti-war movement, but she does believe wearing the symbol should be more than a fashion statement.
"Teens wear peace signs all the time, but don't carry out what it symbolizes. Teens say 'peace' instead of 'goodbye' nowadays. Some even say one of the things they to wish to see in their lifetime is world peace," Mucciarone said. "I say, if we can't achieve peace with the people in our own schools, how can we ever expect to do so with the people of the world?"
Contact Vincent Jackson:
609-272-7202
Posted in Life on Saturday, November 7, 2009 6:15 am Updated: 6:33 am.
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