Back-to-school: Fall fashions put a spring in your step

Get a jump on back-to-school fashions in plaid, playful prints, retro argyles and vivid colours

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Margo Varadi

Peruse our photo gallery for a look at the hottest back-to-school trends.

The play is the thing for back-to-school fashion in 2008. Trends for this season are primarily preppy with a sense of dramatic fun.

Classics like plaid, pinstripes, tweed and argyle abound. School uniform staples such as blazers, kilts and button-downs have become cool even for public school. Finish the look with ballet flats for girls and brown Wallabees for boys.

Blame it on Gossip Girl’s cast of privileged teens with their private-school fashion sense. The hot TV show has made prim and proper popular. The good news is you don't have to be rich to afford it. Larger one-stop-shop stores like The Bay and H&M are wallet-friendly and offer a broad range of styles and sizes for hard-to-fit tweens, like the models featured here. Kids can add their own unique twist with a shot of vintage wear.

Preppy shouldn’t be uptight, especially this season. It's not about being perfectly matched but artfully mismatched, like pairing a plaid skirt with bright yellow rubber boots, particularly if they’re by Tretorn, an eighties label making a comeback. Poise is passé when you could be out jumping in rain puddles.

Accents are bold and brilliant. Don't be afraid to highlight sweaters and jackets with eye-popping colours like reds and yellows. Take it a step further with some exotic patterns.

For those kids who really want to make a statement, rock-star glam is another trend for fall. This means girls can be boys if they want to dress up in dad’s vest or mix a tough black leather jacket with flared jeans. Add some extra splash with a pair of white Nike sneakers and flashy silver accents. Unfortunately for parents, those impossible-to-keep-clean white sneakers from the eighties are back with a vengeance.

Even though uniforms may rule the runway this season, they still require that extra bit of creativity and playfulness to make the grade.

 
How much do you expect to spend on back-to-school fashions and supplies? Take our home page poll (hint: scroll to the bottom). Check out the rest of our back-to-school section here.