New Fashions and Trends for New Academic Year

When students show up for school the first day, they want to look cool.

We talked to a few kids and polled some of our fans on Facebook and Twitter to find out what the latest fashions and trends are for kids. Here's what we found:

Fashion

• Feathers -- Jessica Shira, a junior at Hartland High School, said you can find feathers everywhere, from feather hair extensions to feather ear rings.
• "Boyfriend Clothes" -- They're clothes your boyfriend would wear, except that you'll find them in the ladies' section. Examples include varsity jackets, sports jerseys and jeans.
• Printed pants -- Instead of plain-colored pants, the kids have been donning animal-print or floral-print pants.
• Kids' Backpacks -- Alaina Whitbeck is a junior at Hartland High School, but she says kids her age buy cartoon-themed backpacks, like Spiderman, despite them being intended for younger audiences.

Technology

• Apple products -- iPads and iPods have been popular and continue to be. Justin Sluis, a junior at Hartland High School said that everyone in the school at least has an iPod. He said the most common iPod these days is the iPod touch.

Media

• T.V. -- Kids dig the Disney Channel show Phineas and Ferb, and you'll probably see someone walking around with a shirt like this, which is the face of the two main characters' pet platypus Perry, who doubles as a secret agent.
• Books -- The latest book craze is a series called the Hunger Games, a trilogy of science fiction books about a competition in a futuristic society has its participants fight to the death to survive. A movie of the series will debut in March 2012, according to the books' website.

Editor's note: This story is latest a weeklong series focusing on the upcoming school year. Here are links to the others:

• Hartland District Honorees Rev Up Staff