The UpRoar January, 2013 8

Sperry’s, tucked-in shirts and colored pants are just a few of the many trends that teenagers and adults at Sandy Creek seem to be following nowadays.

There are many defini-tions for the word trend. According to dictionary.com, the most common usage of the word means the, “pre-vailing tendency or drift.” It seems drifting is what many people are doing: drifting towards these trends to fit in with the crowd. Although,

many people would not like to admit it, we are all fol-lowers. People all around the world tend to conform to what is around them, which is why trends hap-pen. For example: when one person wears brightly

colored pants to school one day, other people slowly begin purchasing the same kind of pants and begin wearing them.

This happens because as humans, it’s our na-ture to fit into our sur-roundings. But why do people insist on conform-ing themselves to fit in? According to abcnews.go.com, “There are two reasons why people fol-low trends: to belong to a group, which is a bio-

logical need. Secondly, humans tend to go with what they see-which can actually cause humans to conform to fit in.”

Many times you see trends begin to fade away as soon as another trend

begins. There seems to be many reasons why this happens. According to ru-byisnotred.edublogs.org, a reason trends change is because “the popula-tion, clothing designers, hairstylists, makeup art-ists and anyone who cre-ates a trend gets bored.” Humans have a tenden-cy to change what bores them, so if one gets tired of wearing Sperry’s, they will stop buying them and continue on to an-

other Trend. Trends also change due to a change in the way businesses mar-ket their products. Many stores only dress the mannequins in the cut-est, most expensive out-fits in the store. Retailers

The psychology behind trends By: Emmie Hajny Photo Illustation by: Mary Cooney

9 The UpRoar January, 2013

also change displays and design new advertising campaigns to appeal to specific target audiences.

The disappearance and recurrence of trends is something that is com-monly seen in department stores around the country. Wheth-er it’s a c c e s -sories, c l o t h -ing, or prints, t h e r e a r e some fashion trends that come and go like the sea-sons. Many of today’s top fashion trends originated decades ago. For exam-ple, black rimmed glass-es became popular in the 1950s when RayBan re-leased one of its first pairs of glasses. These shades have experienced a recent resurgence of popularity due to Hipsters. However, sunglasses aren’t the only accessory trend to resur-rect itself; the shoe indus-try has experienced a ret-

ro flashback. The wedge gained popularity in the 1970s and is increasingly popular today. Likewise, the platform has made a comeback, be it in a slightly shorter form than it’s sky-high predecessor. Like accessories, many

clothing trends from de-cades ago are appear-ing in runway shows of fashion designers and in department stores. One extremely popular trend, leather bomber jackets, first appeared during World War II, again in the 1980s and even now many people still pur-chase and wear them. Bomber jackets are not the only clothing that has came back, but any item that is neon colored seems to be wearable along with

skinny jeans, leggings and empire-waist dress-es, also known as baby-doll dresses. Even prints come and go. Animal prints such as leopard, cheetah, and zebra made their debut in the late 1950s to the 1960s along

with large floral prints.If you’re not a fan of

some of the trends that are happening around the world today, don’t worry; people will begin drifting towards something more trendy, and old trends will be long forgotten. But just remember, wheth-er it’s clothing, accesso-ries, or prints, old trends will always reappear!

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Zombie takeover By: Micki Stark

Dead, gross, grey, bloody, brain-guzzling creatures have taken over. Zombies are now more popular than almost any other immortal figure; vampires and

w e r e -wolves are out, and the rotting flesh is in. The trend of zombies is almost like a fast spreading disease.

From T.V. shows and movies to video games, zombies are taking over the world. The Walking Dead has invaded the small screen. This in-creasingly popular show tells about what life would be like if a disease that turns people into zombies took over the world. Likewise, a hoard of viciously undead films are scheduled to overrun the silver screen this year. World War Z, starring Brad Pitt, depicting a hos-tile takeover of malicious mob zombies. Warm Bod-ies, which will be released in 2013, portrays the un-usual love between a hu-man and a zombie. Even in video games, Zombies made an impact; it seems like all of the Call of Duty games have some sort of appearance of zom-bies. Sophomore Drew Andrews is a super-fan of COD’s Zombie modes,

saying, “It’s addictive! I love it!” Clearly, zombies have tak- en over

screens big and small.With their addictive qualities, zombies

have a made an impact on the world of

literature. Many books about these brain-guz-zling creatures have re-cently topped the best-seller list. According to theblaze.com, zombie literature has become a $100 million dollar in-dustry. Senior Megan Grabhorn is an avid zom-

bie literature fanatic, say-ing, “I really enjoy these kinds of books; they’re interesting and exciting. I can’t stop reading them.”

Bestsellers like Pride Prejudice and Zombies

by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith,

Deck Z: The Titanic: Unsinkable. Undead

by Chris Pauls, and The Zombie Surviv-al Guide: Complete

Protection from the Living Dead by Max Brooks have been flying off the shelves.

The Halloween sea-son is a haven for zom-bie impersonators, with many local venues host-ing annual zombie walks. These walks bring out the true zombie in ev-eryone. Hoards of people disguised as grotesque, undead creatures roamed city streets moaning and groaning in true zombie style. As impersonation is the highest form of

flattery, these zombies really are all the rage.

Perhaps one of the big-gest issues facing zombie lovers is the dispute be-tween how the different kinds of zombies are dis-tinguished. Are all zom-bies evil and bad? Is it possible for zombies to develop a heart and feel-ings? Currently, there are three main genres of zom-bies: the fast zombies, the slow, lifeless zombies and the mob zombies. The distinctions between each kind of zombie is pretty self-explanato-ry; however, this fight will no doubt continue.

The zombie takeover is in full swing, and the only question left to ask is: will you surrender to the immortal worlds most recent trend? If not, you had better start stocking up because the zombie apocalypse has officially started.

Photo Illustration by: Megan Grabhorn