Thornwood High School - Thunderbird Yearbook (South Holland, IL)

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Designer craze invades TW Brooke Shields seductively poses on a floor boldly exclaiming that nothing comes between her and her Calvins. Deborah Harry of Blon- die struts through the streets of New York in a pair of Gloria Vander- bilts and a Canadian hockey team skates around singing, Oo, la, la, Sassonf' Years ago designer fash- ions were only worn by the very rich and very chic. Bill Blass, Pierre Cardin and Givenchy created dress- es, suits, and shoes for those who wanted to stand out in a crowd. Lately names like Calvin Klein and Gloria Vanderbilt have worked their way into our vocabulary by sticking their trademarks on the backs of jeans, the cuffs of shirts, and the fronts of sweaters. The designer craze has caught Americans by the seat of the pants and has a stronghold on the clothing industry. Prices of clothing have doubled due to the surge of designer fashions and new names a-poppin' up everyday in New York's gar- ment district. This designer craze began with the production of designer jeans. Calvin Klein put his name on the back pockets of a pair of pants and the trend snowballed. Since then names like Jordache, Bon Jour, and Sasson have filled the stores. Many W consumers have no qualms about paying double the cost even though they can purchase a pair of Levi's for around S16.00. 'tl think they look and fit better, explained one girl who boasts a closet filled with six pairs of Calvins. Designer infatuation has spilled into other areas besides jeans. Gloria Vanderbilt has developed a whole line of women's sportswear and the Jordache Company has recently in- troduced a pair of tennis shoes. Even Calvin Klein has developed the denim diaper for toddlers. This trend is also found in eyeglasses, co- lognes, and even women's lingerie. The desire for these special fashions appears to be for status and sex appeal. Campaign ads portray attractive men and women leading exciting lives in designer clothes. I think it's stupid, explained a junior male. lt doesn't make you any bet- ter if you have a pair of designer jeans. Nevertheless the designers are earning multi-million dollar profits and the amount is growing each year. Fashion-conscious teen- agers are filling their closets with all types of designer apparel. So the next time you bump into a student clad in designer jeans, just turn and say, Oh, I beg your 'Chardon. ' x x 152 FEATURES

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General Hospital tops daily entertainment Homework, extra-curricular ac- tivities, and jobs kept students occu- pied most of the time during the school year. But, as fish need water, teenagers need entertainment to break up the monotony of their obli- gations. Teenagers may acquire dif- ferent tastes in entertainment, but they all add up to one thing - diver- sion. Soap operas grow in popularity each year. More and more males are running home to see what's hap- pening on their favorite soap. Some guys say that they only enjoy watching them because their girl- friends do, but it's obvious that the beautiful daytime actresses keep them coming back for more each day. The most popular daytime ser- ial stars happened to be a couple from America's number one soap op- era - General Hospital. Luke Spen- cer, the suave adventurer, and Lau- ra Baldwin his lovely companion, were the topic of many lunch table conversations. One Life to Live and All My Children also drew many viewers from the high-school set into watching three to four hours of day-time drama. For the less-addict- ing crowd, game shows and situation comedies offered a chance to relax and kick their feet up. After dinner, networks continued to give students ways to pass the time. Fridays, ABC's version of Sat- urday Night Live, and English crazy-man Benny Hill, kept teens rolling on the floor. For those who liked to keep up with trivia and stunt-performers, That's Incredible ooh, ahed, and amazed. M 'A 'S 'H i, for years the number one T.V. show, remained in the top slot. Box-office fans were found in line at River Oaks and the Diana the- atres. Tuesday nights became 951.00 admission nights at River Oaks, so students saw a lot of the latest flicks during the week. Scarey movies such as Fun House, Halloween and Friday the 13th Parts I and ll were the craze of brave moviegoers. The biography of Loretta Lynn, Coal Miner's Daughter, brought Sissy Spacek an award for best actress at the Academy Awards ceremony. Robert DeNiro won the best actor award for his performance as a box- erin Raging Bull. Fame, the story of aspiring young performers, was an energetic treat for cinema fans also. Those who were economically minded fancied watching the box-of- fice smashes in the comfort and pri- vacy of their own home with the popularity of ON-TV and home vid- I I eo machines. Everyone enjoyed listening to re- cords and tapes at home or cruising in their cars, jamming to the top tunes. Punk rockers hopped and bopped to Whip It by Devo. AC- DC was tops in party music . R.E.O. Speedwagon and Styx proved to be popular among con- cert-goers. Country music lovers ap- plauded buxom Dolly Parton as she warbled the theme song from Nine to Five . For those who preferred going downtown for a play, Chicago knew just what to offer. Evita, the story of Eva Peron, dazzled the audiences with such excellence that many classes took field trips to see it at the Shubert. The revival of My Fair Lady kept its onlookers warmly pleased. And many students ranted and raved upon seeing Children ofa Lesser God. Those who spent quite a bit to purchase tickets surely got their money's worth. During the yuletide season, many of those who asked Santa for Carl Sagan's Cosmos enjoyed curling up to drink hot chocolate and reading on cold and blustery December evenings. FEATURES 151

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Diverse students ublend inn Psychologists have found that one's environment affects his per- sonality. If this is the case, Thorn- Wood houses an enormous amount of diversity in personal traits due to the fact that nine different commu- nities filter students into the high school. As a result of worlds collid- ing stereo-types develop regarding students from certain areas. Social- ite, burnout, and jock are com- mon catagories teenagers are placed in by their peers, though these pi- geonholes may be inaccurate. It seems like girls from one communi- ty are stuck up and people from an- other are burnouts, observed one freshman. Like a painter who mixes colors to produce the correct hue, Thornwood blends the many diverse people into one unit. Although everyone is dif- ferent in his own way, school be- comes a place where young people with common goals and interests can work together to achieve their goals. As a girl in the band described it, We're all one big family. We have to be to play together as well as we do. We're all very different but all share a common love: our music. Sports often brought together groups of athletes who might never have played together. Coaches com- bined the talents of athletes from all parts of the school district in hopes of finding that winning team. This team spirit proved evident with the football team's victory at Homecom- ing, and the baseball teams' S.I.C.A. championships. It's really an excit- ing feeling to have the whole school behind you, commented a team member. All the people in the stands supported us and made us want to win! When students disregarded the various stereotypes they often found that high school gave way to many new friendships. Prejudiced opinions often stopped many teen- agers from becoming friendly even though they shared many similar qualities. As one girl explained, If you don't try to get along you're really, missing out on so much. There are so many great people to meet and have fun with. QW' FEATURES 153