By Rachel Weaver

For first graders, it’s the waxy smell of a new box of crayons. In middle school, it’s the combination wood and rubber scent accompanying a pack of fresh pencils. High school students know it as the sound of price tags being ripped from the new wardrobe items.

No matter the trigger, they all conjure the same thought: it’s time to go back to school.

But before any school supply is put to use or any new garment is worn down the hallway, back to school shopping is a necessity.

When I was in elementary school, each student made sure to buy one thing in late August to differentiate themselves from the masses. To proclaim our individuality, we all carried Trapper Keepers, a brand of loose-leaf binder complete with Velcro closure. Far more important than its organizational purposes, each Trapper was adorned with a cover serving as a testament to its owner. The kids who understood the “less is more” concept carried sleek binders with monochrome covers. The rest of us hauled our assignments to and from school in florescent monstrosities bearing images of my Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake and whatever else what popular at the time.

But the Trapper days seem to have passed, and kids are finding more complicated, yet more convenient, school supplies to help them through the day. The shelves of office supply stores are stocked with all the latest gadgets to get kids ready to learn. Sales of computers, scientific calculators, iPods, personal information organizers and accessories skyrocket at back to school time.

“We find with back to school items that it’s not only how they will help the students academically, it’s how they can help them socially as well,” says Kevin Cockett, spokesperson for Best Buy in Bethel Park.

MP3 players that allow kids to plug into their friends’ music while riding the bus or hanging out before practice are expected to be big sellers this year as are wireless notebook computers, which let kids do their homework anywhere.

School supplies aren’t the only things changing. Shopping for clothes in 2005 is entirely different from when my mother would drag me through department stores, pointing out pieces that would land me firmly on the no-party-invitations-for-the-whole-year list while I demanded she buy me the one high-priced outfit/pair of shoes/perm that I knew would make the upcoming year my best ever, as far as fashion is concerned. Now students are more interested in standing out with the latest couture than fitting in with everyone else. Designers duds are no longer just for celebrities and getting the right look seems easier than ever for teens.

“This year, destroyed, distressed and destructed denim is probably the biggest thing,” says Georgeann Koumaros, director of mall marketing at South Hills Village Mall. “Button-downs and layering also are big. And skirts for girls will be even shorter.”

For girls, almost every store offers hooded sweatshirts, which they will wear as fashion this year and pretty much as a uniform in college. The waistline jackets of last year are still popular in fabrics ranging from corduroy to suede and denim to twill. Mid-section cropped sweaters that tie in the front also are returning favorites. Peasant skirts with wild floral patterns are still in style, though most are shorter than the flowing lengths of last year.

Though the Trapper Keeper craze went out and stayed out with the ‘80s, up-turned collars on the polo shirts are making a comeback. For boys, polos in every color and design are the perfect way to look put-together and expertly disheveled at the same time as the surfer/preppy look dominates male fashion. The Oxford also is making a comeback. Most jeans for guys still have the fading, rips and tears that have been popular for the past few years.

The great debate in male fashion regards the cut of khaki shorts. Some stores popular with teens suggest the shorts should be hemmed with little fraying along the end and clean cut, not baggy. Others seem to think that most high school boys are not only going to school when wearing their shorts, but also foraying into the wilderness where they’ll need enough pockets to hold a week’s rations of food and water.

Graphic tees in thin fabrics are a sure thing for fall fashion for boys and girls alike, with sayings like “No Haiti” and “Tijuana Piece of Me?” The good thing about these shirts is that designers are getting away from the ironed-on look of screened Tees and using more embossing to give shirts a vintage look. But kids who don’t want to use their clothes to make a statement, literally, can stay stylish by wearing anything blue. The cool hue that dominated spring and summer wardrobes has carried over into darker fall lines.

But who’s paying for all this new fashion? Unless they’ve spent their summers bagging groceries or mowing their neighbors’ lawns – which many of them have – it’s probably mom and dad who are handing over the cash or credit cards, which means back to school shopping is not always a favorite among parents. Being dragged from store to store listening to why their child simply must own a pair of fuzzy Eskimo-style boots is not every middle-aged person’s dream. To avoid the fiasco while controlling their children’s spending, Koumaros suggests buying mall gift cards.

“Parents can load them up with as much as they want the student to spend and then they know they have a budget. You don’t have to go everywhere with them and you can check their budget online to make sure they’re buying what they need,” she says.

With parents able to control the cost and students getting the looks they want, everyone can make it through back to school shopping with little stress and prepare for the challenge of the upcoming academic year.

If only trigonometry was so easy.