LYNNWOOD, Wash — Stylist Darcy Camden is on a mission to make back to school shopping fun again.
"Because back to school shopping is so stressful for so many families. Parents and kids, parents and teenagers especially, tend to butt heads when they come to the store, I hear it all the time. So I have a method that I think all families can use," said Camden, as she guided two families through the process at the Alderwood Mall Macy's.
Dan Miller is starting high school, and Lucianna Colindres is about to start 8th grade. Dan showed up with his mom Jennifer, and Lucianna brought her mom Nancy, and tried Camden's strategy for less stress.
"Parents and teenagers come to the store together, and then split up," explained Camden.
Then parents go and find some items that they want their teen to have, and kids go an pick the trends or items that they really want. And then meet together at the fitting room, and explain to each other what they picked, and why they like it."
Lucianna and her mom picked similar items: camo pants, jeans, and white tees. The main difference, the tee that Lucianna picked had a huge logo on the front, and mom opted for a plain white one. Camden saw an opportunity for compromise there. And encouraged a meeting of the minds between Dan and his mom when he wanted distressed jeans and his mom wanted him in pumpkin orange ones.
The fashions the kids picked were right on trend.
"There are a lot of 80s and 90s trend throwbacks. There's a lot of distressed denim and flannel., lots of camouflage for boys and girls," Camden said.
"And just remember parents, that's new to teenagers, they were not alive in the 80s and the 90s, so even though you wore it when you were going back to high school, your kids do not want to hear that!" Camden laughed.
Diplomacy is a key part of Camden's strategy. After parents and kids look at one another's picks, and explain why they like them, she encourages them to pick one conflict item, and find an alternative together. Dan and his mom compromised with black denim jeans instead of his distressed ones or her orange ones. Lucianna and her mom found a white tee with a colored collar that worked for both of them. It replaced mom's plainer pick, and daughter's logo T.
"The end goal is to reach a compromise, so maybe parents get what they want, teens get what they want, and they work together to find something that they're both really happy about."
Because there's one thing we all want when it comes to back to school shopping, Camden says:
"Parents want kids to be happy, kids wanna be happy, we want everybody to be happy at Macy's, and we did that today,"
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