Woodbury Reports, Inc.
Bonners Ferry, ID

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The Psychology Of Clothes
Why Kids Dress That Way

Delving into a new subject on Places for Struggling Teens, Lon Woodbury and his Co-Host, Elizabeth McGhee talked with Betty Kreisel Shubert, a costume designer, fashion historian and author of her new book: Out of Style: A Modern Perspective of How, Why and When Vintage Fashions Evolved. Equipped with enough information and social history relating to clothing trends and fashions from the 1800's to the present day, Betty was ready to tackle the subject of today's show by answering Lon's question as to "what do your clothes say about you?" "They say you are happy, sad, feel left out, protesting against your parents and making them embarrassed by what you wear; put together, or dressed in the dark or how you used to be or want to be."

A native of Los Angeles and Hollywood, in 1938 at the age of 13, Betty sold her first outfit and has been in the fashion industry ever since. On to 1945, when women's clothing was designed to enhance a woman's figure, which coincidentally was at the time of the birth of the baby boomers. In the 1930s and 1940s, zoot suits became a sub-culture hit in Los Angeles and elsewhere, and as Betty remembers it, they were developed in isolated areas, the Latino men in LA who wanted some fun and to make a statement of their difference with their clothing: bigger pleats, bigger fedora's and bigger shoulder pads. "They became a fashion exaggeration and quite controversial".

Today's teens are still finding it very important to fit in and to wear the same clothes as every other teen is wearing. "Kids have always wanted to fit in". Liz asked our guest how she felt about how fashion conscious today's kids, as young as 11-13 are and Betty wisely stated: Our culture is being polluted…standards have been lowered to what is good taste such as "stomachs showing on girls that really shouldn't be showing their stomachs, rear ends hanging out and profanity on tee shirts".

To quote Jackie Kennedy's designer while she was in the White House, Oleg Cassini- "The secret of good fashion is knowing how to be daring in ways that are not inappropriate."

To listen to the full interview, go to The Psychology of Clothes: What Are These Kids Thinking? on LATalkRadio.
Also available in Podcast

Lon Woodbury is the owner/founder of Woodbury Reports, Inc. and www.strugglingteens.com. He has worked with families and struggling teens since 1984 and is the host of Parent Choices for Struggling Teens.

Elizabeth McGhee is the Director of Admissions and Referral Relations at Sandhill Child Development Center and has over 19 years' of clinical, consulting and referral relations experience to her position.

Betty Kreisel Shubert has designed clothing and costumes for stage, screen, TV specials, ready to wear, Las Vegas musicals and Disneyland. In addition, she has designed uniform programs for major cruise lines, race tracks, hotels, restaurants and casinos worldwide. Betty was a regular columnist for Ancestry Magazine and is the author of her new book: Out of Style: A Modern Perspective of How, Why and When Vintage Fashions Evolved.

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We are excited to announce that we have several openings for on-air advertising spots during our show on LA TALK Radio: Parent Choices for Struggling Teens.

If you are interested in reserving some air time to promote your school, program or services, contact Kristie Campbell at kristie@woodbury.com or 208-267-5550

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Attention:

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