Rachel Zoe Ain't Got Shit on Claudia Kishi

March 30, 2008 8:33 PM

What Claudia WoreA blog devoted to the outrageous outfits of Claudia Kishi from The Babysitters Club.

I discovered this blog after deciding there should definitely be a blog devoted to the wardrobe of Claudia Kishi, and vowing to start one if I couldn't find it.

Traditional clothes look boring and are boring to put on. So I never wear them. I like bright colors and big patterns and funny touches, such as earrings made from feathers. Maybe this is because I'm an artist. I don't know. Today, for instance, I'm wearing purple pants that stop just below my knees and are held up with suspenders, white tights with clocks on them, a purple plaid shirt with a matching hat, my high-top sneakers, and lobster earrings. Clothes like these are my trademark.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero (37 comments total)

This post is useless without pics.

For real though, Claudia was always my favourite BSC character. Luckily I couldn't afford to buy my own clothes, I guess.
posted by arcticwoman at 8:42 PM on March 30, 2008

This is amazing. Claudia was always my favorite Babysitter, even though I think I had the least in common with her (I was actually more of a cross between Mallory, the bookish writer, and Claudia's sister, Janeane, the genius...I did always wish they portrayed very smart people as nice and fun sometimes too, but I digress). The descriptions of her outfits were amazing, and she had two holes in one ear way before multiple piercings were cool. I have only one ear pierced, and I was partially inspired for it from her.

Worthy of noting, if people haven't heard about them: The Babysitters Club graphic novel adaptations by Raina Telgemeier, who also does the ongoing autobiographical webcomic Smile. As a very loyal BSC fan, I've picked up all three of her adaptations so far and have been very satisfied. Claudia's been updated from day-glo socks and side ponytails but she's definitely still the quirky fashion plate (and she has hot pink bangs).
posted by Tesseractive at 8:44 PM on March 30, 2008

God, I remember loving these books so much. (Until I realized that the characters were not aging and I had gone from being younger than them to being older than them. How many holiday and summer specials can you have and *still* be in the eighth grade?)

I think Claudia may have been my favorite, too.

I'll have to read the blog and check out the snark.
posted by kayjay at 8:47 PM on March 30, 2008

Now that I see it all written down in one place, it is painfully clear that hipsters are all wearing the stuff that Claudia Kishi was wearing. She truly was a visionary.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:47 PM on March 30, 2008 [2 favorites]

Here are some pictures for you.
posted by The White Hat at 8:52 PM on March 30, 2008 [10 favorites]

Bless you, The White Hat.
posted by BeerFilter at 9:17 PM on March 30, 2008

Just when I get fed up with the internet, something like this comes along and rekindles the love affair. Thank you, ThePinkSuperhero!

The White Hat - OMG, that video was priceless! "With her mustard socks and ketchup sash, she's a real hot dog!" Yep, thems the 80s alright. Also, I believe Marta in the video is Marta Marrero (also known as Martika) who was my very favorite kid on Kids Incorporated. (God, I had such a crush on Ryan.)
posted by LeeJay at 9:26 PM on March 30, 2008

Oooh, and I'm pretty sure "Kelly" is Kelly Jo Minter from The People Under the Stairs and one of my favorite 80s guilty pleasure movies, Summer School.
posted by LeeJay at 9:35 PM on March 30, 2008

I always thought Claudia's clothes sounded hideous... but that one hole in one ear, two holes in the other ear piercing deal is still the coolest thing ever. Come to think of it, I have my ears pierced like that (not that I wear earrings)
posted by fermezporte at 10:22 PM on March 30, 2008

Looking back at these passages, I now appreciate the fact that my mother picked out all my clothes for me until 7th grade, or else I would've actually tried to pull off some of these outfits.

High tops, side ponytails, leopard print, neon colors, DayGlo, leggings...My God! THE LEGGINGS! Did this girl ever wear pants?
posted by chara at 10:34 PM on March 30, 2008

High tops, side ponytails, leopard print, neon colors, DayGlo, leggings...My God! THE LEGGINGS! Did this girl ever wear pants?

Oh, you are speaking my language. I can remember one of my favorite outfits from around '87 or '88. Hot pink oversized top, cinched at the waist with a chunky white belt, lime green leggings, one pair of hot pink socks and one pair of white socks BOTH scrunched down of course into white high tops. Topped off with a side ponytail or pulled back by some huge monstrosity of a headband.

I was so hot.
posted by LeeJay at 10:52 PM on March 30, 2008

Sorry about not quoting you correctly up there, chara. Hit post too soon.
posted by LeeJay at 10:53 PM on March 30, 2008

this

this is why we have an internet
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:59 PM on March 30, 2008

I love this blog.

There is also BSC Headquarters, which more just nostalgically reviews the books, but she always includes notable outfits in her summaries. I loved the BSC outfit descriptions -- when I was a young child and wrote fiction, I was heavily influenced by Ann M. Martin (and her team of ghostwriters), so there were always lots of painstakingly described costume changes. Ah, youth.
posted by SoftRain at 11:23 PM on March 30, 2008

Should this post carry a seizure warning?

/end cranky old fashion-unconscious fart
posted by not_on_display at 5:34 AM on March 31, 2008

Hmm. This blog would be improved by illustrations. Seriously. A description of each of Claudia's outfits, followed by an illustration of the blogger's own, would totally spice things up.
posted by brina at 5:54 AM on March 31, 2008

An illustration? No, no, no. The blogger should recreate an outfit each week and post pictures. Or, if that's too much work, the commenters should take turns. I think LeeJay's into it. :)
posted by arcticwoman at 7:18 AM on March 31, 2008

The blogger should recreate an outfit each week and post pictures. Or, if that's too much work, the commenters should take turns. I think LeeJay's into it. :)

I think I still have those leggings somewhere....
posted by LeeJay at 7:28 AM on March 31, 2008

Oh, this is wonderful and I can see my entire day disappearing already (Deadline? What deadline?) I appreciated Claudia's fashion sense (as well as the bold black, white and red of Stephanie in my little sister's Sleepover Friends books) but I saw myself as a mix of Stacey and Dawn--sophisticated city girl with a touch of granola aesthetic. In reality I was much more of a Mary Anne.
posted by wallaby at 8:55 AM on March 31, 2008

The blogger should recreate an outfit each week and post pictures.

Sounds like a lot of work, and then what do you do with all the clothes? I can't see myself wearing an oversize shirt with vegetables printed on it any time soon.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:41 AM on March 31, 2008 [1 favorite]

(I was actually more of a cross between Mallory, the bookish writer, and Claudia's sister, Janeane, the genius...I did always wish they portrayed very smart people as nice and fun sometimes too, but I digress)

HAHAHHAHAHA oh noes, I hope you're writing a lot of unique snowflake poetry about how HARD it is to be so very SMRT. Isn't it nice that the babysitter's club gave GENIUSES someone to relate to?

I never read the babysitter's club, I was in the wrong age bracket. So I don't identify with any of them. But 80s fashion makes me cry shiny neon tears, each with their own set of rubbery plastic bracelets. I wish I didn't remember the 80s quite so well.
posted by Hildegarde at 10:23 AM on March 31, 2008

Oh, nostalgia!

I wanted to be Claudia so bad. She was the coolest! I hid candy in my room and all.
posted by streetdreams at 10:25 AM on March 31, 2008

I got a second hole pierced in my left ear because of Claudia. And I hid a shoebox full of snacks in my closet because of her, too, even though I had no actual need to hide them. Ah, those were the days.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:24 AM on March 31, 2008

The 80's were a great time to be a tween. You could indulge your kidtacular urge to wear garish colors and large plastic accessories, and still look "cool."
posted by Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger at 12:43 PM on March 31, 2008

At some point during high school in the early 90s, one of us found a copy of Tina Yothers' Guide for Girls in a used bookstore. It was written during the height of her Family Ties fame and I'm reasonably sure parts of it were ghostwritten. A lot of the advice given was bolstered with comments like "This even happens to me sometimes, and I'm the star of a famous TV show!" We passed it around, annotating it as snarkily as we could. I don't know where the book eventually ended up, but it could definitely have used a blog of its own.
posted by Spatch at 1:30 PM on March 31, 2008

Wasn't Stacey a fashion plate too...somehow distinguished from Claudia as being more 'sophisticated'? Sophisticated being plain leggings instead of patterned?
posted by kitkatcathy at 1:42 PM on March 31, 2008

>Tina Yothers' Guide for Girls

I cannot tell you how many times I checked that book out of the library. As if I read it enough I would magically transformed into Jennifer Keaton. (I never considered that actually being Jennifer would kill my chances for love with her older brother! Glad I never had to make the choice!)
posted by wallaby at 2:06 PM on March 31, 2008

Blog posted to Jezebel. Fess up, Jezebel, you got the idea from Metafilter :-D
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:04 PM on March 31, 2008 [1 favorite]

Does anyone remember the TV series that aired on the Disney channel?

Here's a clip (with a young Zach Braff...OMG!)
posted by chara at 3:26 PM on March 31, 2008

The NYPL has a surprising number of BSC books, a fact I plan to take advantage of. Sad that you can only have 15 hold requests on your account at once.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:11 PM on March 31, 2008 [1 favorite]

Pics?
posted by cd4337 at 8:21 PM on March 31, 2008

Wasn't Stacey a fashion plate too...somehow distinguished from Claudia as being more 'sophisticated'? Sophisticated being plain leggings instead of patterned?

Ah, but Stacey was into sleek, New York fashion. Claudia was all about the oddball artistic fashion.
posted by Locative at 10:50 PM on March 31, 2008

Thanks so much TPS. This brought back such memories! I got my first set of BSC books from Costco when my mom wouldn't let me buy the Sweet Valley High ones because they were too racy... or something (!!). Claudia was definately my favorite and I always thought Stacy was an inspiration for Carrie on SATC.
posted by like_neon at 5:11 AM on April 1, 2008

Oh, the days when I thought hot pink and neon green was the best ever fashion choice. This blog rocks!
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 5:48 AM on April 1, 2008

Oh shit, this so rocked. I always pictured myself as more of a Kristy-type. Like all, 'wtf are these girls wearing?' Thanks for this, TPS!
posted by CwgrlUp at 6:21 PM on April 1, 2008

Wow, the BSC on the blue. Great post.

I sold my collection of 60 or so BSC books when I started reading more "adult" books. It wasn't until college that I remembered how much I liked them and embarked on the project of rebuying them all. I now have a complete collection that I'll never part with.

(And my vote goes to Mary Ann for best babysitter.) ;-)
posted by soonertbone at 9:39 PM on April 3, 2008

Christopher Pike anyone?
posted by k8t at 8:26 AM on April 22, 2008