Comments on: Rachel Zoe Ain't Got Shit on Claudia Kishi

Rachel Zoe Ain't Got Shit on Claudia Kishi

ThePinkSuperhero — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:33:33 -0800

What Claudia Wore A 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.

By: arcticwoman

arcticwoman — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:42:29 -0800

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.

By: Tesseractive

Tesseractive — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:44:36 -0800

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).

By: kayjay

kayjay — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:47:26 -0800

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.

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:47:34 -0800

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.

By: The White Hat

The White Hat — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:52:10 -0800

Here are some pictures for you.

By: BeerFilter

BeerFilter — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:17:49 -0800

Bless you, The White Hat.

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:26:18 -0800

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.)

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:35:37 -0800

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.

By: fermezporte

fermezporte — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:22:15 -0800

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)

By: chara

chara — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:34:16 -0800

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?

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:52:59 -0800

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.

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:53:40 -0800

Sorry about not quoting you correctly up there, chara. Hit post too soon.

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:59:03 -0800

this this is why we have an internet

By: SoftRain

SoftRain — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 23:23:50 -0800

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.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:34:33 -0800

Should this post carry a seizure warning? /end cranky old fashion-unconscious fart

By: brina

brina — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:54:23 -0800

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.

By: arcticwoman

arcticwoman — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:18:55 -0800

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. :)

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:28:03 -0800

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....

By: wallaby

wallaby — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:55:20 -0800

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.

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:41:15 -0800

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.

By: Hildegarde

Hildegarde — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:23:05 -0800

(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.

By: streetdreams

streetdreams — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:25:47 -0800

Oh, nostalgia! I wanted to be Claudia so bad. She was the coolest! I hid candy in my room and all.

By: showbiz_liz

showbiz_liz — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:24:52 -0800

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.

By: Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger

Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:43:40 -0800

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."

By: Spatch

Spatch — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:30:38 -0800

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.

By: kitkatcathy

kitkatcathy — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:42:10 -0800

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

By: wallaby

wallaby — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:06:08 -0800

>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!)

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:04:49 -0800

Blog posted to Jezebel. Fess up, Jezebel, you got the idea from Metafilter :-D

By: chara

chara — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:26:04 -0800

Does anyone remember the TV series that aired on the Disney channel? Here's a clip (with a young Zach Braff...OMG!)

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:11:20 -0800

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.

By: cd4337

cd4337 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:21:47 -0800

Pics?

By: Locative

Locative — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:50:19 -0800

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.

By: like_neon

like_neon — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:11:14 -0800

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.

By: banjo_and_the_pork

banjo_and_the_pork — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:48:38 -0800

Oh, the days when I thought hot pink and neon green was the best ever fashion choice. This blog rocks!

By: CwgrlUp

CwgrlUp — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:21:58 -0800

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!

By: soonertbone

soonertbone — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:39:13 -0800

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.) ;-)

By: k8t

k8t — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:26:37 -0800

Christopher Pike anyone?