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Report on The Scoop on Style: What does your look say about you?
Smart girls decide for themselves™.
Four hundred seventy-one people chimed in to inform our report on SmartGirls' styles. From sharing your signature look to letting us in on your favorite colors to wear, you guys wanted to discuss what style means and is to you. Some quick stats on our survey takers:
449 were girls and 12 were boys.
Though we had more 13-year-olds take this survey than anyone else, we did have a pretty even distribution across the 11-15 age range. That is something a little different than normal.
More oldest children took this survey than middle, youngest or only children.
You told us you come from many different backgrounds: 52 of you are of African descent, 49 are of Asian descent, 150 are of European descent, 41 are of Latin American descent, 10 are of Middle Eastern descent, 16 are of Native American descent, 10 are of Pacific Islander/Oceania descent, and 44 are multiracial.
Our survey responders were from all over the world, including from countries like Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, England, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Peru, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tuvalu and Wales, just to name a few.
Though you live in many different places, many of you live in similar types of areas. For example, most respondents said they live in a small town or suburb.
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Let's jump right in. If we're going to post a survey about style, we'd better figure out what our survey takers' styles are. We asked the following questions to get a better feel for what style you're sporting, and if you check out the range of answers, you'll see that SmartGirls have developed a variety of unique styles.
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| Which of the following words best describes your style? |
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| "Comfortable" and "unique" were the two words chosen most often. |
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How do you show your style? Is it most evident in the way you wear your hair? The jewelry you choose to put on? In your clothes? This bar graph reveals where SmartGirls express their style the most.
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| My style is mostly defined by... |
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| How's that for a majority response? Most SmartGirls said that their style is most defined by their clothes. |
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Now that we know SmartGirls use their clothes most often to communicate their style, it makes sense to find out what those clothes are. We asked you to choose from a list of items to create what you consider to be the perfect outfit, then we tallied up how many people chose each item. Here's the breakdown: Bottoms: jeans were the resounding favorite - 318 of you said the perfect outfit would include a pair of jeans. After that came skirts (102 of you would wear a skirt) and dress pants (36 of you prefer these). Tops: 192 of you think the perfect outfit includes a tank top, while 168 of you think the perfect outfit includes a tee. Maybe some of you are layering? Dressy shirts were also pretty popular - 122 of you like to sport these. After that, only 45 of you prefer sweaters and only 39 of you prefer sweatshirts. Dresses: 54 of you believe the perfect outfit is a dress. Shoes: And what about footwear? 195 of you said you like flip-flops, 128 of you like to slip on a pair of heels, 94 of you went for tennies and 78 of you prefer boots. Accessories: And how do you top off your perfect outfit? 270 of you don a pair of earrings, 230 of you choose a great necklace, 227 of you wear a bracelet and only 41 of you complete your look with a hat.
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So how much does this perfect outfit cost? We asked you how much you usually spend on one outfit, and here's what you said:
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| On average, how much do you spend on one outfit? |
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| About half of you spend between $25 and $49 on one outfit. |
Is there one thing you just can't leave the house without putting on? One color that just screams you? We'd call that your signature look - something others probably identify with you, too! And what is it? Well, we asked some key questions to determine just that:
According to you guys, your look isn't complete without... cute hair (129 of you), the right makeup (81 of you), cool shoes (63 of you), fun jewelry (54 of you), the perfect bag (28 of you) or a hat (9 of you). However, 102 of you said those options didn't complete your look at all.
And what about color? Is there one that you wear all the time?
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| Out of the following, what's your favorite color to wear? |
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count | percent |
fav color
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| red |
62 | 13.16 |
| orange |
12 | 2.55 |
| yellow |
7 | 1.49 |
| green |
30 | 6.37 |
| blue |
109 | 23.14 |
| purple |
18 | 3.82 |
| pink |
98 | 20.81 |
| black |
94 | 19.96 |
| brown |
31 | 6.58 |
| gray |
10 | 2.12 |
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| Blue is your favorite, with pink and black close behind! |
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From a previous question, we know that SmartGirls most often choose to express themselves through the clothes they wear, so it makes sense to find out what one item of clothing is your favorite. One item definitely beat out the others - see the graph below to find out which one.
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| What is your favorite type of clothing? |
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| Wow. Jeans definitely won that one, hands down! |
What about accessories and hair style? Many of you did happen to mention that your look just isn't complete without a cute hair style or an accessory of some sort. Let's dig a little deeper.
What is your hairstyle of choice?
201 of you prefer to wear your hair down.
109 of you like to sport ponytails.
41 of you like to fashion your hair half up and half down.
25 of you like to braid your hair.
25 of you like to wear a bun.
43 of you prefer other hairstyles not listed here.
Which is your bag of choice?
186 of you prefer a purse.
79 of you use a backpack.
59 of you sling a tote on your shoulder.
45 you use a messenger bag.
24 of you carry a wallet.
19 of you have a clutch.
And 54 of you don't carry a bag at all!
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Is your look made up of fancy labels or do you just go with what you think looks good? We asked where you fall in the name brand vs. generic brand debate. Surprisingly, many of you don't care!
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| I prefer name brands over generic brands. |
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| About half of you do not have a preference. |
Now that we know what you're wearing, that begs the question why do you wear it? This section focuses on that question. And what a better way to start out than asking that specific question itself:
Why do you wear what you wear?
How it looks on you is the most popular reason to put on what you're putting on. According to 215 of you, how it looks on you is the main reason you wear what you wear. One hundred nine of you go for comfort, 36 of you don your duds because they're in style, 8 of you wear what your friends are wearing, 7 of you wear what your parents buy you, and 5 of you have to take your school dress code into account. Seventy of you indicated that the reasons for your attire are none of the above.
And where do you draw your outfit inspiration? Who serves as a model for your fashion sense? According to the bar graph below, many of you guys aren't looking elsewhere - you're serving as your own style compass!
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| Who do you most model your fashion sense after? |
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| SmartGirls take pride in being unique. The majority of you are your own fashion inspirations. |
That's awesome that so many of you just follow your own instincts and wear what you want. Too often, there's too much pressure to wear a certain thing to look a certain way. That pressure can come from lots of different places, from magazines and TV to the people you interact with everyday. We were curious as to how much the people you see daily influence your fashion sense.
How important is it that your friends approve of your style?
60 of you said it's very important to you that your friends approve of your style.
138 of you said it's somewhat important.
165 of you said it's not that important.
102 of you said it's not important at all.
How important is it that your parents approve of your style?
92 of you said it's very important to you that your parents approve of your style.
158 of you said it's somewhat important.
110 of you said it's not that important.
106 of you said it's not important at all.
And how do trends influence what you wear? The graph below shows what you think:
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| How important is it to you to keep up with the latest trends? |
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| That's a pretty even split. About half of you place some value on keeping up with the latest trends, while the other half do not find it that important at all. |
| Style trends recycle throughout the years (old trends become new again). |
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count | percent |
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recycle
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| str_agree |
183 | 38.85 |
| agree |
182 | 38.64 |
| not sure |
93 | 19.75 |
| disagree |
10 | 2.12 |
| str_disagree |
3 | 0.64 |
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| Most of you strongly agree or agree with this statement. |
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What about you? Will your personal style get recycled or do you think you'll stick with your current statement?
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| How much do you think your style will change as you get older? |
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| Many of you feel that your style will change somewhat but not completely as you get older. |
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We've collected a lot of your thoughts on style so far, but to close, we thought we'd pick your brains a little more. How important do you think style is in communicating who a person is? If you were an article of clothing, what would you be? Read on! We saved the best question for last. :)
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| Style says a lot about who someone is. |
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| Many of you feel that this statement is at least somewhat true. |
And finally, "If you could choose one item of clothing that represents you, what would it be? What does it look like and why is it perfect for your personality?" Here's what some very creative SmartGirls told us:
Choose one item - WHAT??? If you want to know what kind of clothes represent my personality, come ransack my closet. I don't have enough time to write about my best clothes!
Washed shorts jeans [is it washed jeans shorts? whatever], it's half my thigh and has the jeans' fiber thingy that hang all over but they're not too long. It shows my personality because I'm simple, I'm fun, I'm relaxed, I like being comfortable and stylish at the same time.
My green and yellow and black and white poka dot pumps. They are funky and fun and loud, but a little sophisticated.
Really cute flip-flops!! I LOVE flip-flops!! They are the most comfy thing on my feet! The thing that I am not proud of is that my attitude flip flops too!
Handbag - it's expensive, but pretty, fun, but practical and whilst you could do without it, you really wouldn't want to.
It's not exactly clothing, but I love stacked bangles. They look girly but they aren't uncomfortable. I think they represent me because my style is somewhere between girly and sweet and they add pop and pizzaz to an outfit.
My baggy jeans, as they are very flexible and practical and easy to move in, just like me as I like to be comfy in what I wear and am not bothered about fashion trends as there are a lot more problems in the world for people to deal with than fashion trends.
I love camo. I think it reflects my personality because I can blend into any situation! I can just enter a room, get a feel for it and the people around me and be just like I have been there many times and know everyone!
Headbands rock. Mix it up a little, and it can define your outfit. Whether it be a full wrap around or a simple little one to keep your hair pulled back, it's important. It reflects my personality because I have different moods.
A shirt that has a peace sign and animals because I love animals and I want world peace!!
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Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts
with us!
Please remember that all web-based polls
are not scientific because the pollsters cannot randomly select the
respondents to participate in the surveys.
All our surveys are anonymous; check out our privacy
policy. All data copyright 1996-2000.
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