By Guest Blogger
Go Fug Yourself: The Plaid Legacy
Posted under Fashion on October 23, 2008
It's crazy to think "Baby, One More Time" is ten years old. In person
terms, the song would be a precocious fifth-grader right now, learning
the facts of life in Health class from a creepy video of a family
playing beach volleyball in the buff; making dioramas out of pipe
cleaners; and sneering at sticky-fingered, icky, cootie-oozing boys
(while secretly wearing the headband that her crush once said he
liked). And yet, though it feels eons ago that we fuggers
were all atwitter about young Britney posing in her panties on the
cover of Rolling Stone, the song itself sounds new every time it comes
on our iPods. It's just that good.
Not to mention iconic: Despite the fact that Britney actually spends
less than half the video cavorting through the school corridors in that
infamous, skin-baring, yet weirdly innocent school uniform, that image
is the most indelible one from the entire clip. You know that's true
because the video also features a posse of dudes in neckties and
Dockers, hilariously leaping, twirling, and pointing skyward, and yet
NOBODY remembers that. Instead, with one glimpse of Brit's bare midriff
between that crisp white shirt and her pleated skirt, a million
Halloween costumes were born. Because while "Baby One More Time" didn't
invent the concept of the sexy schoolgirl, it did teach us all how much
guys totally dig it when you bust out a plaid skirt, pigtails, and a
sassy bra. In the subsequent years, we alone dipped into the Naughty
Catholic-School Co-ed well for Halloween at least three times --
including one particularly memorable year when we bumped into two dudes
dressed as Satanic priests and ended up with a pretty memorable photo
of us kissing their crucifixes (we swear that's not a euphemism). One
of them even called us "the Britneys."
All this despite the fact that she spends less than half the video in
that outfit. Seriously, a minute and 25 seconds in, Britney is outside
wearing track pants and a sports bra and doesn't look back. Now, we're
sure plenty of people find Sporty Spears just as alluring, but on Oct.
31, slipping into your workout gear is a whole lot less exciting than
buying knee socks and some feathers to stick in your braids. And not
for nothing, you don't see the modern-day saucy students like Blair
Waldorf and Serena Van Der Woodsen exploring fresh takes on a racerback
bra and some shorts.
In fact, the whole thing was oddly inspiring. It spurred us,
for instance, to do a lot more sit-ups in a day than ever before --
like, twenty, up from zero -- and it had girls and gays alike slavishly
watching MTV, waiting for a glimpse of the video so we could record it
onto our now-fossilized VHS tapes and then do the pause-and-rewind
routine until we'd learned all the dance moves. (These kids today, with
their YouTubes and their Interwebs, don't know our pain.) So thanks,
Ms. Spears. Not only did you give us one of the all-time best tunes for
dancing around the living room in our underwear, but you redefined
plaid as something sexy rather than just that stuff Grandpa's pants are
made of; plus, you've made Halloween considerably more entertaining for
everyone -- and that's not even taking into account the ramifications
of that red latex catsuit from "Oops, I Did It Again." Your legacy is
assured.
Photos via CircusVIP.com
Mariana said:
Mar 17
I wanna participate in the if you seek amy look contest !!!....:)
And this is one of my favorite Britney look!....just because the picture is so old , and britney was just starting with that great song ...i'll never forget those times!... :)