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L.L. Bean can’t keep Blucher moccasins in stock. Cargo shorts and mocs are everywhere. Bottega Veneta is making $5,000 camp stools.
Summer ’08 is in full swing, and half the world looks as if it’s dressed for a camp skit.
Or maybe it’s just a serious bout of camp nostalgia. Because one look at the real thing and you’ve got to wonder.
Roger Bennett and Jules Shell have immortalized the mix of awkward teen campers, the great outdoors and tube socks in their new book, Camp Camp: Where Fantasy Island Meets Lord of the Flies (Crown, $24.95).
It picks up where their “Bar Mitzvah Disco” left off, inviting us to revisit those regrettable ’80s fashion choices, camp crushes and stop-at-nothing stunts to be cool.
Long lazy days, first loves, headgear … this hardcover homage to camp life is full of cringe-worthy pictures of girls with skyscraper bangs, wearing white Keds and — the “Prada of the ’80s” — Esprit.
And then there are the boys, who seem to celebrate their impending manhood in minuscule shorts, bowl cuts and wristbands.
The campers’ stories run alongside collages of letters home and scrapbook shots.
In a jean jam
Q. I have been wearing “tummy tuck jeans” by NYDJ (Not Your Daughter’s Jeans) for about two years. I love the way they contain my motherly figure. But the price has inched up to about $100, which is too rich for my pocketbook. I’ve tried in vain to find cheaper jeans that work as well as NYDJ. Any ideas?
A. Try Signature by Levi Strauss & Co’s. new Totally Slimming jeans. They will be carried at many Wal-Mart stores and online at www.walmart.com ($19.95).
Designed to minimize the stomach, thighs and rear, they are made from a high-stretch fabric and have a hidden panel in front for tummy control. The slim, boot-cut styling helps create a longer, leaner silhouette.
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