AFTER spending the summer holidays having the freedom to dress as they like, many children and teenagers in Yangon are not looking forward to wearing their compulsory green and white school uniforms as the new school year begins in the coming weeks.

Many use their clothes and accessories as a statement of personal style and tastes, and when everyone wears the same thing, they find it difficult to stand out as an individual.

Children and teenagers say that they deal with the situation by being creative – they add something extra to their uniform. For when it comes to going back to school, they say it is all about how you accessorise.

“For school girls, the most popular accessories are the pretty hairclips with fancy designs and pretty stones,” said a sales representative from Moe Pale store in Bogyoke Aung San market.

“The girls are also starting to choose the cute bags that are waterproof and have little cartoons on them,” she said.

A teacher from the Basic Primary School No. (1) in Pabedan township said student fashion trends change rapidly from year to year.

“Most students last year had backpacks with some fancy colours like pink, yellowish green and sky blue,” said the teacher.

“But this will change this year depending on what accessories the children have seen on the South Korean movies and sitcoms.”

Back-to-school fashion trends also seem to depend on which cartoons are popular.

“Most little guys want to buy backpacks with some pictures and words from Spiderman or Mikki, a Japanese cartoon,” the Moe Pale sales representative said.

Daw Ohnmar Linn, whose daughter is in the third standard, said she plans to buy stationary and a lunch box that have the latest designs for her daughter.

“I buy my daughter these things because I want to encourage her to study,” Daw Ohnmar Linn said.

“And she really likes the fancy styles and the bright colours, so I try to buy her the most fashionable accessories in the shops,” she said.

There are some students, like Ma Khin Myo Kyi, who choose their school accessories for their practicality, not for their stylish design. But most students look for textbooks, pencil cases, erasers and bags that will set them apart from the pack.

According to a sales representative from Super One supermarket, students like things that are fashionable but also innovative and different.

“The children like erasers in the shape of their favourite cartoons and they like to wear watches and have pencil cases that match,” the sales representative said.

“This year there are even some innovative designs like wind-down erasers that the students have all wanted to buy.”

Unfortunately for parents like Daw Ohnmar Linn, school fashions do not come cheap.

This year’s trendy backpacks cost between K2000 and K10,000, and the latest in South Korean-style pencil cases cost between K1500 and K5000.

“I suppose it all adds up,” Daw Ohnmar Linn said.

For the kids, it adds up to style.