Tween Fashion and the Girl-Next-Door

FASHION/ENTERTAINMENT - Young teens (aka Tweens) are all abuzz about the new Hannah Montana Movie, starring Miley Cyrus... but their adoration has also sparked an unusual fashion trend...

Modesty.

In an era when teenagers and young girls seem to be showing a lot more skin, this trend is a welcome change for parents concerned about their kids' promiscuity.

So instead we have the wholesome girl-next-door.

As opposed to the skanky Britney Spears look or the slutty Paris Hilton look. Or punkish Avril Lavigne or heroin-chic Amy Winehouse.

Adapted from the hit TV series from Disney, Hannah Montana is covered-up, ladylike and wholesome.

But what do the fans say?

"I saw the movie and really liked the clothes – I really liked the looser jeans and I want to get a flannel shirt. I liked that it was sort of peasant-y and plain," says Ruby, age 14. Ruby admits "I'm too old to have this admiration for her," and admits she had to pick her way past throngs of 8, 9 and 10-year-olds for a seat to watch the movie.

"I've always worn skinny jeans, but I liked that sort of casual, farmy look," says Ruby, who says she will be going shopping for baggier jeans, flannel shirts and peasant skirts.

Wow. Maybe clogs will become fashionable too? (That was sarcasm BTW.)

The Hannah Montana franchise is important fashion for tweens and young teens.

"Hannah Montana dominates the tween market," says Nadia Casarcia of La Senza Girl. "I saw the movie myself and we're definitely seeing a softer side of Miley. Even though there were two very different looks, she was more subdued. Maybe that's a reaction to some of the pressure she's faced in real life."

Miley Cyrus, who plays Hannah Montana, wore a very grown-up couture gown on the Oscars' red carpet this year, and has been criticized for appearing in Vanity Fair swathed only in a sheet, sparking controversy about her age and the amount of skin she was showing.

Fashion tends to go in cycles (hence why Madonna keeps changing her look). I think this new modest-look is simply a reaction to the overtly-sluttiness of the previous look being pushed on young teens.

So will this stick around? Maybe awhile, another year or two, but after that tweens will be older and moved on to something new.

Besides... aren't we forgetting something?

Miley Cyrus and her character Hannah Montana don't always dress the same... and Miley Cyrus is hardly the only female rolemodel out there that young women are emulating.

And then there's also feminists and their chance every summer to go topless and upset the religious wackos who think nudity is a sin. Or the opposite... there's young women going topless during Spring Break, etc...

So is America's young women becoming more modest? I think not. This is a quaint idea, but there's so much other stuff in the mass media and the internet now that young women really have a lot to choose from when it comes to deciding to dress like a madonna or a whore.