She describes her style as relatively casual. To school, she often wears a Juicy Couture track jacket or pants -- she has them in four colors. The pants start at about $75, and the jackets at about $90.
On a recent Friday, Lily sat in the school hallway during lunch with a group of friends from her field hockey team as they dissected the season premiere of the teen drama "The O.C.," this generation's "Beverly Hills, 90210."
Suitland High student Brandon Singleton, 17, keeps his closet of treasured designer labels neatly arranged.
(Katherine Frey -- The Washington Post)
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They discussed how much weight the character named Summer had lost and, of course, what everyone on the show was wearing. Lily is still on the lookout for an orange-ish/pink Lacoste polo shirt with stripes on the sleeves that one character wore last season. One girl wondered how long the stars would be believable as high school students.
"Is there anyone who dresses like Marissa or Summer?" asked Annie Rossetti, 16,.
"Yeah, at Whitman!" replied Ali Baker, 16.
Of course, not everyone at the school dresses as if they were auditioning to be an extra on "The O.C." Students sporting piercings, baggy pants or shirts that read "Peace Not War" fill the hallways, as well. According to Cardweb.com, a Frederick firm that tracks the credit industry, the average high-schooler spends about $66 a week -- barely enough to buy the tiny ID card/coin purse from Dooney & Burke.
But that doesn't mean designer labels are the sole domain of teenagers with money to burn. Brandon Singleton, an only child raised by a single mother in Suitland, said he spends his entire paycheck from his part-time job at Jean Machine in Pentagon City on clothing, only to turn to his mother for Metro fare. Meanwhile, at JEB Stuart High School in Falls Church, senior Bryan Bumstead, 18, said he sees plenty of students sporting fake Louis Vuitton purses and wallets.
"They have to be 'in fashion,' " Bryan said.
Lily and several of her friends said they use money from part-time or summer jobs to pay for their purchases or turn to the Bank of their Parents. Skye Stewart and Valentina Figueroa, both 16 and juniors at Whitman, said they just got their own credit cards. Meghan Snyder, 16, said she uses her parents' card.
Juggling the Costs
Elizabeth Barnett, a 16-year-old junior at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, said her parents usually don't object to paying for high-priced clothes, such as designer jeans or polo shirts. And she talked her mother into buying her a blue suede Coach totebag to use in place of her backpack by promising to let her mother borrow it every now and then. But trendy extras -- such as her pink Von Dutch trucker hat -- come out of her own pocket.
Still, the costs add up. Elizabeth's allowance is about $30 a week, two-thirds of which she is supposed to spend on food. But if she eats lunch at home, she can save a few extra dollars to go shopping.
Brandon Singleton said he doesn't subscribe to fashion magazines because doing so would reduce his clothing budget.
Brandon's dream is to move to Los Angeles and become a model, or maybe an actor. That means he will need money to buy a car -- new, he insisted -- rent an apartment, live on his own. He hasn't saved anything yet. How can he when Coach is selling umbrellas bearing its signature brown logo that match his Coach sneakers and wallet?
But there are limits to teenage spending. Cohen, the marketing analyst, said the teen market already has begun to fragment, with such products as iPods and camera phones competing for teenagers' dollars. And though Elizabeth said she is passionate about fashion, she has to draw the line somewhere.
"Prada is really expensive," she said. "I'm happy sticking with my Coach and Kate Spade."
