dELiA*s
Recently there has been a slew of New York Times articles that attempt to dissect the “mystique” that the 20-something year old generation has somehow developed (“They hate work and go on Facebook all day long instead!”, “They wear fancy sunglasses that just don’t protect your dang eyeballs!”, “They’re all doomed!” etc, you know the type). I read one article recently that claimed we’re all a bunch of weirdos who get prematurely nostalgic about things that are still too young to cry over. I actually think I may know what they mean.
About 5 years ago my mom called me to announce a recent housecleaning operation, and demanded to know whether or not I needed all 8,000,000 ripped and tattered copies of Seventeen magazine and Alloy, sitting on the bookshelf in my untouched childhood bedroom. I (foolishly) let her toss Leelee Sobieski’s first Seventeen cover appearance and Aaliyah “playing it cool” (RIP bbgrl), HOWEVER I insisted she keep one and only one copy of my favorite preteen catalog – dELiA*s’ summer 1999. Actually, should we get really 90′s and call it a ‘magalog’? Yes, I think we should.
I don’t know why I decided to keep it, but I’m so glad I did. This thing has really made the rounds – I definitely brought it to college after a holiday break so my friends and I could pore over it. Dare I say it’s one of my most prized possessions? Still, I (somehow) forgot about it until Meg asked around for scans of Alloy/dELiA*s catalogs from the 90′s. Since it’s from 1999 it just barely makes the cut, but it is still so, so good.
Check out these low-res scans (I have no excuse..pretend the quality makes them fit in more with the era, ok?) from the catalog and have THE BEST TIME getting super nostalgic over chunky shoes and toothy models. Also, I uploaded the all 47 pages, plus insets!!!, here. There is just so much to say, from the models (yes, I remember them like they are my family. How old are they in this and where are they now?) to the trends (MAXI SKIRTS), to the music (B*WITCHED).
Did you all have a dELiA*s store at your local mall? Because I grew up in the mecca of all that is mall-y, I SURE DID. I remember many, many hours spent inside those weird “oh is the curtain closed all the way, I can’t tell because it’s silver and metallic and has a tiny magnet to keep people from looking at you” dressing rooms, squeezing my baby fat into Paul Frank tees (yup, I was a fan, go ahead and hate) and shelf bra tank tops, listening to my mom exclaim, “$45 FOR A SUNDRESS?!”. Also, please do state your favorite model, and if you had (have?) any of the clothing featured on these pages, because I sure did.
You bet I had that star baseball tee. I loved it with my entire being, and think dELiA*s is to blame for my obsession with stars. I had the shirt until I spilled a weird sauce on it at some point and it had to be retired.
The striped tank I coveted, but I can’t remember if I had it or not. Looking through the catalog, I’m having trouble remembering what I owned for sure, and what I only tried on in store (let’s be real, it was EVERYTHING OMG).
Bib style halter top covered in octopus print? Check. Dress with printed trim and matching board shorts? Oh, check.
Obviously, half of my closet was Roxy. Who do you think I am? I really wanted the dress at right, but I’m sure it was “too revealing” for school. Additionally, I love that already, only a few pages in, this season is shaping up to be all about the revival of the hawaiian print.
Yup, had those striped board shorts. Roxy.
Butterfly motifs? Sure looks like middle school. I despised pink in middle school (I was too PUnK RoK), so I’m surprised this page wasn’t completely torn out.
HELLLLLO prom! Can’t you just see Fairuza Balk rocking that pink floral dress?
Ok, time to get real. Here’s where I really went wild at dELiA*s. I remember seeing A, B, F, and G in the store – SO VIVIDLY that it’s alarming. I had J (of course), recently acquired bobby pins very similar to to O, and wish dearly that I could still buy C.
WOOF messenger bags. I might wear that strawberry bag today, though.
SO MUCH. FROSTED. MAKE UP. I owned the glitter nail polish until it hardened into sparkly solid goo. I never bought shoes like the above in middle school because I was already entire feet taller than the boys and had no intention of looking down on them even more. BOOOO.
I think this terrible era in fashion is why I could never really get into Threadless when it got big. Graphic tees…ick.
Ok, what is up with those bib halter tops?! I guess it’s a nod to 50s/60s fashion, but looks seriously weird. The top sunglasses on the right are the only part of the catalog that I would absolutely refuse to wear today.
Really wanted that star tank top, and also owned a navy blue lace edge tank (B). I remember the arm holes being abnormally small and hating myself for having “fat” arms. So middle school.
The ubiquitous maxi skirt and capris appear. I still really like that dress on the left.
My best friend graduated from middle school in the plaid dress and I wanted it SO. BAD.
Thought I’d include an order form in case ya’ll want to get some glitter lip gloss. Keep in mind that if your mom won’t give you her credit card, you’ll have to send your allowance via money order because you’re 12 and can’t open a bank account yet, and then wait approximately 20 days for your order to be processed and delivered.
Remember the weird, short matte paper insets with sales and ads? I want pretty much every skirt on this page. Meagan, I know you want the Lunar skirt – be honest.
Obviously had to include something from gURL. They hosted my very first webpage, I believe it was a Backstreet Boys fansite that later turned into a Britney/Christina/Mandy/Willa hate site.
Infernal inflatable furniture. Our parents worked hard to provide a nice, classy homestead and we went and turned it into Andy-Warhol’s-factory-on-bad-90s-ecstasy. Shameful. I had an inflatable chair and rainbow peace sign bead curtains from Claires. I must find pictures of this.
Credit: scans by me, the rest here. Also, check out one and two places to see select old Seventeen covers!
Categories: Fashion, old, Uncategorized | Tags: 1990s, alloy catalog, bead curtains, claires, clothes, delias, maxi skirts, middle school, nj, seventeen magazine, suburbia, teen fashion, teens, tweens | 39 comments
OH MY GOD YOU ARE MY FUCKING HERO FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER I LOVE YOU SO HARD RIGHT NOW
plus i serously recognize some things i had in here, aaah! did you ever have delia’s bedding?! cuz i sure did.
omg i don’t think so! It was probably too “funky” for me (and by me i mean my mom). i did however have amazing “counting sheep” sheets printed all over with numbered sheep?! offtopic, but whatever.
had the bedding…the dasrk blue background with multi colored stars and matching star shaped rug. from the 2000 catalog I believe. I worshiped the 1997 spring catalog and “read” it every day after school
I remember that bedding! omg.
OH MY GOD! Thank you SO MUCH for posting the dELiA*s catalog pages!!! There was this pair of red plaid pants from 1997/98 that I have regretted not buying FOR THE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS. If you want more Seventeen shit from ’98, I haven’t updated my website in LIKE TWO YEARS (so maybe I’ll finish up the year in 2013…fifteen years later, rather than 10, but LIFE GETS IN THE WAY) but you can see some awesome ’98 page scans. And yes, my mom made me do the whole magazine purge, but I kept one solid year of Seventeens.
kristineonseventeen.blogspot.com
wait. you are my hero. these scans are. amazing. i totally remember all the weird straight times new roman-y design/fonts. ALSO FASHION BUG.
This is when Delias was FUN and no one bought their clothes at all. Funny thing is that the blue sleeveless shirt in the 24th catalog page that you posted . . .I OWNED IT and wore it in 8th grade in 1997/1998. I had a long sleeve version similar to it that I got too. The girl with the REALLY long hair was My FAVORITE delias model and they even had some article about her in the Alloy catalog (which was a more skate/surf mag back then owned by Delias too) and she was an actual surfer! I thought she was so cool. Now that I look at her, I can see that I could have passed as her cousin.
Delias wasn’t in the mall at all when I started getting their catalogs. There was an outlet store somewhere that I went to with a girl and her mom in 8th grade. It was really huge and everything was on sale. When they put the Delias in Rockaway and Willowbrook I was soooo happy. Sadly they had already changed so much. I still shop there sometimes but they’ve changed so very much that it is sad. I mean look how fun these pages are. Sure I wouldn’t wear most that is in it now, but it was sooo cool but WASN’T either yet!!! awwwwwwwwwwww I now wish I kept some. By the way, I wanted that camo dress badly haha. My mom told me I couldn’t have it because it was spaghetti strapped. I obeyed. I bought one of their inflatable chairs at one point too. It was dark green and glittery. I bought ALL the days of the week underwear they sold (the Dollhouse ones were my favorites in the Alloy catalog though. I was sad when I was on my last pair that survived which was Friday. It was black and had a little dollhouse girl on it with an attitude word on it. Not sure which one. They had things like “Happy” and such written on the bum). I HATED the shoes that were in style in this catalog because everyone had them. My mom made me get the white pair seen throughout this catalog for my 8th grade graduation.
Other catalogs that I used to get during that time that I loved was Brat, Moxie Girl, and goodness. . .there was one I wish I could remember that was so fun but I don’t remember now. It was more aimed to reach out to ALL styles (from punk, hippie, preppy, etc). Alloy and Delias from back then got the most of my hard saved money! . . .and then Alloy completely changed and now they are all dressy styled and are aimed for women in their early 20s and it’s UGLY clothes. I got my last catalog of theirs in the mail this week. It said, “don’t let this be your last alloy catalog” and I said, “I haven’t liked your stuff since about 1999, so bye bye!”
This is a long comment.
Wow, you so COULD be her cousin! All of these models are so awesome, not at all vapid-esque like many models seem to be now. i wonder where they’ve all ended up.
Was the outlet at Woodbury Commons in NY state? I remember going to one there but it wasn’t that good, if memory serves. The catalog was so fun because it wasn’t at all about “being hot” or anything, it was really just about girls having fun. I wish there was more like that today for tween/teen girls.
I remember Moxie Girl! Remember this weird catalog for swimsuits? I think it was called venus!?
yeah I think it was Woodbury Commons! It really wasn’t that great. clothes were thrown about everywhere. It was mainly things that were solid color cheap shirts that I recall. I was disappointed when I went. I agree that it was just girls having fun in the catalog. I too wonder where these ladies went to!
I noticed that the girls who modeled in the Delias catalog about 5 years ago now model in the Alloy catalog and they show their breasts off like crazy. I cancelled getting it.
YES I think I did get Venus! I never bought from them though.
OH MY GOD thanks a million times for posting this! um, i am pretty sure i owned this “issue” of delia’s! it looks TOO familiar!
several things:
-square-toed platforms.
-shift dresses in pastel colors.
-hawaiian/underwater prints (remember when those were a thing?!)
-raglan tees.
-and yes, i would have died over that skirt. best worn with a care bears ringer tee and kandy bracelets. PLUR
I love raglan tees, still. I totally want all the colorful versions they have at AA just to relive my delias glory days.
Also, Hawaiian prints forever because i am a 50 year old tiki enthusiast
LASTLY I FORGOT ABOUT PLUR OMG OMG OMG
This post totally made my day…week…wait…YEAR! <3
<3333
I love you forever!! Thank you for posting this, this seriously made my day. I’m nostalgic for the time when these catalogs were the epitome of cool teen fashion.
glad you liked it! Delias was legendary!
Man, you’d think we grew in 1932 what with the paper order forms and waiting four weeks for delivery.
Seriously, gigantic props for posting this. Few things on the internet these days can stir my emotions so!
My favorite model was Janelle Fishman, but I am pretty sure she was not prominently featured until the early 2000s. Who was yours!?
I have a vague recollection of Janelle! I love that you know her name! I don’t know any of their names, otherwise it would be so easy to find out “where are they now”.
I think my favorite is the girl on the cover of this catalog! She was just so classic, yet not bland at all.
WHOA my fave was Janelle, too! She was the only reason I started collecting these catalogs when I was about 15, I thought she was too gorgeous. I’m so happy someone else remembers this, that way I don’t feel like a total weirdo.
I also remember Lindsey Hartley, anyone remember her? She had a fan website and would comment there often. (She was also on the cover of Seventeen in about 1997ish.) We “corresponded” for a bit, and I thought it was LEGENDARY in my totally geeky universe.
She ended up dating Dave Navarro (sp?) in 2010(?), I found out.
Grew UP!
Ohmigosh, just HAD to comment. I totally remember this catalog!!! I used to order from delia*s all the time, good times! I remember calling in and ordering, old school style. I never ordered online. I totally had D sandals from page 35, and E bathing suit from page 44. and B top from page 14. Love it. Thanks for much for sharing!
YES YOU WE’RE A HAWAIIAN TREND FAN! I feel like I either had those sandals or really wanted them!
scan more if you have more catalogs! haha.
ohhh my god! tooootally rocked the floral dress and butterfly tank on pages 18 and 19. I also had the days of the week panties. and i wanted the camo maxi dress soooo bad. this is so awesome.
also, gURL.com and inflatable furniture. crazy memories.
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I just came across this by chance and am so stoked. O. M. G. — the days of Catazines and Magalogs — ahh man, looking back they totally ripped off alt-culture so hard but I was oblivious to it at the time. I even got a free book from dELiA*s about starting a zine, a record label, and writing letters or something like that. ( Of course now all of that stuff is super cool again.) It must have been anathema to older kids but I was like 9 when I started getting the catalog so it was TOTALLY THE COOLEST. I miss my old dELiA*s catalogues and old Seventeen issues, too! My cousin and I used to fight over them. It’s so weird how we both fixated over certain items that we definitely had2have. Catalog shopping ruled. My fave model was Sara Ziff. (And I’m glad she’s turned out to be a badass). I liked the girl on the cover of this catalog a lot, too. I admittedly still wear spaghetti strap tank tops, ankle length polyester skirts, and platform sandals from time to time — and some of it is left over from the 90s. No cybergoth, utility pants, weird all over photo prints described as ‘ethnic’ (I definitely had a muscle tank with ringer sleeves and a geisha girl and some Japanese nonsense printed all over it), cargo pants, butterfly clips, flame prints, square toed shoes, tiny polo shirts, capris, tattoo chokers, metal ball chokers, glitter, or frosted makeup though — that can all stay in the late 90s forever.
Also, these reviews of Moxie Girl Catalog (RIP) are hilarious:
http://www.epinions.com/reviews/mags-MoXie_Girl__MXG_?sb=1
” It has hip, trendy urban clothes and articles on everything from the clothes to snowboarding to 311.”
Oh man…
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I got a pair of white “golf” shoes in 1996. So tight. Loved those guys.
As the late 90s rolled on, and Delia’s clothes veered off from pastel mod to “Wet Seal foes Pacific Sunwear,” I grew weary. The clothes were borderline expensive for what they were. They didn’t fit very well. The style seemed less fresh. What was first an joyous epiphany became a joke in the mail. Times change, Delia’s is dead, but it was a rush of hope while it lasted.
I mean…Wet Seal does Pacific Sunwear
Hilarious!!! I remember the same excitement over Delias every time it came in the mail. In fact, in fifth grade during some math block we had to open these pretend stores– I obviously chose to open a clothing store, the entirety of whose inventory came from snipped delia’s pages.
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OMG, this took me back to high school! I graduated high school right before this one came out and I remember poring through the pages, dreaming about everything I couldn’t afford to get for college in the fall! Thank you for that trip down memory lane
t.
I loved shopping at Delia’s! I’d make my parents drive an hour to take me to the store and would research store locations when we went on vacations. I still remember my favorite outfit – a purple nylon tank paired with a purple watercolor print skirt
Oh man, this is so nostalgic! I remember going crazy over these catalogs and begging my parents to order stuff from them. I kind of miss ’90s style. So much of it was about comfort.
I had way too many pairs of board shorts when I was in middle school, and chunky shoes! Also, chokers. I LOVED chokers.
Oh my gosh. Love these catalogs. I got a million of them, and maybe have one saved still?
I totally had an inflatable chair. It was the must have piece of furniture for any 13 year old.
OH MY GOD. So awesome. Thank you for the memories. Memories that came flooding back at first glance!
Camo slides – check. I remember they were surprisingly squishy, and the left one farted as I walked… absurd. But of course I still loved them anyway. Because who else had platform foam camo slides in 9th grade? That’s right, just me. The cool kid.
This made me smile something gigantic! Thank you for sharing and thanks for the memories