The Origins of Bai Ling

Ok, so yesterday I stumbled across this blog which catapulted me into a frenzy of nostalgia for the fashion of my tween years. The purple fashion prose used in The Babysitters Club books has set many a young girl on the road to becoming a fashion-obsessed woman who rates her daily happiness by the perfection of her outfit. (I happily admit to belonging to this camp, even though my affliction manifests itself in the more OCD manner of simply needing to aquire more clothes, never mind putting them together in any stylish way. I blame Barbie and the unattainable vastness of her wardrobe.)

Anyway, after devouring every blog post on "what claudia wore", I had an epiphany. Let me illustrate it in images for you:

Claudia Kishi:

Ok, so the illustrators never did Claudia justice on the covers. I'll give you a description straight from the book, in the fashion icon's own words:

"At the moment I'm wearing lavender plaid cuffed pants with suspenders over a green shirt with buttons down the front, a matching lavender beret (and not just because I'm at my easel), and fleece-lined, high-top sneakers which I must admit are uncomfortably hot, but they look great. Also, I've got on earrings shaped like Christmas tree lights that actually blink on and off. I'm not sure why I chose to wear them, since it's nowhere near Christmas, but I love jewelry, like to make my own sometimes, and have pierced ears."

...and that one is tame! Now, on to my epiphany:

Now, if you are not suitably impressed by my "Bai Ling is Claudia Kishi all grown up" theory, let me just inform you that I emailed the ladies who write my favorite blog -Heather and Jessica at gofugyourself.com - to tell them of the fantastic connection my champagne addled brain managed to make. They replied that I had blown their minds. I am currently trying to exercise some restraint and not go into an orgy of gushing fangirl-dom and numerous emails that may border on harassment. Lucky for them I live in Australia now. If I was still home in San Diego, I'd be driving up the 405 freeway right now with matching BFF t-shirts, a roll of duct tape and all my back issues of US Weekly.