Amanda Grant Smith writes: The photo is of my BFF Melissa Storch Epstein and me. Melissa was from North Miami Beach and was hands down the style icon and trendsetter
extrordinaire of Camp Akiba. She had the best clothes, hair accessories, stationary, bedazzled tee shirts, puffy stickers-- you name it. Melissa wore Revlon Sphinx Pink nail polish, so we all wore Sphinx Pink. Nothing less would do. This is why, actually, my Adidas Samba coup was all the more spectacular. In 1985, I eschewed the Reebok high tops, the Keds, and the occasional Tretorn for black Adidas Sambas. Perhaps it was the rock & roll in me--the fact that I preferred Journey, Duran Duran, and Def Leppard-- while my bunkmates listened to Billy Joel, Phil Collins and the soundtrack to Dreamgirls. Maybe it was because I was the one in the bunk that was a little more likely to have done more than French kiss after canteen. Or possibly it was because I only took about 15 minutes to get ready while the others clocked in at no fewer than 45 minutes. Whatever it was, those shoes made me feel like a little bit of a badass while the rest of me conformed to (and loved) everything about camp and my friends. I worshiped Melissa and her wardrobe and couldn't wait each year as she unpacked her giant trunk filled with the labels we'd all be begging our parents to buy as soon as we got home. So, imagine the incredible high I experienced in late June 1986, as the buses arrived from South Jersey, Long Island, and Philadelphia, unloading one Jewish American Princess after another (none of whom had ever set foot on a soccer field, natch) in none other than MY black Adidas Sambas. I had truly arrived.
Amanda Grant Smith writes: The photo is of my BFF Melissa Storch Epstein and me. Melissa was from North Miami Beach and was hands down the style icon and trendsetter extrordinaire of Camp Akiba. She had the best clothes, hair accessories, stationary, bedazzled tee shirts, puffy stickers-- you name it. Melissa wore Revlon Sphinx Pink nail polish, so we all wore Sphinx Pink. Nothing less would do. This is why, actually, my Adidas Samba coup was all the more spectacular. In 1985, I eschewed the Reebok high tops, the Keds, and the occasional Tretorn for black Adidas Sambas. Perhaps it was the rock & roll in me--the fact that I preferred Journey, Duran Duran, and Def Leppard-- while my bunkmates listened to Billy Joel, Phil Collins and the soundtrack to Dreamgirls. Maybe it was because I was the one in the bunk that was a little more likely to have done more than French kiss after canteen. Or possibly it was because I only took about 15 minutes to get ready while the others clocked in at no fewer than 45 minutes. Whatever it was, those shoes made me feel like a little bit of a badass while the rest of me conformed to (and loved) everything about camp and my friends. I worshiped Melissa and her wardrobe and couldn't wait each year as she unpacked her giant trunk filled with the labels we'd all be begging our parents to buy as soon as we got home. So, imagine the incredible high I experienced in late June 1986, as the buses arrived from South Jersey, Long Island, and Philadelphia, unloading one Jewish American Princess after another (none of whom had ever set foot on a soccer field, natch) in none other than MY black Adidas Sambas. I had truly arrived. 
2 comments:
Not sure if I am flattered or mortified....(still up in the air)... none the less....I think it is important to note one more crucial detail from the Samba Summer.....(just so the wrong visual picture isn't painted....)
Amanda...your "fashion icon" was also in charge of ordering the pizza every single night at canteen and getting them back to the cabin. Plain or French bread? I pre-ordered and carried a box of at least 14 hot pizzas...Stuart's Brand (if memory serves me...) from Boy's Side ALL the way to Girl's Side...via Lake Road and Cardiac Hill...with a second run to the soda machine before the O.D. (counselor on duty) arrived.Coke, Diet Coke or Sprite?
Why me you ask? Great outfits, nor Samba's had anything to do with it.....For one.....and I could not go to bed without 2 french bread pizzas and a Diet Coke every night. But more importantly... I was only one who wasn't "getting busy" on the hill behind Howard's house. I was the biggest Prude ever!!!!
-Storch
So, I just read the article about Camp Camp in Newsweek and had to log on to the website. And what do I find? The first blog post is about Camp Akiba! I definitely have to agree that Melissa Storch's style was to be envied. Being from South Jersey, though, I was ALWAYS a year behind (fashion-wise) than all of my camp friends from Long Island. When I finally got Umbros, Brine lacrosse shorts were in. When I arrived with my Z Caverechi's, everyone else was pegging their jeans!
Thanks for this site. Can't wait to buy the book.
Jen (Colaguori) Wexler
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