TREND GUIDE

Back to School Style Is Now Cool Year-Round—and Rihanna-Approved

September is fast approaching, but celebs like Cara Delevingne and the Hadids have been pulling out the backpacks all year.


FENTY PUMA by Rihanna : Runway - Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2017/2018
Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho/Getty Images

In HBO’s action-packed mini-series Big Little Lies, the drama begins early on—with something as simple as a stiletto break. The perfectly varnished veneer of Madeline, played by peak Reese Witherspoon, takes a hit when her super-serious picking-up-her-kids from school style—a floral Dolce & Gabbana dress and heels—causes her to twist her ankle, which soon takes up residence on the equally flawlessly outfitted lap of Nicole Kidman, playing Celeste.

Madeline, in all of her aggro-neurotic blonde glory, was of course, as usual, taking things to an extreme, but just like the parents of New York’s tony TriBeCa area, she wasn’t wrong in focusing on—and elevating—back to school style, which is rolling back around soon come September, but which has started to be in style all year round, too. Why else would celebrities like Cara Delevingne, Gigi and Bella Hadid, Lena Dunham, and Kylie Jenner, be lugging around backpacks on places like the red carpet, when they no doubt have a bevy of assistants to carry their things—which definitely don’t involve textbooks—around?

You Don’t Need To Be A Student To Accessorize With A Backpack, Just Ask Rihanna and Katy Perry

Cara Delevingne attends the Elle Style Awards 2014 at One Embankment on February 18, 2014 in London, England.

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Katy Perry attends the opening of “Britney: Piece of Me” at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on December 27, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Rihanna is seen on July 11, 2015 in New York City.

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Olivia Wilde attends the Alternative Apparel + Shopbop Launch The Message Bag at Treehouse at David Burke Kitchen on July 30, 2012 in New York City.

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Taylor Swift is seen in New York City on December 26, 2014 in New York City.

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Kylie Jenner is seen in Beverly Hills on June 04, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.

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St. Vincent is seen on July 21, 2015 in New York City.

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Lena Dunham is seen in Beverly Hills on September 1, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.

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Gigi Hadid is seen walking in Brooklyn on February 10, 2016 in New York City.

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Diane Kruger is seen on April 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California.

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Naomi Watts is seen on September 08, 2015 in New York City.

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Kristen Stewart seen out in Manhattan on October 06, 2016 in New York, New York.

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Bella Hadid is seen on February 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.

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Alessandra Ambrosio is seen wearing a skirt and jacket from Versace in the streets of Manhattan on February 8, 2017 in New York City.

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Hailey Baldwin is seen on February 08, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.

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Malia Obama is seen out in Manhattan with friend on February 24, 2017 in New York, New York.

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Hailey Baldwin seen out in Manhattan on May 03, 2017 in New York, New York.

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Kourtney Kardashian is seen on June 16, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.

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The runway shows earlier this year proved that [the early 2000s are unequiv

ocally back](https://www.wmagazine.com/gallery/2000s-fashion-comeback)—a time whose trappings for the back to school shopper prominently featured rhinestones, going-out tops, chainmail dresses, and other Paris Hilton-isms. But for a certain generation, that era is also associated with having to outfit yourself for going to class—usually in logo tees, which are also making a comeback; and hoodies, which Taylor Swift has recently taken to hiding under, just like we did in homeroom—and the library, which is where Rihanna decided to show her Fenty x Puma collection earlier this year.

“I couldn’t think of anywhere better for the theme of this collection: back to school,” she said at the time of unveiling her designs—a collegiate grouping of varsity logos, polos, and argyle sweaters, with some definitely dress code-defying crop tops of course thrown in there, too.

Joan Smalls walking the library table-top runway at the Fenty x Puma show during Paris Fashion Week Womenswear fall 2017.

Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho/Getty Images

Still, if you had more of a roll-out-of bed approach to getting ready for school, you’re in luck, too: The more basic among us will be happy to know that Jeremy Scott is now rolling out a new line of Uggs, which just might make the suburban staple an urban go-to. (If that sounds like a stretch, just remember that this was the year Crocs suddenly became cool, too.)

What Back to School Looks Like For the Parents of Lower Manhattan

Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
Photo by Lexie Moreland.
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Related: Jeremy Scott, “Undercover Ugg Fan,” Comes Out of Hiding, Designs Some Uggs

Paris Hilton Breaks Down Her 13 Favorite 2000s Trends, and Why They’re Still Hot: