I�m about to sound like a fuddy duddy. I am aware of this and have chosen to go ahead anyway. I get points for the self-awareness, right?

Anyway, I am somewhat concerned that the Paris Hilton �style� of dressing (or not), combined with an irony-free reworking of �80�s fashion, is moving into the general teenage population at an alarming rate.

I just came back from picking up lunch and couldn�t help but notice two young women making their way down the footpath, at lunch time on a weekday, in extremely tiny mini skirts and layered sleeveless tops falling off at least one shoulder. One was in spike heals, the other in flip flops, both were carrying tiny handbags and wearing big earrings and bangles up their arms.

In and of itself this would not be a cause for too much concern. But it�s school holidays here at the moment, and we�re going through an unseasonably hot week that has caused everyone to pull out their summer wardrobes again, so the abundance of teenagers in similar outfits has been unmissable.

There was a group of six on my tram home last night, and one showed off more than she�s intended (I hope) under her mini mini when forced to make a flying leap out the door before she missed her stop.

Now, these girls do have the bodies for it, I�ll give them that. They�re all skinny and/or petite, and thankfully I�ve yet to see anyone with teenage puppy fat in a three inch mini, though I�m sure it�s only a matter of time.

They do, however, all look cheap. It�s the best description I can come up with. The clothes look cheap, the girls look cheap.

They also look like refugees from the �80�s who�ve just shortened their rah-rah skirts by a few inches. The outfits seem to be worn with no sense of irony whatsoever, which to me, a teenager in the �80�s, makes them both laughable and mildly distressing.

Waiting for a train a couple of weeks ago I was standing next to a girl who was wearing a white jersey rah-rah skirt (and not a particularly clean one), an off-the-should Pat Benetar/Flashdance-style faded black sweatshirt, pointed black pumps, and some pretty odd leg wear. Basically a cross between leg warmers (worn over the heal and half way down the foot), footless leggings (faded black jersey), and those silly stockings that adhered to your leg above the knee by means of mild glue (they stopped half-way up her thigh). The whole effect was cheap, and not a little nasty.

Above all, it gives these girls the appearance of having no style of their own. I know it�s hard to develop your own style when you�re fifteen or sixteen and spend most of your life in a school uniform, but do you adopt a particular look of the moment � or 20 years ago (or crap, has it been that long? Now I�m totally depressed) completely, with no evidence of your own personality showing through? Frankly another girl on the tram last night was showing far more style and personality than the mini skirted brigade, and she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

Anyway, that�s almost the end of my fuddy duddy rant, the core of which is: put some clothes on. Some clothes that don�t make you appear like I should be afraid that you�ll break into Love is a Battlefield at any moment.