nostomanic: Ghostwriter

Ghostwriter aired on PBS from 1992 to 1995. It was an educational show that taught kids the importance of reading, writing, vigilante justice, and communicating with ghosts.

Every week, the multi-ethnic, middle-school-age crew would traipse around the streets of Brooklyn unsupervised (not unlike the kids from Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold), sticking their little Ghostwriter noses in everyone's business and killing it with their cutting edge outfits.

Jamal, the leader of the group, loved his Cross Colours. But even when he wasn't wearing "post hip hop nation academic hard wear" he stuck to the brand's green-yellow-red-black color scheme and urban aesthetic. Sometimes he'd put on a Malcolm X shirt or some chunky ethnic beads because he was in touch with his heritage. Other times he'd carry around a baseball glove because he was in touch with his boyness. His flattop was high enough to be fly but not so high as to be unsophisticated.

Jamal also had some kind of futuristic word processing program that turned his computer screen totally blue.

Latchkey kid Lenni Frazier was not only the most fashion forward girl in Fort Greene but was by far the most fashion forward kid of the '90s. (Clarissa Darling wished she looked this fresh.)

She was a budding musician and had that kind of bold, artsy, singer-songwriter, I-live-above-a-bodega style. Lenni, who was definitely the coolest member of the group, owned the sickest green Dr. Martens.

If I ever stop being poor, I'm going to buy a pair of these, for sure. Just look at the reaction they get from the fellas!

Humunuh, humunuh, humunuh boner!

Alex (or Alejandro) usually just threw on some over-sized tee and called it a day but from time to time he'd dip into his silk, printed button-down collection. Once he wore one of these super classy numbers while sitting in an incredibly natural position and decoding a message written on blue paper. (Blue paper and blue computer screens were all the rage among preteen detective necromancers.)

I can't even begin to explain how much I loved this kid. He was cute, tall, wore a gold chain--basically, he had everything I wanted in a boyfriend when I was 9 years old.

Gaby was Alex's little sister and, of all the Ghostwriter kids, her style was most in line with the kind of stuff I was wearing to elementary school back in the day. For Gaby--and also for me--1992 was all about gigantic shirts and spandex. She, however, rocked her spandex with a lot more panache than I did. What I appreciate most about Gaby's style is that there wasn't anything pretentious about it--she was a genuine around-the-way-girl. I also really appreciate her enormous, backwards sleep shirt.

I'm thinking about wearing one of these out and about. IT LOOKS THAT GOOD!

Tina, Gaby's BFF and Alex's crush, dressed liked a Cosby kid. If I could raid the closet of any member of the Ghostwriter team it'd be Tina's--her button-downs are the stuff of dreams. Oh, and these shoes...

yeah, I used to have, like, 15 pairs of these.

Rob, the sensitive transfer student, wrote poetry and palled around with homeless peeps. The bandannas that he loved so dearly covered a gorgeous '90s-boy-center-part.