This Must End. Now.

I have noticed a slowly-growing trend of late. One that I thought was dead and buried. Consigned to a time long-past, when preppies ruled the earth and men tied sweaters around their necks. I am speaking, of course, of this:

Yes, it's back.

It's the up-turned collar, and it must be destroyed once and for all.

I lived through the fashion-debacle that was the 80s, friends, and I saw it all. Girls with hoop earings and jelly bracelets. Boys wearing acid-washed jeans and Izod shirts, or maybe throwing on the sweater-vest/boat shoes combo.

And who can forget the Miami Vice craze of pastels?

Even I fell prey to the horrid fashion sense of the time. White suit, black shirt and shoes, with a red square-bottomed knit tie? That was me kicking it at the 8th-grade dance. Need I add the suit sleeves were rolled up?

But everwhere you looked, the up-turned collar was there. On polo shirts or long-sleeve button-downs, those twin pieces of pointed fabric jutted upwards, mocking common sense.

Of course I (and most of America) survived and grew out of that. Nowadays, ties are wider and have points. Jeans have regained their bluish hue. Sweaters are worn as actual clothing and not as an accessory. And no white suit lurks in my closet. And the suits I do own have sleeves that have never been rolled.

But those damnable collars will not go away. They are slowly coming back, raising their points to the sky once more.

So please, PLEASE, if you see a friend or loved one inflicting this look upon the public, pull them aside and ask them to stop. Explain to them how wrong it is.

And if they do not listen? Well, far be it from me to sanction extreme measures, but should they meet with an "untimely demise" you could take solace in knowing the fashion disaster perished with them.