Chloe Rippe
Arts, Entertainment, and Technology Editor
Since iPhones have become one of the leading types of mobile devices, iPhone cases have quickly become sought after items, not only for practicality, but for style. Looking around the hallways of NCHS, one can find a broad variety iPhone cases, from the preppy Kate Spade and J. Crew styles, to more “hipster” Urban Outfitter cases.
Sophomore Charlotte Decker doesn’t concern herself with the brand as much as with what the case actually looks like. “I usually look for something that’s sort of funny, if not funny then pretty basic,” she said. “As long as I like it I don’t usually care about the brand.”
While some like Charlotte search for visually entertaining cases, others, like senior Marykate Conron, search for more quirky-cute iPhone cases. “I have a Hello Kitty case from Walgreens. I liked it because it wasn’t too obnoxious but it was tasteful in a high school girl kind of way. It was also pretty cheap, so thats a plus,” she said.
Although Marykate said she enjoys putting thought into her iPhone case style, she doesn’t like to spend too much money on any case. “I like something practical but aesthetically pleasing. I don’t usually drop my phone, so I don’t need something too intense,” she said. “The deciding factor for whether or not I will buy a phone is usually the price.”
Other students, like junior Austin Kammler, said that they focus more on the protective qualities of iPhone cases. Austin said that he finds these types of cases from the brands Otterbox and Lifeproof. “Mine is protective from breaks and is simple”, he said. “I have two that are for looks instead of protection, but I rarely use them.”
Sophomore Natalie Spruck had a similar approach for choosing iPhone cases. “I look for a case that I think is able to protect my phone, so if I drop it, it won’t completely shatter, she said. “But I also want it to look good on my phone”.
When cases don’t do their jobs, there are still fashion forward ways to style shattered iPhones, such as by using the tie-dye technique that senior Kala Berg tried. “I had this horrible case I bought at the Verizon store in town when I first got my phone, but then I took it off after a couple of months and dropped my phone in Starbucks, and the whole back cracked,” she said. “I got the tie dye idea from either Pinterest or Instagram I forget, but I never actually thought I was going to do until a friend told me all you needed to do was press a highlighter on the crack until the liquid tint stuff seeps into the crack and there it stays. I chose pink.”
By using this technique, Kala managed to fill the cracks in her iPhone with color, and while she said she would have rather not broken her phone, the result was as trendy as a fashionable case.
While certain fads come and go, the search for fashionable and individualized iPhone cases seems to be sticking around for a while, especially because they allow the iPhone user to express his or her own unique style. “All of my cases have flashy and bright colors and most of them have penguins or cats on them,” Marykate said. “But they all have the same purpose, which is to protect my phone and look good.”
