Dad, what did you do when punks ruled the street? Expect your teen to text you this question — or something like it — this back-to-school season as the young fashion scene apes the boho style of The Clash and The Ramones.

If your kid isn’t into head-to-toe tartan or leopard print, paired with red-striped braces, then maybe she’d like to try the other fall trend: ’90s grunge. Teen Vogue would send your head spinning were it not for its more responsible coverage of the trials of growing up. There’s a fun profile of Snoop Dogg’s 14-year-old daughter, who says the rapper doesn’t want her dating until she’s 77, and an inspiring feature about a model who wore a back brace because she has scoliosis. Another feature asks kids to keep those “selfies” under control. That’s wise advice, but Teen Vogue’s rationale is that kids shouldn’t need so much virtual feedback to feel good about themselves. We’d argue preserving privacy and keeping bullies at bay are the bigger issues.

It’s not clear that Seventeen Editor-in-Chief Ann Shoket’s glossy is delivering added value to impressionable young women. It’s all about image-obsessed stylishness over substance. (To which, we hear, a Greek chorus of “Gossip Girls” crying, “Duh!”) There was a time when the nearly 70-year-old pub offered more than just the latest titillating boho fashion accessory tips, care of the “style council.” To be sure, the current issue deserves kudos for sections advising young women not to succumb to pressure and getting blotto at parties. Another item centered on not comparing your body with peers’, by “Sam & Cat” star Jennette McCurdy, also merits a hat-tip. But these far-too-brief items end up reading like afterthoughts to its central messages of selecting the right lipstick, vampy eyeliner and waxing hyperbolic about One Direction being the “hottest guys of the year.”

Unless you’re a real-life “Gossip Girl” with mansions and maids, don’t rely on Nylon to help you dress for school this fall. While the mag seeks to give off a hip, youthful vibe with page after page of teen models in colorful leggings and knit hats, the fashions and stories are clearly geared toward a crowd with nannies and gold cards. A spread to show off Nicole Miller’s boyish fall fashions features outfits that could easily be scrounged up at Goodwill. But instead of paying $35 for a mismatched getup that includes of gray cable-knit sweater and clashing plaid skirt, you get to shell out a whopping $1,135. Also, we couldn’t help but giggle at the photo shoot featuring skinny models prancing about pretending to be rough-in-tumble street punks in brightly colored ’80s clothes. The lack of any real edginess makes Nylon not worth the $5.

Z!NK isn’t the best guide to round out your teen’s wardrobe. Its choices are more runway than retail, although Natalie Dormer of “Game of Thrones” makes for a good centerfold. While the clothing is out of reach for the common person, the magazine’s advice on music and hot consumer trends will keep you in the cool crowd. Indie bands like London Grammar are highlighted, and even cake pops are given their due. What’s more, the cool clothing outlets got our attention until we found out they’re all based in — yup, you guessed it — Europe. Which is fine if your daddy’s a billionaire hedge funder or one with frequent flier miles in the high six-digits.

New Yorker seems to have its story priorities wrong. They write a feature on MSNBC trying to find itself that — at 10 pages — runs longer than a Lawrence O’Donnell commentary. Perhaps the pandas in the six-page “Bears Do It” feature, who do not know how to have sex, are having trouble because they are too tired from reading these kinds of tedious New Yorker pieces. The saving grace is the lead Talk item on how US Attorney General Eric Holder is faced with the decision of whether to sendNew York Times reporter James Risen to jail for not revealing a source, while saying he wants to be more humane to reporters. Also worthy of the “gray” matter mag is the US Open-er, a feature on the world’s top tennis player with the world’s worst public relations: Novak Djokovic.

You can miss picking up a New York in the dead of summer, but today’s a different matter. The double-issue fall preview doesn’t disappoint. The cover story on Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese’s upcoming “The Wolf of Wall Street” about a stock broker’s boiler room operation is intriguing. Packing lots of Q&As in the preview is not great journalism, but they’re easy to read and informative. Elsewhere, a compelling piece on how the New York Times CEO Mark Thompson is ruffling feathers by connecting the business side with editorial is particularly relevant considering the Washington Post under its current ownership didn’t master the transition and just sold out to billionaire Jeff Bezos. A feature on why the NYPD set up the division of Un-American Activities and relating it to NSA invasiveness is especially newsworthy, a creative twist to a story that has been one of the summer’s best.