As I've discussed in my previous post, I have felt this fear of losing my personal style and love for fashion with the transition to college. Actually thinking about how a combination of clothing can create not only something fashionable, but stylish in both the personal and public sense, is a great feat for only having to walk five minutes to get to that one lecture at 9:35 where literally no one will care what you wear. College is for sweatpants, right? T-shirts and, dare I say, flip flops? One of my friends here at GWU even wore pajamas to her morning class today. That just says something about the college body as a whole: we really don't care. This is only a stigma, I've come to discover these past few weeks. Going to a city school makes it impossible for someone like me to actually wear pajamas outside of my dorm. My style has not altered just due to the fact that I'm officially a college student. Yes, evolution will obviously occur, like it always has, but it does not connect to my new college life. These are two exclusive factors, not related whatsoever.
This realization opened my eyes, allowed me to understand that this is just the next step! My journey in fashion is only beginning. It's NYFW, of course I can't wear sweats to class.
Shirt by Madewell. Skirt by American Apparel (or try this one by Madewell). Bag by J. Crew. Shoes by Adidas. Sunglasses by Madewell.
I'm going to stop with all this philosophical bullshit (is college already changing me?) and actually move on to what's important: the clothes. Here's a few tips for how to dress for college if you actually care about fashion but don't want to spend all your free time, which probably doesn't exist, thinking about what to wear:
- Keep it personal! I said this in the beginning in REALLY BIG TEXT because personal style is really important to me and it seems to be the one thing to keep anyone grounded in their own being, especially with such a drastic change like moving to a new place.
- Keep it comfy! This seems like a no-brainer here. You're walking around all day in what feels like an actual oven (or is that just DC?).
- Keep it casual! Don't show up to class in a suit. Just don't. This is school, not a job interview (unless you're coming straight from a job interview, which is completely understandable because now adult responsibilities are an actual thing now.)
- But still dress like yourself. This is a repeat of the first tip but it's so important in this situation!
All these rules combine into what you see above, an outfit I wore yesterday while attending my two classes (university writing about fashion and black American lit, if you were curious). I slipped into a tight denim American Apparel skirt (that's actually vintage!!) to keep it personal because I feel most like myself in this fabric, then I added a loose-fitting top that I like to call my Dad shirt to keep it comfy and casual even though the top is meant for fall/winter and I was already sweating by 9:30 in the morning. And this whole outfit comes full circle to my last point about dressing like myself. There's no clear way to explain why and how, but in cases like this, you will know. Fashion can be mysterious sometimes.
And you may ask why have you mentioned personal style 20 times just in this singular post? Every regular reader should already know that I'm a big advocate of personal style, but it's even more necessary now. College is scary! Everyone around you is questioning their identity in every sense of the word, and style can be one of these big uncertainties. While everything around you is constantly shifting, style can be the one grounding point. Keep it personal. Make the clothes you wear you, if that makes any sense. Change is bound to take place, just like any other natural occurrence. So maybe a better way to put this is to dress naturally. You'll thank me when your entire life is transforming into something completely different but you still feel comfort because of what you are currently wearing. As I've said before, fashion is always more than fashion.
All photos shot by Dom.
Such a great post! Good luck with your studies! xx
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