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September 13, 2005
First-years fashionable in fall ‘05
Far more so than in the past, this year’s first-year students are showing the rest of us up in fashion sense.
Last fall, I recall looking disdainfully into the crowd, observing how nice and clean the then first-years looked, long after the “new school clothes” phase had ended. Within mere days, however, last year’s sophomores through seniors had already swapped their new mall-bought jeans and sparkly tank tops for the familiar hooded sweatshirts and baggy jeans, with, dare I say, a near-audible sigh of relief.
But this year, I fear this may not happen. The first-year class seems to be the best-dressed class I have seen yet in my 3 fall semesters. To avoid sounding like a fashion columnist in some magazine, I must assure the reader that I do not in any way claim to be a fashion devotee; a brief glance at the freshmen class seems to prove my point.
I see funky knit “paperboy” hats, sheer and loose layered shirts blending into ethereal perfection, skirts of all lengths and styles, those gigantic movie-star sunglasses, and more sequins, jewels, sparkles and beads than I care to detail. It’s like walking around in an odd, real-life version of the pages of Junior Vogue. All this, while I find it’s tough to muster the time or energy in the morning to apply my glitter eyeliner.
I know what you’re all thinking. This stuff makes me jealous. And that is true, to a point. The only thing I bought for back-to-school this year was a new pair of capri pants, and boy, did I think I was stylin’. Then again, I do recall spicing up my wardrobe a bit for my first year, but nothing like this.
I didn’t even know what “gauchos” were until a couple of weeks ago. Now I see dozens of neo-gauchos popping up everywhere, in multiple styles and colors, like the older, more exotic cousin of the capri pant.
For those of you who are still embarking on the beginning stages of your fashion journey, gauchos are those flared calf-length pants that look kind of like a skirt cut into two pant legs, hence my mistake. I happen to have a pair of real vintage gauchos that I bought on accident at a second-hand store, thinking it was a skirt. They were two bucks, and purchased long before I knew that gauchos would soon make a mighty fierce comeback.
This is not to discourage the fashion-conscious among us. I merely feel compelled to admit that it just looks like so much work to look perfectly put-together each day, and so I don’t. I can only hope that once classes pick up, you fashion plates will end your ruthless perfection. But until then, keep it up. Inspire us with your savvy sense of colors and textures. Maybe your enthusiasm will invigorate me enough to change out of my sweatpants once in a while.
If only it didn’t take so much effort.
Posted by msveum at September 13, 2005 01:04 PM