Campus Fashion

Students are known for a lot of things, but fashion isn’t one of them. However, if you walk through any UK university campus you definitely notice that there is a sense of fashion on campus.

For most people university is the first time that you can wear what you want – there aren’t really any rules (although turning up in fancy dresses or in your pyjamas is not really advisable!). No more dull school uniforms and no more parents telling you that “midriff is showing” or saying “isn’t that a bit revealing? ” It’s when you can finally wear what you want every day of the week.

The Scruffy Look

This generally means jeans, a t-shirt and a hoody. Or just whatever falls out of your wardrobe in the morning and smells clean. It’s the stereotypical student look. It’s for those who know that in a lecture no-one cares how you look – the task in hand is to stay awake!

The Business or Management Student

Somehow you can always tell business students a mile off – they are the guys who always look like they’re going to an interview. They’re in suits and their best shirts. They’re dressed up to the nines and look rather out-of-place in the student union holding a pint.

The Arts Student

Arts students have a certain look about them – they know their style and stick to it. It tends to be a bit off-the-wall but it works for them. They generally avoid the high street trends, trying to be individual. They go for one of five looks: the scruffy look, the punk look, the goth look, the skater look or the intellectual look.

The Goths and the Punks

There tend not to be very extreme punks or goths in universities. Goths seem to have somehow got a bad reputation as being rather reclusive, introvert and dark. They usually have dyed black hair (sometimes red) and are dressed in black. Some just look like all the other goths, but some make it into a sophisticated look. Punks’ hair is also often dyed (red, pink, blue or green), sometimes spiky, occasionally a mohican. They wear DocMartins or Converses and vintage or skinny jeans, often accompanied by a band T-shirt.

The Skater Look

This means baggy or sometimes flared trousers, hoodies, ska or punk band t-shirts and often dyed hair. Accompanied by lots of beaded bracelets and skater trainers such as Vans.

The Intellectual Look

They tend to be smart-casual and look extremely intelligent. It’s the corduroy waistcoats, the scarves, fitted jeans and often some sort of hat.

The “Too Cool for School” Look

In almost every lecture you see one guy who tries to look like they’ve just walked out of downtown New York into the lecture theatre. They have baseball caps on backwards, oversized headphones around their ears and a certain swagger about their walk.

The High-Street Fashion Gurus

There are some students who, despite the lack of cash, manage to always stick to the latest trends, no matter how short-lived they are. Admittedly, whatever the fashion is, it always seems to work on them, but you start to wonder how big their wardrobes and wallets are.

The “Can’t Live Without the Label” Look

These are the designer addicts. They are few and far betweenon a university campus but they do exist. Whatever they wear, it has to have a name on it somewhere, whether big or small. They’re the people who wouldn’t be seen dead in Topshop, let alone a charity shop.

The Sports Student

These people live in trackies. They tend to walk around with their name written on their back as one of the members of the university team and are never seen in anything else. Often seen with an extremely large bag. Imagine a younger version of your school PE teacher, but one who does sport.

The First Year Student

Ok so this isn’t really a fashion statement, but you can spot a fresher a mile off. They are the ones who take any of the above styles to the extreme. They haven’t yet realized just how little a student loan buys you and are still in brand new clobber. They have a lost look on their faces for at least two months while they try and figure everything out and a hint of anticipation as they wonder what they’ve let themselves in for. Ah, bless!