Anyone you ask can probably give you their opinion of how you “should” dress. This is perhaps especially true for college students who often dress in wildly different ways, from “sloppy” to “professional,” but the truth is that you should dress in whatever way makes you comfortable.
Unfortunately, informal clothing is a cultural punching bag. It is seen as slovenly and unprofessional and this judgement is superimposed on the people wearing it. Actress Eva Mendes sparked Internet outrage when she declared sweatpants the #1 cause of divorce in 2015, later apologizing. You will not see sweatpants and other leisure wear alongside the clothing many people like to wear in the fall fashion guides that no doubt will run soon.
I must push back against the cultural tide of criticism. You have to wear clothes (most of the time) but you might as well be comfortable. Eva Mendes may not like sweatpants, but they are warm, durable, comfortable and, yes, stylish.
I spend a minimal amount of time getting dressed most mornings, and I am much happier for it. Quite frankly, my time is far too valuable to spend too much of it in front of the mirror, which is why I have prearranged, moderately color-coded sets of clothes, quick to put on in the morning — easy on, easy off.
Many on campus may feel unsightly clothing is to be avoided, “I [partially] feel like sweatpants are for when you just don’t care,” said Nelson O’Brien, a second-year studying electrical engineering. They are certainly free to dress how they want but I don’t dress this way because I don’t care.
I dress like this because I care. I care to be warm and comfortable in my own clothes and stylish as far as I can tell. Obviously taste in “style” is subjective and I understand that many may not appreciate the aesthetic value of comfort, but at the end of the day, I am warm and comfortable and as such, am able to not care that other people do.
While others may argue that college students ought to dress in a subjectively “professional” manner, defined perhaps as wearing more in vogue clothes, it should be noted that in April 2016 an article ran in the living section of the New York Post titled “If you want productive employees, let them wear sweatpants.”
The article included this tidbit: “Melissa Gonzalez, founder and CEO of Chelsea-based retail consulting firm the Lion’esque Group, has a similar dress code — and claims it’s even increased creativity. ‘It keeps us more open and flexible, both mentally and physically.’”
It seems a little strange to decide that clothing that is found to be more productive in a professional workplace could be deemed too “unprofessional” to be worn to class on a college campus. Obviously, in many workplaces and for many formal occasions you should dress up, but for day-to-day life on a college campus, the wise man says “dress how you want.”
Dressing down is also the fiscally responsible decision. OnCampus Research estimates that the average college student spends $69 a month on clothing, with males spending $90 a month and females $57. I have spent at most $90 on clothes in the past two years. That’s a savings of $2,070.
$2,070 is a lot of smackers; a 6-inch breakfast steak, egg and cheese sandwich costs $3.28 at the Hillsborough Street Subway near Dan Allen Parking Deck (offer not available in the evenings). That’s 631 sandwiches just from your clothes savings (to be eaten at separate meals, do not eat 631 Subway sandwiches in one sitting).
You therefore have a choice, Wolfpack — you can be comfortable and warm with money in your pockets or you can be uncomfortable and broke to please someone else’s idea of how you should dress. The choice is yours.
