Staff Writer Peyton Nelson and Daily Editor Luken Sloan tackle the necessity of being fashionable in everyday life on campus.

Fashion Critic: Peyton

While walking down the Butler Lawn or across Futter Field, every Columbia student’s senses are bombarded by extremely fashionable people. Apparently, on these campuses, New York Fashion Week is every week. This propensity to dress fashionable every day has obvious negatives like encouraging the reliance on fast fashion, alienating first-generation or low-income students when they cannot afford weekly Zara trips, and creating an expectation that damages people’s images of themselves when they are already vulnerable and trying to fit in. However, rather than trying to bum you out, I want to focus on the most important problem with this chronically chic campus:

Comfort.

Can you blame a girl for wanting to wear sweatpants to class? Sometimes I just want to sit in a lecture and wear an old T-shirt because it has been worn soft. Is this a crime? Will the fashion police come and get me?

Ok… maybe it is not criminal, but it would cause me to stick out like a sore thumb, and I do not like sticking out. Instead, the culture pressures me to wear trendy and sometimes unseasonably warm outfits, meaning I am more focused on my discomfort than trying to figure out how to pronounce the French “r” sound (seriously, how do you do that?).

College campuses are notoriously a place of rebellion, so, Columbia students, rebel against this norm and wear sweatpants to class! Wear high-waisted jeans or tank tops or beat-up sneakers you have owned for 10 years or anything Zendaya has not had a piece in a magazine written about.

Vive la révolution! 

Fashion Supporter: Luken

I have found this semester to have started with a high degree of fashion and self-care. Personally, I enjoy it as it motivates me to want to improve my outfits and looks as well as it just being interesting to see how people decide to dress and follow (or reject!) trends. Whether it be rejecting what one deems to be fashionable or accepting what is popular (even if it is fast fashion or a lifestyle only privileged to a few), fashion choices allow individuals to express their identity—and this is the part of fashion that I find most fascinating. There is no need to dress up for class, but individuals still do it. Conversely, I have seen people be severely under-dressed at events and functions—is it wrong? Though I would prefer everyone dressed up and go all out in their clothing choices, I do not think there is a correct answer, so people should wear what they wish to.

As for comfort, dressing up should be a choice that one makes; one can choose to be comfortable instead of being fashionable (though the two are not mutually exclusive). Perhaps this is more of a sign that fashionable trends and clothing brands chasing or looking to create such trends should be made with comfort in mind than anything else.

As they say, however, beauty is pain. Discomfort and extra effort are often things that must be tolerated to be fashionable. While I do not fully agree with the sentiment behind this saying—or that it should exist in general—I do think it holds some truth, and that the effort that others put into how they present themselves should be acknowledged and appreciated. If I sacrificed an hour to get ready, I would want others to be able to see this effort and recognize it.

Image via Flickr