The way we dress
By Brooke Tacker, posted 5/3/06

As I was walking around campus last week going to my classes as usual, I caught myself people watching. I was not trying to make up conversation content or where those people were coming or going; however, I was watching what they were wearing. Particularly, I was observing the girls’ choice of dress.

These observations showed me two types of styles: the “I get way too dressed up just to go to class,” versus the “I just woke up and rolled out of bed” look. Of course I’m not saying that all female students on campus fall into these categories, they were just the two that I noticed. To tell the truth, both extremes annoyed me. Why would you dress like you were going to a club when you were going to be sitting in a classroom for 50 minutes listening to someone lecture? On the other hand, why would anyone go to class without at least putting some effort into her appearance?

To better understand what causes college age women to dress the way they do, I did some research. First, I wanted to get a list of some of the fashion trends seen on campus. Torn jeans, flip-flops, lots of glitter and silky camisoles, formerly thought of as underwear, seem to describe the stylish and trendy group. Pajama pants, house shoes, caps and t-shirts describe the other group.

These trends vary drastically from those practiced just 60 to 70 years ago. Then it was expected for all girls to wear skirts, usually below the knee, and blouses. Now it seems that anything goes.

“We no longer have a cookie-cutter group of people [in terms of styles],” said Laurel Wilson, a professor in the Textile and Apparel Management Department.

Society has become much less formal in regards to dress. What was once thought of as “home clothing,” jeans and sweatshirts, has become accepted in many work places and definitely in the college environment. The main reason for this is that Americans prefer comfort to discomfort.

Another new aspect of women’s fashion today is that size does not seem to matter so much. The woman’s body and ideal figure have always been the focus of fashion designs. Take corsets for example, sacrificing being able to breathe freely and easily to minimize the size of one’s waist. However, today, even though body awareness is still the reason behind designs, it does not seem to matter why type of body or size that women are, they are still wearing the trendy fashions. This shows that society is getting away from the hourglass figure idea at least a little bit, and is beginning to accept that not all women are shaped the same way.

“In America, we really value independence and the variety of ways that people express themselves illustrates this,” Wilson said.

“Women’s freedom in general is why they feel free to dress how they like. Students feel liberated to dress how they feel comfortable,” Jessica Jennrich, a faculty member in Women’s Studies said. “Women’s level of freedom, liberation and equality with men is often mirrored in fashion.”

Others had a different opinion on why women specifically dress the way they do.

“Male attraction and attention influences the way girls dress. Girls feel that they are more part of the in group when boys like them,” an MU faculty member said. She did not want her name included because a few of the other statements she made in the interview might have been offensive to some people.

She based this idea on the gender role of women in society. We as women feel the need to attract attention from men to a certain extent. The new concept introduced in student fashion is laziness, according to this faculty member. This laziness factor of having no one to impress is what influences the pajama look for class.

So what makes college students’ styles seem so extreme?

“Students are not held to a professional appearance, but are judged more based on curriculum and performance. College students are living in a ‘freedom bubble.’ They have freedom in how they dress because they are not yet restricted by standards of the traditional work places,” Jennrich said.

Students cause social change through the way they dress, Wilson said. I agree. College students are at that age where fashion can still be useful. As one gets older there are other concerns that become of higher importance than fashion. When one really looks at it, though, fashion really does reflect the social ideas of the age. Today, independence and freedom are some of the most valued social ideas and that is definitely reflected. In fact, a man named Lipovetsky theorized that democracy was made by fashion. He said that by expressing themselves through fashion, people felt the need to express themselves politically.

After really looking into the situation and getting a few more perspectives, I am not so annoyed with the extremes of girls’ dress on campus. In fact, I think that being able to express oneself is very important to our society and the continual growing of it.

> Back to Corner Post Home