This article is originally written for the College of Wooster Voice a student newspaper, November 2021: "Voice Fall/Winter Mood board and Fashion Viewpoint"
As the Ohio fall gets colder, the athletes go to their freezing night practices and everyone is studying until they have heart palpitations it is certainly hard to put together an outfit for the day or think about how you want to present yourself. The nights as of recent have officially gone past freezing temperatures, the days are crisp with lip cracking breezes and when it rains the brown sludge runs off of the Lowry renovations. Sometimes walking around campus during this point of the semester fills one with dread, I’m not going to sugar coat it. With that said, I believe that wearing the right clothes for the occasion has the possibility to change your mood and even making your day a bit more productive, dress for success, right? With the College of Wooster having an excellent mix of different individual backgrounds and literal environments where we all come from, it is hard to know what to wear at this school when the fall weather starts to turn. Some of us love the availability to layer our sweaters and some of us have a trusty coat that we just put on to go to class.
For everyone on campus, there are a few timeless fall/winter looks and pieces that I think people of all walks of life can keep their eyes out for and maybe buy with the little money that we have from working our campus jobs. All of the items I mention can be picked up on secondhand websites like Depop, Poshmark, The Real Real, Ebay or local thrift spots for a fairly reasonable price. To start out, Workwear and hiking gear are always sustainable and functional way to upgrade your closet. You might want something athletic but stylish, que waterproof pants. Made from a variety of materials like Nylon, Goretex, or a synthetic cotton, waterproof pants will help you a lot when you start wanting to walking up the entirety of Beall ave to get a frozen pizza from the C store. In addition to waterproof pants, a rain jacket or an insulated parka will have you cozy and dry through the nastiest of Ohio weather. Too many of you use umbrellas thinking it will allow you to have an outfit while staying dry and that is simply not the right thinking. When it starts hailing on and off for 7 hours, your body will still loose excessive heat when you needlessly hold a piece of metal out in front of you thinking it will keep you safe.
Other than simply preparing for bad weather and staying out of the elements, the styles that I would suggest to the college would be described as post-Soviet as well as Japanese prep. I highly suggest looking at what you already have in your closet as reference and try building off of one of these style platforms. Post-Soviet fashion generally mixes track suits and athletic wear with oversized suits, especially oversized suit jackets, and whatever shoes you have. A fun addition to this if you’d like to show off some muscle is wearing a tight athletic long sleeve, baggy pleated pants and a chunky belt. Many on campus already wear dark academia and style quite well, so Japanese prep fashion could give an alternative edge to your beloved dark academia look. With more loafers, duck boots, baggy jeans, an overcoat in a natural tone and a fitted hat, Japanese prep adds a bit more of a neutral gender approach than western prep because of its lack of silhouette. In the QR Code you can find a mood board of outfit inspirations that I mentioned in this article. Go take a look.
PS: Balaclavas are in… I hope to see someone wearing one soon