It started simply enough with a birthday celebration I was planning for a friend. Certainly nothing out of the ordinary, but as the days went by and more conversations ensued, I realized this coming year I would be 20. The finality of leaving my teens behind is terrifying and thrilling in equal parts and has since been dubbed the Quarter-Life Crisis. It might be said that 20 is not old by any stretch of the imagination, but as I stare at my beat-up Sperrys and mounds of clothes bought way back in the Myspace era, I start to think about a transition not as big as a milestone birthday, but one that undoubtedly goes right along with it: the transition of a wardrobe to accommodate for age.
I fully realize that we are, above all, college students and we should live it up while we can, which means indulging in all the fashion you can’t get away with in the “real world” unless you work at a fashion mag or an ultra-hip startup. With this, I hope you realize the ties and pencil skirts can be held back until the word “alumni” comes into play. But this also means we are now at a level where the ripped jeans, worded tees that are “funny” (I’m sure your pen IS huge, dude) and the trusted printed logo tees should walk out the door and never be seen again. Say it with me: I am no longer in high school. I got into college. No one cares I went to East or West High School. I will not let my irresponsible fashion choices in high school affect me now. Done.
When it comes to dressing for right now, you certainly don’t want to throw away “going out clothes” because you should have some hope for your future as an educated but nevertheless social college grad. More than likely there will be more sketchy parties in your future as a twenty-something – or at least that’s what every TV comedy taught me. So until then, what is considered “age-appropriate”? Um, “What is not appropriate?” is more like it (excepting the atrocities above that should be left behind on the graduation stage). Like I said before and will always say, college is the time to “go for it,” so please do.
My one suggestion? When you “go for it,” do so in a creative way. As a young adult in college, I would like to think there’s some hope, some creativity and some sense in our lives, and to me, there is no greater inspiration for dressing. “Going for it” in high school was more like deviating from hoodies or eagle logos, and in college that should have evolved into deviating from jeans and polos into outfits that have some kind of expression behind them. Wishful thinking, I know, but now is the time to transition and have some fun doing it.
For daytime dressing, it should go without saying to keep all the basics you have (hopefully) compiled with the discretion of a mother who might really have known best. The less you have to buy when you get that job in a few years is a bonus. As we go through college, remember that while risks are always appreciated, there will come a time when your collection of bandeaus and studded jeans will eventually have to retire. Investing in pieces now is not a bad thing.
College itself is generally a time for growth and a time to mess up, a last hurrah before responsibility is no longer the name of your dorm, a (insert another cliché here). Like many things, style is not something you can box in and timeline neatly because people don’t mature at the same time and style is a definitive facet of personality regardless. Take aging with a grain of salt, remember the horrid styles of high school and move forward. As for me and my closet crisis, I might buy a new pair of Sperrys and purge some tees between now and the big 2-0, but until that time, I guess I will fill out some more job applications and try to avoid reality. Here’s to the next three-fourths of our lives.