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Friday, December 10, 2010

Fitting in at UVa

Please note: this is a fun, lighthearted post for a Friday afternoon. 

I was just taking a little break from reading files and watched the students walk by my window for a little while.  I started to think about the number of times current students field questions about clothing styles via College Confidential.  It's strangely common for people to ask about how a "typical" student dresses. It's pretty hard to define a singular style for a student body of 14,000, but I decided to make a few notes about what I saw outside the window.

So, here are my observations, taken around 2 PM on December 10, 2010:

-The typical student wears jeans.  If you don't wear jeans, you will be okay here, as there were also students in leggings, sweatpants, and khaki pants.  Jeans were the dominant item, though.

-Male students seemed to be wearing two mains types of shoes: sneakers and brown shoes.  A few wore hiking boots (probably due to the weather...it's chilly here today).  I know I saw a pair of Toms (they have a pretty recognizable toe) and some Vans.  The sneaker is definitely the dominant item.

-Female students seemed to have slightly more variety in footwear, though boots were dominant (this is probably due to current trends and the temperature).  Other styles of footwear were sneakers (a very close second to the boot), fuzzy slipper looking things, and flats.

-Fleece jackets, ski jackets (I'm putting anything that's a little puffy with a synthetic shell in this category), sweatshirts, and pea coats seemed to be the most popular overcoats with fleece being the dominant material.

-Backpacks were the most popular accessory, though some carried messenger bags and a few girls had tote-style bags.

So, there you have it.   Any questions?


EDIT: I just saw someone jog by wearing shorts.  Just shorts...in December.