In my last post, I mentioned a characteristic visual feature of the American college campus: sports apparel. I want to elaborate a little on the subject of student fashion habits because it’s probably the easiest way to spot a difference between European and American schools.
The shortest way to sum it up: throughout my Polish education, I’ve never seen a student wearing sweatpants at school. Now in America, I see quite a lot of students wearing sweatpants. Actually, there are even guys going to classes in their pajama pants.
From what I can observe, comfort is the primary concern of the typical college student. It’s hard to tell what the main concern is for the European counterpart (most students in the city where I’m from are not super stylish either), but wearing at least jeans is a norm. The reason for that is not only cultural; American student dorms are often located within walking distance of classrooms. This is a more common feature of American-style colleges than at big city universities in Europe, where no one likes to take a one-hour bus ride in pajamas.
While I can’t think of any defining aspects or key pieces of the Polish student look, I can see some patterns in what my fellow Rochesterians wear (and again, I think I can extrapolate that to colleges in general):
A bulky backpack. A black North Face jacket. Running shoes or moccasins. These and maybe a couple other items are enough to fill most of the U.S. undergrad look book for 2012/2013. In a way, school uniforms are not entirely a relic of the past.