College is a great environment to make connections in the work field in which you want to enter and to get to know future professionals from various other domains. Since most people get to meet lots of new people in college, it is important to convey clear and distinct messages about yourself. To do this, you will surely use your actions and words primarily, but your clothes can also be of great help. In the words of Miuccia Prada, “fashion is instant language” – you can often tell whether you will get along with someone or not just by looking at them and quickly analyzing the way they style themselves.

How to choose your clothes

When young people gather in some cluster, they want to somehow distinguish themselves from a group and at the same time be the same as everyone else. This is why, when you go to a party, festival, concert, college and any other place where there will be a large accumulation of people of college age, people want to wear clothes that make them distinct. Thus, when choosing clothes for college, you have to basically choose things that are practical and versatile (meaning that you can easily interchange to create new outfits), but that will still make you stand out. Women have it easier, as there are a lot more clothes for women on the market than for men, but fortunately, men can also pick from many distinct items these days.

Make it practical

There’s an interesting thing about college life: many students seem to be extremely busy, despite having only a few classes to attend. Surely, many spend lots of time writing essays, others use online essay writing service to help them get through, but students sometimes seem to have little time on their hands. This is why you should think very structured when buying clothes for college. Asking yourself a few basic questions will make the process quick and easy.

When analyzing items you consider buying think of:

Do you have enough clothes to wear this item with?

Will you wear it enough times to make it worth buying (think of the cost/wear ratio)?

Does it fit with your other clothes?

Making a wardrobe

The basic idea college students should think of is to have clothes from each category to create a basic, but practical wardrobe:

Jackets (at least two, preferably of different styles)

Shirts (at least 2-3 shirts which you can rotate)

Undershirt

Sweatshirts

Pants (at least 2-3 pairs which you can rotate – think of jeans and chinos)

Shoes (at least 2-3 pairs, preferably of different styles, which you can rotate)

Socks and underwear (of course)

A suit (this is indispensable if you attend meetings, go to interviews, events, etc.)

Accessories (things like watches, ties, cufflinks, belts, hats, scarves, gloves, etc. will help you add structure and personality to your outfits and to convey a lot about who you are)

Having a basic, but well-structured wardrobe will help you always have something to wear, which is the most important thing. Those who live in small dorms will also be helped if they structure their wardrobe as dorms usually don’t have a lot of storage space. Moreover, owning basic pieces which you can easily change to create new outfits will save you lots of money.

In the end, it is important to remember that it is always important to be yourself, to trust your instincts and to choose only the clothes in which you feel good and comfortable. At the same time, we recommend to try and not criticize anyone based solely on their appearance. Create your personal style, but make sure it evolves just as you do. Otherwise, in time you will become a caricature of your younger self. Find what works for you and use it, but also make sure to take some new fashion risks from time to time and experiment with new ideas.