Student Sartorialist: Fashionable finals looks prove UCLA has style

Finals week: where fashion comes to die.

At least that’s the common assumption during awhole week of sleep deprivation, final papers and multiple-choice exams.

I know that I look pretty disheveled during finals. Although I’m probably within the majority of students, there do exist a select few who dress their best during the week. What does this polarized week of fashion, with many dressing mostly for comfort and others dressing to look great, say about our campus’ sense of style as a whole?

My day-to-day outfits for this dreaded week usually consist of leggings that probably have a few holes in them, a large, weird T-shirt that I got for free somewhere, mismatched socks and my Paul Frank slippers from the sixthgrade that still magically fit me.

However, on the other end of the spectrum, I’ve found that an interesting style phenomenon surfaces during the last week of every quarter where some students choose to present themselves in their absolute best outfits during one of their worst weeks.

In a way, it’s a brilliant strategy. By taking the extra effort involved in doing their hair, fixing their makeup and planning their outfits, they can feel great about their appearances in an attempt to counteract how terrible they feel about the possibility of a plummeting GPA.

“When I get dressed up for finals week, I feel more confident and ready to take on the day,” said third-year economics student Taylor Bacon. “It’s almost like when you put on a suit. You wear a suit to work not just because that’s corporate culture but because it makes you feel more confident.”

Third-year linguistics and Arabic student Sara Karim also takes the extra effort to dress up for finals, with her finals week ritual including laying out a cute outfit the night before the test, and always putting on lipstick and eyeliner before heading down to class.

“I feel like the reason for dressing up for finals is almost the same mentality as those who dress up on their birthdays,” Karim said. “They just want to feel special and (like they’re) going to be the one who sets the curve, everyone else can go home.”

In a week where students don’t sleep, hysterically contemplate their futures late at night and run through the streets of Westwood in only their underwear, style becomes something that’s a bit hard to focus on.

Yet, I find that if fashionable outfits can exist at a time like this, even on just a couple students, it proves that, although sometimes hard to find, style does exist on our campus.

Each week, I’ve attempted to examine specific trends or niche groups of students on campus with the hope of answering a simple question: Does UCLA have style?

Right before I started to write my final column, I received an email from a reader who said that I should just admit that UCLA has no style and should write a piece about Rainbow-clad students.

While the reader does have a point that a lot of students seem to enjoy Rainbows, a popular brand of sandals, I’m not ready to admit that our student body has absolutely no shred of style.

As I sit here writing my final column, just one week before fashion is reputed to disappear on campus, I have my answer.

In a way, finals week sums up UCLA’s sense of style quite nicely. For the most part, it may seem like most college students are dressing for comfort and practicality, but there are always the few who take the time to look amazing in their own way. In the end, the fashionable minority wins out. They are who I will always notice and were the true purpose behind this column.

So yes, UCLA does have style.

What’s your favorite aspect of UCLA style? Email Gill at [email protected].