What are you wearing? One minute interviews on campus fashion

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Ava Neely/Daily Collegian (2022)

By Ava Neely, Assistant Graphics Editor
November 2, 2022

Knitwear, avant-garde layering and statement boots littered the University of Massachusetts campus this past Hallo-week. Jagged shapes and mixes of textures aligned with current trends, yet students continue to add their own flair to their outfits.

The weather in Amherst stayed fairly warm this fall. Despite the warmth, many students favor fall fashion, opting to wear jackets and boots.

On Oct. 28, Amherst reached 56 degrees Fahrenheit, with some very cloudy skies. The sun peaked through the clouds later in the day, but when Jimmy Dubon woke up, the fog was rampant. He couldn’t see outside his window. Haphazardly, Dubon chose a vintage army green nylon jacket from the U.S. military surplus, solely for the sake of style.

“I just threw on this little jacket,” he said. “It won’t really protect me from any kind of cold weather, it’s just for the look.”

Dubon wore the jacket over his shoulders, allowing his backpack straps to add dimension to his outfit. He decided to pair this with a black tee, with graphic details featuring the same green tone. On the bottom, Dubon stayed true to his roots.

“These are my Levi pants that I just wear everywhere,” he said.

The statement, high-fashion shoes added both shape and a pop of white. Dubon sported Rick Owens Ramones. These weren’t the classic Ramones, however, and Dubon clarified their avant-garde midsoles. “They’re an abstract one from last season,” he said.

Kara Abednego, a junior double major in linguistics and French, approached her outfit logically.

“It’s warm today, but kind of gloomy, so I went with a darker outfit,” she said. Her black skater skirt gave her a weather-appropriate take, paired with a contrastingly warm sweater she thrifted from Depop.

“[Then skirt] is actually my best friend’s,” Abednego said. “We had the exact same [one], but I lost mine, and she was like ‘you can have it.’”

She finished the look off with an aged pair of black wing-tipped shoes that looked brand new, adding that they were one of her “favorite pairs of shoes ever.”

“I bought these when I was in ninth grade, and I went on a city tour in Japan, and they still fit me,” Abednego said.

Abednego is from Indonesia, where she acquired most of her rings. “This is actually my mom’s. I stole it from her,” she said, laughing. Abednego also donned a family treasure — couple’s ring, but not her own. The ring is her parents’, from when they were dating. “My brother has the other one, and I have this one,” she explained..

On Halloween, the temperature reached nearly 70 degrees Fahrenheit in Amherst. Senior Tess Maguire, a music major, went all out in the spirit of the holiday.

Maguire dressed in vibrant colors, despite what she sees as a mundane campus fashion scene. “Usually when I walk across campus, everyone is dressed in their sweatshirts, and it’s pretty boring,” she said.

Her look consisted of solid red knitwear with a white, knit scarf and bold bright statement boots.

“I wore my scarf. It’s honestly just really soft, and I needed something to match the boots,” Maguire said.

Complementing the red and white, Maguire tied in black cuffed trousers, making a red, white and black color scheme, which was very aesthetically powerful.

Senior Tyler Thurston, a natural resources conservation major, was walking while eating a bagel. Thurston flaunted statement shoes once more, and his Carolina logger boots were fitting for the Amherst terrain.

Tucked into the boots, Thurston wore camo print cargo joggers. Mixing materials, he pulled in a jean jacket. “I stole [the jacket] from my dad,” he said. Thurston layered the patriarch merch on top of a crew neck.

The sun was barely visible, yet Thurston made sure to include a pair of cheap sunglasses. Contrastingly, he included a Patagonia beanie, regardless of the weather. The large, khaki-colored canvas messenger bag was all about preference. “I actually really hate regular backpacks, so I just have a messenger bag,” he said.

“I kind of like earthy-[tone] colors, but also streetwear, and I think this kind of melds the two,” he said.

Ava Neely can be reached at [email protected]