As Gen Z women across the country head back to school, the question of what to wear for the first day is one that needs an answer — and quickly. But as more and more women turn to social media to consume fashion related content, the answer might depend on one thing: where you go to school.
According to journalist Jacob Gallagher, who writes about fashion trends for The New York Times, “I think it really depends on what you’re trying to achieve. Are you trying to fit in or be taken more seriously?” From large athletics-focused universities in the South, to small liberal arts colleges in the North, this question guides young women across the country in what they choose to wear.
At SEC schools, #RushTok has gone viral year after year on TikTok, as freshman vy for spots in the top sororities at schools like the University of Alabama, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M. There, sorority can be equivalent to social status, and pressure to fit in can be overwhelming. Brands like LoveShackFancy, which produces clothing that is generally colorful, flouncy, and expensive, resonate with the ‘hyper cis-feminity’ ideals of Southern culture.
According to Maureen Lehto Brewster, an Assistant Professor of Fashion Merchandising and Design at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, “The videos that go viral on RushTok have a very uniform aesthetic, and many of my participants felt that sorority culture promotes uniformity in not only fashion but personality and lifestyle.”
“Outfit checks” for Bama Rush highlight the homogeneity southern sorority culture promotes.
In the Northeast, aesthetics like quiet luxury reign supreme. According to Carrie McCabe and Rebecca Carhart of Yahoo Shopping, “New England style hit the national scene back in the 1950s and ’60s with the understated elegance and casual cool exuded by major figures of the era like the Massachusetts-native Kennedys — and it hasn’t left since.”
Dressing in neutral colors and Scandinavian styles — fashion choices rooted in simplicity, practicality and functionality — is often what college students wear when looking to blend in with their peers in a region that values tradition, social justice, historic preservation, and tends to trend more liberal. As New England.com writer Ken Sheldon puts it “people dress like it’s nobody’s business … because it is nobody’s business.”
As students return for the fall semester, not even their fashion choices can escape the political, social, and cultural influences of today, raising questions about how each of these play a role in women deciding what to wear and shape their stylistic choices.
