“Fashion is talked about at UPenn, but it’s not obsessed about,” says David Bruno Jr., class of ’04, a student only months away from a job in the men’s buying office at Federated Merchandising Group.
From WWD’s on-campus observation, it’s a pretty spot-on assessment. University of Pennsylvania students
obviously “get” fashion. Conversations with them indicate the kind of savvy that is perhaps inevitable given their school’s privileged urban reality in Philadelphia.
Nevertheless, style-wise, life at UPenn is far from cutting edge, and a large percentage of the population does its part to fulfill the school’s preppy reputation. But preppiness has many stripes, and UPenn’s brand is slick, urban and trendy. Let’s call it Prep Nouveau.
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“I was surprised. I thought people would wear sweatpants to class, but they really put themselves together,” says sophomore Zoe Schagrin, echoing a common sentiment. While most students wear jeans and other casual items, they clearly take the time to coordinate a look. For some, it’s a Burberry scarf and Chanel sunglasses, while others get more creative with an urban bohemian motif, tossing together, say, Ugg boots and distressed jeans with a velvet blazer and colorful scarf. The classic collegiate rolled-out-of-bed look of sweatpants and schoolgear is the rare exception. Even students headed to the gym manage to look pulled-together.
Many here attribute this smart style to UPenn’s preprofessional academics, particularly when it comes to its business school, Wharton. “Everyone is really excited to leave college and get into the real world,” says pre-med sophomore Megan Chikarmane. “They dress to fit that image.”
As for campus journalism, although there is little in the way of fashion coverage, UPenn’s publications do exhibit a degree of style-savvy, especially the arts and entertainment weekly, 34th Street. Its “Cultural Elite” list, for example, a tongue-in-cheek roll call of cool classmates, references metrosexuals, Prada, D&G and nouvelle campus sightings of heroin chic. Need we say more?
— Meenal Mistry
Classics 101: Status symbols rule — Burberry scarves and bags, Coach bags, Cartier tank watches, Fendi and Chanel sunglasses and sizable diamond studs.
Best fashion moment: The birth of Urban Outfitters in 1977, when founder Richard Hayne moved his store, Free People, onto campus and renamed it.
Chic alumni: Tory Burch, Aerin Lauder.
If your school were a designer who would it be? Theory or Burberry, equal parts conservative and hip.
Boy talk: “Guys really like [the magazine] Cargo, but it won’t be on the coffee table. You don’t want to carry around Stuff. It’s just vulgar.” — David Bruno Jr., ’04