The College Fallback

WARNING **GIANT DOSE OF BORING IS ABOUT TO BE FED TO YOU**

I don’t know whether it’s the weather, the amount of work I have, how exhausted I am these days or indeed my love of Susie Style time travel.  But I have reverted to my low-key UCL-preppy uniform which absolutely has no indication that I may be interested in fashion and in fact if you looked at me, you might think I was trying to look purposefully bookish. 

I kid you not though, as opposed to tracksuit bottoms, uggs and sub ¬£10 Gap jeans which a lot of my fellow historians opted for (especially during times of dissertation stress), my fallback uniform concisted of a pair of Salvatore Ferragamo Vara bow pumps, opaque tights, tweed pencil skirts that were consistently priced at ¬£8 from Beyond Retro, Uniqlo cashmere jumpers (I strangely spent huge amounts of time in that store when I was at uni looking for ¬£4.99 white shirts for when I used to do waitressing for Arsenal Football Club…), finished off with a ‘jaunty’ stripy scarf.  People must have thought I was the ultimate preppy twat.  Alas… it’s nothing of the sort.  I really did just fall into that uniform by my love of scouring eBay for said Vara pumps (often won at princely sums of $9.99), regular Beyond Retro bulk buying sessions and of course you know about me squirrelling away cheap shirts at Uniqlo. 

There’s something very comforting about reverting back to modes of dress, digging up things that makes you think ‘Thank god I kept that otherwise I’d be PISSED off!’.  Whilst I’m ploughing through work and trooping away, it’s not that I’ve lost my ‘fashion mojo’, but going back to a tidy/neat comfort zone that makes me more mindful of deadlines, tasks and of winter nights walking around looking for something to feed myself in between intense essay/study sessions. 

17 comments

  1. How well do their cashmere sweater wear? Since I’ve just had a traumatic quality experience with J. Crew, I need a new place to buy sweaters from.

  2. I fall back into specific “uniform” type looks too. I to through phases where I’ll be pulling off super stylish combo’s on a daily basis, and at some point I get tired of it all and fall back to something really easy and minimal. Unless I’m going out for the evening, you’ll currently only find me in lace up, doc marten type boots, the same pair of grey Cheap Monday’s, and some sort of (usually grey) top and gold chains and a big gold bracelet. I just can’t be bothered with much else at the moment.

  5. It was a pretty good uniform, as uniforms go :)- and I know how it is sometimes, it actually comes down to making the choice between getting dressed (properly) and working- having something good on default mode, that doesn’t distract you, is always good.

  6. I’m currently a history student & waitressing at Manchester United football club!
    I think your uniform sounds lovely. I used to work in a library during my teens and almost took on the character of the bookworm librarian at work with pussy bow shirts, chintzy florals and tweeds. I think I still revert to character dressing sometimes when I can’t find inspiration for my own ‘look’.
    It’s probably better than just copying celebrity x, y or z at any rate.

  7. UCL history days sadly never inspired such stylish ways in me *sigh* were you ever taught by Rebecca Spang? She rocked a very cool tweedy librarian look, in fact I thought of her only this evening when brousing flat brouges in Office and thought of the ones she used to wear4 or 5 years ago!

  8. Like Claire I sometimes revert to simple black outfits with accessories outfits when Im too exhausted to put together something super stylish i opt for simple chic. Sometimes we need to save ourselves from ourselves.

  9. ahh… college attire… in design school, everyone was super hip, except me, in grey pencil skirt, various forms of wool (can you say california girl in london?)
    but i always liked things with a twist, like white kitten heels with black guns stenciled on.
    or antoni + alison had so many great prints, chintzy with a twist, like cigarettes in flowers.
    what ever happened to them? they haven’t updated their site in ages!

  10. ah, i love ferragamos. my tan and white loafers have seen better days though, so i’ve got 3 pairs lined up in my ebay watch list!

  12. Susie, your style is never boring. In the tiny, Southern Ontario town where I grew up, one’s daily uniform consisted of a pair of ratty sneakers, two-sizes-too-small low-rider jeans and an oversized men’s hoodie. Your blog is one of my daily reminders to never, ever reminisce about certain things. Congrats on your effortless style. 🙂

  15. Love the pumps, Im so old I can remember clip on bows, I had loads I loved them so much!

  16. >There’s something very comforting about reverting back to modes of dress…
    I feel that way about my grad school uniform, recently resurrected and somewhat updated. Leggings (usually black), tunic length sweater, and ankle boots. It’s so easy to do, and forgiving when my weight fluctuates by a few pounds.

  17. I love this part:
    “There’s something very comforting about reverting back to modes of dress…
    …going back to a tidy/neat comfort zone that makes me more mindful of deadlines, tasks and of winter nights walking around looking for something to feed myself in between intense essay/study sessions.”
    You’ve just written what I so feel!
    Arniza 🙂

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