Top 5 Styles College Kids Are Wearing

By Amanda Cohen on August 15, 2017

College is the perfect place to express your style because college is a time for a fresh start and for embracing who you truly are.

On every college campus, you will see someone who is different from you in some aspect: you could be super preppy and then you could turn around and see a person holding onto their gothic side wearing all black; however, wearing all black in college is the “norm” as the color black is no longer reserved for people who are goth or emo.

Even though there are a plethora of styles boasted on college campuses, there are several styles that are more prominent than others. If you want inspiration, or if you want to just become more informed, read on!

1. Bohemian

Nowadays, bohemian, also known as boho, clothing is for more than just summer and super rad Californians. Boho clothing is flowy, comfortable, colorful, and somewhat beachy.

When people shop for boho clothing, they go for rompers, jumpsuits, dresses, and non-denim shorts. Planet Blue is the epitome of bohemian style; too bad it is out of many college students’ budgets.

The typical college student who wears boho clothing will wear flowy pants (bell bottoms or haram pants), a loose t-shirt, strappy sandals, a messy hairdo (bun or ponytail), a bralette, and large-framed sunglasses.

Boho clothing epitomizes the best of both worlds: it is both comfortable and trendy. When I wear boho clothing, I feel as if I am wearing a sack (in the best way possible), but it still looks cute and I still look put together.

2. Edgy

Edgy style is no longer just reserved for rock stars. Edgy is on the up and up, and it’s cooler than ever.

So, what is edgy? What constitutes an edgy look? Well, as many of you can imagine, edgy involves lots of rips, lots of graphics, darker colors, harsher makeup, and, ultimately, clothing items that your mom probably wouldn’t want you to wear to a nice family function. People who live on the edgier side wear black ripped jeans, graphic t-shirts, big sunglasses, and black booties, but they will always have one piece of clothing that has a pop of color, like blue or red.

Edgy is not necessarily grungy or gothic, but rather it embraces the best qualities of these two clothing styles and combines them with the coolest up-and-coming trends. Edgy can be very difficult to pull off, so definitely choose wisely when purchasing articles of clothing that fall under the edgy category.

3. Athletic

It isn’t uncommon to see people who hate and/or don’t exercise wearing exercise and athletic clothing. Even the high-end designers are getting involved: Stella McCartney, Mara Hoffman, Maaje, etc. On top of that, you have Beyoncé making her athleisure line Ivy Park and Kendall and Kylie Jenner creating their collections with Pac Sun and Revolve Clothing.

The athletic style consists of yoga pants, joggers, windbreaker bomber jackets, cool sneakers, tank-tops, sports bras, and basically anything that you can also wear when you head to the gym. The people who go for a more athletic style usually want to be cute and comfortable and want to be able to head to the gym at any time.

Athletic fashion is truly a lifestyle: if you like the athletic style, most of your closet consists of Adidas, APL shoes, yoga pants, loose tank tops, and sports bras.

4. Preppy

This category of style applies mostly to southern schools. Preppy clothing style involves a lot of Vineyard Vines, Lilly Pulitzer, Sperry, Lacoste, etc. Many people who prefer to dress in a preppy fashion wear lots of pastels and can be seen holding their beers in a coozy at their college tailgate.

Women wear sundresses and men wear boat shoes, and everyone who wears preppy clothing always look extremely put together. Whenever I think about preppy clothing, I think about what people would wear to Easter Sunday. If you want to wear preppy clothing without wearing the crazy Lilly Pulitzer patterns, wear white with a few pastels and turquoise appearing in some aspect of the ensemble.

Check out the stores listed above to see what true preppy attire looks like. However, I will warn you that dressing preppy can be pricey, so just shop smart!

5. Retro

I personally love that retro style is making a comeback. However, a lot of people think that retro fashion is dressing up in go-go boots and tie-dye dresses, but that isn’t the case and I am here to set the record straight.

Retro style is basically just clothing items that were super popular at one point in history, then went out of style, and are now making an overwhelmingly positive appearance. There are high-rise jeans and shorts, crop tops, circular sunglasses, any sunglasses that have an unusual frame, bralettes, cool hats, ripped boyfriend and girlfriend jeans, belts, and more!

Retro style is easiest to pull off in the spring and summer, but with the right number of layers, you can definitely look retro in the fall and winter!

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, these are the styles that college students are wearing these days! I hope this gave you all some insight and I hope this inspired you to update your wardrobe!

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