Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Dress Code: Sideways Rain High/Low Philosophy

sideways rain
-Recently eyefive got a comment about my tastes being too expensive for the average college student. This struck me as funny because, a: I am the average college student and b: I've been of a very modest economic standing most of my life and, despite my affinity for clothes, have never been accused of being rich.
-So I started posting some high/low looks to show the most basic tenet of my attire, a mixture of cheap/thrift items and well-chosen higher end pieces. When done correctly, a high/low approach ends up costing the average college student about as much as less-informed student spends on mall clothes every year.
-The weather this week has been ridiculous:
-High: Olch x Inventory bow tie, $100
-Low: Cardigan form Express, 2005, $50? A lot of my things are from in high school when I had a consistent job and less expenses, I sell things I don't want anymore on eBay and I try to go through and rethink how I could re-use older items.
-High: Naked and Famous 'skinny guy' jeans $165, here the price might not be high for some readers, but for jeans for me that's a lot. The high/low philosophy is always relative to a person's individual spending values.
-Low: Vintage belt, Value Village, $2.50 in 2005
-Med: Lark & Wolff by Steven Alan short trench, Urban Outfitters, $140, nice medium priced piece to get me through until I can afford a more expensive trench.
-Low: Calfskin wingtips, DKNY, $80 after tax/shipping on Gilt. Discount sites are a blessing and a curse, but they've definitely helped me in my quest to adultify my wardrobe.
-Med: Purple gingham, J.Crew, $51 after J.Crew's ballin college student discount.
-Med: Laptop bag, Wilson Leather, $100 on sale from $200.
-So before you try to question my tastes, know that a lot of things influence my choices, primarily my love of the Northwest and my cognizance of my own limited economic means. I probably spend less than the Zumiez clad post-skater college guy and certainly less than the True Religion/Ed Hardy homies.

3 comments:

L.A.S said...

Trench is dopeness. Wish I was up on that callabo when it hit stores.

Anonymous said...

Looks great. And that high/low mix is the way to go. This is the first time I've heard about that JCrew student discount. Do they offer it online? (no stores near me)

Angelo said...

Unfortunately they don't do the student discount online. Seems like they should be able to if you have a student email or something.