Are you ready to assimilate? A proper introduction to UT’s style should include at least five Ed Hardy shirts, with 75% of those including rhinestone tigers or geishas, a pair of designer jeans and various pairs of Victoria’s Secret sweatpants (extra points if the word PINK is advertised on your derriere). This could set you back a few dollars, but no one said looking like a tool was cheap.

All right, all right, that is a broad generalization. But one cannot deny the surplus of people dressed in the same nondescript and utterly reprehensible style.  I understand “it’s early”, or that you are a triple biochemistry major with much more important things than clothes on their mind, but is personal representation lost entirely on campus.

Growing up with a militantly strict Puerto Rican mother, I was never allowed to leave the house looking anything but presentable, because, in her words “You never know who is watching” as well as “You represent me” and “No you can not wear all black”. While this led to endless years of depression and paranoia, feeling like there is a kind of fashion KGB, watching my every move and making snarky comments about how I look like something Santino Rice designed on an acid trip, I have come to terms that in fact, you do not ever know who is looking. Whether it be a style blogger who wants your photo or a stalker who wants to chain you up in a basement. So much like capture and enslavement, putting in that bit of extra effort isn’t so bad once you get used to it.

An example of this was during Warped Tour this year(Yeah…I don’t know why either). I was sweaty, sun fatigued, and sincerely regretting my decision to decide that at the age of 19 I’d join the ranks of 14-year-olds and their mothers in lawn chairs at an outside venue during July in Florida. In any case, I was approached by a blogger to have my photo taken for her blog. Being the only one that isn’t dressed like a blind person with no sense of irony that was told to put on whatever he grabbed at a Zumiez attracts some attention, I guess. At least she told me it was for her blog and I really hope it was, but in any case, you never know who will approach you for what you’re wearing and strike up interesting conversation.

In the age of the blog, street style is the hot topic, and much inspiration can be gained by the hodgepodge of styles seen on ordinary people worldwide. Being the advocate for these types of things, I’ve found that sites such as the Satorialist and Stockholm Street Fashion capture the various ways people dress themselves, whether it be completely ridiculous or wholly remarkable.

Here at the Minaret, we are hoping to amp up the Style section with this very type of thing. So if you’re dressed well one day and we happen to be out with a camera, you might be asked to lend your great tastes to an article. All for fun, and all for inspiration.

Now go ahead and leave your dorm at 2pm wearing your pajamas. I’m not judging.