Wake up at 7:45. Throw on sweats, a hoodie, and flip flops. Throw your hair in a messy bun. Check Facebook. Grab your bag and get to class by 8 AM.

Does this at all resemble your morning routine? I know how tempting it is to get that last fifteen minutes of sleep and run out the door looking like you just rolled out of bed. Fashion is probably the last thing on your mind when you’re trying to remember things like, Where on earth is my physics book? And, Why can I only find one shoe??? However, it is important to put at least some effort into the way you look before class.

The way you dress affects the way people perceive and treat you, whether you care or not. It can also affect your attitude and level of performance in class. If you are wearing pajamas, you aren’t going to feel awake enough to fully participate in a class discussion. If you look like you don’t care, people are going to think that you don’t care (including your professors).

Obviously you aren’t going to head to class decked out from head to toe in your Sunday best (unless you never made it home, you dawg), but there are easy ways to update your outfits so you look a little less messy and … sleepy.

10 Easy Style Updates For Class This Fall

1. A scarf - throw on jeans and a plain colored fitted t-shirt. Add a scarf and voila! Instant fashion. Scarves are really in this year and there are tons of cute ones out there to pick from. You can’t get an easier shortcut to style. Find them at American Eagle, H&M, or Limited Too (yea, it’s for little kids but they have a lot of cute scarves that are only $10!). Read More »

I love fashion. I even love everything that is just soo ridiculous about fashion. Like how sweaters are in store windows in July and bathing suits in January. Or how friends will tease you for buying into a trend that “is so ugly it makes me want to vomit all over you” only to be wearing it three months later (while you have already moved on to something else -that they want to “vomit all over” -all over again).

Or how magazines will spend an entire season convincing you to get rid of your wide-legs because “Skinny is here to stay!” and then four months later, all you see in the same magazine are super-duper-I could fit 5 kegs in here-wide legs that are a “Must Have” for the upcoming season… “Wide legs are here to stay!” Riiiight.

And I even love what is perhaps, the most ridiculous concept about fashion: nothing is really ever all that original. Sure Marc Jacobs (whom I adore and would date if he wasn’t on another team) makes Flannel look effortlessly chic- but at the same time, my brothers wore plaid flannels in high school along with Doc Martens and their Walkman clipped inside their Z. Cavaricci’s (ah the 90’s….).

I’m usually all for fashion comebacks. Since I’m a vintage junkie, I will jump at the chance to wear something that was once the IT style. Partly because I’m a sappy nostalgic- I love the idea of wearing bell bottoms and imagining what my life would have been like had I grown up in the 70’s. I like to give fashion the benefit of the doubt. I enjoy playing dressup. I do believe that a flannel top could be cute. And aside from the recent seasons of awful Maternity wear, I usually look forward to the “New” (recycled) trends coming out each season- wondering what era will be in this year. Read More »

VH1’s “I Love the New Millennium” premiered this week. Much like its fabulously entertaining predecessors mocking the 80’s and 90’s (sorry, the 70’s one predates me), it doesn’t fail to deliver laughs and amusing sound bites. Although I think I Love the New Millennium might be jumping the gun time-wise (they are discussing things that happened, like, last week!), I adore the short-attention-span-theater for the distraction-inclined:

Exploring all the pop cultural guilty pleasures, memorable products and people, disgraces and debuts, fads and fashions, scandals and sensations.

With clever and over-animated comedians dissecting and reflecting on everything from metrosexuals to Dance Dance Revolution to Sudoku, you can’t help but giggle at the off the wall and politically incorrect observations. In honor of the show, I decided to take a yummy walk down pop-culture memory lane from 2000-2004. Here are some of my personal favorite memories from the new millennium…and the ones I despise.

New Millennium Favs:

Napster- The inspiring illegal innovation that started it all. Thank you, Shawn Fanning, for changing the musical and digital landscape.

Uggs- I don’t care how hideous they are and how far-gone the trend is, these babies keep my tootsies toasty on the way to class or, if I’m feeling really lazy, at the bar. Read More »

It hit me today that Spring is actually here. As I trucked down the street donning my winter jacket, snowboots (not the cute Uggs, but actually Arctic chill winter boots) and a fuzzy sweater, I realized I was sweating profusely and thought, “Hm, it’s time to wear less clothing.”

The problem is, I have no MONEY for clothing. Something about being a TwentySomething in New York City. Good thing there are a ton of stores these days catering to ladies just like me who are short on cash and ready to shimmy off their parkas and slip into something a bit cooler.

Check it: Forever 21 Goodness.

Yellow Sundress at Forever21.com for $22.80

And no, yellow is not obnoxious — it’s awesome. Read More »

M was a friend of my roommate’s boyfriend and I started dating him after he saw my picture and decided he wanted to get to know me. He lived in NYC and I lived in Boston, but he was determined to take me out.

Normally I wouldn’t bother getting into the long distance thing, but he was super tall, extremely intelligent, and not bad looking, so I figured I’d give him a chance. Plus, he was super nice. Like he would drop everything when I called, take me anywhere I wanted to go, kind of nice. What girl doesn’t want that, right? I was just getting out of a relationship with a guy I loved but who didn’t drop everything at the drop of a hat for me, so I figured this would be refreshing. M came to Boston one weekend and took me to dinner.

Right away my roommate told me her boyfriend didn’t want us dating. “She’ll end up hurting him,” he had told her. Me, hurt a guy? I’m not exactly known as a super-b*tch when it comes to dating, so I really didn’t foresee myself hurting anyone.

After another perfectly nice date, M came to visit again, also known as our third date. My friends arrived at my apartment, anxious to meet him. M wasn’t there when they arrived; he was out trying to find a restaurant that served chicken pot pie. See, I had this craving, so I told him I wanted one, and he was off on a mission. After a bit, he ran back into my apartment breathless and defeated. “I couldn’t find one anywhere,” he told me. But I wanted one badly. “Did you try Z’s?” my friend asked. “They have them there.” “Really?” he replied eagerly. And he was out the door again. Fifteen minutes later and I had my chicken pot pie in hand. Read More »

They’re hideous, but clearly Uggs aren’t going anywhere. I own and love them, and wear them regularly from November to March.

Practical as these babies may be for me, I cannot think of any reason why men should own them. I wouldn’t even bother arguing this point aside from the unfortunate reality that I’ve seen it, both on campus in the Midwest and at subway entrances in the city.

Guys are wearing the classic-style Uggs, and apparently seem to think that’s okay. I do not believe I am the only one who finds this shocking, appalling, and more than a little disgusting.

Maybe it’s because so many guys are anti-Ugg that I can’t wrap my head around the idea of original Uggs for men. The only saving grace for the brand is that they do make legitimate leather boots and shoes that don’t look like the stereotypical Uggs. This does not relate to the pet peeve in question. We’re talking the original pull-on shearling boots. That men just don’t need.

It’s as frivolous as a guy wearing Manolo Blahnik running shoes. Something just doesn’t quite add up. Read More »

It’s 9:55. You can barely open your eyes. Your room is a mess and you never got around to doing the readings for the class you have in 10 minutes.

So, the last thing you have time to do is pick out a cute little outfit to wear to class. I know, I understand.

But think about it this way…your pajamas are ugly.

Huge cotton pants with Care Bears all over them are cute when you’re watching TV at 10 PM…not so cute when you’re fetching coffee at 10 AM.

And as the day goes on pajamas scream “I didn’t take a shower today!” louder and louder until it’s 3 PM and (one would hope) you feel utterly silly.

So, I’m taking the time to beg all of you: Don’t wear pajamas to class! Unfortunately, this PJ trend is picking up a bit of steam and while I’m no fashion guru, I am so disappointed!

How difficult is it to throw on some jeans an a t-shirt? Put on an old hoodie!

Geez, I’d even allow UGGS if it meant you didn’t wear slippers. I mean, even those are picking up steam as totally trendy! Read More »

Every girl knows that shoes can make an outfit.

Right this very moment I’m staring at my sisters cream and navy Marc Jacobs patent stacked heels just wishing I didn’t have to strap on my cowboy boots for my night time hostessing job.

Cowgirl chic is not an easy to look to pull off.

In college, it is all about comfort and when the weather gets too cold for your rainbows and your Uggs are well, fug, it’s nice to have a few warm standbys.

This season, instead of my All-American chucks, I’m eyeing a pair of high top sneakers. I tried to convince my boyfriend that this style was totally him but he wouldn’t take the bait, so I’m going to. This pair from Nine West are more lady with an edge than rockabilly hipster, which I’m digging for fall.

The only shoe I fully rely on come fall are my flat boots. No girl can live without a warm and comfy pair to pull on at a moments notice.

Jeans, dresses, skirts, the flat boot works with every article of clothing. And finally affordable shoe designers are making them with some darling details. I can’t get enough of the buttons on these Steve Madden’s and the zip off tops of these Abaete for Payless. Read More »

Like any self-respecting college girl, I always tote the newest Vogue, Elle, and if I’m feeling especially mainstream-In Style, on the elliptical with me. But as I’m burning the calories, toning the legs, and admiring the duds, I can’t help but wonder how anyone in college could pull this stuff off without being gawked at (and not in the good way) by your typical sweatpant clad college male.

Let’s take Balenciaga’s Spring ready-to-wear collection. Obviously, gold leggings were the stunner of this show. And why not? They’re totally hot….and $100,000, and one kind of gets the impression not too comfortable.

For a mere $36 dollars you can pick up a pair of gold leggings from your local American Apparel, pair them with a black jersey mini-dress, cute flats, and hit the library in style.

Read More »