Collegiate Cool is the Wave of the Moment

Words: Jabulile Dlamini Qwesha | Photography: Aart Verrips | Styling: Akim Jardine

The link between fashion and popular culture is inextricable in nature and even more intricate when you need to pin down a movement’s point of origin. Take the return of geek chic looks from the 80s and 90s, for instance; they gradually became a thing and then Gucci’s pre-Fall 2017 collection and campaign were the distinctive moments where we knew they weren’t going anywhere.

But, really, when you think about it, from The Get Down (season 1), Stranger Things, Dear White People, the look of ‘collegiate cool’ is the dominant aesthetic in some of the series we’re loving the most, right now. Which makes you wonder whether that is the case because: Gucci, or if it’s the natural progression from the days of normcore and the hypebeast type of street chic, which Gucci just took and ran with.

We’ve seen the impact that the fashion on TV series can have on viewers’ preferences with Gossip Girl. Presenting a cavalcade of fashion the show about life on the Upper East Side became one of the key influences of how young women spend, after the debut of its first season in 2008. Affecting the catwalk as well as the retail offering at stores like Bloomingdales alike, the idea that trends can move from the small screen to the runway is not far fetched. And since the rise of social media and the streetwear phenomenon, fashion motifs have been less about what the authorities deem tasteful and more a reflection of what people are wearing on the daily.

So, whether you’re as classy and polished as Gossip Girl's Blair Waldorf, a combination of laidback and preppy like Nancy Wheeler from Stranger Things, or casual and flirty like Yolanda on The Get Down, the look of the minute is a reminiscent of old school college vibes. And the fashion powers concur.