Story by Maddie Russo
Artwork by Caroline McNally
Walking through Chapman’s campus for the first time since transferring from Texas Christian University, Ali Robinson couldn’t help but notice that it wasn’t just the scenery that had changed, but the way people dressed was drastically different too.
“At TCU everyone dresses in school gear, purple or workout clothes, no one dressed up except for football games and parties,” said Ali Robinson, a junior psychology major.
Here at Chapman, the majority of people are seen wearing nice clothing and dressing to impress at almost all hours of the day. Women wearing Chapman apparel is hardly a familiar sight.
In a survey conducted at Chapman University it was recorded that 75% of people who took it reported that they “On average, dress nicely for class.”
Whereas, upon visiting other campuses it’s usually a different story.
“When I visited University of Washington, everyone was wearing UW gear and in comfy clothes, everyone showed off their school spirit and was proud to be apart of something that great,” said Arielle Berger, a sophomore Strategic Corporate Communications major.
In the same survey, 4 out of the 40 responded that they do not own Chapman apparel.
“It’s weird when I see people walking around campus with apparel from other schools. Why would you want to attend a school but not rep it?,” said Jacob Eakin, sophomore Strategic Corporate Communications major.
From the Chapman survey 92% of students agreed that Chapman students dress nicer than most students at other universities.
Is it the lack of school spirit that provokes students to dress up regularly, or the fact that we are situated close to Los Angeles, a culture known for fashion and entertainment.
“Many times I have heard the stereotypes of Orange County residents dressing nicely due to warm weather and wealth, or even that Orange County people have the stigma of always trying to dress to impress,” said sophomore public relations and advertising major, Katie Nishida.
During the survey, similar responses rolled in that stated Chapman students must dress nicer because they are wealthy and the weather provokes it, but there were also many responses that suggested that Chapman students were too obsessed with their looks.
April Tran, a sophomore Strategic Corporate Communications major, believes that “students at other schools don’t feel the pressure to dress up, where here she feels the need to, because everyone else does.”
Although many students believe that the women on campus dress up because they are pressured to, there are other’s out there that dress up because they want to for themselves.
“I dress up because it’s what gets my day going,” said Ruchika Bajaj, sophomore strategic corporate communications major. “When I feel like I look good and presentable in the morning, I’m more energized and ready to take on the day.”
There is no clear cut answer to address why students dress the way they do, but the mix of all of the respondents’ ideas and reasonings suggested could point to it.
