The page entitled “Multicultural Elon” housed under the “Admissions” section of Elon University’s flagship website begins with the sentence, “Diversity is honored and welcomed at Elon. Students come from 48 states, the District of Columbia and 57 countries and represent many different cultures and ethnicities.”
However, a question I’ve asked myself during my time on Elon’s campus is do Elon students represent “many different cultures and ethnicities” in their appearance and, more specifically, in their fashion?
From a purely observational standpoint, I don’t believe Elon’s campus has a diverse fashion culture. Not only have I observed this first-hand, but it also seems to be a frequent complaint amongst students, like how “the guys here only wear pastels and khakis and girls only wear Tory Burch and cowboy boots.”
Here’s my theory: Elon’s international students and even students from around the United States have been influenced, adapted and assimilated by fashion unique to Elon and the South. What does that mean? I’ll use myself as an example.
I’ve moved four times and have seen fashion shift in each place, but I adapted largely to East Coast style. In my time on the East Coast, I went to both public and private school, which significantly changed my approach to fashion. I found that at each school there were a multitude of factors that influenced each individual’s daily attire decisions, but the driving factor was always rooted in social pressure.
Now, I don’t mean the kind of social pressure that includes your high school’s respective Regina George telling your high school’s Cady Heron equivalent to exchange her “African” threads for some pink minis. I’m talking about the kind of social pressure that is latent. The kind where you don’t necessarily understand why you just asked your mom to buy you Etnies, a flat brimmed hat (for guys), or pearls (for girls). But you did — because of the very real desire to fit in. And now? Girls are shopping at Aeropostle and American Eagle, guys are hitting up Lids and Hollister, and folks … there’s no going back from that, just like there’s no return receipt for the knock-off cowboy boots I purchased solely to commemorate my jaunt to Southern culture and to Elon.
In some way or another, everyone has made a shift in his or her style to fit Elon’s “established” style. Define it how you will, but the human occupants of the Elon bubble and their clothing choices have manifested, in some way, in the clothes you choose to buy or put on your body. If you notice it’s cowboy boots, think for a minute and ask yourself if you’ve strayed from your stylistic roots. If so, how can you incorporate them back into your current style? Try to find a balance so Elon’s community can boost its representation of campus diversity through fashion, one of our primary forms of expression, and collectively pop the perceived homogeneity of the bubble.