FASHION TRENDS IN THE FACULTY OF ARTS

Precious Igwe

I overheard a conversation in a lecture room one day, they said “Faculty of Arts students actually dress anyhow, just anyhow they want”. Another day, someone told me, “I really love how they are able to dress freely, and there are people I’d see in UI, and I’d confidently guess they are faculty of Arts students”.

Random comments like these got us interested and observing if faculty of Arts students really do have a different way they dress. And, yes, maybe, they really do have. You can say they are top connoisseurs of the 21st century fashion style in the University of Ibadan. So we got to have a conversation -an interview with a student of Arts on the dress sense of the students of this unique faculty. Our interviewee is all about the alté fashion trend, just the right spice for the interview, plus she has some opinions that you would never expect.

Enjoy the interview. Have fun, we hope you’ll be able to relate to the conversation, and we hope you learn a few things: what fashion items are alté? What styles have been in the trend lately? You might learn some fashion tips, you know?Hiii, it’s nice to have you here. Tell us about yourself?

Hiii, it’s nice to have you here. Tell us about yourself?

I would love to be anonymous, actually. But I’m a student of the faculty of Arts.

Okay, cool.
What forms of fashion have you seen amongst students lately?

Okay, the form of fashion I’ve been seeing amongst faculty of Arts students lately is the alté fashion. Because we have the liberty of being creative with our outfits, we don’t have to conform to a dress code, you know, so it’s really easier to see this alté being prevalent amongst us. Some of these come from the old fashion, old school outfits, and the students extract their fashion styles from different stages of old fashion and different versions of alté. Like, crotchet used to be really old school, granny stuff, but we have revived and rebranded it. You also see them wearing boot cuts, which was like a 2010 thingy. And the very popular baggy outfits, it was a 90s fashion.The major fashion item amongst faculty of Arts students is the mom jean! I’ve noticed they wear it so much. They rock it in different styles.

Baggy tees too, shorts. I’m not sure if these are alté fashion exactly, like shorts are definitely new fashion, not old school. There is the tying of scarves too, in the vintage fashion style, crazy jeans too.
And, the Crocs!!! Oh, faculty of Arts students wear Crocs a whole lot. They wear ones that are well patterned with their outfits, they also wear socks to spice it up.

When it comes to fashion accessories, both males and females of the faculty are going all out. They wear rings, anklets, the demographic of people who have piercings also wear nose rings now, they now have piercings in different parts of the body that doesn’t conform to conventional and formal piercing standards.

The hairdos have also changed significantly. Many guys beautifully rock cornrows, dreads, locs.

It’s important to note that these are mostly non-Muslim fashion. The Muslim women who wear hijabs now wear it in more colors- bright colors -they add luxurious shoes, sneakers, Crocs, because that is basically the most way they can express creativity.

The ones who do not wear hijabs, in a bid to still cover the skin and curves, they explore outfits in full-legged trousers, jumpsuits etc.
These are pretty much the fashion forms I’ve observed in the faculty.Do you think they are cool?

Do you think they are cool?

Yeah. Maybe I’m neutral.Oh, really?

Oh, really?

Yeah. I don’t think I’m wired to judge people’s fashion

Awww. Yeah, that’s understandable. Particularly to you, which is your favorite (or one you find fascinating) amongst these new fashion trends among the students?

None.

Wow. For real?

Yes, actually. Earlier on, I said I don’t judge people’s fashion, so I think it makes sense if I say I’m not fascinated by any of these fashion styles.

Okay, put in this way, which of these items do you love to rock? What is your go-to?

Crocs.

That is funny and interesting. Nice. This diversity in fashion in both genders, would you say it’s commendable? Or would it be better if they had to conform to a code or norm?

First of, I should say I’m not a fan of uniforms. This is a university, not a secondary school, so I don’t see the need for a dress code or uniform. This is faculty of Arts, we’re creatives, fortunately, so we should not be restricted to a monotone fashion style. About this diversity in fashion, to some extent I think it’s commendable; not in the sense of the fashion itself, but because people are comfortable and bold enough to wear whatever they want to wear, regardless of its conventional status.

About how you referenced the different ages and centuries that different modern styles originated from, it left us pleasantly surprised and curious to know how you knew them?

I cannot really pinpoint how I knew, to be honest. I think I once researched them when I was carrying out a task related to it, but I cannot exactly remember if I did. I think, somehow, I just happened to know.

We hope you wouldn’t mind sharing some tips, if you know, on how one can style these outfits. What goes better with a crochet top? A big tee? How do I rock a mom jean? When do I wear a big earring?

I have just one tip to share and it transcends this question: style your outfits anyhow. The world hasn’t seen enough weirdness.

That is so unexpected, but we love it. Go out there, rock that style that keeps you up at night but you can’t put in practice because you don’t see others pulling it off. You never know, you might be the beginning of a fashion trend/era!

Thank you, for a very insightful and wholesome time. You could pass for a fashion blogger. You rock (Crocs included, hahaha did you get the joke?).

Speaking of tips and directions on how to style and pair different fashion items, I could assume that everyone knows how to pull off bomb outfits, but just for tips sake, we would share different styles we got from observations and randomly asking some students.

What goes best with mom jeans and boyfriend jeans? You can never go wrong with a big tee or polo on top of your badass boyfriend jean/or baggy jean. It gives off the ‘casual but slaying it’ vibes. You can also pair it with normal sized (fitted) tee, you could decide to tuck it into the jeans or just let it out like that, it’d still look good.

Crop tops too. Did I hear someone say bad beechhh? Crop top and mom/boyfriend jean is the IT. This is where crotchet tops come in too, you can pair a boyfriend jean with crotchet top. These also go for shorts, three-quarter trousers and also normal/skinny long trousers.

One beautiful slay outfit is a big shirt and trousers -any type of trouser, big or normal. You can button it all the way down, or leave them out and maybe tuck in one half side of the shirt and leave the other side flying. You can use the shirt as a jacket too, whilst wearing a camisole or tank top inside.

A vintage scarf goes well with basically any outfit you decide to rock. How you style could depend on the outfit, though.

A nicely done scarf or turban beautifully complements casual and non-casual outfits like jumpsuits and proper pants. Muslimahs? Here is your cue, you would totally slay in these scarves and headwraps.

Crocs and slides are also another constant. They go with every of these outfits, although you have to let go of these footwears if you want to step up a notch higher than casual. But, you are never going wrong with nice leather or rubber slippers, Birkenstocks, sandals, sneakers. And, maybe shoes (do you wear shoes?)

As for accessories? There are really no guidelines, you can wear any ring, any chain, beads, bracelets, cuffs, anything.

And, did we just say guidelines? Scratch all of that. Do you. Wear it, it’s not weird, it’s your style. Represent the “so famous” faculty of Arts style.