Alice Chen

College is a time for us to discover who we are, and that includes finding our own personal style. But when college campuses are seas of black leggings and white tees, gathering fashion inspiration may not be easy. Don’t fret — even if you can’t pick an outfit out of a full closet, we’ve got just the guide for you!
 
1. Discover What You Love
 

 
The first step to finding a style that’s you is to figure out what you like. HC Style Editor Elyssa Goodman, who taught a class called “The Art of Personal Style” at Carnegie Mellon, suggests creating your own inspiration book.
 
“Look at the world, look at magazines, look at photographs, even look at color samples from Home Depot,” she says. “After that, you look at the book and notice patterns in your selections.”
 
Former freelance couture model in France Wemi Opakunle says that inspiration can come from anywhere, from photographs to people. She lists Tommy Ton of Jak & Jil, Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist, and photographer Garance Dore as sources.
 
“The great thing is with the Internet, all these sources are just a mouse click away,” she says. Websites like Pinterest or Tumblr, where Opakunle records her inspirations through her own blog, can help you collect your own images or peruse others’ ideas.
 
Are you attracted to stripes? Is red your go-to color? Your affinities may range anywhere from a time period (for Elyssa, it’s 1940s Pinup Girl Moves to 1970s East Village!) to a current trend (such as menswear-inspired).
 

“Voted today!” boasts a Tweet. Instagram photographs of absentee ballots have been trickling in. And of course, no Facebook newsfeed during election season is complete without one of these: “Please go vote. Many have risked and lost their lives so that you may have a voice. So be a proud American and exercise your right to vote!”

Me? I’m going to be a proud American and exercise my right not to vote. As much as we all would like to think otherwise, every vote does not count, and to claim that voting gives us a voice is laughable at best. Look at the math: in 2008, the chances that a single American voter could have impacted the outcome of the election was one in 60 million, according to Columbia professor Andrew Gelman, statistician Nate Silver and Berkeley professor Aaron Edlin in their paper, “What Is the Probability Your Vote Will Make a Difference?” You are sixty times more likely to be struck by lightning than you are to affect a presidential election with your vote. Every single one of you reading this article could have voted a different way — or not at all — and Obama would still be in the White House.

Our winner-takes-all voting system doesn’t help, either. It doesn’t matter whether I’m registered to vote in my home state of Utah, in Georgia, where I went to school, or here in New York. We know the first two will go to Romney, and the latter will go to Obama. My “voice,” regardless of what it is, is irrelevant if I exercise it through my right to vote.

When you’re living in a dorm room that’s the size of your closet at home, taking your entire wardrobe to school is clearly not an option. With the limited space that college closets offer, choosing all the right pieces to fit into a mere 3 x 3 square feet is vital. So you can always put your best foot forward, we’ve come up with the 8 pairs of shoes that every collegiette needs to have!

Wear-Everywhere Flats

Flats might as well be the official footwear of collegiettes everywhere, because they’re comfy, cute, and perfect for those treks across campus. Wear them with jeans and a tee for a casual classroom look, or a flirty dress for your date with that cute guy down the hall! Here are some of our faves:

Studded Heel Ballerina, $49.90, Zara

Basic ballet flat in the front, party in the back. It’s a classic black pair that goes with everything from jeans and a tee to your party dress, and all it takes is a little gold detailing on the heel to add a unique edge.

Oasis Metal Toecap Snake Ballet Flats, $64.71, Asos.com

Girls’ nights, club openings, the bar with friends —whatever the event, our social calendars are packed from weekend to weekend. Yet every evening, we run into the same dilemma: what to wear. Now that we know what this fall’s top trends are, here’s how to incorporate the same style into your going-out outfit without looking like you’re dressed up for a frat theme party.

LBD, Upgraded

Unconventional leather pieces like pleated skirts and leather shirts are a must-have this fall, and according to Amy Levin, founder of CollegeFashionista.com, collegiettes are loving the trend. Levin, who knows firsthand what students are wearing on campus, says that collegiettes are “finally playing with this trend from leather leggings to leather shorts.” The leather look is the perfect way to update the LBD you love but wear all too often. Maintain a black palette with a pair of black leather shorts, a leather-accented tee and black leather accessories. It’s a versatile look that lets you take the night as it comes, whether you’re going bar-hopping or dancing the night away.

Get The Look: