I hated my school uniform. The last thing I wanted to do when I got up at 6:30 in the morning to be at my high school until 10:00 pm sometimes, was put on a button down or polo with a pair of khakis. At that early in the morning, I valued comfort far more than anything else, and swore that I would never be into wearing a school uniform once I no longer had to. But now, I am in love with the school uniform aesthetic.
I remember once, my mom had considered switching me to catholic school when I was in 8th grade, mainly due to the fact that I was miserable at my school and hated it. I had a breakdown about it, I didn’t want to leave my friends, I didn’t want to have to start over at a new school, but mainly, I didn’t want to have to wear the uniform. The plaid skirt, the polo, the knee high socks, I would rather do anything else if it meant I didn’t have to wear that uniform everyday of my life for the rest of my high school experience. I wanted the freedom to wear what I want, and wanted to be able to choose my clothes for myself, not have someone dictate what I have to wear each day.
But that’s changing a lot now. Over the summer, I was a service associate at Kohl’s in my hometown, and one of the releases in the junior section this was summer was a line of “home-schooled clothes”, clothes based around the classic school uniform, but might not be the best fit in a dress code, due to skirt length and the likes. And I loved it. It was everything I swore I hated in a uniform: the plaid skirt, polos, button downs, every part of the dress code that I hated for years in high school, I was waiting to buy on the next sale at work.
The school uniform aesthetic has been coming back into style with a force, due partially to the increased love of the academia aesthetic. Plaid skirts, oversized sweaters, blazers with tweed elbow patches, all an essential component to the academia aesthetic in fashion, which is an aesthetic romanticizing the love of learning and libraries, books, reading, studying, and the like. Think the stereotypical style of a college professor, but more fashionable, and less like a typical school girl uniform.
The school uniform or academia aesthetic is coming out everywhere, with Target even releasing more plaid skirts this fall, and having a range of polo and cropped button down shirts. Seeing a generation who hated having their style pushed down by oppressive uniforms, making the change to loving this style and aesthetic is an evolution that I am fond of and will definitely be filling my wardrobe with more this year.