NUS: A student's runway
FEATURE by Lydianne Yap
One would probably expect to be greeted by the sight of conservatively dressed students studiously clutching their laptops or textbooks and scuttling between classes in a typical university hallway. That, however, is not quite the case in the National University of Singapore. Instead, designer bag toting, glossy haired, flamboyantly dressed, students line the hallways.
Having recently seized the 8th spot on Global Language Monitor’s list of top 50 global fashion capitals, Singapore has been dubbed by industry watchers as Asia’s fastest rising fashion empire. As such, the influence of fashion on Singaporean society at large has heightened considerably. This is inevitably translated into the style choices of the younger set, as demonstrated in the case of NUS.
There has been a notable trend of NUS students being increasingly fashion savvy and image conscious. This is a far cry from the picture painted to the public some three years ago, when local tertiary students were criticized in media reports for being shabbily and inappropriately dressed for school, NUS students notwithstanding.
Today, the hallways of NUS serve as runways for students to strut their sense of style. This is especially so in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, where a typical day in school is likened to a “fashion show” of sorts by students.
“I’m certain that students take more care in dressing up for school in NUS these days, though this varies from faculty to faculty and is subject to the erratic weather conditions,” notes Jaslyn Bang, a Communications and New Media major in her final semester who also doubles up as a fashion feature writer for plussixfive. “Personally, I would attribute this change to the burgeoning influence of fashion in Singapore,” she says.
Twenty-two-year-old Genevieve Khoo, Cleo’s 2009 Cover Girl, agrees with this sentiment. “The fashion industry in Singapore is expanding very quickly,” says the third year Communications and New Media major in NUS. “It is inevitable that NUS students get caught up in this fashion maelstrom and start to pay more attention to how they dress.”
Change, of course, does not always come in leaps and bounds. There are still students who saunter into classes dressed like they just rolled out of bed – the perpetrators usually being those staying on campus. However, there is a significant decrease in the number of such cases.
“I noticed that there are less people wearing “hall” clothes– pyjama-like baggy t-shirts and shorts– to classes now. They actually wear proper clothes,” says Jolynn Tan, a third year Psychology major. “You used to be able to tell the difference between those who stayed in halls and those who didn’t, by their dressing. Now you can’t, because everyone dresses better.”
Within the NUS community itself, a group of unidentified students have taken to reporting fashion disasters over the Internet. The unofficial “fashion police” of NUS have been posting voyeuristic photos of these fashion victims on their twitter page since late 2010, allowing other NUS students to comment and share these photos on their own twitter pages.
This is indicative of the growing image consciousness of NUS students. As the existence of the fashion police clearly suggests, dressing well is of utmost importance. The saying “you are what you wear” exists for a reason: because attire is the most visible and immediately identifiable part of a person, people will pass judgments on others based on it.
This is backed up by a 2006 study done by Ohio State University, which revealed that women who were dressed more fashionably and attractively were treated better. The study found that attire serves as an indicator of social status and hence, affects the way one is treated by the other members of society.
Larger allowances have also made it easier for the younger set to gain access to fashion and hence upping their style factor. A recent NUS study revealed that 28% of the students surveyed had allowances ranging from $300- $499, and 16% with allowances from $500- $699. With more disposable income at their fingertips, students have more flexibility when it comes to spending on clothing.
At the same time, prices of fashion apparel have taken a dip following the advent of fast-fashion business models. “They offer trendy clothes at affordable prices; which is highly appealing to students, ” says Bang. The growing number of blog shops in Singapore is as good an indicator as any of the flourishing disposable fashion industry.
Fast fashion, also known as disposable fashion, refers to clothes that are inspired by runway fashion but produced with materials of cheaper and lower quality. The consumer would probably get a couple of wears out of something before having to throw it out due to wear and tear or changing fashion trends.
Such apparel, being cheap and stylish, is highly popular among young adults– including the NUS crowd. “Almost everything I own is from a fast fashion chain, “ says Marc Toh, a freshman in FASS. “I hardly wear any of them more than a couple of times because there’s always something newer and more fashionable to buy.”
With such a huge pool of fast fashion stores at their disposal– including the pop-up stalls at the Central Forum that largely hawk disposable fashion separates– it is not a surprise that NUS students are increasingly dressing better.
However, not everyone is jumping onto the fashion bandwagon just as yet. “When going to school, practicality and comfort should take precedence over style,” says Melvin Yeo, a fourth year Civil Engineering major. “The University is a learning institution, not a fashion runway.”
Many students do agree with Yeo’s point of view, as flip-flops and shorts are still a mainstay in the dressing culture here– the very same clothing elements that had NUS in the news back in 2009 for condoning the sloppy dressing of its students.
At the end of the day however, it all boils down to the individual. “Being stylish is about picking an outfit that you are comfortable in and accentuates your body type,” says Khoo. “You’ll naturally look and feel better when you do so.”
“That is the secret to looking fabulous,” she concludes with an affable smile.
One would probably expect to be greeted by the sight of conservatively dressed students studiously clutching their laptops or textbooks and scuttling between classes in a typical university hallway. That, however, is not quite the case in the National University of Singapore. Instead, designer bag toting, glossy haired, flamboyantly dressed, students line the hallways.
Having recently seized the 8th spot on Global Language Monitor’s list of top 50 global fashion capitals, Singapore has been dubbed by industry watchers as Asia’s fastest rising fashion empire. As such, the influence of fashion on Singaporean society at large has heightened considerably. This is inevitably translated into the style choices of the younger set, as demonstrated in the case of NUS.
There has been a notable trend of NUS students being increasingly fashion savvy and image conscious. This is a far cry from the picture painted to the public some three years ago, when local tertiary students were criticized in media reports for being shabbily and inappropriately dressed for school, NUS students notwithstanding.
Today, the hallways of NUS serve as runways for students to strut their sense of style. This is especially so in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, where a typical day in school is likened to a “fashion show” of sorts by students.
“I’m certain that students take more care in dressing up for school in NUS these days, though this varies from faculty to faculty and is subject to the erratic weather conditions,” notes Jaslyn Bang, a Communications and New Media major in her final semester who also doubles up as a fashion feature writer for plussixfive. “Personally, I would attribute this change to the burgeoning influence of fashion in Singapore,” she says.
Twenty-two-year-old Genevieve Khoo, Cleo’s 2009 Cover Girl, agrees with this sentiment. “The fashion industry in Singapore is expanding very quickly,” says the third year Communications and New Media major in NUS. “It is inevitable that NUS students get caught up in this fashion maelstrom and start to pay more attention to how they dress.”
Change, of course, does not always come in leaps and bounds. There are still students who saunter into classes dressed like they just rolled out of bed – the perpetrators usually being those staying on campus. However, there is a significant decrease in the number of such cases.
“I noticed that there are less people wearing “hall” clothes– pyjama-like baggy t-shirts and shorts– to classes now. They actually wear proper clothes,” says Jolynn Tan, a third year Psychology major. “You used to be able to tell the difference between those who stayed in halls and those who didn’t, by their dressing. Now you can’t, because everyone dresses better.”
Within the NUS community itself, a group of unidentified students have taken to reporting fashion disasters over the Internet. The unofficial “fashion police” of NUS have been posting voyeuristic photos of these fashion victims on their twitter page since late 2010, allowing other NUS students to comment and share these photos on their own twitter pages.
This is indicative of the growing image consciousness of NUS students. As the existence of the fashion police clearly suggests, dressing well is of utmost importance. The saying “you are what you wear” exists for a reason: because attire is the most visible and immediately identifiable part of a person, people will pass judgments on others based on it.
This is backed up by a 2006 study done by Ohio State University, which revealed that women who were dressed more fashionably and attractively were treated better. The study found that attire serves as an indicator of social status and hence, affects the way one is treated by the other members of society.
Larger allowances have also made it easier for the younger set to gain access to fashion and hence upping their style factor. A recent NUS study revealed that 28% of the students surveyed had allowances ranging from $300- $499, and 16% with allowances from $500- $699. With more disposable income at their fingertips, students have more flexibility when it comes to spending on clothing.
At the same time, prices of fashion apparel have taken a dip following the advent of fast-fashion business models. “They offer trendy clothes at affordable prices; which is highly appealing to students, ” says Bang. The growing number of blog shops in Singapore is as good an indicator as any of the flourishing disposable fashion industry.
Fast fashion, also known as disposable fashion, refers to clothes that are inspired by runway fashion but produced with materials of cheaper and lower quality. The consumer would probably get a couple of wears out of something before having to throw it out due to wear and tear or changing fashion trends.
Such apparel, being cheap and stylish, is highly popular among young adults– including the NUS crowd. “Almost everything I own is from a fast fashion chain, “ says Marc Toh, a freshman in FASS. “I hardly wear any of them more than a couple of times because there’s always something newer and more fashionable to buy.”
With such a huge pool of fast fashion stores at their disposal– including the pop-up stalls at the Central Forum that largely hawk disposable fashion separates– it is not a surprise that NUS students are increasingly dressing better.
However, not everyone is jumping onto the fashion bandwagon just as yet. “When going to school, practicality and comfort should take precedence over style,” says Melvin Yeo, a fourth year Civil Engineering major. “The University is a learning institution, not a fashion runway.”
Many students do agree with Yeo’s point of view, as flip-flops and shorts are still a mainstay in the dressing culture here– the very same clothing elements that had NUS in the news back in 2009 for condoning the sloppy dressing of its students.
At the end of the day however, it all boils down to the individual. “Being stylish is about picking an outfit that you are comfortable in and accentuates your body type,” says Khoo. “You’ll naturally look and feel better when you do so.”
“That is the secret to looking fabulous,” she concludes with an affable smile.