Looks of UniSA

Pretty Fly For a Uni Guy (or whatever you choose to identify as!)

It is no secret that style can be an incredibly important means of identity and self-expression. Especially for us young souls, the ways we choose to dress can change drastically year to year in an attempt to better understand ourselves and our place within the world. At Verse, we were particularly curious to see if student’s styles had changed over the excessive isolation and lockdown periods of 2020.

So, we sat down with three stylish students to explore just that.

Emma-Jane Powell: First year in Bachelor of Early Childhood Education

“Look… I do not really have a style. Often it will depend on my mood or where I am going [and] who I am going with. There are a lot of variables. I guess my standard would just be neat casual; a little bit of sporty, a little bit fancy, a mixture of kind of everything. Generally, I wear either my sneakers or my Docs [Dr. Martens], denim jeans or a skirt and probably an oversized T-shirt.”

“I dress the way I want the world to see me. I dress so that people can read me, so they know how I am feeling. If I am wearing something bright, colourful and summery, people can be like ‘she is having a good day’ and I can be like ‘I am having a good day’. Sometimes I try to also incorporate bits of my personality – like I love the 60s and the 70s – so one day I might want to dress a little bit retro and make it obvious so that people can see that about me.”

“This bucket hat [is] from my mum’s grandma. Apparently she loved wearing hats and, in this one, she was the height of fashion. It is a pretty special bucket hat. Just the fact that it has been passed down from my grandma [to] my mum and now I am wearing it makes it a nice generational thing. Also, my Reebok sneakers. I wear them every day – they are my favourites!”

Braiden Rowett: Second year in Bachelor of Business (Marketing and Design)

“I would say that my fashion sense has definitely changed in that I have become more “out there” with what I wear. I try to do more creative and thematic outfits. I think that I was just getting really bored during lockdowns and I was sick of wearing nothing crazy because I like to show off my outfits and I like to look nice. I wanted to be more adventurous; I was already on the move to my current style this time last year. I used to wear a lot of basic black and white pieces, but, since, I have added more colour to my outfits. I was sick of everything being boring, dull and a bit sad so I went ‘let’s combat this with some brightness’ and that has just hung around. I definitely prioritised comfort during lockdown (because I was just at home), but even now I wear a lot more loose-fitting clothing because it is more comfortable. I try to make myself happy with what I am wearing first before thinking about other people, but I am very much between both.”

“I am wearing this flower top that I got right at the end of lockdown. It does not hold too much meaning, but I keep wearing it because it reminds me of when restrictions were being eased. When I could start leaving the house and wearing nicer pieces out again.”

“The IKEA hat displays how I like to go more thematic with what I wear, so I based a whole outfit around it. It is my friend, Lucy’s, and is made from a real IKEA bag. It is definitely reminiscent of wanting to get out of the house, because it gives me big beach energy.”

Rylee Cooper: Third year in Bachelor of Journalism and Professional Writing/ Bachelor of Arts (Creative Writing and Literature)

“I love wearing something that is playful and fun enough that people want to come up and talk to me. That is the whole purpose of the clothes that I wear. I want things that I enjoy to be shown through my clothes so that people can relate to the stuff that I wear and can start a conversation with me about it. I want to look adventurous and capable.”

“I think it taps into the whole approachability thing. I always feel really nice when people compliment me on anything that I am wearing. When wearing the pair of pants I brought today, in Coles, a woman, who can only be described as a Karen came up to me and said, ‘I LOVE your pants!’. I was like, ‘THANK YOU SO MUCH!’.”

“I had always wanted to be able to paint my own pair of pants and these were the very first one’s that I upcycled. I did it whilst I was watching Netflix at the same time. So, this project probably holds the most significance.”