By Darren White

Right before I came back to school after fall break, I received a call from a friend currently living in New York City. Since the end of the summer, I had been pestering her to go into the recently opened Hollister store in SoHo. Ever since she was recruited for a job and was shamelessly hit on by a salesman there when she was 15 (all in the same sentence: “Oh man, your ass looks incredible in those jeans…ever thought about working here?”), she had yet to step in one. Finally, though, she built up the courage to check it out. 

“How was it?”

“It was dark, I couldn’t breathe from the smell of cheap perfume, and I didn’t stay for more than five minutes at most.”

“No good?”

“Not one bit.” 

It says a lot about our society’s obsession with collegiate youth that this mecca of middle-school, whiskered jeans has finally taken root in one of the most fashionable places in our country. Why are we so afraid to grow up, even if it’s just aesthetically? I’ve always been a little stunned at the amount of Abercrombie and Fitch and American Eagle logos I see on a regular basis.  Each store has their own little gems, but when a 22-year-old is clad in AE head to toe, something has gone awry.  

The issue for me is that these stores seem to glorify an eternal youth that is nowhere to be found. Jeans ripped at the knee barely worked in 8th grade. They are far from appropriate once you’ve hit college. Same goes for those weird clogs. Leaving customers in a perpetual time warp, they provide little more than t-shirts with huge logos and booty shorts during the summer. 

I’m not advocating a complete stylistic boycott of these stores, but why not choose pieces that make you feel young, sophisticated, just a tad adult and ready for the world?  If you’re a lady shopping at A&F, forgo the distressed, extra low-rise bootcut jeans in favor of the Courtney High Rise Skinny. It comes in a dark rinse that will work with a cute sweater for class and with a flirty blouse and chandelier earrings at nice dinner. And the high rise will, in the words of Mandy Ball ’11, “keep Mr. Muffin Man from a-knockin’,” if you’re feeling self-conscious about your waistline.  

Guys, if you’re at American Eagle looking for a coat, leave the fur-lined down coat on the rack and hit the register with the AE Trench or the Plaid Duffle Coat. Either will give you some British-dandy sophistication. Duffle coats are big for men this fall, and nothing is sharper than a clean, well-cut trench over a white Oxford and dark blue jeans.

We’re all at the points in our lives at which looking good and dressing like adults is in fact crucial. Being well dressed for that job interview, no matter how casual it is, means more than you realize. The phrase “grow up” should be looked at as a challenge, not an insult. I know that I’m certain ready to take the challenge head on.

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