Tribune Archives: Clothes Watching

Apologies for the massive delay in posting. I had assignments due and couldn't justify prioritising blog posts. Thankfully, after a couple of recent events, I'm over that. First was when a friend told me I obviously wasn't as busy as him with college work if I had time to get a haircut. I hadn't even gotten a hair cut. I think it's because I condition my hair. Then I told him about my assignment being over two weeks late and he told me about the UCD policy on late assignments. Basically, if your assignment is only worth 5% and you're over two weeks late, don't stress over it. I have another assignment which was due earlier today, worth 30%, but I've been in constant contact with my professor and he's known for two weeks that I was never going to have that done on time. He suggested Saturday but I decided Monday. I'm having a huge party this Friday. Hit me up on Twitter if you want to invite yourself.

I went into the Tribune offices a while ago a took photos of pages in their archives. This is the only fashion article I came across in the short while I was there. TBH, I was really just in there to strike up some banter with my journalist kin.

I haven't my notes handy (I'm in the Health Sciences library, they're at home) but I think this is 1994. The girl writing it is a bit mean. I was going to pick out quotes, but here's the whole article, scan quickly for what was in fashion:

Clothes watching
Observing the constant fasion parade is someting of a spectator sport in UCD 

THAT IMAGE is something remarkable in UCD is an understatement. What, with a fashion parade that knocks out even the dressiest dressers or Dublin's trendiest set, psychics claim that UCD will continue to reign as the Mecca for a consistent image conscious youth. 

It's laughable the amount of girls you see coming into college made-up like pristine preened porcelain dolls, donning everything but the hand-bag. 

As a sloucher who inhabits the smoking area and general spectator of the passing parade. I can truly observe that week by week and indeed day by the the fads pulsate, hilariously, relentlessly, but above all amusingly. 

Some people, of course never quite get it right.

Believe me freshers you'll actually see, otherwise casually dressed, even pretty young things destroying their whole 'comfortable' look by wearing hairbands and suchlike. Of course, say it to them and far from triggering off the herniae they deserve, these sad bitches, will inform you that their look is strictly retro. Sorry darlings, retro nothing; a hair-band is simply a hairband in its fabric, or even plastic form.

Then you've got those uncanny, perhaps 'shy' lads who are afraid of projecting their inner tiger. Eager to camouflage such reticence, last years fad was a pair of drab 'slacks' as they are called, accompanied by a tucked-in checked shirt, Something else popularly adopted by the same crowd were and l'm almost afraid to say the word........waistcoats. These are surely the fodder of nightmares, the worst trip ever. Waistcoats have been strangely intertwined with the repulsed joke that they are simply so cringeworthy that they are actually funny, in a pathetic kind of way. Oh dear.

Then coloured socks, white, yellow, peach etc, often went foot in foot with black -would you believe- tassled moccasins -there actually exists a UCD student who daily wears such combinations, but harping on about such men may be a bit too frightful. 

Especially reserved for the freshers amusement, however is the funniest trend which hit the corridos of college last winter: the unisex puffa strait jacket, buoyant, yet strapping, this item of clothing was originally modelled in full ensemble by the Marshmallow Man in 'Ghost-busters'. Available in a delightful variety of loud colours from Big Bird yellow to vomit orange, (a particular favourite among UCD's braver lot). Each person as puffy as a fresh vol-au-vent; these jackets did look scarifyingly adorable and were an absolute scream, Who knows what this year will hold? 

Getting back for the moment to UCD's ladies. 

Arguably girls do have nicer bodies than men - even if they are unfortunate enough to be average, ( by the Irish standard, a big overall but small in all the wrong places kind of package). This begs the question, why, oh why do so many at UCD's pretty faced girls still continously accentuate the bad and conceal the good. Think shoulder bulging denim shirts, sported with ill fitting courtesy of Benetto Dunné or the even more camp, Michel Guniéa. 

Not that there is anything sinfully wrong with dressing front these stores. Alas, the so-called funkier types think that they know better, but do they really get the balance right? 

Having said all that though, remember to dress whatever way you want, whether its to make a statement, be an embarassment or blend in with the furniture. At the end of the day, whether we like it or not we are all entertaining somebody.

By Miriam Fahey 

The only Miriam Fahey in Dublin I could find with Google is an accountant. Hopefully she's lightened up a bit in the past few years but I have to be thankful she took the time to document UCD fashion for me way back when. I liked her Dunnes Stores/Michael Guiney pun. It went over my head and it wasn't until I googled Michel Guniéa to see if there should be an accent on the e that it hit me. Apart from that there's a lot of hate and a lot of typos. Maybe she'll read this article and send us in a photo of her in her college days.

I'll try get some pictures up of people wearing unisex puffa strait jackets around college. They're so in!

Pre-Halloween

Here are a few of my better fancy-dress outfits:

For Halloween 2010 I went as a dickhead. As in, from the video Being a Dickhead's Cool:

I went all out: grew a moustache; bought a low-cut vest, purple leggings, the Game Boy; wore loafers (my Dubes) without socks; drew on the sailor-tat; got the pair of empty frames and the Polaroid app on my iPhone; tried to get a plus-one for a gig, went to a warehouse rave; and drank Kopparberg. It was very well received.

The previous year was my pun-extraordinaire:

I am a demon in the sack.

The following isn't Halloween but for a party I threw earlier this year, "Saturday Night's Best B-themed Bash", I went as Bruce Wayne:

and then midway through the party, I changed into...

In the foreground you can see the burglar that I fought off. The video hasn't made it to YouTube yet but it's full of amazingly awesome alliteration, appropriate to apprehending an assailant in such attire.

Back when I was cool had dreads, I tried to dress as Bosco.

That could've been better. That whole night could've been better.

Of course, the plan this year was to dress as a lifeguard or as Rambo but I left it too late. I'm going to whip out some fabric paints and work some magic with an idea I've got. I'll throw up photos after.

I've been shopping

So this blog has become my expensive hobby. I've even berated myself for going out some nights when afterwards I thought of the clothes I could've bought. Here's a few of what I have, I'll change the crappy eBay photo when I get the chance:

First up, I needed t-shirts so I got three of these bad-boys:

Not the black man. That would be racist and was outlawed here in 1833. They're t-shirts, they're white, and they're Ralph Lauren. That's about it. I got them on eBay and bought two Hollister shirts around the same time:

The first was sold as "Hollister Oxford Shirt" and is on the Hollister website as "Classic Daley Ranch Shirt." It looks as though Daley Ranch is a hiking spot just north of San Diego; only Hollister use the name in clothing. So Oxford shirts, eh?

An Oxford shirt is "long sleeve, button down collar, split yoke, with a pocket on the left breast, made of a certain type of fabric: Oxford is a type of weave employed to make the fabric in Oxford shirts. The warp has two fine yarns paired together. The weft has one heavier, softly spun fill yarn, which gives the fabric a very subtle basketweave look." I got that on Yahoo! Answers so it could be someone taking the piss.

Words I didn't really understand there: split-yoke, weave, warp, yarns, weft, fill yarn. It's like an Ann and Barry book here. Like, I know what weaving is, but couldn't explain it too well: they're just talking about patterns of over-and-under. YouTube knows best. The warp is the wool that creates the length in, say, a scarf. Yarn is a long bit of thread composed of fibres; thread is skinny yarn; string is used to tie things and could be yarn but could be nylon. Weft is the left-right (width) yarn in your scarf, aka the fill yarn. The yoke of a shirt is the top part across the shoulders; a split-yoke angles the warp and the weft so when someone moves, the fabric can stretch and the shirt will be more comfortable on the wearer.

I got the previous shirt because everyone's wearing Hollister. I got this one more because loads of guys are wearing striped blue shirts on nights out. I just noticed this week that Abercrombie own Hollister and Hollister is basically just cheap Abercrombie. I won't fret too much, it's not like there's anyone in Belfield not wearing Hollister. I bought more stuff, but it takes ages to write this.

Maroon

Absolutely everyone is wearing wine maroon clothes around campus.

Dani, Politics and Modern Languages, got her leggings in H&M, €10; jumper in H&M, €25; cardigan in New Look, €25; scarf in Penny's, €10; and shoes in Penny's or New Look or maybe H&M. I'd never heard of New Look. Looks like they're all over Dublin/Ireland in various shopping centres for the past two years. 

Dani never wears her hair down in college. She wore it down one night out last week but it "gets irking when it's down all night."

"...sweet, sweet, yeah, that's perfect. Thanks, mom, goodbye."

Paddy, SU Campaigns Officer, self-described "fashion icon to the masses", actual Politics and History student. He got his cardigan for €35 in H&M;  the t-shirt's from Penny's but I'm supposed to lie and say River Island/Armani; jeans are Top Man, €37; Cons from Footlocker, €65; and belt Penny's.

He said something about Footlocker but I can't read my own handwriting. I didn't ask him about his hair, but I promise to do a feature on guys' hair — unashamedly just to figure out how to manage my own.

Joey, reading English, in the Tribune office in the Arts Block. We didn't really talk. I was in there checking the archives for fashion coverage in times passed. So stay tuned for some outdated fashion advice.

I wanted five photos so I could make a joke saying wearing maroon means you will be loved but I'm not quite in the swing of taking photos of strangers yet. It's a bit daunting and I don't have moves like Jagger. So you'll just get this, love.

College Tribune: The Siren

I picked up a copy of the first issue of the College Tribune this week and its supplement, The Siren, with two pages on fashion. I've uploaded a pdf here, without permission, to save you the hassle of using Issuu. the articles are on the website, each is linked below.

In a paper otherwise obsessed with freshers, the first article here covers fashion for old women. It's a book review on "a street style book documenting the eccentric and elegant styles of older women in New York." Seemingly originally a blogger, this woman is selling books about what people are wearing. I like it. The idea, that is, not the photos of strangely dressed old women on the blog. The article is reasonably well written, by Roisin Sweeney, though it could be a bit more critical. This is getting a bit meta here -- I've just realised I'm reviewing a book review.

Next up is a piece on the magazine Vogue. A nice bit of history. I didn't know much about the magazine and assumed it was targeted at people who actually have money so I searched for reader demographics and found them for Australia: 26% of readers are 18-24. Vogue is 120 years old (not the Fade Street one), hence the article. Lauren Tracey, the article's author, unironically slips in a quote from one of Vogue's editors, “Most people haven’t got a point of view; they need to have it given to them.”

A paragraph on Daphne Guinness tells us how privileged she is and influential she is. She does have an enviable life and I just learned about haute couture. It's a protected term controlled by the Paris chamber of commerce and only top class fashion houses are offered membership.

Niamh Kelly tells us about two billionaire teenagers who dress well and... I don't know. I thought maybe the article might delve into the psychology behind the cult of celebrity but it just tells us who the latest cool rich kids are. I'm sure I'll fall prey to it all myself soon. Watch this space.

These fashion pages didn't fit as part of a freshers' guide. I would've preferred a vox pop outside the Arts Building and the prices of a few trendy items in River Island. They're fine for a student newspaper and I'm sure I'll learn lots from reading them through the year, but you'll have to come here to find out what's really in fashion in UCD.

Does anyone know where I can get a pdf of Vogue?

Varsity Jackets

I haven't really noticed a trend in jackets yet, except that nobody seems to be wearing the ones I own, but I do like varsity jackets. Here's Adam, 2nd year nursing, modelling this year's Arts Soc crew jacket.

Before I saw anyone in UCD wearing this, I had been at a party the Saturday before and complimented a guy for wearing one. It had no logo and looked really well on him. For some reason, he told me I wouldn't be able to get one like it. I hit up eBay but gave up when I remembered I had better things to waste my money on.

The party was good fun. I found it on Facebook and crashed it with my friend's sister. On the way out of the taxi I dropped my iPhone and smashed the screen :(. When we went into the party, we had to sign a release because it was being filmed as part of some low-budget movie. Not a bad excuse for a party. The host was nice and didn't notice we hadn't been invited. Andrew, whoever you are, thanks!

Then it turned out Arts Soc all had varsity jackets. Adam got his trousers in Zara for €30. I don't like his colour coordination. Orange Sony headphones too. Big headphones seem to be fairly hip right now. He said he didn't have €250 to waste on a pair of Beats. His t-shirt is from River Island. He told me the shoes are “Nike-e 6-ohs". Skate shoes -- definitely trailing the fashion here. Adam also said “Arts Soc is in... so in right now... so hot right now... see you at the Arts Ball.” He's kinda right.

Sorry about the rubbish in the corner of the photo. Adam said my clothes were “kinda last year,” “casually understated,” “shoes are dunnes” (they weren't) and that I should wear “brown loafers”.

UCD Soc

I joined a lot of societies this week. No sports clubs. Waste of money for the most part, but no news there.

So who's popular? Arts Soc, L&H and Law Soc were winning. I don't have solid figures, but 4500+ for L&H and 2000+ for Arts Soc, with a guess that Law Soc was somewhere in between. I think I joined all three. After my stroll around the tent, I just emptied the bags out, put all the flyers in a pile that I labelled "read later" and put all the junk food in a pile that I then gave it away. I'm going to put all the membership cards in my locker because otherwise they'll ruin the minimalist wallet I have going on.

Probably the best thing I got out of it was the scented soap from Lush that I got from UCD Fashion and Design Society. Obviously, I was eager to join them, but they were later setting up than most (that's cool) so I managed to get top of their list. On Thursday I went back to ask how they were getting on but they wouldn't tell me how many people had signed up, so I'm not able to tell you how cool they are here. The soap has been in my bag since joining and smells great. I haven't even opened it. It's actually reached the point where I'm worried I won't notice any bad smells in my bag because the soap smells so good.

I was surprised at the fact there were three Christian societies: Christian Union, Newman Society and another whose name I can't recall right now. The popularity split was 70/60/80, according to themselves. I neglected to tell them I was pitting them against each other on a blog and ended up giving €2 to Newman Society after misleading them into thinking I was in some way religious. It's solace for my sin.

Really, I just want to know what's going on and where's cool to go. The societies' websites would be good for that, yeah? I stopped bothering with links to the societies because they were all so bad. Newman Society site is "The Newman Society Web page is currently unavailable. Please check back later" and nothing more; Law Soc's site has instructions on how to set up a website; and Arts Soc says "Welcome To Artssoc.com. Blood Transfusion Only used in very serious forms of anemia when treatment is urgent." So I guess functional websites are out. I'll find them on Facebook, then write an entire post about it.