I love sweatpants. They are my soulmate. When I put them on (especially after shaving my legs) they feel live heaven. Especially when the elastic ends grip to my ankles and make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Yep, that’s right — I wear XL man sweatpants when I’m lounging around the house. Sue me and call me the laziest pile of crap since Charlie Sheen. Woah — I just burned myself.

In college, I got into a nasty habit with my sweatpants. Our relationship took a very public turn. Yep, my sweatpants relationship was all about the PDA and I went everywhere with them on. Grocery store, library, Target, the mall…we were attached at the hip (pun intended). When I graduated college, I broke up with sweatpants and scooted on to yoga pants (because they didn’t seem as “you-never-dress-up-taboo”).

But here’s the thing; I’m tired of my sweatpants and my yoga pants. Although I’m a woman that promotes comfort, something about putting a little more effort into presenting yourself in public makes me feel a lot better about life. It’s a simple concept, but something about it isn’t so simple. After living in a college world where presenting yourself meant spending four hours a weekend going out (and that’s it), things change. The real world gives you opportunities to spend hours getting ready for other things. The simple things. Why not spend a ton of time getting ready to go out to lunch with an old friend? Or even through on a cute outfit for the grocery store? A hair appointment?

This is my new goal. Whether or not I’m making myself sound like a total slob, I don’t care. I want to spend more time getting ready for simple trips out (and not just extravagant nights out with friends). First of all, who knows who I’m going to meet when I waltz over to the grocery store to buy red peppers? Second of all, the mere satisfaction of feeling confident and comfortable in my own skin is worth all of the extra effort in the world.

I’m not about to say appearance is everything. I don’t ever want to be someone I’m not (lord knows I’m no Paris Hilton, wear-heels-into-the-gas-station type of person). But I am the type of person who wants to feel wonderful. So why not throw on some funky tights, a cute dress and a pea-coat to hit lunch with ma (instead of those ol’ yoga pants)? I’m not going to deny myself any more opportunities to feel good and look great while I’m doing it.

[This post comes hot off the Internet presses from our friends at CollegeFashion!]

A few weeks ago, a reader left a comment that made me think about the things we wear every day and why we wear them. She was asking for advice on what to do when people ask “why are YOU so dressed up?” As if wearing something cute that makes you feel good is a “strange” thing to do!

That comment got me thinking about dressing up and what that means.

Since when did it become an unusual thing to put effort into what you wear and have fun with fashion? Since when is anyone not wearing sweatpants and a hoodie breaking unwritten social rules? Why should “dressing up” be reserved for special occasions only?

I was immediately inspired to create this list. I firmly believe in “dressing up” every day of your life, and I think you should too!

So why dress up? Here are 25 good reasons.

Its 6:00 A.M. and your day is about to begin. You ignore the fact that its negative four degrees outside as you flip through your closet trying to pick out the perfect dress to go with your new chunky heels that you bought at the Barney’s sample sale. Of course you’re not going to tell the jealous girl staring at them in class that they were a sample sale find, you’ll let her think you went on a 5th avenue shopping spree this weekend. Your make-up is perfect, your hair newly curled, you grab your cashmere Marc Jacobs pea-coat and you are out the door. Just in time for your 9:00 class.

If you are a student at The Fashion Institute of Technology, this sounds like a regular Monday to you. To anyone else, this sounds more like a scene from a movie. You probably don’t think that girls like this ACTUALLY exist. They do. Crazy right? For a 9:00 Monday class, you probably wake up at 8:30, grab a hoodie, some Uggs, your Northface, and are set.  The thought of wearing sweatpants to class is horrifying to the FIT student body.  It’s a completely different world, the fashion school world.

Contrary to popular belief, the life of a fashion school student is not one continuous episode of Project Runway.  However, a typical school day is nothing like a day at the average university.  Classrooms are not just for learning.  The competition students face everyday is cut throat.  FIT students are arguably some of the most driven in the nation when it comes to working towards career goals.  They are friendly with each other, of course, but at the end of the day, it’s dog eat dog, and each extremely well-dressed canine is left to fend for himself.  Professors at FIT do not qualify to teach unless they have been working in the industry for 20 years. Most are still active and successful in their fields and choose to teach as a side job.  Opportunity is lurking around every corner and students are ready to tackle it when it comes their way.  Duly noted, they wouldn’t dream to tackle it in sweatpants. Read More »

Halloween is inching closer and closer, and each day there are new preparations to be made for your costume(s) and more invites to accept on Facebook. Luckily, this year Halloween falls on a Saturday, bringing out the true whackjob in all of us.

But just because Halloween happens on a weekend – allowing us to go balls to the wall without fear of vomiting in class the next day – it doesn’t mean you should disregard the basic No-No’s of this very religious holiday:

Walk of shaming- Everyone and their sister knows what you did last night when you’re walking (or even worse, biking) down the street in a sexy devil costume at 11am on November 1st.  Not that I’m condemning any Halloween nookie, but the blatantly obvious evidence the next morning ain’t so flattering.

Trying to conjure up spirits in the cemetery: Pretty sure they used to hang people for that, just F.Y.I.

Not dressing up: Don’t be that guy.  Besides, you don’t want to regret not dressing up because you’re a giant party pooper.  Yeah, times are tough; create something!

Dressing like a complete prostitute: To the point of people not knowing what the hell you’re supposed to be.  You don’t want to spend the night hearing, “Oh you didn’t hear? You were supposed to wear a costume.” Read More »

Happy Halloween, CollegeCandies! We hope you started your morning off right: with a Pumpkin Spice Latte and a bowl of candy corn pumpkins. Mmmmm.

We know that most people count down to birthdays and Christmas, but Halloween is our favorite holiday of the year by far. I mean, there are costumes! And candy! And scary movies! And candy!

Oh wait…we said that one already.

Since we love this day so much, this week we asked our writers to weigh in on their favorite Halloween traditions. Some are old, some are new, but all are reasons to make this our #1 holiday.

Olua: Since my family never let me celebrate Halloween, I used to love watching all the cartoon specials they showed Halloween week. They also used to give us candy in class. Good times.

Kathryn S.: Getting wasted in a vinyl dress. Spill all the beer you want on me, it’ll slide right off!

Erica – Kent State: Carving pumpkins. This year my roommates and I did it surrounded by Carlo Rossi, pumpkin shaped cookies and our kittens. Then we baked the seeds. Delicious!

Carly – Grinnell: I love handing out candy to kids at the door. I just think it’s so fun to look at their costumes. Oh, and watching scary movies. Yessss.

Kelly – UMass: Keg stands in a slutty costume Read More »

I am one of those random girls who will wear dresses and skirts and too pretty/impractical shoes to class more often than not. Don’t get me wrong – I will absolutely show up in my gym clothes on occasion, but for the most part, I just prefer dressing up. Strangely enough, what I wear elicits quite a wide range of reactions and people often feel more than comfortable sharing their opinion of my clothes with me.

Here’s the general breakdown:

Pro: Being known as the fashion plate. I like that after a meeting with my cool, young English Prof she said, “I love your style. I was waiting to see what you’d wear to our meeting.”

Con: Being perceived as the girl who tries too hard. No, I actually didn’t wear this dress to impress any of the lame guys in our poly sci class. Really.

Pro: Compliments abound. I’m not vain but it is nice to hear people say that they like what you’re wearing.

Con: Criticisms abound. My best friend will never let me live down this exchange:

BF: What are you wearing?

BF: Other than the fact that you’re wearing sequins at 10 am? Nothing.

Pro: It’s a conversation starter. I feel like I don’t have enough female friends/acquaintances in my life and I can be sort of shy, so if my shoes get a girl to start talking to me then that makes me happy.

Con: People thinking that you did the walk of shame to class. Someone asked me once if I was wearing last night’s outfit. Um, no. Very embarrassing. Read More »

We’ve almost hit the twenty four hour mark on the countdown to 2008 and you’re still standing there scratching your head.

What the HELL will you do to celebrate?

No enticing invitations, no parties planned in the small town suburb you’re forced to revisit for an entire month.

Sure it’s home and of course it’s nice to be back, catching up with old friends and of course the good ol’ folks, but new years back at college seems like such a more reasonable route to F-U-N. So now what? How do you ring in the new year when there’s absolutely nothing cool to do?

Don’t give up just yet. No matter what you do there’s three important things to boost your boring bust of a bash.

1. Be with Besties

If you’ve got nothing to do that means all your friends are stuck too, right? As cliche as this is, the fun is not where you are it’s who you’re there with. You can stand around all night in your friend’s basement, garage, wherever you’ve all hopelessly congregated and cluck about how much ‘this sucks’ OR you can have a little lack-of-plans-laugh and make the best of it. Read More »

The end of August is rapidly approaching. Your room is filled with overflowing boxes, you’re hugging your friends goodbye and you finally feel as if you’re fully prepared to launch into collegiate life, especially after reading Solmaaz’s wisdom on What Not to Do in College.

If you plan on attending a college anywhere besides New York City, Sol’s tips should be read like the Bible.

For those of us who have been granted the opportunity to spend our four years of academic growth (ha!) in the greatest city in the world, things must be done just a little bit differently.

Things you must do in order to survive in one of the toughest cities in the world:

1. Spend your money buying a good, solid wardrobe before you head off to school (because God knows you can’t afford anything at Bergdorf Goodman).

On a regular college campus, you would be able to sport a pair of sweatpants or even (gasp!) pajamas on a typical day. In New York, your 8:30 class will be chock full of girls in full make-up and carefully calculated outfits. Even the majority of male students will appear as if they have stepped away from a runway show for an hour and a half to attend your Level I Spanish class.

Don’t be that schlumpy girl hiding in the last row. Buy the basics and add trendy accessories when you arrive at school. Read More »