The Way We Dress

There is a lot to be said for the traditional university where students stroll in gown and mortar board across the cloistered quadrangles, mainly because the gown hides the undergarments and the mortar board the hairdo. There is little to be said for the traditional dress of the New Zealand student. Still, let it be said.

You have heard our society comment on undergraduate garb. The attitude, you will have gathered, is that a student is by definition disreputable. There are corollaries, e.g. disreputable behaviour implies disreputable living habits, habitats, and habiliment.

It ain't necessarily that way round. What is far more important, you will discover, as you begin to live a full student's life (not to be confused with the life of a full student) is the argument posed by demands of comfort and income.

A student has (i.e. should have) a uniquely busy, hurried and demanding life, carried out over large distances, devoted to action (physical and mental), a life in which there is little room for relaxation and none for the application of hairoil or eyeshadow. Where the first neccessities are concentration on study and traversing of distances between places of study, comfort is vital and physical appearance highly irrelevant.

A student has, moreover, an often limited income. One of the few real equalities here offered is that of finance. The rare student with money to burn will get nowhere by burning it on campus.

And so the disreputable garb.

Men: Asphyxiation in lectures involves subsequent copying out of friend's notes —if your mother insists on ties in summer, remove same before entering university. Nobody will be impressed by your ability to dry-clean and replenish a wardrobe of suits. Duffle-coals are waterproof, and mature rather than wear out. But please, consider your knees and their audience before you wear shorts.

Women: Stilettos here look merely silly. The stairs, and the hills, are specially designed to make freshettes pay (literally) for wearing high heels. This is a university, not a garden party. Remark also applicable to dress, makeup and hairdo—a naked back goes blotchy on the lawn, a tight skirt betrays your clumsiness on the cloister steps, and if you can find time to prevent pancake makeup from reverting to batter, you'll fail at the end of the year.

Clothes

There Is an arrogance to the student's untidiness. But because it is sensible to be comfortable here, and because fashion rarely caters for comfort, we declare our own form of fashion. Not because its clever. Please…

But wait! There is another way to dress too. This has been evolved with the appearance of distinctive university clothes, so that you can leave people in no doubt of your origin. First put on a T-shirt with the University crest across its while front. Over this you can wear a University blazer, and around your neck wrap a University scarf. A quick visit to the Cafeteria shop, and a lapel pin appears in your buttonhole. (With this pin goes a little bit of snobbery. The ordinary pin shows the coat of arms. Above the Weir House model appears the letter W. Executive members wear the pin with a symbolic gold lion on top).

This fetching ensemble may seem to leave no place for the University tie. Hardened student have however found that the tie may be used as a belt to support a pair of jeans.

All these garments may be obtained from various suppliers downtown. It is necessary to get an authority form from the Association office to purchase a blazer.