Annie Walsworth, a UW-Madison sophomore, is well-aware of what she is wearing.
She casually sips lemonade while pointing to each piece, making sure I write down the label and which piece of clothing it corresponds. There are Birkenstock clogs, a black North Face fleece, Old Navy sweats and a rather large Coach bag.
\And this,"" she says, jangling her wrist, ""this is Tiffany's.""
Benjamin Kiel, who is sitting across the table munching on bruschetta and is also a UW-Madison sophomore, is equally conscious of what he is wearing: Ralph Lauren Polo (collar down), Express Men jeans, a Fossil watch and Gap boxers.
""I feel uncomfortable if I am not wearing something that doesn't look good,"" he says. ""I try to avoid that situation at all costs.""
Converging on the UW-Madison campus is a cornucopia of students with dissimilar economic backgrounds, which makes buying clothing in this city an interesting task. State Street reflects the fashion diversity of the student body-when walking from Library Mall to the Capitol one can see the different styles students sport.
They do not focus on the spring runway trends but rather on clothes that allow them to express their individuality and their own fashion awareness. As always, there are exceptions to the dominant trend. Bop, 124 State St., caters to those who care about trends.
""I'd say this is a pretty fashion-focused campus,"" said Katrina Greenwood, Bop's manager. ""For how cold it is, we have good fashion.""
However, most of the students, according to Greenwood and her co-workers, developed their fashion sense in their hometowns.
""What we see here is that the majority of people that come in here are from places like New York and L.A.,"" said Holly Holte, also a Bop employee. ""How fashion-focused you are kind of depends what part of the country you are from. But then it's not just L.A. and New York-there are always those girls from small towns who are just as trendy.""
As the fleeces are traded in for tees and the campus makes the shift from shoes to sandals, students will begin to sport spring wear, not necessarily caring if it was last seen on the pages of Vogue or in a Kohl's ad. Above all, looking good is what matters.
""I think I usually look decent when I leave,"" Laura Meitner, a UW-Madison sophomore, said. ""I don't think about what's hot in the world of fashion. I just like it when I look good.""
