We checked in again with one of our college trendsetters who is just starting her freshman year. This time, she sent a breathless Hunter S. Thompson-style rundown of the latest California college trends:
At college, the trends are all about the balance. It’s simply not cool to only wear velour Juicy sweat suits, but it’s equally uncool to solely dress in vintage. Craftiness here is less about urban stenciling and more about shot glass decoupage. Being healthy here is less about soy and vegetarian and more about working out at the gym and eating trail mix in frozen yoghurt. The trendy ethnic cuisine is more Mexican than sushi. People obsess over sheepskin slippers, sweater dresses, hikes into the mountains, The Backstreet Boys (in a big way), The O.C., Germany as a vacation destination, the Nike women’s store, Clif’s new organic fruit and nut bar: nectar, Chipotle burritos, walking on the treadmill at the highest incline to work the butt, the combination of turquoise and orange, playing darts, avocadoes, white teeth, Facebook’s new photos feature and French fries animal style (At In-N-Out, you can order custom-made food that’s not technically on the menu, but rather on what people here call the “In-N-Out secret menu.” These items are so popular that there are buttons on the cash register for them, even though they still have not made it to the physical menu on the wall. The most popular item on this “secret menu” is fries animal style: fries drowning in melted cheese, grilled onions, and sauce.). They're into porn parties, gossip magazines, cilantro dressing and the tra-la-la and Call on Me music videos. The “Call on Me” and “Tra-La-La” music videos are truly a phenomenon. They are loved because they are utterly ridiculous and they embrace this ridiculousness. Other obsessions include Biota spring water, hair curlers, listening to Billy Joel and 2pac, Botkier bags, ourTunes, Easy Mac, Ikea light sculptures, the Nordstrom BP line, wearing crazy sunglasses to parties, and slouchy, flat-soled boots. It is imperative to own a digital camera. Everyone uses their digital cameras at night and then puts up the pictures on Facebook. It’s literally a necessity. I never really used my digital camera back in New York, because there was no forum to show my pictures, so they would just sit on my computer. At college, however, Facebook photos have revolutionized the need for digital cameras. There’s also this new emphasis on cliques, which I haven’t felt since junior high school. Everyone has split off into pretty defined groups, and thus love to take pictures of their groups and circulate the pictures within the groups.
At least one roommate in each room has a Powerbook. There are more Powerbooks in my dorm than PCs and iBooks. I’m not sure whether people are attracted to the Powerbook over the iBook because of the color or the fact that it has more memory, but it’s a serious phenomenon. Ugg boots have persisted through trend blow out and are still unanimously popular due to their comfort. It’s now a sign of strength to wear Ugg boots sincerely. These are the true survivors.