Imagine a 21-year-old senior girl at Loyola during her last fall semester of college. She’s done it all before – dressed up for class to make a lasting impression on fellow classmates, covering her face in makeup and straightening her hair every. single. morning. Going to college as a girl can go two ways: you want to fit in or you just don’t care.

Her freshman year was the hardest. She came from a small-town high school and was never the outgoing type. Making friends and meeting new people was one of her biggest struggles. She didn’t have the same clothes other girls had, nor did she have the money to get them. But after getting a job on campus, she started getting things that all the other girls were wearing: leggings, a military jacket, Hunter boots, flannels, a Longchamp purse, baseball caps, and so on.

One would associate that to being “basic,” but what exactly does that mean? We all live in such a systematic and conformed society where everyone has something to say about everything. A “basic” girl owns leggings, uses a Longchamp for class, wears Hunter boots in the rain, orders a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks every fall, eats salads for each meal to stay low on calories — in other words, she follows what everyone else does. The term criticizes unoriginality and is used in such
a derogatory way to put down the self-esteem of those who simply follow trends.

But what others don’t seem to see is that girls tend to do things to “fit in” through how they express themselves, especially in fashion. When you’re out shopping with your friends, you want to be able to get that sense of common ground when you all shop at the same store. You want to feel like you belong. All over campus, you see girls rocking the same things, almost as if it were a secret uniform, but there could be a deeper meaning behind why everyone dresses the same.

And now, back to the present-day senior. She’s grown up, matured, has had her share of getting to know everyone in the class. No need to impress anyone anymore. She’s learned that you don’t have to follow the crowds to feel like you belong. It was about self-esteem and self-confidence, and what makes you happy, which grew over the years. Now, she dresses how she wants, whether she makes a big fashion statement or just dresses down in sweats to class. Let’s be real, all a girl ever really wants to do during the week is eat, nap and watch Netflix. Let’s not forget about the venti iced coffee from Starbucks to stay awake during lectures. Some call it “basic;” others call it “college.”

Photo courtesy of James Warwick on Flickr:https://www.flickr.com/photos/jameswarwick/5143716635/in/photolist-etzhdQ-snPcA-s6c2c-4MCv86-deQWpH-5Hrfq8-pGzmVp-deQWmG-8QwTKz-deQWkH-jhtJ2-pTk24-7zYn6p-5ZRgv-deQWaJ-7rok5Q-4bX7QK-7zXPki-dF4Szc-o6HhW6-3PrS4-dWAY9h-4PE7i-hHxqqw-HPLbR