What does your major say about your personal style?  Or rather, what doesn’t it say about it?  Walking through the UT campus, one can often instantly identify an individual’s major solely by looking at what they’re wearing. ORANGE talked to UT students from different colleges about their styles and how their topic of study influences their fashion.

Story by Sylvia Kim

Photos by Gina Carra

MOODY COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATIONS

Journalism student, Elijah Watson, acknowledges that music has somewhat of an influence on his wardrobe. “My main preference is music journalism, so I have a lot of urban street wear influence.  I don’t think my major necessarily dictates my personal style though,” Watson says.

Advertising student Jessica Hu takes advantage of having a fun and design-heavy major. She gets to be that much more creative with the clothes she wears and admits that she likes breaking the rules of fashion.

COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS

Students at the College of Fine Arts are no strangers to creativity. Fine Art student Samantha Zuckerman believes her two majors, Theatre and Dance and Art History, do affect her style. “It makes me wear clothes that are a lot more vibrant and graphic,” Zuckerman admits. She says that she picks out clothes in line with the art she’s studying that particular week.

COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS

English major Cole Bubenik says he keeps academics in mind when dressing for school.“I like to dress like writers and mimic the New York publishing scene of casual wear.”

The perfect look for a day full of classes, Kendall Deboer’s get-up even compliments her three majors: English, French and Art History. “This dress reminds me of one of my favorie artists Henry Matisse and I shop at a lot of French label clothing lines,” Deboer says.

While Cole and Kendall use their major as their fashion muse, there are other students who choose to go against their major’s so-called “look.”

COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES

Computer Science student Chukwudi Idueze doesn’t dress like a typical “comp-sci” student would dress. He says that there are some computer science majors that don’t necessarily care about what they wear, but he tries to have fun with his sense of style.

Nutrition major Kelsey Wong’s casual ensemble is perfect for walking through campus, and it doesn’t require a lot of thought in the morning. “The College of Natural Science can be really hard, so I don’t use a lot of effort in getting dressed,” Wong says.

Those who major in apparel design, such as Hira Jethwa, are able to fully immerse themselves in this coalition of fashion and personality.

Although many students take a laid back approach to getting dressed for class, students at the McCombs School of Business must follow a strict dress code.

MCCOMBS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Most McCombs students sport a standard business suit, but many take their formal outfits to the next level by combining their own style with the standards of business casual attire. Business and Plan II student, Erika Storli, interns for a company that requires business casual wear at all times.

Accounting major Xiayimiao Hua actually prefers dressing in business casual than anything else.

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

 “The school of architecture is an eclective niche where I like to find my own sense of self,” Megan Mowry says.

Whether this sense of self is derisive from students’ majors or a combination of personality, reflected through students’ course of study, there is no doubt that fashion itself plays a major part in personal identity.