University of California at Berkeley - The Blue and Gold Yearbook

First of all, let ' s clarify the distinction between fashion and style. Fashion is the momentarily agreed-upon fad, the typical look of a particular group of peo- ple. Now style — style belongs to the in- dividual, and is made up of various fashions determined by such factors as social and economic class, gender, geographics, and ethnicity. Add to this the impact of the continuous advertising that caters to that particular person. All these overlap like large circles and leave a little dot somewhere uncovered that ' s style. That ' s you. Clear? At Berkeley alone there seems to be more than thirty thousand styles. But, sadly, this isn ' t true. We ' ve got Stoney decked out like a deranged professor who lost his tenure — it adds to his ap- peal. We ' ve got the Polka Dot Man, of course, and Julia with her bubbles, books, and balls — eye, that is. Let ' s not forget Roy Lisker ' s fat polyester ties and his endless sawing of Vivaldi to bits, sometimes with orchestral accompani- ment, sometimes to jazzy-sounding word repetitions. Yeah that Roy ... And there ' s Frank Moore, the guy in the wheelchair asking pretty women to ... Besides being a very flashy dresser, the man can talk. Yes, we ' ve certainly got our share of characters, and they ' ve cer- tainly got their own style. The funny thing is, though, that most of the real characters are just being themselves; in fact, most of the students are just being themselves, and so are most of the street people. But even being themselves, there still exists the question as to whether he or she is be- ing stylish or fashionable. On the face of things, Berkeley is home to large groups of people from different areas of Califor- nia and the country, from different social or economic classes, of one ap- parent sex or the other, and of various races. All these factors are somewhat mediated by the fashion climate already existing in Berkeley, i.e., the stores and advertised tastes of a college town in the San Francisco Bay Area. This climate caters to a variety of prevalent styles that are either native or have migrated to the area. Berkeley is a city of polarities. Each group is distinguished primarily by social and economic class. The button-down oxfords and cords or 501 ' s that are so dominant in the fraternities and sororities function to make the Greek community seem over-self-consciously middle class. The street people, those relics of by-gone liberal hippie days form another definitive set. Some of these people have a highly developed personal style and attitude, and most of the familiar characters mentioned earlier are still touting a kind of sixties idealism as they ask for contributions. The fact that this group of natives also forms a kind of fashion grouping is a testimony that people professing a certain style do conform to momentarily agreed on fashions. We can also form polarities of fashion Fashion Ad-Dressed With Style