What to wear when it’s not quite sweater weather, not quite right for short sleeves? In those in-between days when the season is sorting itself out, dressing at Harvard can be a head-scratching task — especially for those incoming students hailing from balmier climates. For some, the schizophrenic months of autumn are the perfect opportunity to pair a short-sleeved dress with sheer tights; for others, it’s a time for layering a light cardigan or jacket over an ensemble, something that can easily be whisked off on a hurried walk to Widener. Navigating through Harvard’s Common Spaces — the Yard, the Porch, the Plaza — an assortment of intermediate looks is everywhere. And as the days grow shorter, one thing is clear: Show some skin while you still can.
“I’m a big fan of crop tops — I’m only 5’3” so I do what I can to look taller, and crop tops are huge right now,” said Sydney Sykes ’16. Sometimes your girlfriend’s scarf is just the thing to elevate a simple, white top. “She left this blue scarf in my dorm room and I wanted to coordinate something with it,” said Garrett Lam ’16. “Cape Cod is really preppy and I’m not,” said Julia Argy ’17 of Cotuit, Mass., who paired tiny shorts with a slouchy cardigan. “For college, I wanted to wear less colorful, more toned-down clothes. I’ve been buying utilitarian pieces I can wear with everything.” “This is an Israeli outfit,” said Lior Gallo, a visiting fellow in economics. “This is the way we dress when we hang out in the winter and although it’s not winter here it’s freezing in the library!” “I was kind of in a rush today and I wanted to wear a skirt or dress when I still could,” said Summer Carter ’16. “My style is a little trendy but classic — I have a lot of black and white in my wardrobe.” “My style is definitely girly. I love mixing patterns, even though I’m in all black today,” said Diana Janec, the fashionable face behind the style blog Dressed-Up Alligators. It only took Evan Grandfield ’17 a few minutes to get dressed — classic button-down, rolled to the elbows, and a surprising pair of shorts. “My style is prepster,” he said. Denim jacket lovers Zach Zenk and Danielle Bochneak drove from Brattleboro, Vt., to hat-shop in Cambridge. “People are more put-together here,” said Zenk. Lotus Cannon ’14 shows a hint of skin on her way to have her yearbook photo taken. “So far I’m impressed with Harvard style,” said North Carolina native and Harvard Law School student Krista White. “In the winter I think it’ll be more fashionable here with more items to choose from.” “I’m naturally very cold so this hot weather is ideal right now,” said Sean Weller ’17 of Boulder, Colo. “I always try to make up an excuse to dress up. In high school I wore suits two to three days out of the week. I had the reputation of ‘that kid who wears suits.’” “Fashion? Is there fashion at Harvard?” asked Adam Mestyan, a postdoctoral fellow. “I wanted to take advantage of the last warm days and I wanted to feel summery today,” said Mayra Espinoza-Martinez ’15. “Most of my clothes are summery because I’m from California, but I’ve bought a bunch of fall pieces to bridge between there and the East Coast.” “I spent the summer in Paris and I kind of miss it, and I wanted to be a little bit Parisian today,” said Sarah Berlow ’14, who was headed to her birthday dinner in Inman Square. “I built my outfit around the tie,” said social studies lecturer Eric Malczewski. “I wanted to wear something irreverent.”
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