Wardrobe in focus: What college students’ fashion choices reveal about class, gender and judgement

One of the quiet stresses of waking up for college each morning is not whether one is late for class or missing an assignment, but what to wear. College students use clothes as a negotiated language, signaling various factors that are on full display.

Logos, labels and belonging

Nowhere is this clearer than on urban campuses. Students are walking catalogues, with small logos on their shirts and shoes, headphones around their necks and totes stamped with large band emblems. It is often easy to guess where a person buys their clothes without even speaking to them.

Vikram Durai, a first‑year undergraduate student at Krea University, Sri City in Andhra Pradesh, says, “I find it easier to go up to people if they are wearing the jersey of a team I like because it helps me strike up a conversation with them.” This comfort with branding often comes from the idea that labels reflect one’s economic background, tastes and social circles.

Pratha Nayak from OP Jindal Global University

At the same time, it is not as simple as “rich students, expensive clothes.” Many young people are anxious about how much they spend, hyper‑fixating on price tags and sale windows. “Before college began, I spent hours searching for what was trending,” says Pratha Nayak of OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat. “Coming from a middle‑class background, I felt I had to try harder, so I wouldn’t be judged. I started buying clothes from more well‑known labels just to blend in.”

Pratha’s experience is not an isolated one. For many students, the brand name is less about fashion and more about protection.

Dress codes and quiet rebellions

On some campuses, especially those with reputations for strict discipline, the question is not only what to wear, but what you are allowed to wear, with rules about skirt lengths, banning sleeveless or “revealing” outfits and insisting on collared shirts or kurtas as part of a formal, “decent” look.

As Namitha Mariam Nibu from Christ University, Bengaluru explains, “We follow the rules, but we definitely stretch them, with tiny accessories, slightly off‑code colours, stuff no one notices, nothing serious, just our way of feeling like ourselves without trouble, a reminder that rules aren’t really rigid unless you completely leave the lane.”

Gender politics

Gender adds another layer to this daily performance. For many women students, choosing an outfit is not just about aesthetics, but also about safety on public transport and acceptability at home. For Ridhima Angelina, a student at Mount Carmel College, Bengaluru, the pressure is quite real, “I definitely care about what I wear to college; when you are surrounded by so many well‑dressed people you have to put in an effort.”

The same top that might feel appropriate in college corridors could seem questionable on a crowded bus. Men, by contrast, can appear in more casual attire without attracting the same level of scrutiny.

Ridhima Angelina

Judgement, though, does not stop at gender. Too well-dressed, and one is accused trying too hard, while the casually attired as labelled as lazy.

So, every morning when a college student complains they have nothing to wear, they are quietly deciding how they wish to be seen and what they wish to hide.