What bits to buy for a “posher” uni on a budget?

[EachandEveryone]

The one that the royals favour up North of the border. We aren’t their level of poshness infact we are very ordinary. No one has been to a ball. We are over the moon that niece is going. What can U buy her will it all be labels like North Face for hiking and where does one get a ball gown on the cheap from? She said she won’t be going to any balls but it’s always nice to have a good frock for best isn’t it?😀

This thread is hilarious 🤣🤣🤣🤣. I particularly enjoyed “ I don’t think she will need hunting gear “.

For anyone who knows anyone who is actually going to St Andrew’s, please oh Please don’t buy her Dubarry boots, she will be laughing stock.

Definitely not Northface. Maybe Patagonia if you want something good quality!

For dresses:

• Tkmaxx do cheap evening wear


• Ghost


• Reformation


• & Other Stories

I don’t know If she’s still going but back in my day we used to get our special dresses from Amanda Wakeley!

Vintage dresses are always great because you know no one else will have the same as you!! X

She needs a blandish capsule wardrobe to start with and when she's worked our her style tribe, go from there.

YY to the idea of warm layers, thermals etc. M&S had merino jumpers in the sale for £15 or cheaper recently. I got a cashmere sweater for £30... I know, I know. Students and laudrettes and cashmere.... but they are so soft and light and warm. 😂tho I spose their might be ethical objections to them. I kitted myself put with thermals etc for a move to Scotland but never wore them!

Yeah, trawling 2nd hand shops for evening wear or any wear is a thing in Freshers week too.

Good luck to your nice, enjoy kitting her out in Reading Week. ;-) Better start looking for a hat for her grad ceremony. 😉

North Face is fine, depends what colour and style you choose, my DS has a North Face jacket, he's never going to be mistaken for a drug dealer.

She will need comfy shoes - dd spends a lot of time walking from halls to town. ‘posh’ ball gowns not needed but she will probably want to go to a ball, but any formal dress seems to do and dd has a couple that only cost around £20. She also swaps with friends. She doesn’t find it that cold but we’re from a north eastern Scottish town about 1 hour away so used to it! North Face puffer jackets are very popular.

Dundee is fine. Gets a lot of bad press and some of dd’s friends were scared to go there at first but it’s just a normal Scottish town and has a reasonable selection of shops. Good bus links from St Andrews and if she sorts herself out with a Young Scots card she gets free bus travel.

Don't worry. I went to a 'posh' uni and people there were really down to earth and plenty of students were on a budget like me!

If she wants nice clothes on the cheap... try Vinted.

Why the fuck???🤣🤣🤣

@limitededitionbarbie you have to be on the wind up!

I'm posh but nowhere near that posh - child went to fee paying school and an ancient university, but not St. Andrews. The big thing with child and his friends was that other than underwear, never buy new clothes as a point of principle.

Please don't.

I can’t actually tell if the op is serious. Why would anyone care what someone else is wearing?

tbh whatever she wears, the posh students will know she isn't from a posh background so don't worry about that. It's an exciting time, go have fun. Second hand clothes from charity shops in posh areas can be great, or else just go minimalist and don't worry about it. Also remember she can hire a fancy dress for a ball if she ever needs to.

Note to global fashion industry: pack it up and go home, boys. It's over. Nobody cares what anyone is wearing!

Get her a Barbour coat and a pair of Dubarry Boots 👢- maybe not the tasseled sort. They will last a life time and will keep her warm and dry in all weathers .
As Scottish students don’t pay any tuition fees etc if they attend a Ini in Scotland there will be a perfectly normal range of students from all backgrounds going there. She’ll have a great time. Delighted for you all what a fantastic achievement.

What does she wear now? Wear that. I’m just trying to imagine if my mum had got some advice on what to get me to wear at 17/18. It was a long time since I went off to university but I recall I was dressing myself by then.

Yes, this. Maybe socks and thermals if she's going to be doing field trips as part of the course?

Even if some other people are posh she's not necessarily going to start wanting to wear the same things as them and in any case, you won't know until she goes there and makes friends who's she's going to be mixing with.

Yes. It's a weird question really. Students at St. Andrews are no different from students anywhere.

I went to a ‘posh’ country uni about five years ago. There were a few barons and lords in my class. Nobody wore dubarrys, to be honest it’s what mums on the school run wear. It was all Fairfax & Favor, Holland & Cooper, Le Chameau and Schoffel.

We had five main balls a year plus regular formal dinners plus an unending amount of black tie 21st birthdays and hunt balls. Nobody wore particularly fancy dresses, they’d get dirty pretty quickly. We’d swap between us.

That being said, nobody really cared what anybody else wore and I certainly wasn’t excluded for not have a title and estate!

Don't. (Dubarry isn't tassled that's Fairfax and Favour)

Yes. It's a weird question really. Students at St. Andrews are no different from students anywhere.

And students at St Andrews are allowed to say they are at St Andrews. It's not a secret university. The whole OP is bizarre.

Dr Martens are a perfectly normal footwear choice for students everywhere. Why would you need to 'tell' her otherwise?

Why the secrecy about what university she’s going to? St Andrews will be cold so she might appreciate some money that she can spend on a warm coat.

If you know her well what about a really lovely quality jumper (I’d say something like this or this) or a satchel (like this one from DMs)?

I went to Oxford (or if we’re playing this weird game ‘the posh old university a lot of the PMs went to’) and there was a big diverse mix of students. A lot of the really posh kids knew each other pre-Oxford - parents worked together, siblings were friends, they’d all gone to a small pool of schools etc. But it never crossed my mind to want to fit in with/make friends with the posh students - I had my own friends and identity and suspect OPs niece will find her own crowd whoever that may be.

@DaffodillSky definitely, and a normal choice for non-students too. I live in Scotland and wear my DMs more than any of my other boots. Perfectly warm and comfortable. Hiking boots for hiking but there’s no need to wear ‘country’ boots if you’re just wandering around a town.

Get her a Trespass voucher. There's a store in St A's where she can pick up the outdoor kit. Or failing that, there's a Blacks and a Tiso in Dundee.
DC is at St A's and lives in jeans and a hoodie. Only concession to the weather are good winter and summer coats.
Other DC was a geologist - good boots are a must 😁