What do i wear to uni?!

[skib]

I am 39 and back at uni full time so mixing with much younger people. Most of my lecturers are my age or older and all look so well put together. Meanwhile ive worked in childcare for 20 years so have never really had to look casually nice.

Im 5ft 2 and a 12 -14 but the real barrier to looking presentable js the cycling to uni, (or bus of it's raining) then walking around the big campus all day.

So what do i wear given it has to be functional but not too young! I’d love to be trendy but i think you either are or you aren't. All suggestions welcome.

Sounds great! Where’s the cardigan from?

Honestly, it really doesn't matter. When I started, everyone made an effort to look good at first, then most were in jeans or joggers & hoodies by week 2.

I feel exactly the same way. I'm 40, spent the last 10 + years in childcare so we had to wear black trousers, black flat shoes and the companies top. So, I never really had to think about clothes, only at the weekends.
I'm not at a brick uni, I'm studying with the OU, but I work at a college and feel that everyone is more put together than I am. I don't really have a 'style' if that makes sense. I'm 5ft 3 and a size 10/12. I never really feel 'professional'. Not sure if I'm just trying too hard.

So what are you buying and wearing, @Soccermumamir? What d’you mean by ‘trying too hard’?

(5’3, size 10-12 are very fortunate proportions!)

I don't cycle to work anymore, but when I did, I came in wearing a pair of leggings to cycle in then changed to work trousers/skirt. If you're not really pressed for time or bag space, you could do this.

Thank you. I tend to wear jeans and checked shirt or jumper/hoodie with docs, leggings with new balance trainers and a long shirt, maxi skirts with top or jumper/cardigon and at the moment boots as its getting cold for me lol
Probably all sounds fine, but I suffer from body dysmorphia, always have done. I can walk out of the house and feel fine, but as soon as I get to work my confidence slowly declines. Others just seem more put together. Can't put my finger on it.

Forgive the instant armchair diagnosis - but … you seem to be saying other people appear more integrated and natural in whatever they’re wearing. Might it be that you’re buying clothes that don’t actually align with how you really see yourself?

What you’ve described of your wardrobe certainly sounds like a ‘style’. Mostly quite utilitarian and very casual. Are there other ways of dressing that you feel attracted to but don’t encourage in yourself? Velvet dresses? Tweed suits? Blouses that are all lace and ruffles? 🤷‍♀️

I worked in a university up until 2 years ago. Anything goes. Over time and after covid staff became less smart. Jeans were the staple. Virtually no one did smart casual unless it was open day.

I used to wear mini skirts, jumper, tights and biker boots or jeans and trainers. Because that's my style.

Students would be in hoodies, sometimes their sports team or society and leggings, joggers or jeans.

Nothing really changed in the 15 years I worked there other than staff getting more casual. Students really dressed the same as they always have.

You have to remember you will be sitting in lectures with a bunch of students who probably won't care what anyone else is wearing.

Yeah, probably. I do really like the maxi skirt with jumper and boots look or the leggings with the long checked shirt and trainers. I feel fine at home, but as soon as I'm outside, I start 2nd guessing myself. I'm most comfortable in jeans, jumpers, hoodies, etc.
I love being at home in PJs or joggers and a hoodie. But I can't go to work in them, lol 🙃 I'm not girly at all, definitely a tomboy and always have been. Everyone around me wears floral dresses, but I look ridiculous in them 😆

So is this your ideal ‘out’ style?

https://www.r13.com/en-gb

And this ‘in’?

Community Clothing

How about this co-ord set as a middle ground, in either the grey or navy:

Cos

What are you studying? You don't have to be specific, but if you're doing fashion or art your clothes might matter, but if you're doing history or engineering or business honestly it doesn't matter. Prioritise comfort. Also as a FT student I'm assuming money will be limited, so you need stuff that washes and wears well.

I think leggings and jumpers are fine, classic student clothes, but the key is in the styling. Oversized sweatshirts, trainers, and crew socks over the leggings - think the Princess Diana cycling shorts photo. Tunic tops or fitted jumpers will make you look older. Tunic tops and leggings aren't just middle aged, the women who wore this look in the noughties are now granny aged.

As a student (even a mature student), you don't need to mimic the lecturers. Their lifestyle is different, they may drive to work, they probably don't have to carry as much stuff or hang about in the library for hours between lectures. It sounds like you're trying to impress (I'm not trying to be a dick), but as you say, you either are naturally stylish or you aren't (I'm not), and going basic is better IMO because otherwise it can look really try hard.

The mature students I remember from uni just wore jeans and jumpers, but she wore bootcut jeans and mum boots while the rest of us wore skinnies and Chelsea boots, so as I say, the key is in the styling. Just don't wear what you'd have worn at 18 and you should be fine.

Ooh I do like the co-ord 👍👍

I go to uni one day a week (doing a postgraduate MSc part time) and am in my mid 40's. I honestly haven't noticed hoards of super stylish, chic students or lecturers about campus - there's rarely a person who's clothes catch my eye. I certainly don't think that lecturers in general look particularly stylish, not at the university I'm studying at.
I wouldn't fret about it too much but if you're interested in updating your wardrobe generally then I'm sure that some contemporary casual items that take your fancy will be fine for uni.

Come on now! This is the one time in your life when you won't be judged and can wear what you like. Do not over dress!

I would just wear jeans and a jumper or top if I was going to uni. You don't need to look like the students, you should just look like yourself. I work alongside young people (students) and get on well with them, but they don't expect me to look or be like them. I'm sure you will be fine whatever you choose!

Who said the OP was planning to over dress?

She is starting a fantastic new venture, though. She’s indicated she doesn’t feel her current clothes will reflect her new role. And she’ll need more anyway.

It’s not a matter of ‘being judged’. (Human beings will draw their conclusions about one quite unconsciously, anyway.) It’s about embracing the opportunity for reinvention, and garnering confidence from the image in the mirror.

Absolutely no one, in the entire history of universities, has ever claimed academia attracted snappy dressers. I would have said we were more notorious for looking as if we’d been dragged through a hedge backwards in general.

Plenty of students of both sexes just wear jeans and a jumper/hoody.