Shameless Pitch - CampusSartorialist.com

Hi everyone, I hope the last month has been treating you all well. I have been extremely busy with returning to school, freshmen orientation and another project I started working on over the summer and of which I'll talk about in just a bit. Sadly, being so busy meant I have had virtually no time for writing new posts. Fear not though , as I have many great posts lined up for the last quarter of 2010. 

As for my shameless pitch, I would like to introduce everyone to a project I have been working on since July and have only launched yesterday. 

CampusSartorialist.com, is a website which I hope will walk in the footsteps of its famous counterpart ( The Sartorialist ) and will become a medium of expression for Campus fashion. Many of you have probably witnessed the invasion of, if not been guilty of wearing, Fleece/Sweatpants, Hoodies, Crocs and many other unspeakable accoutrements, however there is still hope amongst the college population and through Campus Sartorialist I hope to bring the best of college style to the surface.

In Perpetuum Effingo, CampusSartorialist's motto can be literally translated as "in perpetual formation/fashioning" and I chose it for its simple yet all-encompassing nature as well as its correlation to students perpetually evolving, adjusting and changing.

Many of you might ask why the need for another fashion website aimed at the college population, when CollegeFashionista, CollegeFashion and other blogs/websites are already popular and followed?! While I do give credit to these websites, I believe they focus too much on the sartorial aspects of campus fashion and thus miss the big picture. College campuses are ever-changing environments, where teenagers experiment and define their style as they transition from their teenage years into adulthood. It's not about what the trends in Milan are, which shade of lipstick goes best with what, but about self-expression and originality. Teruyoshi Hayashida created Take Ivy, one of the most appreciated and famous college look-books, in 1965 and while looking back at what students wore back then compared to now might seem familiar to you, these two periods of now and then are quite dissimilar. CampusSartorialist would like to become the repository of collegiate looks from around the world and specifically from within the U.S., where students living on a campus together creates a unique fashion bubble.

Taking upon this task is definitely not a one-man job and I would like to welcome any help I can get as far as photography and capturing what you think is unique amongst the college crowd. If fashion photography is your passion, I would definitely welcome any guest features as well as anyone who would like to become a long-term contributor. Your name, photos and a link to your resume/website would be added to a Contributors page, which will be made available from the main page.  

Please direct any questions, suggestions or submissions to CampusSartorialiast@gmail.com and please spread the word, follow it on google or twitter(#CampusSartorial), like it on Facebook and comment on the posts!

To a great new beginning!

Robert

Roll Me Up In Spring

Roll me up in spring and summer,

Lift me way above the clouds,

Show me sounds of endless summer

Give me never-ending crowds.

For us lucky ones that don't live in the north-east of the U.S., the weather has been steadily improving, bringing with higher temperatures and sunny skies. This is one of the turning-points of the year in terms of fashion, as one transitions from the Fall/Winter wardrobe to the Spring/Summer one, and one of my favourite things about spring is that the weather is chilly enough at times to wear a few lightweight layers but warm enough that you can shed the heavy Fall/Winter wool blazers.

Something that I keep seeing here in Europe is guys rolling up not only their shirt sleeves now, but also the sleeves of their blazers and cardigans. And although the neophyte's first reaction might we wondering why not just take the blazer off if you're too warm, the actual reason behind rolling one's sleeves has nothing to do with the temperature outside.

The whole trick to doing it, as our friends as Fashionbeans.com put it is pushing the sleeves on the jacket to just below the elbow and then folding the sleeve until it covers the ribbing, all this while remembering to have your cuff done up.

This look first came into mainstream view by means of Miami Vice, although the t-shirt under the rolled-up blazer look is not the best of combinations. I would advise either wearing a polo underneath and thus eliminating the need to roll 2 sets of sleeves or sporting a lightweight shirt that won't bunch-up too much when rolled. As for bottoms, some nice shorts look best in my opinion( but please no cargo shorts, burn them if you own any) or a nice pair of chinos that complement the look and give tribute to spring and summer( think spring colours, earthy pastels this year). 

In terms of shoes, if you choose the shorts recommendation, I would suggest going sock-less and sporting either a pair of loafers or a pair of nice leather oxfords or brogues. If you're not a fan of that either, go with the all safe boat shoe.

Items are, in order from top to bottom, left to right: Rugby - COTTON JERSEY CLUB BLAZER ( $168), photo courtesy of The Sartorialist, Rugby - SKULL BUTTON NAVY SPORT COAT ($398), Rugby - FOOTBALL CLUB FLEECE BLAZER ($79.99), photo courtesy of Swagger NYC.