Fashion faux pas
As London Fashion Week gets underway, we ask students to reveal their fashion faux pas.
Amongst the glamour of London Fashion Week lurk some crimes against decency. Long a proving-ground for garish design, some of the apparel we’ve seen on the catwalks this week (think loo-roll rings) have confirmed the long-held belief that there is a fine line between genius and insanity.
However, you don’t have to go to the catwalks to find similar crimes against style – there are plenty of fashion faux pas to be seen on Britain’s university campuses. Just ask William Banks, a former student at Bournemouth University.
“When I was in the second year I bought this Von Dutch baseball cap, which was a complete fashion disaster,” he says. “It was also a disaster for my finances because buying it sent me beyond the limit on my credit card, which incurred a charge.” Stupidly, Will ignored the credit card company’s letters and before he knew it the bailiffs were knocking on his door.
“By the time the bank of mum and dad stepped in, I had racked up £250 of charges,” he says. “All for a baseball cap which people used to rip the p*** out of.”
Gavin Thomas can share his pain. Ignoring the old saying ‘a stitch in time saves nine,’ he found himself an hour away from a night out with nothing to wear on his bottom half except for a crotch-less pair of jeans. So he hotfooted it to TopMan in Cardiff just before it closed.
“I didn’t have time to try on the jeans so I picked my size and took them straight for the counter,” explains Gavin. “I thought I was buying the same pair of jeans that I’d torn.” Trouble is, in his haste, Gavin had actually bought a pair of super skinny jeans by mistake.
“They were more like jeggings, but by the time I got home there was nothing I could do about it – they were literally the only pair of trousers I had,” he says.
Bravely, the media student shoehorned himself into the stretchy denim and went into the kitchen where his mates were drinking. “They cried with laughter and said I had a male camel toe. I got the last laugh though – I was the only one who pulled that night.”
Breast forgotten
It took Emily Smith (not her real name) a bit longer to see the funny side of her wardrobe malfunction. Preparing for her first Reading Festival, the wet-behind-the-ears student went and bought herself a cheap and cheerful black dress, which she wore on the sunny Saturday.
“I put this dress on and walked into town to get supplies with my friends,” she says, grimacing. “Car horns were beeping and men were cheering, but I thought it was because my friends have great legs and were wearing hot pants.” However, they were actually beeping at Emily.
“It turned out my dress was completely see-through and I wasn’t even wearing a bra,” she says. “The girls hadn’t noticed because you couldn’t really tell up close.” Having inadvertently exposed herself to half of Reading she dived into the nearest shop. “I had to buy a new outfit immediately,” she says. “I was absolutely mortified.”
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