Faux Pas Fix with Anne Zeumer: The Mission Statement

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Faux Pas Fix with Anne Zeumer - Every Week in Arts and Lifestyle

By Anne Zeumer
Staff Writer


There are a lot of truly amazing intellectual minds at this university. Similarly, there are people here whose interests are more social than intellectual. Whether academically motivated or tragically apathetic, there is one common thread running through the diverse mass of people at Stony Brook: the majority of students here don’t seem to care about their appearance. I do a lot of people watching, and I’m astonished at the number of lazily content individuals who shuffle by me in jeans, dirty sneakers and sweatshirts, day after day.


There are two possible reasons for this. One is that there are people who may simply not know how to dress. They could have no “fashion IQ” whatsoever, and don’t travel in circles where style is ever a concern. In the end, they resort to stumbling out of bed into “whatever is comfortable” morning after morning. This, I think, applies most frequently to the highly intellectual types, whose minds are buzzing too full of science and profundity to be concerned over whether their chartreuse and gray Nike’s will match their red SBU sweatshirt. Reason two is more depressing to me than number one, and it’s what I like to call "misinformation." These people wear the latest fashions from two years ago, or attempt to try what’s hot now without taking their own body type into account.


In high school, people (particularly girls) who took great pains with their appearance are dubbed superficial and shallow. But this is not high school. Break down those walls, open your mind to the reality of the adult world. You will get less respect and potentially be snubbed out of significant opportunities if you aren’t dressed as well as your competition. If you look sloppy, you will be treated as such. By “not caring” about how you look, you aren’t making a statement anymore. You’re only hurting yourself. Please also take note that not caring how you look and not caring what people think of you are two very different things. Combined, they generally create disaster. The key is to care how you look without caring what people think. You don’t need to slice up your shirts and hold them together with safety pins to prove to people that what they think doesn’t affect you. Cut the angst, add the confidence. Be proud of how you look without making a sideshow of yourself. Ultimately, you’ll find admiring glances and compliments to be far more rewarding than awkward stares and hushed voices in your wake.


You don’t want to concede to the sweatshirt/big tee and jeans thing every day. You should aspire to have a style of your own, which you can exhibit with poise and confidence. Looking good is feeling good. There is no way around it. When I’m very sick, I let myself “scrub out” in comfy sweatpants and a sweatshirt. While lying on my couch with a bowl of chicken soup and the remote control, this attire is fine, even wonderful. However, if the occasion arises that puts me out in public, I feel disgusting. As soon as I step out my front door, I feel like the most unattractive, disgusting person alive. I know that this is probably my own neurosis, but I can’t help but project these sentiments onto other people as I see them pass by me looking unkempt.


Regardless of your budget or your clothing track-record, there is always a way to dress neatly in clothes that look good and fit properly. In the columns to come, I hope to offer some solutions and insight into how to start affordably dressing well and, as a result, feeling better about yourself.




Look for "Faux Pas with Anne Zeumer" each week in the Arts and Lifestyle section.