"...SUCH a college student."

I once had a phone conversation with my sister and as usual, I asked for her advice of what to wear to a social outing, which quickly became a conversation about our closet-building techniques. My sister's preference was to buy very expensive items of clothing and wear them all the time, forever (or, at least until they're out of style). Let it be known my sister is beyond her college years and thrives in the busy streets of cities such as Chicago and New York. I told her I like to keep a wide variety of cheap clothing handy for different occasions. She scoffed at me, pegging me as "such a college student", to which I could only raise my eyebrow and reply, "Um, yeah."

I'm going into my third year of college and my wardrobe, slimming down as it is, is still pretty vast. The collection of clothes are for all kinds of styles, occasions, and "emergencies" that I've found pretty useful, especially for themed parties and other outings.

Here's a (very) brief list I'm compiled as "last-minute" party clothes for the socially active (possibly alcoholic) college student.

• Hoops/Big earrings - Make your laziest outfit look like you tried with these. Sitting around in a tank top and jeans? Big earrings = "hey, where are you going tonight?" [WARNING: may not be the case for those who regularly wear large earrings]
  
  
• Shiny/vibrant shoes - really shouldn't have to justify this one. If all you have are non-metallic, boring colored shoes in your closet, how do you think that affects your mood?



• Jersey-knit dresses - As much as I harass anything that has any link to New Jersey (including one of my best friends, Dylan), Jersey-knit dresses are beer-spill friendly and easy to clean. I have a couple of these cheap, fun party dresses that I throw in the washer and hang-dry. Because I love to shamelessly advertise, Forever 21, Charlotte Russe and even (though rarely) Wet Seal are the first stores my girls and I head to for something cheap and cute for parties.
  
  
• Animal print dress - A good animal print dress can be a show-stopper and provide as a cop-out animal costume. Speaking of cop-out, why not keep that silly animal ears-headband?

Duh.

• Something Hawaiian/beach-like - I can't tell you how many times I've had to wear a lei or lend my lei to girls going to a luau. I have a Hawaiian flower-print dress on hand (that my sister despises) that has also been borrowed.
  
  
• The Bandanna - The bandanna can take many forms for a costume: cowboy and Indians party, a "thug" party, white trash party, etc. You can fulfill several dress-code requirements with this silly accessory alone.
  

...and for no other reason. Maybe camping. If that.

• The Toga - I've had friends at college who keep an extra bed sheet around or some fabric just in case someone wants to pay homage to Animal House. Pillow cases are also handy for ABC parties.

Honestly, my dorm floor last year was majority sorority girls who went out every night, like my friends and I would - so if you go out frequently, these can be useful. If I've overlooked anything else please let me know. As a reminder, NONE of these refer to my personal tastes in fashion. So to keep my sister from having a heart attack, no, I don't go running around in public with animal ears. Good grief.