Bennie urges classmates to go chic: Posh city of London teaches lessons about American fashion. Take the time to look

your best

By Anna Schoeneberger

As the warm weather turned chilly, the wind blew hard and the first snowflakes fell, I realized that the seasons are changing, and this year, I would be here for all of them.

I was on my way to work — feeling slightly disgusted with the apparel I wore — a pair of regular jeans, a Bennie T-shirt, a zip-up sweatshirt and of course, a fleece. I looked around to find that I was one of many choosing to partake in this ‘scrubsville’ event. I was almost overwhelmed with the number of students wearing sweatpants, Ugg boots and fleece.

I continued my walk to the Main and thought, “I’ve never felt more American than today.”

This time last year, I counted down the days until I would leave for London, one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.

While abroad, we were living among some of the most posh and well-dressed Brits to be seen.

High fashion and high class, one might say, surrounded us. Granted, I was nowhere near their level of attire, I still found myself in a world where, unless you were in bed or at the gym, sweats did not belong.

Walking the high streets of London past hundreds of people each day, I noticed one trend. I could always pick out the Americans.

Although they may have thrown on their skinny jeans and maybe even some cute boots, it was the North Face jackets/fleeces that were always a dead giveaway to their country of birth.

As a 21-year-old, I must say my fashion has come a long way, from — yes — white spandex shorts in the sixth grade, to senior year of high school when my mom said, “Anna, could you maybe limit wearing sweat pants to school to three days a week?”

Although I am by no means anywhere near an everyday posh dresser, some days I do put in effort.

For those of us who have studied abroad in the UK and Europe, fashion is notable there and makes me nostalgic even when I see a Johnnie dressed in argyle, with a collared shirt, a scarf and a nice pair of trousers.

Overall, I must say that my first semester back from being abroad has been an adjustment like no other.

Going from 10 outfits for four months to a room full of stuff was a little overwhelming. And then there were classes.

In London, we had class three days a week and were done by Wednesday. Here, we have class and lab five days a week plus athletics, clubs and organizations to fill in the rest.

So seniors, as we wind down our last fall semester, I want to encourage you to embrace the culture you became a part of as you travelled abroad and share it even more with others as we close down another American college semester.

Ugg or Ugh!

It doesn’t matter whether you love or hate the ubiquitous sheepskin boots beloved of all those Aussie sheepshearers out in the Outback. Ugg boots have got their foot firmly in fashion’s door.

The first UK Ugg store opened in the Westfield mega-mall, appropriately located in London’s Shepherd’s Bush, at the end of October, and has already drawn more than 100,000 visitors. The flagship in Covent Garden followed a month later, with a lavish opening party attended by the likes of Jodie Kidd, Tamzin Outhwaite, Martin Freeman, Mica Paris, Pearl Lowe and Madonna’s favourite jeweller, Stephen Webster.

One of the ‘Ugg-oholics’ who was not at the opening party, however, was Rolling Stone, Ronnie Wood, who is rarely seen without a pair on his feet.

He loves them so much, his estranged wife Jo, bought him pairs in orange, green and yellow, to go with the many he already owns in cream and black. Apparently he even wears them on the beach. The words ‘hot’, ‘smelly’ and ‘sandy’ spring to mind.

Quite why a fully paid-up member of the lucky-to-be-alive ageing rockers club would want to wear something that looks like pair of old lady’s slippers is baffling.

Yet Wood is not alone in his fondness for Uggs. Bruce Willis, Leonardo Di Caprio, Brad Pitt, Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Peter O’Toole and Rhys Ifans are just some of the male stars and celebrities who have fallen in love with this fad for fluffy footwear. In fact, they are now almost as serious about them as the girls.

Kate Moss and Sienna Miller gave Uggs instant street-cred when they began wearing them in the early 2000s. The likes of Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba, Hilary Duff and Eva Longoria were quick to follow.

The craze spread, spawning thousands of cheaper imitations, from as little as £8, and even the deeply unfashionable Geri Halliwell was spotted in a pair. Earlier this year, a thief ram-raided a supermarket to get some cigarettes dressed only in a sheet and his girlfriend’s Uggboots. One could argue this was as much a serious fashion crime as anything else.

Social ‘teen-angels’ like Alice Dellal, Peaches and Pixie Geldof and Daisy Lowe might prefer stompin’ biker boots and Kate Moss has moved on to wearing over-the-knee, ‘principal boy’ boots over her skinny jeans.

But the genuine Ugg, despite a price-tag of at least £140, continues to be good, bad - and ugly, the word from whence its name derives.

Are you an Ugg-oholic? Let us know what you think of the Ugg boot…