What to wear guide for students 1

WHAT TO WEARGUIDE FOR STUDENTS

What to wear guide for students 2

Dressing smartly isn’t the same

as being boring!

University is a time to have fun

and find your own style.

Play your ‘preppy’ cards right to

score dates and job offers.

Welcome To University 3

Why You Need To Change The Way You Dress ....................4

What Occasions? 5

Presentations .............................6

Lectures ......................................6

Seminars .....................................6

Work Experience .......................7

Job Interviews ............................8

Graduation .................................8

Give Me Specifics 9

Jeans ..........................................10

Chinos .......................................10

Trousers ....................................10

Shirts .........................................11

Jackets And Blazers .................11

Suits ...........................................12

Dinner Suits ..............................13

Shoes .........................................13

10% discount

What to wear guide for students 3

WELCOME TO UNIVERSITYHigher education

is about making

the transition from

schoolboy to young

professional.

What to wear guide for students 4

Gone are the days when you could afford to saunter into lectures late, wearing your onesie while still chewing your breakfast. Your university education is costing you a bomb; it’s only worth doing if you make it pay in the future.

WHY YOU NEED TO CHANGE THE WAY YOU DRESSHigher education is about more than academic results – and we don’t mean propping up the bar! It’s also about making the transition from schoolboy to young professional. To become a man-about-town, you must learn how to dress like one.

Adopting a few well-chosen items of classic clothing and accessories, gives you confidence. It’s about learning to be stylish in a formal environment and giving yourself an an edge.

Here’s everything you need to know about dressing smartly, for your university career and beyond.

Don’t know where to start? Try a couple of shirts.

By all means have fun, but smelling of yesterday’s pizza won’t earn you any brownie points.

Going to university is costing you a bomb; it’s only

worth doing if you make it pay in the future. Think and

dress like a young professional.

Keep your own style - just know when to smarten up.

What to wear guide for students 5

WHAT OCCASIONS?When you’re

standing in front

of your tutor and

peers, will they take you seriously and

listen intently?

What to wear guide for students 6

So when will you need to step it up? You might still be a student, but already there are times when wearing smart clothes will help you to stand out from the pack.

You’re no longer a a teenager, but an adult standing on your own two feet. Dressing with maturity will help to change your mindset.

Here are just a few of the occasions when it’s worth making the extra effort to look your best.

PRESENTATIONSWhen you’re standing in front of your tutor and peers, how do you want them to see you?

Do you want them to marvel at your fashion sense, wonder if that’s last night’s pizza in your hair, or listen intently to what you have to say?

Smart jeans or trousers, a crisply ironed shirt and perhaps a jacket or pullover, may not scream “hey, look at me”, but will say, loudly and clearly, “take me seriously”. That’s what you want – that’s what you need.

LECTURESPut yourself in your lecturer’s shoes. As she stands before you glancing up at a sea of young faces, she’s thinking, which students are worth my time and effort? Who’s late? Who’s eating during my lecture? Who’s on Facebook? Who looks like they spent the night in the cells?

Don’t get us wrong, nobody’s going to think less of you for being distinctive – experimenting with your look is part of what university’s about. But steering your dress towards smart-casual shows respect. It gets you noticed for the right reasons.

SEMINARSTurn up on time, be well prepared, and dress like you mean business. Are we talking about the right attitude for a young professional, or for a uni student attending a seminar?

The answer? Both. The earlier you get into “work mode” the better. Start making the transition from uni to the office now.

Speak with confidence - you’re being judged on more than just the content.

A SURVEY BY A CAREERS COMPANY FOUND THAT

37% OF INTERVIEWERS HAD DECIDED AGAINST HIRING A CANDIDATE DUE TO THE WAY THEY WERE DRESSED.

Steering your dress towards smart-

casual shows respect and gets

you noticed for the right reasons.

What to wear guide for students 7

Always show up on time, well prepared and ready to work. The same rules apply to seminars and work experience placements.

Think of your seminars as

business meetings - because that’s what

they are.

Think of your seminars as business meetings – because that’s what they are. Practise wearing work-appropriate attire now, so that when you get your graduate job, you’re already used to it.

WORK EXPERIENCEWhy do you think firms offer work placements? So they can laugh at

you sat in a puddle of cold sweat, trussed up in an ill-fitting suit? Or because they’re looking for potential recruits?

Check the firm’s dress code beforehand, and make sure you get the clothes required ahead of time. Remember: If you play your cards right, a work experience placement may translate into a job offer.

Seminars are the closest thing to a business meeting you can get. Present yourself in a professional way, and share ideas with confidence.

What to wear guide for students 8

JOB INTERVIEWSIt goes without saying that you should be suited and booted for job interviews.

Buying a suit is a right of passage, not a box to tick. The right fit is essential: too tight and you’ll look like a sausage bursting its skin, too loose and you’ll look like a child in his father’s clothes.

You have little time to convince your future boss to hire you, so make first impressions count in your favour.

Smile on entering the room, give a firm, preferably dry handshake, look your interviewer in the eye, and give them a moment to appreciate your very sensible choice of formal suit and shiny black shoes.

GRADUATIONYou’ve worked hard, played hard and earned your stripes - now it’s time to collect your degree and celebrate a job well done.

To do yourself justice, a suit is the way to go. Graduation marks the beginning of the next phase - you’re ready to join the ranks of smart, young, ambitious professionals after all - so start as you mean to go on.

A work experience placement

may translate into a job offer.

A suit and tie will help you look sharp for graduation.

A quality suit is an investment

that will last you several years.

DETAILS MATTER: 77% OF SENIOR EXECUTIVE

INTERVIEWERS SAID THAT BLACK SOCKS MADE A POSITIVE IMPRESSION.

What to wear guide for students 9

GIVE ME SPECIFICSInvest in a small

number of good

quality, matching

co-ordinates and build it up as you go.

What to wear guide for students 10

Okay – so you’re convinced of the need to create a wardrobe that reflects your growing status as a young professional. You know there’s a time and a place for everything, and that contact hours at uni call for appropriate dress. But what do you buy? Here’s a simple breakdown of the clothes it’s worth investing in.

JeansFor lectures, tutorials and seminars a pair of smart jeans is all you need. Opt for slim fit rather than skinny, ditch the distressed look, and go for dark colours like indigo or black – an excellent half-way house between casual and formal wear.

Dress your jeans up by wearing a formal shirt tucked in, or a casual shirt untucked. Dress down by wearing a cotton or cashmere polo shirt.

Chinos

Flat-fronted chinos - a wardrobe staple. Featured: chinos from

Samuel Windsor

An excellent choice for when you’re giving your presentation, wear your chinos with a smart shirt. You can leave the collar undone and it’s up to you whether you finish your look with a sports jacket – during the cooler months, a smart pullover will probably do the trick.

To avoid looking too preppy, go for flat-fronted, slim fit chinos. And remember, you have a full

No matter how colourful your

boxers, baboons will always outdo

you in the butt display stakes. No lecturer wants to

see your skinny arse hanging out of your jeans. Always

wear a belt.

range of colour options, from traditional creams and khakis, through the whole spectrum of blues and greens.

Trousers

Many university sports teams

require trousers and shirts for

travelling to away games.

Presentations, work experience placements, student conferences – any occasion when you need to look smart, but would feel overdressed in a suit.

Go for a cut that makes the best of your build. To avoid unsightly crotch creases, opt for a waist height that at least covers your hips – called mid-rise – it’s slightly higher than the waist of your jeans without making you look like Simon Cowell.

The ‘break’ is the point at which your trouser hem ‘breaks’ over your foot. Choose classic style over transient fashion and go for half-breaks.

Sober colours like navy, charcoal, or grey, and earth colours work well for tweeds. Steer clear of black unless you work in a bar or are applying to become an undertaker.

You can express a little bit of personality through your choice of fabric. Go for wool mixes and tweed for winter. Cotton or linen mixes are ideal for summer.

What to wear guide for students 11

Shirts

Wear a collar to class. Featured: Samuel Windsor’s

cashmere mix polo shirts

Save your tatty tees for when you’re slobbing out at home. When you’re in class wear a collar. For everyday wear, a polo shirt is

perfectly acceptable – look out for multipacks – a great way to step up your style without breaking the bank.

By saving money on basic wardrobe staples, you can afford to spend a little more on key items like smart-casual shirts for formal presentations, and a crisp cotton shirt for interviews.

Wear a crisp shirt with your suit - ironed, of course. Featured: Formal shirt from Samuel

Windsor

Smart casual means relaxed but formal. It doesn’t matter whether you go for stripes, checks or block colours as long as you avoid anything too garish; steer clear of extreme cuts, metal poppers, and excessive branding.

White is your go-to colour for formal shirts, but block colours and pin stripes are also acceptable. Avoid anything too eye catching – you want what you say to dazzle your interviewer, not your shirt. As a young person it’s good to show you’re in touch with current trends like spread or cutaway collars – just don’t go overboard.

Your shirt needs to fit you properly. The cuffs should reach to the bend of your wrist and no further, and should be tight enough that you can’t withdraw your hands into your sleeves. There should be no bunching under the armpits, and the shoulder seam needs to sit on the point of your shoulder (not halfway down your arm).

If, when you stretch, the fabric pulls against the buttons, the shirt’s too tight. Do the top button up. You should be able to fit two fingers between the collar and your neck – no more, no less.

Jackets and blazers

Simple tweed blazers look sharp without trying too hard. Featured: Jacket from Samuel

Windsor

You’re young - you might not look

this good again, so go for a fit

that accentuates your athletic build without being skin

tight.

What to wear guide for students 12

Spot a student on campus sporting red chinos and a suit jacket or blazer and chances are you’re looking at an aspiring political party leader. If the thought of spotty toffs enjoying wet power dreams turns you the same shade of puce as their trousers, don’t worry. You’re not alone!

But you can – and should – consider tweed. Highly versatile, it’s standard academic wear for lecturers, and you can wear a tweed blazer with jeans or chinos and not look like a wally.

Where would you wear it? Work experience certainly, possibly to your presentation. Maybe, if you don’t have, or can’t afford a suit, to a job interview.

Suits

Buy the best quality suit you can afford. Featured: Men’s suits from

Samuel Windsor

Your suit is for key moments: weddings, funerals, interviews, graduation day – work. It’s meant to last, so buy the best you can afford. And buy a wool or wool mix suit in a style that’s not going to go out of fashion overnight.

Fit should be slim, but not too slim. In the world of suits there are three main cuts: American, Italian and British. American

features a fairly unstructured jacket, single vented (with the slit up the back), has little shape in the shoulders and works well if you’re very muscular or a little on the large side.

If you’re a string bean, an Italian suit might be the ticket. It’s a slim fit with a well structured unvented jacket that’ll bulk out your shoulders. It’s a good cut for making the most of a lean silhouette, but it’s quite tricky to get right and because you’re probably still filling out, it might not fit you for long.

If you’re of slight to average build, you want the classic British cut. This single breasted suit has some structure to the shoulders, tapers through the waist, has two buttons (leave the bottom one undone), and has two vents.

It’s what James Bond wears. Luckily, you don’t need to spend a fortune to look great in a suit if you choose a good quality fabric and nail the fit.

Make the most of your Samuel Windsor NUS Student Discount (or Samuel Windsor Student Beans discount) and call it an investment.

Save your tatty tees for slobbing out at

home. When you’re in class wear a

collar.

What to wear guide for students 13

Dinner suits

Former President Obama wore the same dinner suit throughout

his entire two terms in office. Featured: Formal evening wear at Samuel Windsor

Speaking of Bond, you’ll need a dinner suit for the annual ball, and unless you’re intending to attend only one in your entire life, it’s probably more cost effective to buy your own suit than to hire one. Go for black or midnight blue with standard notched lapels, and accessorise with cufflinks, patent leather shoes, a snazzy cummerbund, bow tie, and silk pocket square.

If you’re wearing a tweed jacket to an interview, wear it with chinos or trousers in a complementary colour. Wear a tie.

Shoes

Smart brown brogues are your go-to shoe. Featured: Samuel Windsor

brogues

You need a minimum of two pairs of quality leather shoes – brown brogues and black Oxfords.

Brown brogues – shoes decorated with punched holes – are for day-to-day wear and cover you for a wide range of occasions including all your lectures, seminars, presentations and more. Black Oxfords are your shiny black interview shoes. Invest in shoe polish – you’re going to need it.

Brown jacket - dark moss chinos.

Grey jacket – charcoal chinos.

Moss jacket – cream or khaki chinos.

Blue jacket – navy trousers or chinos.

IF YOU’RE WEARING A TWEED JACKET TO AN

INTERVIEW, WEAR IT WITH CHINOS OR TROUSERS IN A COMPLEMENTARY COLOUR.

WEAR A TIE.

What to wear guide for students 14

10% Student DiscountStudents are entitled to a 10% discount for online purchases.*

If you are registered with Student Beans or hold an NUS Extra card, please use your Samuel Windsor discount code at the checkout to enjoy 10% off your order.

Excellent ValueSamuel Windsor offers excellent value for money as we have no costly High Street Stores or expensive ad campaigns. Just high quality products at great value prices - come and check us out today. *Will not work in conjunction with other offers. Discount is on lowest marked price.

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