<p>eireann–sorry but if you can put on yoga pants and see every little bit of cellulite, I don’t think that they are an instrument of denial about weight issues.</p>
<p>OF, who said anything about EVERYONE enjoying those? I think the point was let them if they want. Me? I already have to over dress for work four days a week. I enjoy my non dressy workdays and very casual class days. Simple pleasures in life :D</p>
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<p>It’s the difference between seeing and feeling. If you gain 5 to 10 pounds, you can still get into your sweatpants. If you looked at yourself in a mirror, you would see evidence of the weight gain, but that requires you to take the trouble to look in a mirror. From the point of view of how the pants feel, you’re fine.</p>
<p>On the other hand, you don’t need a mirror to tell you you’ve gained weight when you wear jeans. They become uncomfortable when you gain a few pounds, and if you gain a few more, you won’t be able to zip them. There’s no way to avoid facing that problem.</p>
<p>Now I am really going off topic and everyone who cares can just skip this post:) Especially since all of it is completely obvious and only someone like me needs to spend years puzzling over it all.</p>
<p>This is what I understand: The upper classes have always set the dress code. Sometimes this has caused hardship for the lower classes who can’t really keep up with rules due to economics. Or if they don’t understand the rules. It helps to support class division. </p>
<p>A high school student, at a new job, who doesn’t understand the rules is disadvantaged by a society that almost universally accepts certain dress rules. It seems everyone agrees, at least in this particular instant, this is really unjust.</p>
<p>We can teach the student the rules or we can decide the rules really aren’t that important. If we understand more about why we have these rules, maybe we won’t pay so much attention to them and the student who hasn’t yet learned them will be able to keep her job. </p>
<p>Generally people are trying to dress to look wealthy - or as they perceive the wealthy look. There are lots of books and articles about how to dress “rich” and this is seen as desirable… and thus all the logos. Several on this thread have said certain types of sweats are okay. These are the more expensive types. There has been a bit of discussion that inexpensive sweats don’t necessarily equal dirty and also discussion of what “sloppy” means and everyone may not be defining it the same.</p>
<p>An interesting thing that happens in recent history is the fashion elite drawing from youth culture and working class culture. Hippie kids first wore blue jeans as a fashion statement. A few years later we are all wearing jeans with designer names stamped on them. Yesterday I linked to Bill Cunningham’s NYTimes page… upper middle class fashionistas wearing pajamas on the street. Where did they get this idea from? College kids?</p>
<p>Right now we have an increasing number of young people who object to the heteronormative rules of mainstream society, including dress rules. I don’t understand all that is happening but am trying to wrap my mind around it all. It seems to me it is probably a very good thing.</p>
<p>This may all be obvious, boring, etc. but I really don’t think it is raging 
It is just what I think about when the OP asks “sweats on campus - yes or no”?
If the moderators feel it is too of topic for the thread, I hope they’ll just delete it.</p>
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<p>The question was asked by a parent, not a college student. Presumably, her son respects her thoughts on the subject, otherwise she would not have taken the time to ask our opinions.</p>
<p>I don’t see any “class” differences communicated by wearing jeans rather than sloppy sweats. It is an issue of neatness more than dressiness. It is similar to an employee having a messy office versus a tidy one. It doesn’t cost any more money, but it does take a little more effort.</p>
<p>A lawyer in my firm was let go because his office was so messy the partners feared he would commit malpractice. Something like this won’t happen to a college student wearing sloppy sweats, but he might miss out on mentor relationships, job offers, or social events due to his attire, because people do draw conclusions about others based upon what they choose to wear.</p>
<p>Bay, how on earth did you come to the conclusion that the son cares by the OP? Parents ask plenty of things on here that I very much doubt their children care about or respect their parent’s opinion about. </p>
<p>Mom just asked if they were acceptable. If son is like the vast majority of college students, he doesn’t care.</p>
<p>Well pardon me. I can only go by my own experience, and both of my college students were very interested in my opinion about things.</p>
<p>The words of wisdom that I would give my children about dressing for class are certainly different for those I’d give them about dressing for a job interview, a wedding, a funeral, or church (although there are plenty of “come dressed casually” churches).</p>
<p>My set of guidelines for class attire: Don’t wear the same clothes you slept in the night before. They might gap in embarrassing places and they probably smell a little “off”. Comb/brush your hair and brush your teeth. Wear clothes that are clean, weather appropriate, cover what they should (including when you bend over or sit down), and are not unusually tight. Wear appropriate underwear that doesn’t show. Wear clothes that are not unduly torn or stained. Wear comfortable, sturdy shoes for long walks across campus and unexpected rain showers – as well as for your long-term foot health.</p>
<p>That leaves a large range of clothing: sweatpants, shorts, jeans, yoga pants, dresses, slacks, T-shirts, dress shirts, polo shirts, walking shoes, tennis shoes. It leaves room for preppies, hippies, goths, artsy people, and general nonconformists (other than nudists). It is not gender-based, and it allows for plenty of comfort in dress. It also respects others by eliminating rank-smelling clothes and in-your-face exposure to private body parts! Finally, it recognizes that college is college, not a paid job.</p>
<p>Bay, I’m interested in my parents’ opinions about many things as well. But I, and I’d say most college students, don’t care about what our parents think about our day to day campus attire.</p>
<p>Then again, I doubt most parents care what their kids wear at college. At least in my experience.</p>
<p>romani,
When you become a parent, you may be surprised by how many children ask their parents’ advice about just about everything.</p>
<p>Even though I think this thread is beginning to border on the absurd, I’ll chime in. If by sweat pants you mean those cotton things (usually gray or navy) with the elastic waist and ankles, well I honestly have not seen them around in years. Good riddance! I think yoga pants have replaced them for girls, and for boys I see a lot of basketball “shorts” (which really aren’t short at all). And yes the boys wear them even in the winter months. </p>
<p>But honestly, those old cotton sweatpants, I wouldn’t even know who sells them anymore. Now sweatshirts, that’s a different story.</p>
<p>But in answer to the Op’s question, if your son does in fact own those types of sweats, and that is what he is comfortable wearing, then he should wear them. Pretty simple.</p>
<p>Or we can accept that different places and social circles have different standards and have different norms. Around here, people just don’t seem to care about dress all that much so it would make sense that kids don’t care what parents think about what they wear to class. Your part of the country and social circle might differ, and that’s ok. I can only go by the people I know, same as you. </p>
<p>But something tells me that if you posted this in the college life forum, they’d probably side with me. I truly don’t think most college kids are basing their class wear on their parents’ opinions.</p>
<p>And harvest is right, I rarely see those either. Sweats are usually those straight legged sweats without elastic on the ankles, at least around here.</p>
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<p>Probably not on a day-to-day basis. And most likely, if a college student chooses to wear sweats everyday, he was probably wearing them everyday in high school and his parents were okay with that.</p>
<p>Right… So that’s why I doubt that the OP’s son is interested in his mom’s or our opinions.</p>
<p>I don’t agree with that ^. Maybe women are different, but my Ds were very interested to know what would be appropriate to wear to college everyday. They did visit the campuses several times before attending, so they were able to assess how others dressed, which helped.</p>
<p>But your Ds likely liked jeans in high school. The OP’s son did not. Your Ds’ fashion sense and the OP’s son are likely radically different if he wants to wear sweats and your Ds scoped out the fashion scene beforehand.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree with that. But I think my D’s attitudes about clothing are not at all unusual for college-aged students.</p>
<p>My daughter actually rejected a campus at first glance as all the student looked and dressed alike. Seemed no imagination, effort, or individuality, or very little. Every kid had a back back, no matter how empty, all were in the same dull clothes. I saw it too. Seemed like no one wanted to be different. And seems silly, but we saw one kid with a messenger bag out of hundreds and hundreds of students. We actively looked because we were so surprised at the sameness and dullness and eh of the student body.</p>
<p>This mattered as usually you will see several students dressed up for classes as they are then heading off to work, an internship, an interview, something…but few seemed to want to step up or no one had anything besides school. And yes, I know they could change clothes etx, but from my experience, schedules can be very tight…</p>
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<p>Exactly. A lot of us fortysomething women who started working at home experienced that :-). With “real” pants or jeans, you can tell if they are starting to get tight. Yoga pants and sweatpants and anything else with an elastic waist? A lot easier to ignore that little creep around the middle.</p>
<p>I just moved S into his college campus this morning (classes have not yet started, but a lot of kids are already there). FWIW, I didn’t see anyone wearing sweats. Lots of kids in jeans and a sweatshirt (including my son) or a t-shirt with hoodie. Some kids were wearing casual corduroys. A few girls were dressed up a bit more, with corduroys and stylish boots. </p>
<p>As for the picture that someone (ucbalumnus, I think) posted earlier showing a few kids sitting in a classroom, with the one guy wearing fairly-sloppy sweats – as a female, I wouldn’t be attracted to a guy wearing that kind of stuff. And I advised my son accordingly. He wears either t-shirt and jeans or polo and jeans, sometimes with a sweatshirt and sometimes with one of those pullover partial-zip jackets (which I personally think looks a lot sharper but just as comfortable / casual to wear). He is NOT a fashionista, but he says he’d never wear sweatpants except to sleep in or over his shorts when going to the gym to work out.</p>