by Hannah Twery, contributor
I’m sure you’ve been in a situation where you’ve told someone that you go to art school and they roll their eyes or make some joke about the stereotypical artist. Or you’ve overheard a conversation about art students (ahem, GSU students) and how weird they look and you’ve wanted to butt in and say, “Excuse me but what exactly does an art student look like?” Many people have an idea of what art students generally look like, but what is it? We all go to an art school, we know damn well that we don’t all look the same and we’re not erudite jerks who pontificate about how Creative Cloud is the best thing ever.
In Daniel Clowes’ comic book “Eightball,” there’s a short comic about art school and the main article of clothing was glasses. Clowes had attended art school so this was a satire, but is that really what people think all of us are wearing? Granted there are a lot of us who don eyewear, ironic or not, but some people have eye problems, man.
Another clothing item people assume we all wear is plaid. Don’t get me wrong, plaid is awesome and a lot of us are wearing plaid because it’s in right now, but does everyone outside of our artistic bubble think this is Seattle in the ‘90s?
Through this observation I’ve come to realize that the stereotype of the art student hasn’t changed since the late ‘80s. Whenever you see people’s ideas of the classic art school student portrayed on the screen, in a book, in an illustration — it’s always the same thing. They’ve always got a plethora of tattoos, a messy/cool haircut that took 30 seconds to style, clothes that are straight out of a thrift store in a part of town you don’t want to go to, ripped jeans and (of course) Chuck Taylors that seem to have been around since dinosaurs roamed the earth.
I have news for those people who lump us into a big, flannel shirt group … we don’t all look the same! I will gladly invite anyone who doesn’t believe that we don’t all look the same to the Hub (security permitted) to people-watch. You see everyone representing every subculture and clique from hype beasts to kawaii babes to cosplayers to people who look “normal” in jeans and a T-shirt. Generalize all you want, people who think we all look, dress and speak the same! We are at an art school, a place that highly encourages and tolerates differences and eccentricities. Get your head out of your butt, stereotypers!
However, if you do want to look like your typical art school student in the early ‘90s, because that’s totally trendy right now, here are a few things that you should pick up at your local Goodwill:
Anything plaid, thick framed glasses or horned glasses, oversized T-shirts from concerts that you may or may not have attended, ripped jeans that look like they haven’t been washed in a decade, a raggedy portfolio case, Chuck Taylors that are almost unwearable, Jesus sandals (aka Chacos), Birkenstocks, a messenger bag from when Banana Republic was an army surplus store (if you purchase this, you must also loudly lament that you didn’t know this fact until 2006), a tin lunch box with your favorite cartoon character on it that might be vintage, a beanie with moth holes in it and a guitar that’s so old and crappy you might as well have bought one from Walmart.
Whether you want to adopt the general art school student look, or you want to dress like you’re always going to Comic-Con, remember that either way, you look amazing.
