The Commuter Fashion Struggle Continues…

As a fellow student and commuter I sympathize with all of you trekking from suburbia and beyond. There’s really no way to just roll out of bed and somehow end up looking cute. We commuters have a routine. We gotta get up two hours in advance to make sure we have enough time to shower, get ready, grab a bite to eat, make sure your outfit is semi-presentable and make your way to class on that lovely and lengthy forty-five minute commute.“The Struggle Continues…”

Photo: Krizia Lutan

As a commuter a good chunk of your time is spent in transit and so when it comes to being stylish during the winter a lot of us, myself included, tend to focus on what kind of jacket we wear. Whether it be a warm wool pea coat or a goose down insulated parka such as the very popular Canada Goose or Moose Knuckles jackets, or if your that one person who only wears a leather jacket with a thick sweater wrapped up in a big scarf (I’ve probably done this before), there’s a range of possibilities when it comes to being fashionable with your outdoor gear, you just have to be creative. Except when it’s minus 30 outside...then the goal becomes minimal skin exposure and that is all.

Now things have a tendency to get a little tricky the minute your friends are like “Let’s go out tomorrow!” Suddenly picking an outfit requires elaborate planning and can become quite cumbersome as you try and mediate a balance between turning what you wear to class into a cool, chic evening outfit depending on the venue. Now if this is the case and the evening hot spot has yet to be decided, I tend to opt for an all-black ensemble because it is almost and always guaranteed to look sleek. That being said it is also appropriate for the club, bar, restaurant, coffee house, movies, concert, book club, spoken word jam and protest etc. you know, whatever your definition of a night out is.

Basically being a commuter can be a rough time, I know, but we don’t all have to be bag people. Fashion can sometimes seem like this far off thing, only accessible to the ruling elite, but really it’s not, it’s all comes down to how clothes make you feel. Whether you decide to follow the current trends or not that’s completely up to you, what matters is that when you board that 7 o’clock train tomorrow you’re content with the get-up you’ve created and that’s that.