My personal experience with what I would consider the Scottish “Uni-Style”.

Now that I’ve been in Scotland for many months, I feel like I can finally say that I have a good idea of what the “Uni-Style” actually is. AKA the trends for college students in Aberdeen, Scotland. Of course, this can only really be relevant to the specific university where I am currently, however I do think some aspects of style are applicable all around the UK. 

My first week here I noticed a lot of things. We hadn’t started classes yet, but there were plenty of people walking around campus. Most of them were international students, so I couldn’t really gauge what the “style” in question would be, but there were aspects of international fashion that I found applied to the UK as well. As it so happens though, most of the international students I meet here (who are not Canadian or American) are from Europe, so there may be a correlation between UK fashion and just general European fashion. 

#1 – Tote Bags

Tote bags seem to be the most noticeable difference between the UK and US. I know that it varies by university in the US, but many people opt for a backpack rather than a tote bag. OU in particular, has what I would consider as majority backpacks and few tote bags. In Aberdeen, the tote bags are a fashion staple. Oftentimes I see girls with a tote bag, and guys with a satchel, rather than backpacks. However–I do still see backpacks. Backpacks aren’t unicorn status, but the vast majority of people do go for a tote bag. I do feel like I should note that these are quality tote bags. I see so many in stores and they have much more of a variety than I’m used to. The one most common is the Longchamp style (I don’t think they are actually Longchamps though).  

#2 – Trench Coat

To me, the idea of even wearing a coat most of the time is new. Oklahoma has temperatures that really only require a fleece or a light jacket (if anything) in the winter, so being in Aberdeen where the temperatures are quite a lot colder, I see a lot of coats which is a new experience for sure. Even in the Spring, it still can be in the 40s temperature-wise. One thing that really strikes me though is that even with the rainy and windy weather, the coats worn are “fashionable”. The students who I think have style (which is subjective I know) seem to brave the weather in a trench coat rather than a puffer. I’ll talk about the puffer below, but them choosing trench coats is incredibly interesting to me. If I had to guess, I’d say that most people here have both a puffer and a fashion-coat which is probably a trench. They’re not all the same kind, but rain or shine, the trenches are out. 

#3 – Black Puffer

This is honestly the biggest one on this list. Everyone and their whole family owns a black puffer jacket. They love their puffers here. The temperature makes it so that a black puffer fits the weather at any given moment. And since it may rain spontaneously, the fact that they’re waterproof makes it easy to stay dry. I see puffers of all lengths, on everyone. I seriously went to a football/soccer game recently and the entire stadium looked like ants in their black puffers. I did totally cave and get myself one early into the semester becuase I realized they’re actually very practical. (This has trained me to be really good at spotting my friends’ specific puffers too.)

#4 – Boots

Another thing to do with the weather I think is wearing boots. I see a lot of girls specifically who wear tall fashion-esque boots to class (not hiking boots is what I mean by that). This isn’t me saying that there aren’t any other shoes, because there are probably the same variety of shoes as there are at OU, it’s just an observation that boots are more popular. I think the biggest difference in the attire here and the attire at OU is how the weather will make you dress. In Oklahoma I’d be a lot more likely to see people in sandals in the fall or spring than I would here in Aberdeen. But the vice versa is true where I think it would be more likely to see people in boots in the summer here in Aberdeen than in the summer in Oklahoma. 

Those are my top four observations in what I would consider the “Uni Style” here in Aberdeen. Of course, this doesn’t cover the entirety of Scotland, let alone the UK. It may be very local to Aberdeen but it’s still one factor of culture I find very interesting!

That’s all!

Much love, 

Olivia Bird