FASS (Flashy Arts and Social Sciences) Undergraduates?

CAMPUS – One look around and you might be mistaken that you were actually in the middle of Orchard Road. But welcome to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences — home of the some of the best dressed students in NUS.

These days students are turning up for classes, even early ones, decked in long-sleeved dress shirts, leather shoes and even fancy neckties that hang loosely from the neck, in an apparent attempt to appear dressed-down by dressing up. The girls wear skimpy dresses that could arguably be a huge distraction in class, not just for the students. ”It’s as though they’re wearing clubbing attire,” quipped Xuefang, a 4th year undergraduate student in the Arts and Social Sciences. “When I was year 1, the norm was wearing just t-shirt and shorts. There were some from the halls who appeared at lectures in their pyjamas. Nowadays, even those from the halls are dressing up.”

It’s not difficult to see that the students spend a long time getting ready for school — some for periods even longer than their actual lectures/tutorials in school. “A  friend of mine in the Business school spends at least a hour and a half getting ready for school,” said Charlene, a 2nd year sociology undergrad. “This routine involves showering for at least half an hour, blowing dry one’s hair, putting on false eyelashes, and choosing which outfit to wear, which is the most time consuming of all.”

Why are undergraduates spending so much time trying to look good in a place where studying should occupy the first priority?

 ”You never know if it could attract the attention of the lecturer in a sub-conscious way, and get you into his good books,” said Y., a third year psychology undergraduate who wished to remain anonymous. “We are all inclined to have a favourable impression of people who dress, smell and look well,”  she added. “And you never know if it might be translated to grading your essay, especially if it is ‘impression-based’,”

That is giving a whole new definition to the term ‘impression-based.’

But other than that, many undergraduate students hope to attract the attention of the opposite sex, and hopefully find a partner within their university circles that may lead on to something more substantial in the long-term.

“I remember my psychology professor telling the girls in class that the University is actually the best place to find your ideal life partner,” said Y. “Due to the age difference between the sexes as a result of the army, most girls find guys who are two years older than them to be of a very compatbile age as a life partner,” referring to the two years conscription that all Singaporean males would have to go through prior to entering the University. “If we don’t dress up to attract their attention, then we never might be able to.”

But it seems, however, that it is not only the girls who are dressing up.

In a business lecture that I took, a classmate of mine was dressed up in a long-sleeved striped black shirt, with a white silky skinny tie hanging from his neck. He was also wearing a metrosexually-inclined pair of shorts that ended right above his knees, and finished it with a pair of white loafers, commonplace now among guys who wish to appear to be connoisseurs of fashion. With a neatly gelled hair, he was sitting next to a girl that appeared as though she did not change from her clubbing attire the night before.

I noticed that the girl had a White MacBook in front of her, and decided to drop her an anonymous message via BlueTooth on my Handphone.

“Your friend is over-dressed for class!” I said.

She saw the message and laughed.

“You see lah, somebody in this class says you’re overdressed,” she told her friend next to her.

And apparently her friend didn’t notice it, because he was sleeping during lecture.

Are undergraduates really overdressed?

According to Justin Tan, a 4th year undergrad, the answer is a definite yes — for only a select bunch of people, mostly in their first or second years in school. “Most of them do not know what to expect, or how to dress in school,” he said. “For many of them, it is the first time that they do not have to wear an uniform to school. Therefore, most of them dress up hoping to look good in school. And this phenomenon is mutually reinforcing.”

In what sense, I asked him?

“In a way that I go to school for the first week, and see a lot of people dressing up in branded or expensive clothings, I must then think that it is the norm to dress like that in the University.”

“However, if you look around at most of the 4th year students now, most of them dress very casually,” he said, and pointing to himself – wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts. “Look, don’t get me wrong here. I used to dress up a lot during my first year. Jeans, expensive sneakers, dress shirts and I’d never forget to do my hair.” he added. “But at year 4, with my honors thesis to work on and with my workload that leaves me gasping for air, how much time can I really spend on looking good in school?”

“And I really don’t care. Besides, my girlfriend whom I got to know in my second year also dresses down. And I think, after getting in a relationship with her in my third year, I started to dress down.”

And now, perhaps, we finally do know why.