At first glance around Scott Stadium on a football game day, the unmistakable hues of orange and navy tend to overwhelm one’s sight. But upon second or third glance, one might begin to notice the broad spectrum of styles and colors this familiar palette gives way to.
Once associated with the “guys in ties, girls in pearls,” aesthetic, University game day fashion has become less uniform in recent years. Traditional Southern influences such as sport coats and long dresses have not entirely disappeared from the student section, but they now exist alongside micro shorts, jerseys, patterned scarves, pins and other looks shaped by contemporary fashion and personal taste, rather than solely by University custom.
Fourth-year College student Dearing Fife embodied this dichotomy during the Sept. 11 Virginia football game against Norfolk State. Fife paired a grey and white striped shorts and button-down blouse matching set with black sneakers, a pearl necklace and pearl earrings.
Fife described her typical game day style as a middle ground between traditional and modern, reflecting a broader willingness among students to draw from multiple influences when dressing for game day. Fife said that she personally attributes part of this style to her roots in both New York and Virginia, and said that she sees influences of game day dressing around the University associated with Southern schools.
“I feel like U.Va. does have this mixture,” Fife said. “A lot of people dress like it's an SEC game, and so they'll wear the game pins and the cute little floral dresses, and I definitely do a little bit of that … I kind of like to do a little mix of both to incorporate where I’m from and my past.”
Fife characterized the current game-day look as “subtle preppy” with a Southern influence. She further noted that as she encounters her fourth and final football season as a student, there has been a significant evolution in the specific clothes students have worn since her first year.
However, not every student approaches game day with a deliberately planned outfit. For second-year Engineering student Avery Esterson, the football game Sept. 11 called for a simple combination — khaki shorts and a polo. He said he has noticed increasingly casual styles across the student body, including the unmistakable orange and navy striped overalls, a trend he emphatically ruled out wearing.
“I try to stay looking as professional as I can, even if it’s not up to U.Va. tradition, I try to make sure I’m not looking out of place,” Esterson said. “You never know who you’re going to run into.”
Fourth-year Batten student Rohan Agarwal, on the other hand, took a less traditional approach to his attire for the Sept. 11 football game. Agarwal appeared in a Reece Beekman jersey, expressing his gameday fashion by donning the attire of a former Virginia men’s basketball player as a form of good luck charm, a tradition of his that he carried over from last season. He acknowledged that his take on game day style was a bit different from his peers, even admitting that his mother wished he would dress more formally. But for Agarwal, his outfit choices revolve more around honoring his own personal traditions than fitting into typical customs.
The mixture is apparent not only in the stadium, but also in the clothes students seek out before game day. At Finch, a clothing store on the Corner frequented by University students, third-year College student Valentina Fratarcangeli said she has witnessed firsthand how changing game day tastes and trends play out. Fratarcangeli, who has worked at the store since the spring of her first year, said that students continue to arrive in pursuit of the perfect game day outfit.
“Everyone’s always coming in for last-minute navy, last-minute orange, last-minute white,” Fratarcangeli said.
The ways students style those colors, however, are less predictable. Fratarcangeli described mini dresses and cowboy boots as game day staples, alongside pins, colorful earrings and patterned scarves. Fratarcangeli noted scarves as an especially popular accessory this season, with students not only wearing them around their necks but tying them around their boots and bags. For Fratarcangeli, those smaller styling decisions point to a broader change she has noticed during her years working at Finch.
Fratarcangeli said that over time, the attitude surrounding game day outfits has become more individualized, rather than reflecting an overall culture or attitude. Fife agreed, and pondered if this evolved style was a result of getting older, but said that she has noticed similar looks among younger students too. To her, game day fashion “ebbs and flows” with styles trending outside the stadium.
Social media has also expanded the range of inspiration available to students, too. Fratarcangeli specifically referenced Pinterest, where she said that she notices students glean inspiration from more fun, “non-traditional” game day outfits. She also echoed Fife’s observation that University students tend to borrow from the more elaborate game day culture often associated with schools farther south.
“I feel like we’re trying to bring in more of an SEC look, but we still have our very much small little college town-esque style,” Fratarcangeli said.
Yet, the growing emphasis on personal style means not every student approaches game day with an intentionally planned outfit. Taken together, these approaches make any single definition of contemporary University game day style challenging to demarcate. Where floral, orange and blue dresses once dominated Fife’s peers’ game day wardrobes, the norm has become increasingly varied — she specified chic shorts, tops and coordinated sets as popular alternatives.
As University tradition continues to coexist with changing trends and tastes, game day fashion will likely continue to resist simple characterization. Even so, a new “tradition” of sorts emerges from this melting pot of styles — the common proclivity to make game day attire one’s own. With Virginia football’s upcoming home game against Delaware, students have another chance to express themselves through the fashion that they don for kickoff.
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