Following fashion trends and finding a piece that will be unique seems difficult in a college town, such as Madison. In fact, students don't have access to many resources to shop and are often stuck with the bus system. A necessary-but not impossible-fact to keep in mind is that Madison is full of thrift stores and vintage boutiques that are filled with unusual treasures.
A popular location on campus is newly relocated Aura, 449 State St., offers a multitude of trendy clothes and accessories. Guys will be able to find T-shirts with vivid colors and original jackets. Girls can pick between a pink dress from the '20s, trendy sunglasses and unique shoes.
Jamie Shah, a UW-Madison freshman, loves to dig in Aura or Godzilla to enrich her eclectic style.
\Nothing really goes together but I make it work,"" she says.
""Dress creatively and be inventive. Don't buy at J. Crew or GAP,"" says Diane Sheean, head of UW-Madison's textile and apparel major.
She believes the trend this spring is to have uncoordinated outfits with lots of colors, something anyone can manage wearing.
Another option is Urban Outfitters, 604 State St., that closely follows trends such as $40 to $60 Lux skirts.
UW-Madison sophomore Stephanie Laurens, a sophomore, believes that ""Urban Outfitters offers trendy clothes, but everyone ends up wearing the same thing!""
One way to avoid facing a person wearing the same top at a party is to transform your own clothes, cutting neck lines by adding pins and sewing on other materials. If students are not so crafty, the Internet is also full of resources to stick out.
Shopping online has become a huge craze in Madison to reach students' needs. Students defend several web sites such as www.ebay.com, where a multitude of items are sold everyday.
Ben Leclerc, a UW-Madison graduate student whose style is often defined by his friends as metro-sexual, recommends www.revolveclothing.com or www.bluefly.com.
Another web site often ignored by Madison students but often used by UW-Madison sophomore Thea Enos, is www.laredoute.com, a French catalogue that sells different designers and a basic line for decent prices and clothes with an edge.