Fashion in a Chinese University

If you were to visit a Chinese University for one day, the most immediate difference you would notice is how everyone dresses.  However, if you were particularly observant, you might hear something else before you noticed this.  You might hear a 'click, click click click' as you walked through the gate, and that would be your first indicator you were stepping into a new world of fashion. 

Here in a Chinese University, students dress up for each day of class.  And I don't mean put on some make-up and a hair tie that matches your shirt.  No, this is the equivalent to dressing for a secretary job at Glamour Magazine (sorry, I watched Devil Wears Prada recently) or a Friday night at the bars in LA.  Today I counted the number of high heels girls were wearing on the way to class vs regular shoes-- about 40 %, maybe 38%.  I was surrounded by 'click, click, click, clicks' as I strolled silently through the crowd.  And these high heels range from thigh-high platform Uugs, polished metal pointed heels, platform and heeled Dansko's, full-calf leather lace-ups heels, slip-on furry pointed heels, black heels with sparkles on the toe, black heels with sparkles on the heel, thigh high fuzzy platform boots with zippers in the back, to name a few.  The shoe fashion stems from how short everyone is, but the range of glam solely dedicated to foot apparel astounds me.  And bewilders me.

And that is only for the feet.  This morning I saw jackets with fur on the cuffs, jackets with fur on the hood, jackets with fur on the zipper, fur vests, trim business jackets, jeans with more holes than jeans, shirts with sparkles, hairbands that matched their owner's shirt and jeans and shoes, short leather jackets, long flowing leather jackets.  And that was just this morning. 

If you were to visit a Chinese college for a day, you would be struck, like me, by nearly everyone's fashion.  (Be it for the positive or the negative, I'll leave it up to you)  When I tell students here about American students going to class in their pajamas, they are horrified.  Horrified in the same way as if I told them that students went to class naked; you just don't do that. 

This collective demand for fashion humors me, provides endless amusement and amazement as I walk to and from class, but most disappointingly, is slowly starting to diffuse into me.  I mean, who in their right mind would ever go to class in their PJ's?