Strolling through campus today at EvCC can feel like a time machine, a blast from the past. Vibrant hues and earthy tones of paisleys from the 70s run into low-waisted jeans and velour tracksuits, mirroring early 2000s staples.
Whether students are fostering fresh, new styles inspired by minimalist trends of the 2020s, or mimicking the grunginess of baggy cargos and layered shirts from the 90s, one thing is apparent: student style isn’t just changing, it is evolving.
Through archival Clipper photos, student and staff interviews, illustrated timelines and style trends reveal how fashion is constantly developing — borrowing from the past while designing the present.
First-year student Pendo Lumona views fashion as adaptable, flowing and ever-changing rather than standing still. “Skinny jeans were the thing back in the day. Now it’s more baggy things … they’re going backwards,” she said.
Inspired by Y2K style (fashion trends and aesthetics that emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s), Lumona finds most of her outfit influence from the social media app, Pinterest. She described her look as being more intentional and coordinated than in the past, matching colors and accessories.
For Lumona, fashion is an evolution with one recurring theme: a way to express herself.
Her wardrobe reflects her heritage from the Democratic Republic of Congo, incorporating jewelry from there into her looks. “Some of my styles come from my culture, so I try to put that into the fashion that I wear,” she said. To her, what she wears is about conveying that she is free and open to talk.
Val Gomez Robertson, co-president and TAB coordinator of the Latino Student Union, says fashion is tied closely to her identity.
Though she didn’t grow up immersed in her Cuban heritage, Robertson now explores it in many different ways, one being clothing and traditional styles. “You can learn about your fashion independently,” she said. “Because you want to represent your ancestors and your culture.”
To Robertson, modern trends are often reinterpretations and new developments of something already established. “You’re doing a modern spin on something cultural, but it has a testament to it.”
Nancy Kolosseus mentioned how seeing students from different cultural backgrounds wear traditional clothing or inspired pieces from where they came from is inspiring and encourages others to branch out stylistically as well. She began volunteering at the college in the 1980s and officially joined the staff in 1999.
Lumona elaborated on how fashion continues to show both change and continuity. “I see repetition, but I also see creativity,” she said.
Longtime staffers observed how similar cycles have circulated over decades. Working at the college since 1993, Patty Newman remembers when students dressed more formally.
“At least in my eyes, students dressed more professionally, kind of like it was a job … in the early 2000s,” she said.
She explained how today’s campus has developed from business attire to casual, noting that as the environment became more comfortable, so did she. “I am more casual now … jeans is an almost everyday thing.”
Kolosseus agrees that school and workwear has taken a more laid-back role in the last decade. “It has become more casual, more of the sweatpants and that kind of thing,” she said.
Still, Kolosseus emphasized that fashion trends rarely disappear, but rather reappear. “It does all recycle,” she said, pointing out the revived color palettes and patterns that ran the industry in the past.
“The late 70s with those awful yellow and green combinations are coming back,” she added.
The idea of recycling fashion isn’t just an idea for Kolosseus, it’s personal. She recalled how her granddaughter reused and wore a dress of hers from the late 80s after altering it for a more modern fit, also noting she reused her prom dress for her own dance years prior. This exchange of time shows how styles don’t simply return; they are reimagined by new generations who give old-fashioned new life and meaning.
Newspapers produced by The Clipper from decades past, dating back to the 40’s, support the idea of evolution. In previous generations, students often wore structured silhouettes, coordinated outfits and styles that reflected the norms of their time. In comparison to current student fashions, the contrast highlights the differing levels of social expectation, cultural representation and taste that shaped what was made and sold.
Staff and students both notice patterns in how fashion evolves, some being small, others on a much larger scale. Whether it is one person experimenting with a new look and others catching on, or social media like TikTok and Instagram rapidly spreading trends around the world, there is the same truth that trends are both creativity and repetition.
Newman recalled seeing pajama pants worn casually in public by younger generations, a style that has become common on college campuses and inspired other loungewear styles.
Through repetition, reinvention and personal influence, fashion can develop into something new, but also old. It carries a piece of where design has come and where it is going, and memorializing trends that impacted generations. Old photos show where students have been, current outfits show where they are now and the creativity of a few predicts what might be in store next.
On EvCC’s campus, style is a living, breathing timeline stitched together by decades of influence, individuality and self-expression.
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