Hooks the Look

Style Remix: Varsity Rules

Summer is in the past, pumpkin patches are sprouting up, leaves are changing colors, and varsity cheer squads are rallying the home team crowds to root for a win. Oh October, how I’ve missed you.

Granted, it’s been about 40 years since I last attended a college football game and even longer since I did a drill team halftime routine at a high school game (in white go-go boots, no less). Even so, that doesn’t mean I can’t infuse a bit of varsity/preppy/academia into an outfit. While I have no plans to go full-on Clueless or Grease, I think taking a spin with this mainstay trend in pop culture fashion could be fun.

Before we study the subject in greater depth, allow me to explain my ‘style remix’ concept. Starting back in early Spring with Style Remix: Mad As A March Hare, I shared a bit of background as to the origins of this post format. TL;DR? At the beginning of each month, I’m sharing the five pieces I’ve selected for that month’s style remix collection. Ideally, at least four of the pieces could be combined into a cohesive outfit. Typically, the basic formula for the collections would be a top, a bottom (e.g. pants, skirt, shorts), footwear, and an outer layer (e.g. jacket, sweater, blazer) which make up the core four pieces. The 5th piece would be a wildcard item that could either also be worn with the other four (e.g. a coat, vest, or accessory) or in substitution (i.e. a dress or a skirt or a duplicate item).

The ultimate goal is to wear each piece 2-4 times over the course of said month with photographic evidence of OOTDs to be provided in a post at the end of the month. The pieces could be worn in tandem with others from the collection or on their own with other items in my wardrobe as most people would do. Some of these outfits will be the featured looks worn in subsequent posts during the month or as OOTDs, they’ll only appear in the results post.

The idea for today’s post came to me back in late January after I had purchased my letterman-style jacket at a local thrift store. The jacket made its debut on the blog shortly after in Style Revelation Or Fashion Faux Pas but I knew that I wanted to wait until Fall to explore the “varsity rules” theme. Patience is a virtue, namaste.

If you’re a bit puzzled by varsity style, quite simply it’s influenced by college sports and uniforms. Styling cues can be taken from tennis or athleisure, or it could be a bit buttoned-down and tailored, or think tweeds and knits. It’s not just for the younger set especially as it leans into the academia realm. Think along the lines of the academic environment, scholarly pursuits, and the romanticized image of intellectuals.

My version varsity is a bit more sporting than academic although I might give that a try sometime in the future. Along with my letterman-style jacket, I’m showing my team spirit by including a logo tee. I’d like to tell you that the R stands for Rena (which of course why I bought it) but in reality, it’s the logo for the Tacoma Rainiers. We attended a game this past August during our trip to visit with our daughter and I was enamored with the big red R.

While jeans are probably a more popular mainstay for the typical co-ed, I opted to go a little more avant-garde choice of cargo pants. It’s a trending style and I like how their color is repeated in the animal print accent of my loafers. And last but not least, the quintessential element of any varsity/preppy/academia ensemble is a pair of loafers. Mine came into my possession about 5 years ago via Poshmark and is one of the best purchases I’ve made on that platform.


For those paying attention and counting the pieces in my Varsity Rules collection, you’re realizing that I’ve only accounted for 4 pieces so far. The fifth piece is the black/white floral maxi skirt I shared in Au Naturel: A Style I Adopted Many Years Ago Is Now Trending. On its own, this skirt may not seem to fit the theme but give me a little leeway and I think that I can make it work.

Let’s Wrap This Up

Now, onto the Fine-Whatever link-up. Today’s featured post from the last link-up, Southwest Style With Ageless Style, was contributed by Amy over at Amy’s Creative Pursuits. Ageless Style is a monthly style challenge and its hosts offer a link-up as well. Each month, they pick a different theme and each host then styles an outfit based on that theme. I think that Amy put together a fabulous Southwest-style look.

As I mentioned earlier, towards the end of the month, there will be a wrap-up post that will showcase how I wore each of the pieces in the collection during the month. I’ll also be throwing in a few of “my favorite” new finds that I’d recently come across into that post. Those finds might be a recipe, a life hack, a social media post, or anything else that simply caught my attention and I felt was worthy of passing along.

Now that Fall is finally here, what autumnal trends are you most keen about? Do you have any plans for a style remix? And lastly, which of the 5 pieces in my Varsity Rules style remix collection do you think I’ll wear the most over the course of this month?

Stay well and let’s keep in touch! Subscribe, tweet, follow, friend, pin … all options are available. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

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Note: This is an unsponsored post; however, some or all of the links to clothing items are associated with an affiliate program where I earned a few cents for each click.

Photo credit: MMPerez

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12 Comments

  1. marsha57

    Hmmm…fall trends I’ll keep up with…I would have to know what those are. It seems like everything is a trend for about a day and a half! I will just keep wearing the things I feel good in…adding in extra layers for warmth, of course!

    I think you’ll get the most use out of the letterman’s jacket (not including the loafers on this one). I can see you wearing it with so many different things and winning (see what I did there) with each outfit!

    Thanks for the link up!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

  2. Nancy

    Love that jacket! I always thought they are so cool! Thanks for the link up.

  4. couturecase

    Hey, I love this! I’ve noticed that bomber jackets are going to be a huge trend this fall and I love how you styled yours! The olive trousers look great with it! <3

    http://www.couture-case.com/

  9. shelbeeontheedge1

    Rena, I love this varsity/academia style on you! So cute! The cargo pants are really great. Much better than jeans for this look, I agree! The big red R tee shirt is absolutely brilliant as well. You look fabulous as always, my friend! 

    Shelbee 

  10. Di

    Love this look on you Rena, and the varsity jacket and big R tee were great finds! The jacket is so perfect for this time of year and is a real outfit maker, so I think it will be in the mix the most. We’ll see! I frequently wear a version of a vintage classic preppy sort of look, so this outfit is very inspiring! Thanks for sharing and enjoy your week! 

  12. mummabstylish

    Great trouser and tee shirt styling, love the graphics. Have a fun week and thanks for hosting. Jacqui x