This University blooms in creativity. From the intellect of the students to the beautiful architecture of the buildings, there is an obvious display of originality throughout campus. However, our talent for thinking outside the box seems to be forgotten every morning when we peruse through our closets for something to wear.

It saddens me to see so many generic khaki shorts that fall past the knees, shirts that display the high school institution of attendance or solid-colored sweats and a hoodie. These, and many more basic clothing options, add to the sea of people that would make for a very boring game of Hasbro’s classic “Guess Who?”

I get it. I really do. With a lack of sleep, time and energy, choosing what to wear everyday becomes more of a battle against nakedness than an opportunity to look good and feel good. But I think we can do better. There is a lot of fun and originality to be had in clothing choices.

Fanny packs are always an interesting addition to any outfit. It is an immediate outlier on this campus, and in most non-tourist areas of this world, but the capabilities and message of the fanny pack prove it’s clearly underrated. With the right fanny pack, you can give off a retro, ‘80s or adventurous vibe, and even provide a holster for your iClicker, allowing for quickdraw multiple choice responses. A fanny pack is a simple way to instantly spice up your outfit.

This summer I got into wearing swim shorts as regular shorts. Once you cut away the restraining netting with the scissors of your choice, you reach unimaginable levels of comfortability with a flowy, airy pair of shorts. Swim shorts also tend to have more animated designs, allowing for an instant upgrade from regular, solid-colored shorts. Their waterproof material allows you to easily maneuver through rain, sleet or a pool.

And most importantly, the right swim shorts won’t extend past two inches above the knee, allowing you to wear shorts as they were intended to be worn: in a sky’s-out, thighs-out manner.

When you’ve run out of swim shorts and regular shorts to wear, and you don’t have time for laundry, another clothing choice I have dabbled in is oversized boxers. The right pair of boxers are the ones that tease the line between underwear and shorts. They won’t have a pattern that gives away its identity and aren’t compressive like their tighter, more restricting cousin. The value of oversized boxers as regular shorts lies in the loose-fitting coziness supplemented with a nice, cool breeze.

I even recently ran a half marathon in these oversized shorts. When asking my friends for suggestions on running attire, they said to run commando with running shorts. Seeing as I didn’t own any running shorts, I brainstormed about what other comfortable options were available, and then I realized the comfiest piece of clothing to not wear underwear with was underwear.

I highly recommend introducing these to your everyday life.

As snow starts to fall on this campus, as it did this past week of October, clothing options seem to multiply, as you simply must wear more. An easy, fun fix for a cold winter day is a onesie; more specifically, an animal onesie. My giraffe onesie serves as perfect apartment wear, with its warm, fuzzy texture and its ease to slip on, these wearable blankets are the way to go. The animal theme helps to connect back to our earthly roots.

Another exciting opportunity that comes with the cold are vibrant sweaters, straight from the ‘80s, that you can probably find littered around your parents’ closets. After multiple successful raids of my dad’s closet, I now have many brilliantly-colored, rad-designed sweaters that keep me warm and turn my upper body into an artist’s playground.

I could go on about weird and fun choices for you to riddle your body with, but to each their own. With whatever creative license you take, just know that I fully support you.

Samuel is a junior in Engineering.

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