Conservative on the Charles

According to the fashion industry bible Women’s Wear Daily, Harvard students would benefit from pulling their noses out of their books and taking a long look at Vogue, an episode of The O.C. or even (especially?) a full-length mirror. North Face? Ubiquitous. Ribbon belts? Not a trace of irony. Pashminas? Multiplying every day.

The latest trendy fashions are available for purchase in the Square. But sales associates lament that most student buyers only shell out on basics. The best-selling items at The Tannery and Berk’s are vintage-styled sneakers, like Pumas or Converse All Stars. Le Foot Sportif rarely changes stock or styles, also counting on students’ consistent purchase of throwback sneakers like Vans.

“Seven Jeans,” says a Jasmine Sola sales associate, who declined to give her name. “We’re only open because we sell tons and tons of Seven Jeans.”

However, there are—sometimes, somewhere-—reasons not to lament our depressing mediocrity: the sudden appearance of cowboy or slouchy or moon boots, the occasional glimmer of jewel tones and some one-off cigarette-cut jeans. Closet fashionistas (pun intended) and savvy retailers conspire to save the student population from utter ugliness.

“It’s not a fashionable school, but at least a fashionable item gets a lot of attention,” says Tina E. H. Rivers ’05, sporting a pair of moon boots she purchased at the Tannery. “I’ve gotten so many comments on them.”

Indeed, Harvard Square’s adoption of moon boots—large, cushy, polyurethane snow boots—has garnered national media attention. Just a month ago, a New York Times Style Desk reporter singled out The Tannery as a source for the moon-boot trend.

“They’re the ugliest things I’ve ever seen in my life. And people love them,” says Marcello Fernandes, a manager at the store.

Sales associates across the Square, from Urban Outfitters to the Tannery to Jasmine Sola, agree that Harvard students do pay at least some attention to trends. This season, for instance, boots and vintage fashions are flying off the shelves.

“I sold six pairs of those moon boots yesterday,” boasts one sales associate at the Tannery.

But most of Harvard’s fashion trends—long scarves, blazers for guys and girls and lady-like cardigans, to name a few—are the result of top-down decisions by national retailers, not local creativity. Both Jasmine Sola and Urban Outfitters rely on frequent shipments of goods purchased by a national or regional buyer; the outfit hanging in Urban’s windows today could be the same outfit hanging in a window in San Diego.

“We do sell a lot of trendy items. Moccasins and vintage-styled sweaters with pretty buttons were selling really well this past weekend,” says a staffer at Urban Outfitters. “But it’s not like we’re in New York. Who really keeps up with all that?”