Fall Fashion 343

Ask fashion design senior Sean Rapoza which trends to avoid this fall and he’ll quickly tell you: “pink polo shirts with the collars flipped up.”

One look around VCU’s campuses and it becomes clear that more than a few student mannequins missed that memo. Add to that the memos advising them to chuck the Uggs and throw out the ponchos.

For Rapoza and his fellow fashion merchandising and design classmates, trend-watching isn’t just a pastime. It’s serious business. Identifying, tracking and analyzing trends are all part of their curriculum this fall in FASH 343, professor Rosalie Regni’s fashion forecasting class.

The change of seasons offers fashion-savvy students a reason to put the stale trends of summer and yesteryear into hibernation and try something fresh.

When it comes to accessorizing this fall, bigger is better, Kristin Lounello recommended.

“Big of everything” is in, the fashionista said – oversized earrings, sunshades, necklaces, belts and long fitted T-shirts. The 21-year-old trendspotter also recommended borrowing a look already popular on the West Coast – pairing dresses with cowboy boots.

To stay stylishly warm, try senior Erica Basha’s suggestion of tucking your jeans into your boots and bundling up in a plush wrap sweater. As for the guys, they “always do the same thing,” Basha said, dismissively.

Rapoza, a senior, shed light on how the often-overlooked men’s fashion food chain works: Unlike women’s trends, ideas for men’s style tend to flow upward – from the streets to the runways. This season, he said, look for black jeans frayed at the hems. It’s a popular style among young, grungy guys.

Dress them up or down, denim jeans, a staple in most college students’ closets, show no sign of fading away this fall. Whether or not the cotton blues are dated, though, depends on what cut students choose to wear. For women, the look is the tapered cut.

Considering the extinction of the flared leg, Shola Martyn pointed out jeans are becoming more straight-legged and decorative. As for that hole in your favorite pair of cotton blues, let it rip. Deconstructed denims are coming back strong this fall, Martyn said.

While you may not want to wear your curtains anytime soon, Bridget Levesque, a home fashions major, suggests looking to interior decorating trends when it comes to stocking your closet.

“Anything with brown is in style – even in home fashions,” the 21-year-old said.

It seems the Midas touch has reached handbags, belts and shoes, but don’t count out those ubiquitous, shiny accessories yet. Heather Henley, 25, predicts bronze, gold and rusty colors will be popular this fall, too.

“Metallics are in,” she said. Henley also expected some summer favorites – plastic beaded necklaces and peasant skirts – to carry into the fall.

There was one thing the whole class did agree on: Black is the new black.