I have trouble focusing on class lately. Like many of you, I've found myself packing up my book bag with texts, notes, my computer and a beach towel to go and "do work" since it's gorgeous outside. I'll have my web browser open to Blackboard, I'll even have a PDF for my class available on another tab, but do I actually read? No. There will be no focusing out on the Green. And all the while, as I sip a smoothie and chat with friends, I'm wearing either jeans or a dress. Both options are pretty uncomfortable to wear outside for practical reasons: heat and indecent exposure, respectively. With such a sudden switch in the weather, my current wardrobe is insufficient; I have no shorts.
While I have awkwardly been kneeling or roasting on the dusty spring lawn, I've noticed the majority of campus breaking out their warm weather gear. The majority of outfits have been delightful. As one guy friend of mine said, "Where did all of these girls come from?"
We've finally emerged from our North Face cocoons and are free to wear the colorful spring clothes that we've been wondering if we'd ever be able to wear here in Hanover before June. And with this emergence has come the shift from pants to shorts, restless legs to jaw-dropping gams.
It's time for me to get some new shorts. Where do I begin? J. Crew. They have chino shorts with inseams of three, five, seven and nine inches with all sorts of preppy patterns and clean colors, perfect for class and for sitting outside. Bermudas are still in style -- pair them with kitten heels or ballet flats and you're golden. Don't be afraid to cover your legs just a bit -- longer shorts are still adorable.
You might be proud to be wearing the same pair of American Eagle shorts with a one-and-a-half-inch inseam you bought in eighth grade, and I know there isn't a dress code in college and moreover profs don't ask you to do the "finger tip" rule for shorts length, but those guidelines existed in our formative years for a reason: too much information. Avoid the hot pants of American Apparel and denim high-rise cut-offs from Urban Outfitters. Forever 21 has its fair share of itty-bitty shorts as well -- read the description for the inseam length before you order. You might have killer legs, but please flaunt them, don't flash us. If they look good from the knee to the mid-thigh, one can assume they'll continue to be lovely up to your hip.
So although I don't have any shorts at the moment, I'll keep enjoying the outdoors. Do what makes you happy when you dress, but also remember that we're in New Hampshire, not South Beach.
Dylan is a staff writer for The Mirror.
