From TV to Market Street — Major Influences on Students' Autumn Streetwear

This year’s runways have been full of sharply outlined coats and blazers contrasting with soft layers - clashing femininity with masculinity. Sheer clothing, leather and dark colours are also making bold headways. Determinedly rushing students all over town are seen in these latest styles - leather boots and jackets, layering of

sheer materials, and darker tones. 

Photographs from multiple 2024 runway shows

Red has been everywhere this year. With the trend trickling down from the runway to high street retailers, you can’t miss the ode to deep red that has arrived. Whether it be accessories, shoes, hair, or statement pieces, red is boldly finishing outfits as we enter the colder months. Some students reach for red to contrast with their minimalist style, drawing the eye and bringing dimension and intrigue to the look (just as many of us carefully apply the colour to our lips.) While others lean into the hippie inspired aesthetic, pairing the colour with textured materials and dark shades. 

As the days become colder and shorter this autumn we turn to warmth through the screen, rewatching classics like Beetlejuice, Hocus Pocus, Charmed and Gilmore Girls. The styles from these eras have had an influence on how we dress, as this bubble of a town feels like a step into the 90s to early 2000’s era, with velvet, faded jeans, tights, boots, knit jumpers and choppy haircuts filling lecture halls. Cable-knit jumpers are a beloved staple here (many fans of Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally), and students tend to buy good quality vintage (for vintage shopping online, see websites like GoThrift, beyondretro and thrifted), so it is long lasting and also most authentic to the era they are emulating.

Still from the 1989 film ‘When Harry Met Sally’

The colour palette autumn arrives with, an array of earthy greens and browns, fiery deep red and neutrals, plays right into our warm toned nostalgic view of past fashion. These earthy colours are also a favourite in St Andrews.

Warm coloured knitwear is everywhere, often paired with long jean skirts, another trend of this year. Fashion has turned in favour of long skirts and silhouettes, perhaps a hippie influence, very appropriate for the autumn months and reminiscent of the autumn TV we grew up with.

A collage edited by Lina Lataoui, featuring outfits from TV shows streamed between the 90s and 2000s

Students pair long skirts with tank tops, layer vests over big t-shirts, wear their jeans baggy and adorn themselves in statement vintage jewellery, all very reminiscent of the bohemian and 90s cosy aesthetic, where being bold was cool.

Colour palettes mimic the screen too, as we reach for subdued warm tones, and couple soft baggy shapes with a sharp boot – the 2024 runways then, are subconsciously echoing the trends of this era, re-emphasizing its silhouettes. For example, the long skirt with a sheer shirt tucked in, a business chic style of the 90s, is seen in this year’s fashion magazines. 

Fashion goes in cycles, but our students are particularly loyal to the past, many rejecting the norms of 2020s style and instead wearing what their young self dreamed of when watching TV, this self-expression in itself, the core of the 90s.