Spring Equinox is meant to bring lighter days, more sunshine and a generally happier atmosphere. Whilst this may not be true for St Andrews yet (I’m writing this on a particularly gloomy day), the style of St Andrews is beginning to look more and more influenced by brighter days.
What struck me the most, was that walking down Market Street this week, I saw two girls walking behind each other in similar styled padded jackets. Bold, floral patterned, quilted jackets, cut off at the hips and usually paired with some Mary-Janes. Influenced by Scandinavian style, this style of jacket has been popping up on my social media feeds for quite some time, but they have been springing up all around St Andrews at an incredible rate.
Quilted jackets are now up for sale at most of the clothing stores in St Andrews (these are obviously quite limited) but I think this exemplifies the fact that this style is becoming mainstream and unavoidable. Previously, these jackets were kept on the runways of Copenhagen Fashion Week, now students from the UK, USA, mainland Europe and further afield in the Southern hemisphere are all wearing them.
The reason why, I think, is quite simple. These jackets provide the perfect in between of the two seasons and the two semesters. If you packed long duster coats with you first semester, the second semester calls for a packing list of quilted jackets and denim upon denim. Because of how the university’s calendar works, students never really get to show off their summer wardrobes.
These jackets however, let the wearer be as bold and bright as possible — floral and shape patterned, bright yellow, pink and orange. Summer is all over them, yet the quilted nature of the jackets allows the wearer to still stay warm in a town with insane winds from the North Sea.
This is the first year that they have been so popular in St Andrews and the question is will they stay as a constant in our wardrobes? There seems to be a trend in the St Andrews fashion cycle that as soon as something becomes mainstream and widely popular, it evaporates off our streets. The students here, me included, perhaps have a bit of a superiority complex wanting to always be on the pulse of fashion and seen as innovative.
The only way to answer this question is to wait until next year — will these jackets still be seen on Market Street in 2026 or not?
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