Fashion around campus can be seen in all walks of life, and some students are more style conscious than others.

When getting up in the morning does the thought of “What am I going to wear today?” ever cross your mind? Or is it a question more like, “How am I going to get out of bed?”

Whichever one crosses your mind, it’s clear that there are conflicting styles on campus, and it’s up to you to decide which path you’d like to take.

Style conscious students are the first group in this fashion face-off. Many of these students follow current fashion trends and keep an eye out for unique and up-to-date clothing. Having a current wardrobe allows for the passionate fashion followers to wake up every morning with the excitement to create the next best outfit. Students who are style savvy love to be the center of attention–well, at least most of them do. The style conscious students love to wear eye-catching outfits that turn heads. You can spot these students by their confidence to embrace unconventional patterns and clothing, but owning it as their own.

The majority of students at NIU embrace the second group of fashion face-off. That group happens to be those who chose to embrace their inner couch potato while still managing to look stylish. They can be found flaunting their best sweatpants, sweatshirts and long Nike socks. These students are the perfect embodiment of comfort. They’re not necessarily keeping up with current fashion, and they’re definitely not trying to make a bold statement. Students in comfy couture like to keep it real, natural and relaxed and absolutely refuse to believe “beauty is pain.” Rolling out of bed in your sweats is what these guys live for. The less you worry about what you’re going to wear, the more sleep you get to have in that irresistibly comfortable bed. Embracing their own relaxed style as opposed to the fashion-forward students who have confidence knowing that they could pull off the bedhead look with ease, but choose not to.

I leave the decision of who wears it best up to you. What style do you think is best? And which style do you feel you embrace? Whether you consider yourself fashion-forward, couch potato chic or maybe somewhere in between, either way you lean towards is purely your style choice. The first lesson in fashion is that having confidence is the best clothing anyone can have.