Everyone says that when you move from Southern California to the East Coast, the biggest and scariest culture clash is going to be the winter. I cannot disagree more. The biggest adjustment from Los Angeles to Boston? The way boys dress. No question.
Ask anyone from Southern California if they had seen a guy wearing Topsiders until they moved here. NorCal is a different story as, per usual, the Bay Area is overrun with Sperrys and The North Face; it's one of the many reasons why Southern and Northern California are significantly closer to being different states than, say, Massachusetts and Connecticut. I can bet that the answer will be no. We're used to Vans, Converse and the occasional pair of Nike kicks. End of story.
The fact that boys here wear Sperrys and/or running shoes with otherwise normal clothes is a phenomenon that I had never before witnessed. I've slowly learned to live with the Sperrys, seeing as they're as much a part of the culture here as clam chowder, but I will never accept the running shoes. Buy a pair of street shoes. Seriously. You're killing me — each and every one of you. Vans would be a good choice, if you don't mind the suggestion.
Incidentally, Vans are an excellent way to spot Californians. The chance that someone wearing them is from the West Coast is high, as Vans apparently haven't really made it all the way out to Boston. I digress. The point is that the boys from different coasts dress very differently. The standard "bro" uniform on the East Coast is a polo shirt, khaki shorts and Sperrys, and the standard "bro" uniform on the West Coast is a man tank, boardshorts, Vans and crew socks. East Coast guys wear argyle and they are still deemed socially acceptable. If a guy who went to my high school showed up in argyle, he'd have been laughed off the campus.
My theory is that the root of these marked differences in dress code lies in a marked difference in bro culture on the two coasts. My guy friends at home all surfed. Bros here play LAX. And LAXbros and the West Coast version are incredibly dissimilar animals. Until I came to Tufts, I thought swag was the free stuff you got if you went to an award show dinner and that flow had something to do with rap. Now I know better. A true LAXbro has both swag and flow and an ego too big to allow him to fit through doors. To be fair, West Coast bros share the ego; they just leave the swag and flow at home in favor of a tan, an eight−pack and a surfboard rack on top of the beat−up SUV they inherited from their parents.
Another serious difference between the coastal dress codes: West Coast indie kids and East Coast hipsters. My stupid hipster roommate and half of my best friends here are in the latter category, and while I love them all to death, I have to say that we are significantly more hardcore over there on the best coast. High−waisted shorts, a flannel and riding boots? Yes, that may make you a hipster here in Boston, but back in Los Angeles, that's nothing. Unless there's lipstick, fur and multiple layers of thrift−store finds involved, it's not indie. Even the bros in California wear flannel. Nice try.
The thing is, I love getting made fun of for looking Californian. I love the faces I get when I wear Vans with crew socks. I love the reactions knee−high moccasin boots elicit. I also love that none of these rules are hard and fast. I'm proud to share my love of Vans with my aforementioned hipster roommate, who rocks yellow lace−ups with the best of them.
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Samantha Jaffe is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. She can be reached at Samantha.Jaffe@tufts.edu.
