Ask CF: How Do I Shake Up My Preppy Style?

Welcome to the latest edition of Ask CF! Every two weeks, we select a reader fashion question and answer it here on the site. Do you have a specific fashion question for us? Scroll to the bottom of this post to learn how to send it our way!

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Ask CF Question

Hi CF!

My sense of style is very Blair Waldorf: I absolutely adore plaid skirts and colorful tights, but I can’t help feel like a fashion outsider when I see the effortless trendiness of others in class. Although I don’t want to abandon the urban preppy I love, I also want to look a little less buttoned-up and a little more modern. Any tips for incorporating trends into my outfits?

XOXO,

Gossip Girl

Our Response

Dear Gossip Girl,

While the preppy look will always look classy and put-together, it is definitely understandable that you want to switch things up a bit; after all, lots of people wonder what it would be like to dress in a different way from the way that they currently do! And, as a college student, you are in the perfect position to experiment a little with a different look.  

That is not to say, of course, that you have to change your whole look.  Even just small changes — for example, wearing a garment in a different fabric or cut than you normally would — can make a big difference!

Ahead, see three preppy-but-modern outfits that I have styled for you, along with some tips on how to update your style.

(For even more on this, see our Modern Prep styling guide from last year!)

Preppy but Modern Outfit #1

Products: Top – Nordstrom, Skirt – Nordstrom, Tights – Modcloth, Boots – ASOS, Earrings – Bloomingdale’s, Bracelet – Brooks Brothers, Necklace – Bloomingdale’s,  Bag – Century 21