As spring wraps up and summer approaches, rising stress levels and shifting moods are reflected in OPHS outfit trends, revealing a more laid back vibe. 

Here are just a few of the recent fashion trends on campus and how OPHS students feel about them. 

Birkenstocks and Havaianas are replacing the usual UGGs from colder seasons. As the sun comes out and the weather warms up, flip-flops have begun to make an appearance on campus. 

“I love summer and I wear flip-flops everyday. It’s so much easier than wearing regular shoes, so I started wearing them to school,” junior Julia Katz said. 

Many are focused on comfort as they prepare for warmer weather. 

“I wear them more for comfort, but they go with everything, so you can style them with whatever,” Katz said. “This is part of my personal style, when I started wearing them no one else did then, but recently more and more people have started to wear them.”

Flip-flops were not a major trend last summer, but now, with their comeback, toe rings and anklets might even become popular as well.

As stress grows heavy, so do students’ backpacks. Many have entered a bag-swap era, lightening their load by ditching heavy backpacks for a more stylish option: a tote or shoulder bag. 

“A backpack didn’t elevate my outfits the way I wanted it to, and my purse allows me to carry everything I need while also having a cute outfit,” senior Emily Carranza said. 

The end of the year also indicates that students don’t need to bring more than the essentials to school. This allows students who have always wanted to wear a tote bag a chance to try it out.

“Purses are my personal style. Most people at Oak Park don’t care to bring purses to school, so I didn’t start wearing my purse because I saw someone else do it. I did it because I thought it was cute,” Carranza said.

While these bags carry books and computers, they aren’t always the most convenient. With fashion, comfort sometimes is risked in the process.

“It is personally just for the aesthetic. I find it to be rather uncomfortable at times, but it’s the price I’m willing to pay to have a good outfit,” Carranza said. 

Totes will be tote-ally taking over especially during finals season, students may only need to carry a pencil and computer.

Serving as both a cute hair accessory or a practical form of shielding from the prominent rays of sun and higher UV, sunglasses are making their debut on the OPHS campus. 

“I have always liked sunglasses, but got a lot of new ones and had nowhere to wear them, so I brought them to school,” freshman Kathleen Lambe said. 

While sunglasses are undoubtedly a newer trend on campus, students are still adapting to this new stylistic accessory.

“I feel that there are a few students that wear sunglasses to school but not a ton,” Lambe said.

Some believe sunglasses will continue to make themselves even more known around campus as the temperature continues to rise.

While the Y2K trend is not necessarily new, what’s seen on campus now is different from the normal baggy jeans. Extreme low-rise jeans including shorts are coming back from the 2000s, bringing with them a familiar sense of deja vu. 

“Low-rise jeans and shorts are such a big part of my style because they let me be creative with how I dress,” junior Jamey Plascencia said. 

Whether you pair low-rise jeans with a chunky belt, or wear denim shorts with a cute flowy top, everyone has their own way of styling.

“I like that they give that early 2000’s look, but I can still make it my own depending on how I style them. They make me feel confident and I think that’s why they’re coming back,” Plascencia said. 

Denim shorts define the Y2K style and perfectly match the sunny feel of a campus just 20 minutes from the coast. 

“During the summer people are leaning more towards their true ‘Californian’ selves and dressing beachy and in lighter clothing,” Carranza said.

With the summer season starting and the school year ending, students lean into a laid-back attitude towards outfits, focusing on getting through the school year in a fashionable yet cozy manner. 

“The overall campus style is very casual right now especially since it’s the end of the year, everyone kind of stopped caring what they wear,” Katz said. 

Aside from just throwing on sunglasses, flip- flops, denim and totes, meticulously styling and pairing certain outfits together is also a crucial part for many’s morning getting dressed routine.

“As of right now, the current fashion style at Oak Park is summery, comfy and elevated casual. I’ve seen a lot of the Brandy Melville Priscilla pants and any flare fold over legging, paired with a tank top or tube top and flip-flops or a chunky sneaker, as well as the staple jewelry item, gold hoops,” Carranza said. “That makes the perfect comfortable outfit that is also stylish.”

This change in fashion may be the result of not just social media trends, but also of friend groups on campus.

“I think certain trends become popular on campus because of online trends, but also friend group trends spreading to other groups. The fashion style at Oak Park is different from trends at schools in the Valley, so we can’t entirely blame it on social media, which is why I believe that the groups and cliques here are responsible for the spread of trends,” Carranza said.

From flip-flops to oversized bags, students are leaning fully into comfort, nostalgia and summer energy. From fall to winter and now spring, with each day lightening up with summer around the corner, so is the style. It’s impossible not to notice how fashion has shifted on campus and something new is in the air.