And I love it! It can be kind of boring to look like you're going to a funeral every day in school, but it's so much easier in the morning - you just pick some of your black&white clothes, put on your tie and blazer and get going!
But I remember sitting at home, not knowing anything about school uniforms and trying to google myself to help and hints to what you can and can't wear, so I thought that I would give some help to future exchange students!
First I actually thought that you were given clothes to wear to school everyday - like everything from shirt to trousers, so I had a big shock when I discovered that you are only given (actually you pay a lot for it!) a tie and sometimes a blazer and felt very stupid. Off I went to H&M very last minute to buy a lot of white shirts and find all the black cardigans, skirts and so on in my closet. What I didn't think of was that the shirts has to have a collar, so you can wear the tie properly, which I hadn't thought off, so I had a few unusable shirts. But as long as you have the white shirts, you can pair them with pretty much anything black, just remember that you have to wear black tights if you're wearing a skirt!
Some basic guidelines to a school uniform (at least how it is a my school) to keep things easy:
- The white shirts needs to have a collar
- Everything from cardigans to sweaters can be worn over your shirt, as long as they're black
- You have to wear your tie
- Trousers has to be black, and can't be too tight (I haven't figured out where the line goes) and can't be black denim
- Shoes should be black, but you can get away with dark brown boots like I do
- They prefer you to have a black jacket, but you can have any jacket you want - but I would advise you to keep it a dark colour (I have a dark blue), as you might feel a bit like an outsider if you come in a bright red jacket the first day like me
- Facial piercings (like a septum piercing) is not allowed, but earrings and such can be worn
- Scarfs are not allowed in classes (except if you have a special reason)
This can seem like a lot of rules, but if you just try your best, they won't mind. The worst that can happen is that they tell you to put on some other clothes the following day - and they'll automatically be nicer to exchange students, so you can get away with a bit more!
I put on some of the outfits, I can and do wear to school and took some pictures, so you can get an idea of what you can combine the white shirt with and wear to school:
 |
| Sweater: ASDA, Skirt: New Look, Shirt: H&M |
One of my favorite outfits at the moment, probably mostly because it's so comfortable and warm in the winter, is to wear my favorite skirt with a soft sweater underneath.
I wear my tie in all of my outfits (as you have to) except this one, because the tie folds when you put it underneath the sweater and make your chest look weird, and I don't really like when it goes over the sweater - I just keep my tie in my bag instead, if some teacher spots it at some point.
 |
| Proof that there is actually a white shirt underneath (but no tie, sorry!) |
 |
| Shirt and skirt: Primark |
My favorite shirt is probably this shirt, as it falls very nicely and is really comfortable - only downside is that it's slightly see through, so you have to wear a tanktop underneath.
I used to wear the striped skirt a lot, but since I finally bought a flowy, loose skirt I like, the tight ones have only annoyed me with the fact that you constantly have to pull them down so they won't crawl up too much - but when they sit just right they look good!
 |
| Closeup of the blazer and tie |
 |
| Shirt: Primark, Trousers: ASDA |
This shirt was the only white shirt I had before I went crazy in H&M and travelled to Scotland, and I still use it all the time!
And you can't always wear skirts and dresses, even though you would really like to, so it's always good to have a good pair of black pants (black denim not allowed) or two in your dresser as backup when it gets really cold.
When you go out and invest in a school uniform (for me it was almost like getting a new wardrobe, as I didn't have that much black and white clothes when I arrived), you have to remember to buy some proper shoes! When I arrived I only had some black ballerinas, which doesn't last very long when it starts to get cold, so I bought some shoes in ASDA in hope that they would last me until winter.
And they did last me quite a while, remembering that I only paid about 10 pounds for them, but when the bottom started breaking off I went to Primark to buy some more expensive long boots - which still only left me 25 pounds poorer.
I thought I had been clever, as I knew that the boots wouldn't last years but I had guessed they would last me the winter, which meant that I didn't have to spend my precious kilos on the way home, but could just throw them out at the end of my year. But it didn't take more than about two months before the bottom started breaking of them aswell, and I decided to skip sightseeing for a few week and invest in some proper leather boots.
And these are the shoes, that you walk around in all day in school, so you might as well spend a bit extra and not have some crappy boots, that keeps falling apart, right?
 |
| I instantly fell in love with this watch from Urban Outfitters with the coloured world map |
It's also really practical, as my school is quite strict with the "no cellphone" rule, we can't even use them in breaks, and there's never a clock when you need it, so now I don't have to sneakpeak at my phone to tell the time anymore.
But in general, if you want a cheap base for your school uniform, you should definitely go to Primark (just in general go to Primark if you want cheap stuff), ASDA (they actually do have really good clothes) and New Look (that's where I got my favorite skirt!). Then you can always buy more expensive pieces to substitute the cheap things later - or do as I do and just use the extra money on food instead!
No comments:
Post a Comment