To American college guys:need your advice, please!

[Oo.]

Hi,

I'm a undergraduate (engineering sophomore) Chinese student who's currently attending university in the US. I'd like some advice from you concerning shopping for clothes here. The problem is I don't know anything about the styles for college guys here and from my random and constant observations throughout campus thus far, I've not been able to reach any final conclusions or generalizations of any sort yet.

It seems to me most of the guys like to wear T-shirts with some kind of writings on them, (I'm not sure if it is actually the brand name.) but not really a whole lot of cartoon-like pictures. The thing which makes it worse for me is I'm not very big in size by conventional American standard, so I've been buying stuff basically from the Kids' section from some on-line stores such as GAP, L.L.Bean and JCPenney. But I think the result turned out to be a bit embarrassing because these stuff just don't fit in at all. For example, what would you say about this one?

http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=44493&storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1&parentCategory=8906&cat4=6729&shop_method=pp&feat=dp32

(I like it, but I don't think it goes with the styles here--at least at my school--maybe because it is too kid-like.)

So I really wanna know where do you guys usually go shopping for clothes. And what kind of stuff you tend to avoid, in other words, what are some of the unwritten rules here that won't make things go too wrong? Particularily, if you are rather small in size like me, how do you find stuff that's small enough in size but not too child-like in all other aspects such as the design? I see a lot of Chinese American guys who are really short and skinny, but their styles fit right in with other students as well, so I really wonder where they buy those stuff, but I feel a bit awkward asking them this kind of questions directly though...

I really would appreciate your answers to some of these questions! Thank you!

[maybedaisy]

Sorry for I can't offer any help, for I'm a Chinese in China , why not buy NIKE OR ADIDAS which are common and easily available.

[Outofin]

Welcome to the new country! But you're not in an alient planet, so every common sense you learned applies here as well. Does S size fit you? It's not everywhere, but still not hard to find either.

[Song You Shen]

well, there are many different styles, and it really depends on where you are in the US. Where are you going to school in the US? I tend to shop at a store called "Pacific Sunwear". It has pretty good stuff.

I wouldn't recommend that "shirt" you posted here. For one, it is a "slip-guard" for surfing. It isn't a shirt you wear normally. You only wear it when you go surfing. Style also really depends on what your personality is like. Do you like more mature dressy/prep clothing? Or do you like more relaxed pop-culture clothing? I tend to dress preppy and I buy my clothing from a number of places (i.e. macy's, pacific sunwear, a lot of outlet shops). Pop culture also has different styles, some of them have pictures on the shirst, some don't.

Here is an example of a preppy shirt (preppy shirt) - You can wear this shirt with some nice dark colored jeans and some half-dress shoes.... and look nice.

Here is an example of a pop-culture shirt (pop-culture) - You can wear this with jeans and some adidas or skatter shoes.

Thos are just a couple of styles that college people work with... really, you just need someone that is kind to go shopping with you.

Youshen

[poohathart]

Well, I'm not a guy but I checked with my husband and he says attire with a sports motif is safe. Just pick the local sports teams in your area (you said you're in the US but didn't say where) and you should be okay. You can wear the local teams - like your university, local NFL, local NBA etc. Hope that helps some.

If you don't know of a local sports team, right now the Patriots and the Yankees are very popular in most parts of the US. Sports jerseys of most any team are cool and Chinese sports jerseys are cool too.

Also my husband suggested the preppy stuff if you don't like sports attire. Most anything from Tommy Hillfigger, Polo, Calvin Klein are in style but only get them if they're on sale...they can be very expensive so look for an outlet store if possible.

It was good of you to provide the link for the shirt at LL Bean. That one is too much like the kind a kid would wear and not really suitable for a college student. Best of luck to you as you study in the US. I hope you enjoy your stay!