By Jack Cahill ’17
THE ROUNDUP

While some high school students may feel pressured to conform in regards to fashion, many Brophy students say they feel the opposite.

Blaise Schaefer ’18 said he believes that there “isn’t much student pressure” when it comes to attire.

“I don’t think that many people here are trying to please people based on what they’re wearing,” Schaefer said. “That’s a nice thing, Brophy students aren’t usually that judgmental.”

Upperclassmen, like Jeremy Lacsa ’16, have made similar observations.

“I think that student fashion is mostly influenced by personal taste,” Lacsa said. “Most of the people I see around school don’t really change their style that much. It seems that most of us prefer thinking with a function-over-fashion mentality.”

In regards to fitting in with hobbies, students said the same mentality applies.

“Nobody here really forces their mindset on anyone else, like with personal opinions and movies,” Schaefer said. “ Everyone sort of has their own thing. Its not at all a focal point here at Brophy.”

This is partially because “we find groups with similar interests and tastes.”

Some members of the faculty, such as Mr. Oscar Borboa ’05, made a similar observation.

“On one hand, some boys are fine with not doing their hair and rolling into school with an untucked, wrinkled shirt,” Mr. Borboa said. “On the other, some students look to achieve the styles of designer brands, and unique styles. If people do feel pressure, I think it’s more self-imposed and that relative to the pressure of doing well in classes is further down the totem pole, but there’s certainly no denying that it does exist in some circles.”

Much of our own fashion and hobbies is influenced not by the student body as a whole, but by “our friend groups,” Lacsa said.

“Most of us just end up finding a group that shares the same interests, or has the same classes, rather than looking to fit in with a certain fashion sense,” Lacsa said.

While student eccentricity may be frowned upon in some places, uniqueness in hobbies and fashion is largely accepted, though not encouraged by the student dress code.

“I don’t think there’s enough evidence to say that we frown upon eccentricity, nor embrace it. Most of us stay within the ‘normal’ bounds of fashion,” Lacsa said.