Is it bad taste to wear college colors if you didn't attend the college?

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

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You're not part of that whole Yale thing?

Yes to the coke, no to the closet homosexualism.

Colors no, but anything with the schools name or mascot on it would be.

So only someone who went to Yale can wear a blue and white striped scarf? Only a Penn grad can wear this tie? That seems silly. In most contexts, a scarf is just a scarf.

Originally Posted by MetroStyles

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Yes to the coke, no to the closet homosexualism.
Is that a gram?

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

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Is that a gram?
I unfortunately have the same hairline as Bryce, or will in a few years rather.

Better than a bald spot on top, and it looks good with slicked back hair, if not a bit mobster-ish.

This is a very British thread. I approve.

Originally Posted by George

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This is a very British thread. I approve.

Nothing like conversation about northern Ivy schools and 80's investment banking smells more like the British....

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

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Nothing like conversation about northern Ivy schools and 80's investment banking smells more like the British....

I'm afraid you've lost me.

Originally Posted by George

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I'm afraid you've lost me.

You're not the only one who is lost here George, think of the rest of us.

It is bad form to wear the colours of any institution or organization with which you have no connection and effectively a fraud as you are asking people to believe that you are something you are not. However, as you say, it is sadly common in the USA.

Originally Posted by GBR

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It is bad form to wear the colours of any institution or organization with which you have no connection and effectively a fraud as you are asking people to believe that you are something you are not. However, as you say, it is sadly common in the USA.

But why should we allow some "institution or organization" to take away colors from the rest of us by some sort of fiat?

Originally Posted by PeterEliot

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Come winter, will anyone look at my scarf and go "Hey, are you a ______ grad too? What year?"
Yes, unless it's Notre Dame. Everybody seems to wear Notre Dame stuff. There are more people wearing Notre Dame colors/logos in the U.S. at any one time than live in the entire state of Indiana. If you are looking for the correct answer, the answer is you shouldn't wear them if you're not an alumnus/a, unless you are rooting for the school's team and are at a sporting event in which they are playing. The practical answer is that probably no one will notice in most situations. In the UK, they still take these things a bit more seriously than in the U.S. and these kinds of things will be noticed -- and frowned on -- in certain milieus. I would never wear a striped tie in England, for example, unless it is the tie of a college, club or regiment of which I were a member. I know that stripes on ties made in the U.S. typically go the wrong direction and that you can buy striped ties in England which, presumably, are certified to represent nothing but, hey, why risk it? Without a bright-line rule I would almost be certain to foul it up somehow and then end up sharing a seat on the tube with the regimental commander or something. In the U.S., hardly any alumni regularly wear their school colors anyway. I think by far the largest consumers of school-colored merchandise are a) college football fans and b) proud parents of students who are just itching for you to notice they are wearing a Harvard tie and ask them about it so they can brag about their kid being admitted.

Originally Posted by GBR

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It is bad form to wear the colours of any institution or organization with which you have no connection and effectively a fraud as you are asking people to believe that you are something you are not. However, as you say, it is sadly common in the USA.

I'll tell that to the merchandise licensing department here at the University. They'll be glad to get rid of all that extra revenue they bring in during these tough bugetary times.

You can wear a blue and gold scarf all you want and I bet not a single Cal grad anywhere will even make the connection.