Before Bits last Wednesday, a friends showed me the Crimson. "Look at this ridiculous article," he said, "it's about the weather. Apparently people change their clothes when it gets cold."

Faced with slushy, icy terrain on the Monday morning commute, students broke out bulky jackets and the occasional pair of moon boots. Shorts and flip-flops, which have been spotted around campus throughout the mild winter months, were definitely out.

The cold snap brought confusion to some students' outfits.

"Sunday, I saw people running around in shorts, jumping in the snow and not knowing what to do," said Gabriel M. Scheinmann '08.


The fact that it snowed last weekend is newsworthy. The fact that it has been a mild winter is newsworthy. The fact that when it gets cold, most people wear coats is not.

Imagine my surprise while reading the New York Times the next day:
Ms. Briskman and Ms. Black are members of a small but influential clan of New Yorkers, mostly young, who in a week when temperatures plunged to the 20's ignored sullen skies and stinging winds and, along with them, conventional notions of dressing for the season. Sure, some wore leggings, granddaddy sweaters, chunky boots and jeans, but mainly to set off their filmy tops and flowery dresses.

According to the article "The Girls Walk by Dressed in Their Summer Clothes," fashionable New York women ignore the weather while dressing. Take heart, Cambridge students who wear shorts year-round, for you are actually on the cutting edge of fashion.