Library “Grind” Look

Title: “The Library Look”

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Max Brautigam is a Dartmouth student in the class of 2020 from a suburb of Portland, Maine. Max has yet to declare a major, but leans towards the humanities, thinking he may end up in the English or History departments. He was raised in a highly progressive activist household, an environment which has greatly contributed to his character today. He describes his school environment whilst growing up as relatively preppy, and his adolescent experience as similar to the “stereotypical” New England upbringing.

Contextual Data:

I encountered Max as I was walking through the Baker library while he was on his way back to his room from studying. I stopped him in the hall, and asked him if he’d like to participate in this project, to which he consented. Max said that his outfit was intentional, meant to be comfortable study in and not necessarily aesthetically appealing to others, since he planned to be working in solitude. It should be noted that several others in the library wore a similar relaxed attire, meaning that Max’s outfit is a product of a larger Dartmouth tradition in terms of study habits. Also of note is that slightly later we ran into mutual friends, one of whom said, “It looks like you’ve been grinding Max.” (Grinding is a Dartmouth term meaning focused studying).

As I mentioned above, people at Dartmouth, like many other places, structure their outfits around intention, so the outfit one wears to study is likely going to be quite different from one someone puts on to go to a formal event. The library is a space which tends to showcase more relaxed fashion choices than other spaces, although that’s not to say that there still is a wide spectrum of formality apparent in the way people dress in the library. Students also tend to wear items emblematic of either currently associated groups or entities or associations from their past, which is widely visible throughout the library.

Item:

Max is dressed in a beanie with a logo, a Dartmouth Divest hoodie, Dartmouth sweatpants and worn sneakers.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Informant’s Comments:

Max says that he is a fashion-conscious person, and structures his daily outfits around both the weather and an ascetic he feels would be applicable to what he’s attempting to accomplish that day. Max tries to represent his opinions and values through his clothing, something apparent in his clothing choices. His hat sports the logo of a local coffee chain that he frequented through high school, and his sweatshirt shows the Dartmouth Divest logo, a political club at the college that Max is involved in. He says that his outfit this day was highly functional, meaning that he wanted comfortable clothing that would be good to study in, but still conscious of the social significance of the pieces of clothing. And like many other students at this school, Max represents Dartmouth with a logo on his sweatpants, a very common thing amongst Dartmouth students’ fashion repertoire.

Collector’s Comments:

As I’ve mentioned above, Max’s outfit is a fairly standard choice of clothing to see in the library and functions as an accurate representation of what many students choose to wear to study. But speaking with Max showed that even these low-key study clothes were not chosen randomly, as Max was able to talk at length about each item and its origin and significance to him. Even just to study, Max chose items which exhibit values and institutions that he believes in, showing that even minor fashion choices can hold no small significance to many Dartmouth students.

Collector’s Name: Eugene Linden

Tags/Keywords:

Dartmouth Folklore Archive