Every year, over the past 25 years, students have highly anticipated National Marquette Day. Countdowns lead to gatherings with friends, legendary basketball games and unforgettable memories. The whole day is colored with streaks of blue and gold. There is so much energy, school pride and enthusiasm that it is no wonder why this holiday is so beloved.
To fully embrace the holiday, it is no secret that dressing up is one of best elements of this day. As you parade down campus and toward Fiserv Forum, one word to describe the outfits is original. It never fails to amaze me how much originality and creativity abound in the different looks. How do you achieve this, you might ask? It’s always a good idea to be true to your personal style. That being said, if there is an idea you’d like to pursue, go for it! This is your day to celebrate your love for Marquette. No amount of blue and gold is too much.
Just because most students get decked out for this holiday doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot of money to achieve a quality look. In fact, the best outfits come from your own creativity. In search of originality for National Marquette Day this year, my friend Sara and I went thrift shopping. As we hopped from Goodwill to Value Village, there were a few Marquette pieces that stuck out to me. When thrifting, it is important to go in with a vision and an open mind.
At the end of our trip, I was left with three things in my bag: a gold Marquette long-sleeve T-shirt, light-washed mom jeans and a vintage yellow Sendik’s shirt. Keep in mind the Sendik’s shirt was more of a gag purchase because of its location on our campus. So, here I am left with two pieces and less than a week to get my act together. Going into the stores, I knew I wanted to do some form of DIY, and especially with second-hand stores, it is harder to get items that are altered correctly to fit you in the first place.
To fulfill my vision for the bottoms, I planned to purchase jeans and then later DIY them with blue, gold and white paint. At this point, my mission was half-accomplished. After asking nearly everyone I knew for paint in Marquette colors, I finally had the proper tools to DIY my jeans. As seen below, I started the process by painting thick stripes on the side seams of the jeans, bound by tape for a guaranteed crisp edge. I mixed up the Marquette colors on either side of the pant leg to play on the asymmetry of the relaxed DIY vibe. On each pocket, I hand drew a solid-colored star and then outlined the shape with another color. I mixed and matched between blue and gold as the principal and secondary colors. After letting them dry for an hour or so, I was good to go.
I was a little more lenient with finding a top for the occasion because I did not have a concrete idea of what I wanted in the first place. With this gold Marquette long-sleeve shirt in front of me now, I knew that it needed a little TLC. Because of the high-waisted jean, I decided I would need to crop the shirt so that it would be more flattering with the pant style. Even just this slight change to the shirt contributed to the overall theme of DIY and completed the look.
As my first DIY experience, I was really excited as to how well the finished products came out. I would highly recommend a similar DIY process to properly commemorate the contagious spirit for National Marquette Day. All you need is a dash of creativity, an open mind and some patience to create your own original NMD attire.
Colleen Hanna • Feb 8, 2019 at 7:04 am
Look at you leading “stripe out” with those jeans!!! I’ll be following that star ⭐️ all the way to Victory🏀