Flair, like Homecoming or Winter Carnival, is a Dartmouth tradition. But part of what distinguishes this tradition from our termly festivals is the fact that flair is worn year-round it begins with Trips and ends, well, never. Whether worn as party attire, used as a costume to cheer on a team or donned just for fun, flair is about as ubiquitous on this campus as beer and snow. Even more than a tradition, it seems, flair has become a Dartmouth obsession.
Here at Dartmouth, we act as though every day is Halloween. This may be amusing to a certain extent, but I wonder, when we wear flair excessively, does it retain its purpose? And what exactly is the purpose of flair, after all?
Some students, it appears, wear flair because they see college as a four-year vacation from reality. They see our time here at Dartmouth as a time to be crazy, do wacky things and have a good time. They don't care what other people may think, and that in of itself is respectable. Nevertheless, these students, I believe, are in the minority.
Other students wear flair just to feel unique. But when we dress in flair to feel different, is this authentic or superficial uniqueness? I find it hard to believe that wearing a pair of green spandex tights in the basement makes you all that different from the student next to you wearing the pink pair. On a campus where flair is the rule, aren't those of us who wear it just conforming? When everyone at a party besides me is wearing flair, I might be thought unoriginal, but in reality I am most unique person there.
I suspect, however, that most students on this campus wear flair as a way of masking their insecurities. They believe that wacky clothes make them more interesting and exciting people. They may think that wearing flair helps them stand out from the crowd. Subconsciously, they believe that wearing flair and acting crazy will make them exhibit a different personality than they actually possess.
And it is not all that surprising that this mentality should be so prevalent on a campus like Dartmouth. Since the College has a history of being an isolated, conservative and homogenous campus, students are attempting to defeat this stereotype. But in trying to defeat the stereotype, it seems, we have actually gone to the other extreme.
The true cause of this problems stems from a Dartmouth student's introduction to the College. Upon arriving at Dartmouth, incoming freshmen are indoctrinated with the mentality that flair can compensate for personality. From the first day of Trips, we are taught to connect outgoingness and sociability with bright colors and loud music. By wearing flair ourselves, we hope to somehow absorb these desirable traits, and in the process, inform our own personalities.
From my experience, however, I believe the personality we assume when wearing flair is inauthentic. It's a typecast that we get from H-Croo, Vox Croo, Lodj Croo, etc.
Worst of all, wearing flair to manufacture a personality that we do not actually possess is an unsustainable solution to a deeper problem. While in the short term, flair may make someone feel unique and outgoing, when we graduate Dartmouth, flair can no longer compensate for our insecurities. It is a Band-Aid that will eventually need to be removed after four years. And when it is removed, it will reveal an unhealed wound beneath the lack of a genuine personality.
If we continue to wear flair excessively simply to wear flair, we thwart its purpose. Feeling such a need to manufacture a personality for ourselves, we dress up more than we need to or should. It's the easy way out after all, and it's "the Dartmouth thing to do." But personality and uniqueness acquired through wearing flair are just that: manufactured. And we, in the words of Holden Caulfield, are all just being "phonies."
