Tailgates are best known for pre-gaming with friends, hamburgers and chicken wings, and getting pumped for the football game. But, an important part of tailgating is representing school pride. Tailgate fashion is the best way to not only show your school spirit but to creatively express your style and personality. 

Tailgate fashion has always been evolving within collegiate sports culture. Long, puffy skirts in the ’50s, athletic letter jackets in the ’80s and jean jackets in the ’90s. Although tailgate fashion has typically been one type of style, 2019 tailgate fashion takes it up a notch. Bright-striped overalls, oversized t-shirts, dresses, glitter, and more are trending at CSU’s tailgates. Modern tailgate apparel is casual, comfy and grungy. Styles that were popular in the ’90s are making a comeback in this year: bandanas, crop tops and denim. 

Arranging a casual style outfit is insanely easy to achieve. For men, putting together a tailgate outfit can take up to 10 minutes, great if your friends invited you to the home game last minute. All you need are these simple items to pair before a tailgate: a green, yellow or white bandana to get your hair out of your face and a matching shirt. These can be found at the CSU Bookstore, or may even be in your closet already. Sunglasses are great to protect your eyes and the spraying beer from trucks, but it fully packages the tailgate look if you’re in a hurry. For men, jeans, tan pants or cargo shorts will not only be comfortable, but will pair with the rest of your grungy tailgate look. Complete the look with your favorite pair of beater shoes and your last-minute tailgate look is set.

For women, tailgate fashion doesn’t always have to be super casual. If you want to spice up your look, consider making your own dress out of a t-shirt just like Julia Jannetto, a senior studying fashion and merchandising. This year was Jannetto’s first time attending a CSU tailgate and because of her background in fashion, she wanted to stand out from everyone else. Because there were no CSU dresses available at the bookstore, Jannetto decided to create her own from a t-shirt laying around in her room.

To create a tube style dress, Jannetto started off by measuring the length of her dress and measurements to her body to make it a tight-fitting dress. To make her tailgate dress tight, Jannetto sewed the sides of the dress to make it more form-fitting. She then began to cut the sleeves of the over-sized shirt to make it a sleeveless. This was done with fabric scissors and sewing. In addition to her look, Jannetto includes a black fanny pack to hold all of her valuables.

“I love wearing dresses, they are my favorite thing to wear. My design is feminine and very figure-flattering,” Jannetto said. Inspired by the lack of women’s tailgating apparel in stores, Jannetto went to work. “Nothing is available on the market … As a designer, I make it available.”

Jannetto considers her dress a fashion statement in sporting culture. “Everything they sell for tailgates is a male silhouette. Everything is a t-shirt, a jersey, big shorts. Nothing is actually in the female silhouette.”  

If you’re not a fan of dresses, an oversized CSU shirt will work, too. Search through your closet or borrow a shirt from your roommate to begin this look. Applying makeup under your eyes as stripes or dots makes for a trendy, sporty aesthetic. Face paint, bright-green and yellow eye shadow or glitter can be used to complete the outfit. For socks, wear CSU-colored socks which can be sold anywhere from thrift stores to the CSU book store.

For men and women looking for a bold look for their next CSU tailgate, wearing the popular yellow and green striped overalls will help you achieve that goal. Any style of shirt can match with the overalls, such as a denim shirt, white tank top and a green hoodie. To round up the look, include a CSU baseball cap with the Ram logo. In case you have bed hair or want to protect your face from the sun, a baseball cap is a simple, casual way to express your tailgate style. 

Whether you go with friends, family, a significant other or by yourself, tailgate fashion is its own culture. Wearing school colors to represent your team, painting your face, wearing bright overalls and creating your own tailgate style brings people together within their community.