Fact 1: I don't want to beat around the bush; girls at Penn State get a bad rap as far as fashion is concerned. Friends of mine who transferred, grew up here, come here from cities, all have told me, chicks here for whatever reason aren't shakin' things up when it comes to their style. Even a valid authority on the issue -- Women's Wear Daily -- rated PSU last among Big Ten schools in fashion last spring.

University of Illinois beat us. Folks, that just isn't cool.

Fact 2: I spent the summer in the fashion mecca otherwise known as New York City and was planning to be surrounded by weak outdated trends when I returned to school. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by my ladies here at PSU. The level "smokin' hot" had been bumped up by quite a few notches. The main thing is that this year, more than ever, fashion trends from one to three seasons ago have trickled down into mainstream stores, leaving ya'll and myself only slightly behind the schedule of the truly chic city -- which is what should be expected. However, not only does this new development still only include a fraction of the number of women that it should, but it's also kind of trickling away day by day.

But what I wanted to know was what the stylish -- emphasis on stylish, no frumps here -- girls here at Penn State were thinking and what they thought about their own styles versus Penn State women's looks.

"North Face fleece, Burberry scarf, and jeans for class or a nice shirts, jeans, and pointy shoes to go out," said Lynn Jo (senior-international politics) when asked to sum up Penn State girls' style. "I think it's really boring because most people just wear what everyone else is wearing. People need to be more original."

Jo, who is from Houston, Texas, is one of the more conscious and trendy dressers at Penn State, trying things like leggings in contrast to just jeans or mixing preppy and sexy. But often Jo finds herself lost in a sea of middle-of-the-road preppy uniforms.

Likewise, Robin Koeller (freshman-environmental resource management) -- who likes patterned stockings and cowboy boots and defines her style as thrift-store chic -- finds the boutiques downtown decent but hardly enough of a variety. She shops mainly at vintage stores to try and create looks not so much with the purpose of separating herself from the crowd but to help express her own unique personality.

"The style here is mostly stuff you find on the mannequin at Abercrombie and Fitch," she said. But to Koeller nothing could be further from the true meaning of fashion.

Leah Cohen (junior-visual arts) is another vintage shopper like Koeller and blames PSU's fashion issues on time and lack thereof.

"It's hard to create an individual style even if people are interested in fashion," Cohen said, but maintained that for her it's important to make that effort.

But you don't have to spend so much time and be out of the mainstream to necessarily be fashionable. Like Lilibeth Diaz (sophomore-life science) who watches the Style Network to keep on top of things, still likes conventional stores like French Connection, Forever 21, and Abercrombie, but keeps things fly by dressing simple jean 'n' top outfits with big flashy earrings, necklaces and a myriad of other accessories. By Diaz's definition, much of the fashion dilemma locally is that girls don't know how to dress themselves.

"Everyone dresses like what they see on TV," Diaz said. "They try too hard to be Paris Hilton."

Rebecca Chan (freshman-political science) agreed with some other girls around campus that a fundamental reason for the shady PSU female fashion is where students come from. Some come from style-savvy areas while others from more rural or suburban parts. Chan hails from Brooklyn and dresses fit for a magazine.

"I dress this way because of where I come from, but it doesn't matter to me that others don't [dress trendy]," Chan said.

Koeller, however, disagrees with this notion and said she believes people should make the extra effort.

"Someone should be able to tell what kind of person you are or what you're into based on how you dress," she said. "It's like wearing your personality on your sleeve."