College '57

The special look of college clothes this year is an all-American look. Rarely have students, from Bowdoin to UCLA, dressed so uniformly. For this reason, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED went to the center of America to photograph this year's college fashion preview at the University of Missouri at Columbia. Columbia likes to think of itself as Collegetown, U.S.A., with its three schools: M.U., Stephens and Christian colleges.

The look is made up of textures and of patterns particularly associated with college. For girls, plaids are bolder, pants are tapered, skirts are pleated, over-blouses are easy-fitting and worn piled over shirts or sweaters. Red is the big color, accenting many neutrals. Furs—fake or real—add an elegant air. Sweaters are collector's items: bulky or smooth, cardigan or pullover, bright or subdued, and the favorite of them all is the Shetland.

The college man, even in the South and the West, is dressing in the tradition of his Ivy League brethren: combining chino cotton jackets with flannel slacks; sharing a penchant for corduroy, good tweed, for whipcord and covert, many another favorite shown here.

Fur Trim for time. Jean Cramer wears "ocelot" jacket of rayon pile ($30), fox boa ($100), pleated wool skirt ($23, all Sportwhirl). Ron Knutson's camel Loden short coat has alpaca collar ($80, Zero King).

Jackets like Harvard Eber's wool Timber Cruiser ($30, White Stag-Bantamac) and Jean Cramer's gold Element Cloth shirt ($9), over a Shetland sweater with blanket-plaid skirt ($30, all Masket Bros.), are in fall's colors.

Pile lining Jane Dashen's and Matt Flynn's double-breasted poplin coats ($40, White Stag; $50, Zero King; desert boots, $10, Sandler). Columns and dog Waldo are campus landmarks.

Bold stripes are typical of bulky crew-neck sweaters that are campus favorites ($19, men's, $17, women's, Gantner). Tom Schneider and Carol Lou Wheeler wear them down by the Hinkson, M.U.'s creek-side picnic site.

Fall tones are found in Dave Allen's mustard blazer ($42.50, Linett), corduroy slacks ($10, Isaacs); Tom Schneider's suit with chino jacket lined in matching flannel of trousers ($50, McGregor). Canterbury belts, Gant shirts, Reis tie.

Pullovers with trim lines yet easy fit are part of the whole flavor of college '57. These, worn outside Missouri's Jesse Hall by Stephens College student Linda Cooper, M.U. coed Jane Dashen, are a far cry from the old sloppy joe, have contrasting trim, crew and V-necks ($15, left, $16, right; both Catalina).

Blazer sweater ($30, Activair), worn by Missouri football captain Ken Clemenson, in red herringbone knit with brass buttons is newest version of "hero sweater."