By Jenna Russell, Globe Staff, 4/18/2004

Harvard may have the most money, and Yale corners the market on presidential contenders, but students at Brown University can hold their heads high: They've got the best outfits, according to Women's Wear Daily, the fashion industry bible.

The publication, based in New York City and known to style-minded readers as WWD, ranked the fashion savvy of the eight Ivy League campuses in its annual college issue last week. The results turned the Ivy universe topsy-turvy, with Brown on top, followed by Columbia and Cornell, Princeton in the middle, and Harvard and Yale stuck in the bottom spots on the list.

"It's a rare situation in which a Harvard student isn't at the head of the class," the magazine opined. "But when it comes to matters of personal expression and style, these Cambridge smarties are strictly conservative prep."

Harvard students may write dazzling papers, but their wardrobes are less imaginative, with boring brown loafers, pressed jeans, and barn jackets in heavy rotation, according to WWD. The fashion editors were more impressed on their visit to Providence, where Brown students won high marks for creativity, attributed in part to the close proximity of the Rhode Island School of Design. At Brown, looks on campus range from "downtown New York hipster" to "stiletto-clad sophisticates" and "patchworked bohemians."

News of their victory in the rankings was slow to reach Brown students, with copies of WWD hard to track down in local bookstores. Told about the outcome, few students took the findings very seriously. But neither did they object to beating Harvard -- no matter how vapid the contest.

"It's a silly competition, but we'll take our school pride where we can get it," said Jesse Finkelstein, a senior at Brown, where stylish alumni include John F. Kennedy Jr. and Alex von Furstenberg, son of fashion designer Diane.

Harvard Undergraduate Council president Matthew Mahan defended his school yesterday against the charges of frumpiness. Because winters are so harsh in Cambridge, students "have their overcoats on half the year," giving an edge to campuses in the milder climes of New York and Rhode Island, he said.

"I wish you could see me today," Mahan lamented in a phone interview. "I've got a suit on, with a really snazzy tie."

At Dartmouth, the northernmost Ivy, student fashion also got less than rave reviews. "Dartmouth boasts a hard-core drinking culture and a frigid clime," WWD reports. "Fashion takes a backseat to both." Students are described scurrying across campus in puffy jackets, knit snow hats, fleeces and sweats. A senior is quoted saying sneakers are important, for traction during fraternity-basement games of beer pong. Naia Cucukov, a Brown senior from New Jersey, said it was liberating to come to the university from a high school where "cookie-cutter" fashion was the rule. These days, she might wear jeans with a vintage chiffon dress in rainbow colors, or a pin-striped blazer over a $2 "I Love NY" T-shirt. "It's so nice not to have to explain what you're wearing," she said. Jenna Russell can be reached at jrussell@globe.com.

This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 4/18/2004. © Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.

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