When your dress code becomes your zipcode

A girl’s clothes say a lot about her — her taste level, what type of image she wants to project to others and even where she is from.

Within the United States, there are many different groups of people — for our purposes let’s look at the most prevalent groups at Hopkins (and those whose clothing stand out the most!) — those from Calif., those from the South (including Fla.), those from the East Coast or New England and those from Europe.

Californians are easy to spot in certain situations, particularly when it is cold and/or wet out. When it first hits 40 degrees, a person from Calif. always brings out their heavy winter coat, a hat and gloves.

This is a phenomena often witnessed at Hopkins where Calif. people actually experience such frigid temperatures for the first time. And as the first to bring out the winter gear, they are also first to bring out the summer gear.

As soon as it hits 50 degrees, the Calif. kids start wearing shorts. However, I can attest to the fact that not all freshmen come prepared for winter.

You can tell who the unprepared Californians are because you see them walking around wearing a ridiculous number of layers because they don’t own a substantial coat.

You can also spot the unprepared Californians around campus when it rains. They are the kids that don’t have rain boots or umbrellas and are consequently jumping over puddles and running for their lives.

During the summer they more or less fit in with the rest of the flip-flop/sunglasses wearing population, but if you look carefully, you’ll notice that they pull off the look better. I don’t know why this is, and can only guess the obvious reason — that they have summer year round.

Southern girls are similar to Calif. girls in their comical winter attire, but are otherwise very different.

While Californians rock the laid-back look, Southerners are always dressed to impress. Sweatpants are simply not an option.

Girls from the South tend to look like they spend hours getting ready each morning, and some probably do. You can laugh all you want, but you have to admit, they look good.

I can almost always pick a New England girl out of a lineup. She can never be seen in the winter without her two staple items — a North Face jacket and Ugg boots.

If you ask, she might tell you that she isn’t preppy, and walk away quickly before you notice her shirt from J.Crew, her cashmere sweater and her pearl earrings. During spring and summer, girls from New England love to rock a sundress or khaki/white shorts with a flowery blouse.

New Yorkers tend to be a little different from your average East Coast girls. Living in the most fashionable state around puts a lot of pressure on a girl to stand out and have her own style.

The result is that there is a state full of hipsters. You often see them walking around Soho with their big glasses, a slouchy plaid shirt and ripped skinny jeans.

This is of course not the only type of New Yorker — there are many that embody the preppy stereotype so common to the rest of the East Coast as well.

And let’s not forget about the Europeans! They are usually the easiest to spot. They have a sense of style that most American girls envy and try to emulate — but it usually doesn’t work.

It’s as if Europeans are born with an innate sense of style that none of the rest of us have access to.

European girls are the only ones I know who can actually pull off suspenders, for example. Europeans are also experts at layering and matching — their outfits often strike me as pieces of art.

A French friend of mine once told me when I made fun of his capri pants that France was a full six months ahead of the U.S. in fashion (and yet some five years later the trend hasn’t quite caught on — I think we can all consider ourselves lucky).

Americans are likewise very easy to spot in Europe — if you plan to study abroad in Europe, pay attention! We seem to be the only ones (along with the Canadians and Australians) who wear plaid and madras shorts. Another dead giveaway is the Uggs with jeans look (a big no-no if you want to blend in in Europe).

And as I recently found out on a trip to Turkey, if you wear cowboy boots, everyone is going to assume that you are from Texas (which is risky because regardless of your personal political views, you have to realize that most people in other countries are not a big fan of George W. Bush).

Want to wear something to impress/confuse the Europeans? Try high-waisted pants or shorts — they make a bold statement and are something the Europeans do not expect from Americans.

So try this: as you walk around campus, try to guess where everyone you see is from.

Sometimes it’s easy to tell and sometimes it isn’t, and this column is obviously full of very broad and at times comical stereotypes, but I think you’ll be surprised by how true some of them are.