No Team Mascots Allowed

It’s football season, and everyone in our house is ready to get outside, enjoy tailgating time with our friends and family, and watch some good football! One problem though … what the heck do we wear? The guys have it easy. My husband has golf shirts, belts and hats which have plenty of team spirit. My son has plenty of T-shirts and jerseys. Us ladies? Well, we begin searching and trying on sorts of outfits in hopes that it will represent our team and our sense of style!

This may be one of my most requested topics … how do you dress for a football game or tailgate without looking like the team mascot? Let me tell you, I have been working on this for over 25 years! My husband is the biggest Clemson fan there is. His grandparents were diehard Tigers before him. I have been to many, many Clemson games and was in fact engaged right after the Peach Bowl in 1993! Clemson fans are a proud bunch, and if you don’t show up in your purple and orange, well, then, you are suspicious or worse, a Gamecock. Now that our daughter is a student there, it has been so fun seeing how she and her friends dress for the games. We all are trying to balance several factors. 1. Dressing for the heat/cold/rain. 2. Wearing just enough purple/orange/white. 3. Not looking like everyone else/giving it our own spin. 4. Being able to wear the purple/orange/white option in our everyday life. I should add for my college-aged friends … 5. Not looking like your mother. 6. Not looking like you are still in college!

This season, I have decided I’m looking for tangerine – or a paler orange rather than the darker orange. Additionally, I’m also leaning toward lavender instead of deep purple. It still counts as Clemson colors to me, but in a softer tone. If you are a UNC fan, which I am also, I love the Carolina blue paired with navy. Lots of navy and/or white. It’s all about variations on the main shade. Don’t go too far away from it, just consider the lighter or darker hues of the main colors. Luckily for all my UNC friends and family, that shade of light blue is perfection!

As I write this, I’m trying to consider the best way to relay my ideas to you. I think I’ll give you a list of ideas and then attach some photos for inspiration for both the teen/20-somethings and also us Moms. 

Consider a white blouse, jeans and a scarf in your team colors. I got this one from Shop Five One Five before Lizzie even committed to the school. I got lucky. Orange and purple in the same scarf! Thankfully, Whitney at Shop Five One Five keeps her eyes open for me for anything purple or orange.

Your sneakers – consider a white pair with a pop of that team color. My daughter is considering this fun pair with a more neutral outfit.

Wear a dress that is in your team color family and throw a jean jacket over it to tone it down. Lizzie’s friend painted this one for her and of course I had to wear it too.

Rompers are in right now. Abigail works at Vestique and snagged this cute lavender one. She’ll wear it with just sneakers on hot days and with a cream jean jacket on cooler fall days.

Earrings – there are a ton of cute, colorful earrings out right now. Pair them with a chunky sweater/jeans/boots. Amazon has a ton of great inexpensive jewelry you can have at your door in a day and pay less than $10.

This is a little unknown fashion rule that I learned at Clemson … You can wear your animal prints as your nod to the Clemson Tiger but it’s best that it’s a tiger stripe rather than a cheetah print. The fashion police will not report you if you wear your cheetah prints, but now that you have the inside scoop, try to stick to stripes.

Don’t forget the background color of your florals. My daughter went with this floral halter top because the main color is tangerine. She paired it with a white wrap skirt and sneakers that had a little of the same blue in her top. 

When you simply can’t find your team colors in your clothes, go neutral with whites, denims, khaki, cream and add pops of colors with a sticker or pin from your school. Fun earrings, a colorful belt or necklace may be enough. A crossbody bag brings a pop of color too. Check out my version of this look on the Instagram and Facebook pages. 

Oh by the way, for all my Clemson fans out there, here are a few things I’m eyeing for the next home game! Go Tigers!