Despite the hot temperatures, girls have used South Carolina football games as opportunities to dress up for years. Over the past four years, the style has become more casual, with a shift from dresses and cowboy boots to cut-up T-shirts and short skirts.
Third-year mass communications student Jackie Ferrara said she understood game days were special, but as an incoming freshman, she was unsure on what that meant for her outfits.
“I’m from Philadelphia, so I didn’t really know what to expect, and I knew you were supposed to dress up more for game day than you are normally,” Ferrara said.
Ferrara said she followed the popular style at the time and wore dresses with boots and bigger jewelry during her freshman year. She said her and many others' game day outfits have become "more relaxed" since then.
Third-year public health student Allison Green said as a freshman, she was excited about dressing up and wearing boots to football games.
“I was really into the cowboy boots at first, so me and my roommate both purchased a pair of cowboy boots from Amazon and primed them so we could have them for game day,” Green said. “Over the years, I’ve kind of modified what I had, and I’ve cut my T-shirts, and, I mean, I definitely wear my cowboy boots on days where it’s muddy, but I typically don’t wear them anymore."
Dresses and boots are still a common fashion choice in Williams-Brice Stadium, but South Carolina students have found ways to save and make money while creating new shirts for themselves or others.
Fourth-year public relations student Grace Campbell said she noticed the shift in outfit trends when Barefoot Outfitters opened in 2017. Barefoot’s shirts were customized and quickly became popular because of their "cuter" styles, Campbell said.
With this new style rising to popularity in Columbia, many women began wanting to purchase cut-up shirts or cut them themselves. Because officially licensed shirts can be more expensive if personalized, students looked for cheaper alternative options. The women who began personalizing shirts found ways to sell them cheaper to other students.
Campbell said the Instagram accounts she’s seen sell tops for around $10, and the customer can use Venmo to pay and pick up the shirt at the seller’s house.
“I feel like a lot of people have come with a creative route of it,” Campbell said. “Like making jean jackets with the Gamecock sign on it.”
Many of the customized shirts and jackets include painted designs or embroidered logos. Women have used this as a creative outlet to have unique outfits on game day.
Campbell said she bought a flannel sweatshirt for herself that says “Go Gamecocks” on the back from a woman selling it on Instagram.
Over the past four years, traditions of dressing up for South Carolina football games have branched out from black dresses to personalized T-shirts. Students have found a way to balance needed comfort during the hot weather and personalized style with creative shirts and jackets.