Senior Cords

Why do we wear what we wear?

That’s one of the questions I set out to explore when I first got into fashion.

Today, I want to talk about the two most powerful forces that shape what we wear: identity and nostalgia.

And to explain it, let me tell you a story from Purdue University in the early 1900s.

Back then, corduroy was commonly used for hunting and workwear, especially throughout the Midwest. It was durable, functional, and widely available. So much so that there was often a surplus of Corduroy garments.

In the early 1900s, Purdue students began buying corduroy pants from surplus stores and thrift stores. But they didn’t just wear them, they transformed them. They’d decorate their corduroys with friends’ names, hometowns, majors, inside jokes, and more. Each pair became a wearable yearbook.

Other schools took notice, and soon the tradition spread across campuses. At Purdue, wearing these “Senior Cords” became a rite of passage, within the campus, it signalled that you were a top dog, you were a Senior., Outside of the campus, it signalled that you were part of Purdue University.

The tradition faded around the 1970s, but fashion is cyclical, and in recent years, it’s seen a revival. Search up “Senior Cords” online, and vintage pairs are going for hundreds to thousands of dollars. One of the hottest brands in NYC, BODE, has custom Senior Cords as their signature offering. Senior cords are making a comeback not because we want to look like Purdue University students from 1904 but because these garments carry a unique history.

The point is that fashion is never just about clothes. It’s about storytelling. It’s about signaling who we are and where we belong. And it’s often about a longing for the past, a way to carry our memories with us.