Preppy headgirl is meeting a schoolyard rebel in this season’s take on academic style. Slouchy polos, pleated skirts, varsity jackets, and blazers layered over button-downs are converging into a collegiate aesthetic that reads equal parts boarding school and streetwear.
On the international runways, the trend has been building steadily. Zimmermann and Tory Burch have both leaned into a preppy-meets-sporty aesthetic this season; think collegiate stripes, slouchy V-necks, relaxed button-downs, rugby shirts, and polos paired with A-line skirts, alongside technical jackets that give the look a modern edge.Zimmerman and Tory Burch’s spring collections lean into collegiate stripes, slouchy V-necks, technical jackets, relaxed button-downs, and polos, with A-line skirts styled alongside sporty pieces. Armani’s take on the polo-and-pleated-skirt pairing has similarly reinforced the schoolyard silhouette as a 2026 staple. Meanwhile, the varsity jacket, long a fixture of the preppy wardrobe, has moved firmly into luxury territory, appearing on runways from Louis Vuitton, Off-White, and Gucci to Palm Angels and Supreme, with block colours, contrast sleeves, and preppy badges bringing a fresh energy to the collegiate staple.Varsity jackets were very much front and centre on the runways at Louis Vuitton, Palm Angels, Off-White, Supreme and Gucci this season, with street style blogs following suit. Polo Ralph Lauren remains the category’s anchor, its Letterman jacket, with patched detail, leather sleeves, and a wool body, continuing to define the Ivy League archetype other labels riff on.
Indian labels are translating the trend across price points and style registers. The Souled Store and Bewakoof, two of India’s largest fashion-led D2C platforms, have built out extensive varsity and bomber jacket ranges for both men and women, offering an accessible, streetwear-inflected entry point into collegiate dressing.Both Bewakoof and The Souled Store have expanded their varsity and bomber jacket assortments for men and women, positioning the category as an everyday layering piece rather than an occasion-only buy. Homegrown streetwear label UniStreet has gone a step further, translating the varsity jacket’s American sports-culture roots into a wider palette of designs; from classic collegiate stripes to graffiti-inspired prints, aimed at bridging the trend with an Indian sensibility.UniStreet has adapted the varsity jacket trend into a wide range of designs and colours, from classic collegiate stripes to graffiti-inspired styles, translating the American cultural symbol into an Indian context. On the denim-led D2C side, Freakins has folded varsity-adjacent jackets into its portfolio of jeans and shorts, pitching them to a millennial and Gen Z audience already primed for the preppy-meets-street mashup that’s defining the trend globally.
The throughline across both runway and retail is the tension the original brief points to: polish undercut by ease, tradition undercut by irreverence. A slouchy polo softens a pleated skirt; a varsity jacket roughs up a buttoned-down look; a blazer over a sweater reads more common-room than classroom. It’s a wardrobe built on contrast, which is precisely what’s making it easy to merchandise across such a wide range of price points and label identities.
The preppy-collegiate trend gives Indian brands a rare category that works simultaneously as festive-adjacent western wear, college-going daily wear, and gifting merchandise; a versatility that platforms like Bewakoof and The Souled Store have already built entire product lines around. With varsity jackets and polos requiring minimal cultural translation compared to more Western-specific silhouettes, expect faster adoption across tier-2 markets, particularly as brands lean into customisable patches, licensed collegiate branding, and layering pieces suited to India’s transitional winter climate.
