Spring might be just around the corner, but there is a certain struggle in getting ready for a night out while the evening temperatures are still low. What do you wear when you know there is a good chance you’ll be too hot inside a house, but too cold outside? Several options run through your mind when getting dressed. Should I just bear the cold even though I live on 34th and am walking to 40th? Do I bring a sweatshirt and just hope people think tying hoodies around your hips is a hot, new trend? And the scariest option: do I just hide my coat in a corner and hope no one takes it?
I recently took the latter, and riskiest option, stuffing my nice, vegan leather jacket at the very end of a table at an event. At the end of night, I tore through the table to find my jacket. I started to panic as I had checked the entire table of my coat. Luckily, the jacket had been moved to another room, but the dread that filled me was enough for me was enough to prompt me to find a solution. Hence the need for a forth option: the cheap “fracket”.
The “fracket” is the winter equivalent of the “frat shoes”. Frat shoes are old, worn down shoes, commonly Sperry’s for men, people wear to parties because they don’t care about ruining them. The frat jacket is a cheap, and possibly old jacket, that will not completely ruin your night if, worse case scenario, you ruin it or lose it. Almost as bad as losing your jacket is ruining your jacket, which is quite common in a crammed room of dancing and red solo cups. Therefore, it is important to invest – or, in this case, not invest – in a frat jacket
If you don’t have an old jacket lying around, finding a substitute can be difficult. The struggle is finding a cover-up that fits the criteria of being cheap and easily replaceable, as coats are typically expensive. One easy and relatively cheap options include the tried and true flannel. It always looks good tied around the hips and can be found relatively cheap at stores like Target. Another option is watching for the clearance racks at your favorite stores. You’ll never know what you’ll find in the mess of clearance at Forever 21 or Gap, which have locations in Rittenhouse and in University City, respectively. Even better and cheaper is finding a great steal at a thrift or secondhand store. The luxury of the frat coat is that it doesn’t really matter if it matches the outfit because it will probably end up unzipped or completely off by the end of the night.
This winter season, don’t chose between comfort and cuteness. Finding your perfect fracket can save you all the hassle.
-Molly Hessel
Images courtesy of: Polyvore and Title Nine