As a university, Edinburgh has one of the highest private school student populations in the UK, and keeping with our sought-after capital, we are also a fashionable student body often drawn to a more luxurious student lifestyle. However, there is some controversy over the popular aesthetic of ‘being broke.’ Charity shops, vintage sales and flea markets frequently see some of Edinburgh’s best dressed individuals; while the support is undeniably beneficial, this leads us to question whether the affluent can morally bag all the bargains and make it trendy to look poor.
The word ‘broke’ is a family favourite among students but of course there are levels to this game. The social media account ‘Pollock Overheard’ perfectly exemplifies just how out of touch some students are with reality. Indeed, a proud ‘Pollocker’ was once heard stating that her housing crisis consisted of having too many houses to choose from. Whilst I’m sure her childhood was fragmented by boarding school and holiday home visits, there are many students whose jaws would drop at such satirical ignorance. For now, that’s enough of the anti-Pollock narrative, as to a certain extent we are all privileged to receive such high-quality education.
It is, however, worth thinking about how we aim to be perceived. Why is it cooler to be poorer? Is it rubbing salt in the wound when the privileged jest about poverty because their fifth, consecutive lunch in Fettle might be pushing the weekly budget? Or is the beaten-up Dr Martens, patchwork jacket and frayed jeans aesthetic just stylistic and therefore inappropriate to police? Don’t get me wrong, it is decidedly antiquated to dress in accordance to your wealth, which many cultures still do today. So perhaps we should celebrate the rejection of hierarchical capitalist fashion of the wealthier among us, as it is certainly a more inclusive approach for people to try and look poorer than they are.
Edinburgh is often ranked around the fourth most expensive city in the UK, meaning that some students have a very different experience to others — one that runs a lot deeper than just creative presentation. Many students take on part-time jobs, share rooms or even live at home to save costs. This will naturally compromise where they can afford to shop and how frequently too.
While it’s certainly not unhealthy to embrace a more casual style and normalise not always having the funds to do everything that friends want to, it seems only right that the phrase ‘being broke’ is reserved for those who actually are. For example, one can still deserve a daily sweet treat, but the old ball and chain (the student bank account) some days just won’t allow it. That’s not being broke: it might be a sugar dependency — but no time to get into that.
To put it simply, if there’s any form of trust fund to bail you out of your monthly overspend, think twice about announcing how broke you are. Sure, we all resort to plain old pesto pasta when we’ve had a few too many fun nights out that week, but as to not diminish the less fortunate among us, hold your tongue, and enjoy that pesto pasta.
Photo by Emil Kalibradov on Unsplash