Say goodbye to the puffer jacket and hello to the mini skirt: Spring fashion is here and warmer than ever

With the dissipation of the cold, icy tundras of the winter months comes a revival of the vivacious, spring fashion trends students are sporting on Barnard and Columbia’s campuses.

Photo by Vernon Demir/The Barnard Bulletin

By Sasha Zimet 

May 2, 2026

The scathing wrath of Punxsutawney Phil’s extended winter has finally come to a close, and with it, the radiant warmth of sunny skies and hot temperatures emerge. Yet, along with the sun’s vibrant rays, the fashionable zeitgeist of spring is too on the horizon, and Barnard and Columbia students are on the front lines of spring fashion trends. I collaborated with student photographer Vernon Demir (CC ’29) to to learn more about what students are excited to wear during the sweltering temperatures of spring. 

One of the most avid sentiments shared by students is their excitement to begin wearing all that is flowy and colorful. In tandem with the blossoming dogwood and rosy cherry blossoms, students are pairing floral patterns and bright colors with breathable silhouettes. Hikma Omer (CC ’28), pictured donning a white silk maxi skirt awash in pink tulips, noted, “I’m really excited for maxi skirts and tank tops because I like the flow of a maxi skirt.” Whereas during the bleak, frigid winter climates students were bombarded with thermal layers and chunky sweaters, the warmth of the sun offers opportunity to ditch the constrictive and wear what is billowing instead. 

Photo by Vernon Demir/The Barnard Bulletin

Olivia Callanan (BC ’28) and Livy Molko (BC ’28) shared similar excitement for the breathability provided by spring fashion, this time through footwear. Molko, pictured to the left wearing army-green capris, a tank top, and ballet flats, noted that she plans to wear flip-flops and wedges during the spring season. 

Callanan, pictured to the right pairing denim overalls with a patterned blouse, is ready to wear all that is drapey and buttoned: “I’m really excited to wear mini skirts with buttons and flowy button-ups,” said Callanan. Whether we wear a skirt, blouse, tank top, or flip-flops this spring, our clothes will ripple in cadence with the spring breeze. 

Photo by Vernon Demir/The Barnard Bulletin

Yet, just because the weather no longer requires us to, this shift in temperature does not mean layering cannot be used as a compelling addendum to spring outfits. Isabelle Jones (BC ’28), who is pictured styling a denim midi skirt with a blue-striped tank top, noted her excitement about layering two articles of clothing in particular: skirts and jeans. A nod to the early 2000s styling tactic that ran ablaze with the dress-over-jeans trend, a brightly colored or distinctly patterned mini skirt serves as a bold addition to what would otherwise be the simple, blue palettes of denim. The trend, according to Jones, is already rampant across campus: “I’ve seen that all over the Barnard campus. I’m a huge fan of it,” noted Jones. “I love the silhouette of it.” 

Photo by Vernon Demir/The Barnard Bulletin

Speaking of denim, another trend increasingly populating campus is the jort. Not long enough to be pants but not quite short enough to be considered shorts, jorts are the poster-child for the style of temporal in-betweens — much like spring itself. When asked which clothing item she was most keen on wearing this spring, Natalie Marroquin (CC ’28) responded, “Oh, jorts. 100% jorts. They’re the comfiest thing ever, and I think they just look good on everyone.” 

The jort gained its popularity during the counter-culture movement of the 1960s, when folks, “aided by a free-love, anti-authority mentality … began hacking the legs off their jeans to create shorts.” From then on, the garment stuck, and has continued to reinvent itself each time the sun creeps out, and warm weathers allow for long jeans to be refashioned into their shorter, cutting-edge alternatives. 

Photo by Vernon Demir/The Barnard Bulletin

Yet, even in the wake of the trendy deluge of jorts, skirts layered over jeans, and wedged flip-flops, the unique, one-of-a-kind nature of student spring outfits is nevertheless ubiquitous. The string tying all of these fashions together is not a singular trend or garment but instead, a shared gratitude for the inventive styles the warm season invites. 

During the winter season, it was easy to put stylistic individuality on the back burner, wearing the same puffer and pants to keep warm. “It literally looked like I had one pair of jeans and one puffer,” noted Marroquin when recalling what she wore during winter. “It looked like I had one outfit. I looked like a cartoon character.” This spring, however, we are reclaiming the pen from our animator, and illustrating an autonomous form of fashionable expression. “Just seeing everyone do different combinations finally without having to cover themselves up every single second of the day when they’re out is beautiful,” expressed Marroquin. 

Photo by Vernon Demir/The Barnard Bulletin

This winter was one of the city’s coldest and snowiest within the last eleven years, and as we were confronted with all-time low temperatures and sordid pilings of snow, our fashionable drives subdued to clunky layers, the warmest of puffers, and repeated wear of our most snow-resistant shoes. In short, the winter diluted city fashion to a repetitive slew of cycling what was warmest and comfiest. Yet, under the luminescent sun of spring, our closet is our oyster. Students and New York City residents alike can ditch the withering, overworn jackets and scarves of the cold, as the season change unfolds a fashionable haven of all that is bright, floral, dainty, and innate to spring.