In 1915, a group of seniors donned white suits to protect their clothes from the beer they drank at the Nassau Inn. The tradition lives on for this year's senior class, whose winning design for the Class of 2005 "Beer Jacket" was announced Sunday.
Over 90 percent of the senior class voted through the Class of 2005 website. The first round of voting allowed each member to select two designs from 16 choices, which varied both in logo and style. For the second round, seniors selected their top choice out of the three most popular designs.
"The high voter turnout was really encouraging," said Anne-Louise Bigliani '05, who is responsible for this year's class jackets.
Edward Shin '05 submitted the winning design, which was actually created by his brother Ernie, a high school senior. One of the last designs submitted, it features a large orange and black tiger on the back and a Princeton crest with "Class of 2005" written on the front.
"My brother is a much better artist than I am and I knew he would make something cool," Shin said.
The only inputs Shin had in the design were the number of buttons and the design of the pockets. Nevertheless, he was very impressed with the final design.
"I think it shows that our class has good taste," he said.
Because the senior class pays for the jackets, budget is the main concern. While giving the Class of 2005 jackets a unique style, Shin's blazer is a cost-effective design. In previous years, designs have had to be modified to make them more affordable.
"This design is really very feasible as far as our budget is concerned," Bigliani said.
"We're not going to have to modify it much at all so the class isn't going to get jackets that are different from what they voted for," she added.
Early in the competition, Class of 2005 President Azalea Kim was bombarded with phone calls and emails from students concerned about the possibility of donning blazer-style jackets rather than the traditional beer jacket. Most students were concerned their senior jackets would end up looking more formal than the moniker would imply.
"There was a lot of misunderstanding," Kim said.
Though the competing designs came in many different styles, Shin's design is a blazer-style jacket and does not deviate from the essentials of the traditional jacket.
"They still have beer pockets — beverage pockets, as we're calling them," Bigliani said.
The jackets will be made from the same material that has been used in recent years — a durable orange or black fabric.
"Once most people found out that these weren't going to be the lined type that you'd wear with nice slacks, the controversy died down," Kim said.
Brian Muegge '05 did not vote for Shin's design, but chose one with a similar style.
"I thought [Shin's design] was relatively tactful," Muegge said, but he found several of the other designs too outlandish.
Ranging from huge tigers to a seersucker fabric, many of the options were simply too unattractive or impractical for most of the class.
Despite the relatively subdued design of this year's senior jacket, some seniors are reluctant to make fashion waves beyond Reunions.
"I like the jacket — but I'm never going to wear it outside of Princeton," Muegge said.
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