Overalls over all

Thursday evening comes and the citizens notice the overalls everywhere. They are the most common uniform in Jyväskylä and the most comfortable piece of clothing you will ever have – you can do anything with those and you never wash them. Overalls are ordered every autumn and are delivered before the Overall Oath Party in the end of September.

Overalls are the symbol of being student in Finland. Each study field has their own color in Jyväskylä yet the colors vary from each city and university. The history of overalls begin from 1970s when Swedish academic students had their overalls and ten years later the overalls came to Finland and started to spread around University students. Universities of Applied Sciences are quite new organization, JAMK is 21 years old, and overall fashion has been affiliated from other schools. In Norway I’ve seen overalls are more about when you are finishing high school. Correct me if I’m terribly wrong.

It’s not just having your overalls, you need to show that you have done something with them. Collecting overall badges is very common way to show your party status, support for some companies or your ideology. In my overalls I have more than 60 badges (haven’t really counted those….), maybe 10 brooches, 2 leis and a chain of glow sticks. It’s getting harder to be in crowded places without losing anything of my “extras”, but hey, you can always find something new to decorate it with!

How to stick up your overall badges? Use glue, safety pins, sew by hand or machine – it’s up to you! I’m sewing all my badges by hand and none of them have fallen off, which is quite bad mistake to happen unlike with the “extras”. Some may find the sewing hard, but I enjoy it. You can find badges sewn by me from at least 7 overalls. 😉

Sewing cheers from international and degree student tutor responsible Taija ♥