With the first day of classes approaching quickly, a large percentage of the Brandeis community is pondering what it will wear and how it will express its personal style on the first day of class. And, we all know, there is a large percentage that is not. Whichever group includes you, you could probably benefit from the following tips; even the best of us comes to class in sweatpants and a beater in the winter when we feel like waking seven minutes before class starts, and the building is seven minutes away. This means (and I know, firsthand) that people come to class without taking a shower, changing their clothes or even brushing their teeth!

There are, however, several preventive measures anyone can take to appear fashionable and put-together on those lazy winter Mondays (or any day of the week, for that matter). This is very practical advice since everyone on campus will be sleep-deprived, sick or hung-over at least one class day this year. As any true fashion fighter will tell you, these tiny obstacles should never lead to defeat. Instead, use them as motivation to help you create the perfect "I put no thought into this but still look great" outfit.

First, a little coordination goes a long way. Since it doesn't take much cognitive processing to recognize that black and black go together, this is something anyone can do, if he or she remembers.

One coordination law that should never be broken is the belt and shoes rule. This means both articles need to coordinate according to color and material: if you are wearing black leather dress shoes, a cloth belt is definitely not as appropriate a choice as a leather one. If you really want to wear the cloth belt or are in a big hurry, flip-flops are a great choice.

Too cold for sandals? Fashion tennis shoes also go well with the cloth, or driving mocs with a casual brown leather. The possibilities are endless. If you coordinate, however, people will definitely notice (or, at least they will notice if you do not) and it will look like you selected an outfit rather than random pieces of clean (or dirty) laundry.

Another rule, not related to clothing, is to maintain your hair. No matter what, bed head is the number one indicator of zero-effort. If you don't have time to take a shower and know that you can't fool anyone into believing that you did, wear a hat!

Personally, I think girls look really cute in baseball caps-with short hair, long hair in a ponytail out the back, long hair behind the ears, curly hair, straight hair-any thing you do is helpful. And most guys know they can wear baseball caps all the time if they want. A great aspect of baseball caps is that there is virtually one for everyone: they come in all colors, with everything from sports teams to Rene Lacoste's lucky crocodile on their fronts.

Even better news: if you coordinate your hat (baseball, bucket, fedora or any other style) with the rest of the outfit, no one will ever guess that you just woke up!

Now, some advice for the first five days of class: don't overdo it. I know it's quite tempting to wear extravagant clothing to show just how much you care about learning, but you may be setting yourself up for disaster. You don't want to be the student whose outfit everyone notices and judges every day, especially in the winter when you want to get sloppy or informal.

Wearing a pair of nice jeans and a button-down or polo is a perfect way to start off the school year. This fall's trends are probably the best I've seen in a while. For men, it's duffel coats, plaid, and oversized sunglasses. For women, the trends include black, gold and red accessories and accents. From bold jewelry to sexy stiletto pumps, this fall is all about being over the top; but as I said before, be wise. One way to be smart about trendy fall clothing is to display only one trend at a time. Similar to the old rule about not flashing too many designer names at once, wearing too many trends is distracting and a little trashy.

The final suggestion is not to let yourself become stressed about what you wear to class, ever. The truth is, no one will ever remember, unless you come to class naked or something equally absurd. If you are trying to catch the eye of some cute guy or girl or professor, know that clothing is emotional. Especially true of men, most people will notice a person who dresses with confidence rather than with Chanel. If you just take a deep breath and a minute to pick out something that looks good and feels great, you will be all set for the entire year.