Jaunty Jackets

Fashion Week ended a couple of weeks ago, and it affected me deeply. During the highly exclusive four weeks of fashion, the world's most stylish flock to New York City, London, Florence, and Paris to make us non-fabulous people feel inferior. And while my self-esteem takes a hit, I cannot help but gawk at the street style snaps of models.

With perfectly twiggy limbs and hair straight out of the commercials, the models populate every avenue with designer wares worth a couple of month's rent. The shoes, the bags, the dresses - I die a little on the inside and remind myself that spending $40,000 per year to go to school is a better way to spend my money. But the real object of my desire? Those jackets.

How can something so practical also make you look like such a baller? I wish classes were held outside so that I could rock my new biker jacket 24/7 instead of pretending I'm cold in the lecture hall just so people know that I am stylish. There is something so inexplicably chic about a well-cut and well-fitted jacket, and, from the streets of fashion, I bring to you my favorite looks.

high brow

The leather jacket has made a major comeback in the past couple of years, and no one has rocked this look better than Cara Delevingne. Her signature jacket is a $6,000 Burberry Prorsrum masterpiece. But for those of us with a little less funds, there are some seriously kick-ass alternatives.

h&m, $49.95

topshop, $100

forever 21, $39.80

And then, our trusty friend the parka...

please ignore the hair

...that as a swimmer I was convinced was that thing Michael Phelps wore before races. But recently I fell in love with these olive-green jackets because, I am convinced, they go with everything. As a college student, I am on the hunt for easy outfits that still look put-together. The parka is bar-none that item in the closet.

urban outfitters, $59

zara, $139

h&m, $49.95

And then, of course, the classic long wool coat that so many chic Europeans rock that it can be described as a fashion science:

her kitty is showing

I still rock the one I bought back in 2008 in an H&M in Cologne, and it's my go-to coat for instant sophistication. Wrap a printed silk scarf around your neck and take out your fly-est kicks, and you've got an instant leg-up on all of those soccer moms running around in North Face puff jackets.

asos, $151.28

modcloth, $74.99

zara, $189

And that doesn't even cover the half of it. With pea coats, and bombers, and capes, and blazers, and jean jackets, and... and... wow I'm getting excited. If only I had the money to buy all of these things. Time to go to work and make some money - A$AP!