Read the Ridiculous 'Fraternity Fashion' Email that Everyone's Talking About

By Julie Gerstein, StyleCaster

Women typically get a lot of prescriptive style advice thrown at them from fashion mags, blogs, and other women telling them what to wear and how to style it. But maybe women aren't the only ones: Earlier this week, a letter from an enterprising fraternity member - dubbed "the Fratshionistau" - went viral after it was published on Business Insider.

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Apparently, the "Fratshionistau" is the "apparel chair" of his Emory University fraternity (a role we heretofore didn't know actually existed), and is hellbent on seriously raising the style bar among his fellow Emory University frat bros.

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Since going viral, the letter writer has been identified as sophomore Jonathan Weiss, an English/Neuroscience major at the Atlanta, Georgia, university. Weiss takes his role as frat fashion advisor very seriously - almost as seriously as he takes statement scarves (and he takes statement scarves exceedingly seriously). He even founded his own fashion mag at Emory called EMPIRE.

Some choice words of wisdom from Jonathan's email:

"Earthy Tones: Can't go wrong with mama earth's natural beauty, or even plaid (Blake you are in luck). Extra points if you can incorporate Burgundy."

"Cuffed Paints: whether blue denims or brown oxfords, roll 'em up boys. These will pair amazingly with that pair of high top sneakers you've wanted to hit mags with."

"Statement Scarves: I know this one is a stretch for most of you that aren't Aris, but statement scarves can make your ensemble heat up as the temperatures drop."

And his biggest fashion no-no: Hemmed dress pants.

"The final part of this column, and the most important, is what not to wear. One in particular has been bugging me so I'll just come out with it, dress pants need to be hemmed. When you are sporting formal wear the most important thing is not threadcount (sorry Jaffe), but FIT! So find a local tailor and clean it up."

It was only a matter of time before Weiss himself got some national attention, and was approached by GQ. In an interview with the men's mag, Weiss said he's got a very strict way of enforcing his style philosophy. "I like to line up all the guys in the fraternity and make sure they're ready to go for the day, and they're ready to present themselves," he said.

"One thing I was noticing was that fit was terrible across the board. Obviously, there was a serious lack of statement scarves, but in general, they just weren't dressing for the fall. So I addressed how they could do that."

Read the entire email below, and head over to GQ now to read the follow-up with its very serious author.

Boys, I hope you all had a fantastic break filled with family, friends, and a lack of worry. As you being your long or short trip back to campus I hope you take the time to read this. You are poorly dressed.
I'm glad that is off my chest. Now as your apparel chair I realize this is a reflection of my poor performance, so, in order to combat this I have decided to begin a weekly fashion column for you choice men. You lucky bastards.

Anyways this column will include what is "hot stock" for the season, one designer you should definitely emulate, and more importantly, what NOT to wear. This should set you all on the correct path to being a frat fashionista, but in some of the more severe cases (I'm looking at you Liz) my door is always open to one-on-one advising. Before this e-mail gets any longer I'll start the column.

Fall 2013:

What is in this season? Glad you asked.

Earthy Tones: Can't go wrong with mama earth's natural beauty, or even plaid (Blake you are in luck). Extra points if you can incorporate Burgundy.

Cuffed Paints: whether blue denims or brown oxfords, roll 'em up boys. These will pair amazingly with that pair of high top sneakers you've wanted to hit mags with.

Statement Scarves: I know this one is a stretch for most of you that aren't Aris, but statement scarves can make your ensemble heat up as the temperatures drop.

Designer you want to be looking like:

Japanese label, Talking About The Abstraction, just released their Spring/Summer lookbook, and boys, THIS IS HUGE. Start putting the spare change in the piggy bank if you want to look like a high roller. Link below, but remember, I am not liable for your computer's water damage when you begin to drool over the keyboard.

Try Again, Bro:

The final part of this column, and the most important, is what not to wear. One in particular has been bugging me so I'll just come out with it, dress pants need to be hemmed. When you are sporting formal wear the most important thing is not threadcount (sorry Jaffe), but FIT! So find a local tailor and clean it up. This message holds true even if you are going to a date party with that cute Theta or headed to that interview with Bain. But I am all about being constructive with my advice, so I'll give you an option to up your formal wear game…

Look sharp and keep the bank unbroken by putting on this J Crew Ludlow Suit.

Thanks for your time bros, I hope you take all of this to heart and make a concerted effort to look good, it'll go a long way, trust me.

Love & Respect,
Your Fratshionistau

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