Well, it was bound to end eventually. Thankfully, we still have some time left before the autumn air blows through — or at least, I hope so. Either way, a new school year is upon us, which means new classes, new people, new memories, and probably new clothes.

It's funny how something as basic as a new shirt can become significant at the start of a new year. Let's face it, half the people we run into during the day (or when we're out at night) have a small likelihood of recognizing last season's wardrobe, while the other half we haven't even met before. Yet, we still buy new clothes, thinking that somehow we look better in what is new.

So where does this confidence materialize from? Truthfully, it isn't subliminally woven into the garment fibers. It must have more to do with this idea of starting over, starting fresh, out with the old and in with the new. Even more peculiar is how fast that idea fades, until it begins to repeat itself. It's like listening to an inexplicably amazing song for the first time: You listen to it over and over again for a certain amount of time until you grow sick of it, and it becomes replaced with the next new song.

We tend to do this in many aspects of our lives: relationships, hobbies, hair color, food, friendships, even fragrance choices, to name a few. As we grow up, we change; it's only human nature. Yet it is that idea of embracing change that single-handedly can frighten and simultaneously thrill. I guess that's what the start of a new year really is: a bittersweet symphony of emotion and reality. What's even stranger is how change always seems to come in multiples and all at the same time.

Despite all this, the question still stands — how much does change honestly change us? Can a new pair of pants really make us different people? Taking them off at the end of the day, are we the same people who put them on only a few hours prior?

Looking at that question you might think, "Well, that's ridiculous! Clothing can't change you; It's just fabric!"

Badgers head coach Bret Bielema might disagree. When he changed their uniform this year, making their bottoms the same cool crimson as their jerseys, he anticipated instilling a new "identity" in his players.

So far, his plan is working — but is it really their new uniform? I guess a more appropriate question would be: Does it matter? If the idea of starting fresh with something new gives us confidence, happiness and even strength, shouldn't it just be accepted as an inexplicable aspect of life? Maybe we need change, even if it's just a little bit, to keep us going. Getting a new pair of shoes may help us stand a little taller, hold our head a little higher and smile a little wider, but more than anything else, maybe those new shoes help us walk right on through a new day — a day that might have otherwise been a little harder to get through.

I myself have always embraced change; I think it's healthy and endlessly beneficial. How are we supposed to learn about ourselves if we don't step out of our comfort zone? It's important to meet new people, try new things, take random courses and even go to meetings for clubs you think you'd never join. You never know what you might end up loving or who you might end up meeting. Ignorance may be bliss, but experience is invaluable. It is through experience and conditioning ourselves that we change and develop — it is what makes us pick up that new top that we would have walked right past a year ago. It is what makes us become the people we were meant to become.

The truth is, we are constantly faced with new situations, some more prominent than others. Starting a new school year mimics the feeling of New Year's: We all make resolutions we'll never keep and meet people we'll never talk to again. But we simply need to do that. It's what gives us that initial push to change.

Your back-to-school clothes might not do anything but make you feel a bit better about yourself — but truth be told, that's all they really need to do. At the end of the day, we may be the same person we began as — but then again, maybe not.

Sydney Burdick is a sophomore intending to major in fashion journalism. Have fashion questions? E-mail them to [email protected].