The Couture of Particle Physics, or

Who You Callin' Scruffy?

"Physicists, I concluded, have an image problem. For too long we have neglected our own shabby appearance..."

From a letter to Physics Today, July 1998, by Jeremy Levy of the University of Pittsburgh

"Physicists often get into the habit of looking somewhat scruffy..." Malcolm Browne, "Scruffy Is Badge of Pride, but Some

Physicists Long for Cool," The New York Times, July 21, 1998

"My ambition is to live to see all of physics reduced to a formula so elegant and simple that it will fit easily on the front of a t-shirt." Leon Lederman, in "The God Particle."

When the ultimate t-shirt moment arrives for the Theory of Everything, Fermilab will be ready. We may not have the formula, but we do have the t-shirts. We're wearing them. Elegant and simple -- the dernier cri in fashion at the energy frontier. Indeed, late summer attire in this fin de siecle season at America's forefront laboratory for particle physics includes a multitude of variations on the timeless t-shirt theme. These classic knitted garments are being worn in every shade from dazzling white right through the (visible) spectrum, many exquisitely emblazoned with logos of the world's trendiest physics conferences.

The fashion craze that took the particle world by storm this summer featured the soignee look of Hawaiian shirts every Friday. The legions of fashion-savvy summer students who, each June, descend on Fermilab from the nation's university physics departments started the trend; and by July, island-inspired rayon was showing up on stylish backs throughout the laboratory.

Very now, very "in": les blue jeans and le polo in the control rooms and detector halls that embody particle chic at Fermilab, although a daring few at fashion's cutting edge are turning up (and turning heads!) in khaki shorts, a retro look harking back to late last month.

Cotton shirts in plaids and stripes are also tres hot just now, with sleeves cropped daringly just above the elbow, and two tiny buttons, one at each tip of the collar. We're seeing them neatly tucked in, for a pulled-together effect, or hanging loose at the waist, as a daring statement of je ne sais quoi. As autumn's chill advances, we predict a move toward flannel, where again, vibrant plaids will predominate, following a fashion trail blazed by the style cognoscenti of the laboratory's Technical Division over the last 25 years.

As always in the chi-chi world of high-energy physics, accessories make the outfit. The pager, most often in elegant matte black, turns up clipped to belts or peeking out of a pocket. Are those Palm Pilots we've spotted accessorizing the avant garde in the Computing Division? And, with the timeless elegance of a perfect strand of pearls, the pocket protector never goes out of Fermilab fashion.

What of the well-turned-out foot this year in quark country? Socks with sandals are making quite a splash, with socks in white, to coordinate with t-shirts. Steel-toed shoes are still very big, for a rugged, industrial-chic effect. Poolside, dark socks with wingtips, worn with simple trunks and a towel, impart an exotic eastern-European flavor to prairieland physics gatherings.

And watch for these: The Occam's Razor cut, the long, streaming lines of the red shift, and, for the long-term future, the theory-of-everything t-shirt, elegant and simple--our picks for the ultimate in physics fashion. You heard it here.

by Judy Jackson