Here in Alaska everyone knows the importance of staying warm through the seven to eight-month winter we have. It’s all about piling on the layers and keeping your skin covered as you make your trips through the cold. Is looking like a marshmallow a cute style? What is more important: looking cute or staying warm? Why not both? Females tend to hold a little more style than the guys do. For the girls the popular winter attire includes UGG boots, North Face jackets, Woolies gloves, headbands with cute flowers on them to cover their ears and puffy jackets that can be found at REI along with other stores. The motto for REI coats is “Never be Cold.” Chelsea Bennet, a freshmen at UAA, works at REI and sees what winter clothing appeals to most people. She said, “At REI, the two most popular winter coats include North Face and Primaloft. Most often seen is the puffy jacket, this is the Denali North Face. With this jacket it is important to wear layers underneath because although it may look thick it isn’t very heavy or dense.” Bennet reminds us that the throat and head are the areas where we lose most of our body heat. This is why wearing scarves is very important. “Scarves are in style and ridiculously warm!” said Bennet, “It is very important that you keep your hands and feet warm as well, because your hands and feet are the number one frostbitten areas.” When asked what she suggested to keep hands warm she said, “Woolies! The store Woolies has cute and warm gloves that give you the option of showing or covering your fingers without taking the entire glove off.” When it comes to staying warm in the winter time it’s all about the layers. It’s easier to simply take layers off if you get too hot than to have not enough layers on and be cold. Bennet shared, “I wear UGG boots over long socks to keep my feet warm and show stylish layers, Alpaca gloves from Woolies for my hands, a puffy jacket with a thin vest over it, usually yoga pants, because I dance every day, or leggings, and to keep my head and ears warm while looking cute I wear those stylish headbands with the flowers on them.” According to the UGG’s website, UGG boots started production in 1974 in Australia and have been exploding with popularity in Anchorage Alaska over the past five years. Last year the popular colors were mainly neutrals with one or two boot lengths. This year there has been an uproar of vibrant colors being released at UGG stores. Some of the more expensive UGG boots have sparkles on them. Heights range from mini to mid to tall and then to ultra tall. According to “Travel and Leisure Magazine” Anchorage has been voted the worst-dressed city in America. With the unpredictable weather Anchorage has, it’s not always easy to dress fashionably. J.C. Suenram, a senior at Dimond, had this to say about the “Travel and Leisure Magazine” report. “We are dressed worse because we are dressed for more utilitarian purposes rather than style.” Suenram, who has lived in Anchorage his whole life, knows the importance of staying warm. Dimond varsity volleyball player Anastasia Lavern, who has lived in Anchorage most of her life, said, “ I feel like we kind of do dress really bad, but it is freezing so trying to dress cute isn’t really going to help us, it’s more about being comfortable.” Lavern is hoping to escape the blistering cold Alaska offers when she goes off to college. In conclusion, Anchorage does deal with extreme weather with every season it has, so it’s sometimes the better choice to bundle up with layers upon layers to keep yourself warm. Everyone has the choice to dress how they want and however they are comfortable.