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It wasn't long ago that sartorial distinctions among the various collegiate regions were easily identifiable by anyone with a reasonably perceptive fashion eye. Professional know-how was far from necessary to separate the three-button Ivy Leaguer from the freewheeling enrolle at a South-western agricultural college; to spot the ultra-tony undergraduate from an exclusive liberal arts school; or to distinguish between the conservatively inclined city-college commuter and the casually accoutered state-university man. With the gradual growth of Ivy influence across the country, however, local looks have lost much of their sharply sectional stamps. The lean-lined natural-shoulder profile has been adopted (and adapted) almost everywhere. Individuality is still observable, but its manifestations are increasingly subtle; the flair with which a certain suit is worn is often the only denominational difference between an MIT engineer and a UCLA Lit. Major. A working knowledge of such near-intangibles, therefore, becomes advisable for style-conscious collegians. To help provide these prerequisite insights, Playboy has prepared this regional rundown of the last and latest word on campus fashions. Read it and reap.

The East: Here in the heartland of the Ivy League, as might be expected, the conservative tradition is maintained with style and steadfastness: no surprises, few fads. To a greater degree than in any other college quarter, the three-buttoned, natural-shouldered look remains the official silhouette, with Ivy-originated olives predictably predominant, quietly complemented by perennial black and navy, plus a low-key spectrum of browns and grays. However, the English-influenced three-piece suit – especially in the Harvard-Princeton-Yale-Dartmouth circuit – is increasingly in evidence. From Penn to Amherst, hacking-model and flap-pocket sports jackets have earned equal approval in subdued Shetlands and herringbones, though a tasteful smattering of bold plaids and navy (concluded on page 116) Back to Campus (continued from page 99) blazers augments wardrobes in the lesselegant environs of such school as NYU, Cornell and Syracuse. On all campuses, the black dinner jacket is de rigueur for prom or formal, summer or winter. Beltlooped, plain-fronted trousers in deep olive and unimpeachable gray flannel are classically correct for dress wear; for fraternity parties and gridiron gatherings, extension-waistband slacks are also apropos; at state universities, tan-toned chinos are still favored for lab and seminar, Hofbräu and bull session. In dress shirts, tab is the challenger, but buttondown is still the stand-by; and for sportswear, coat-type shirts keep their edge over pullovers. Crew-neck Zipper cardigans brighten and smarten the sweater scene; and when the autumn weather sharpens, lodens and duffer-type coats in warm laminates and shaggy shearlings will be taking their biggest outing yet. In wetwear styles, standard tan is supplemented this season by black, navy and olive hues, and even by a few muted plaids. White crew socks are a must on the quad, particularly at non-Ivy schools. At clubbier colleges, the Continentally inspired ascot has become an informal fashion item. Crowning the Eastern ensemble are the jaunty Tyrolean in green or bronze velours, rakishly right for on-campus casual wear; and the narrow-brimmed, center-creased felt hat in dark olive, gray or pumpkin, a heads-up choice for dressy weekend drives to New York, Boston or Philadelphia.

The Midwest: The outline is Ivy, but collegians from Minnesota to Purdue have added individual accents and innovations that distinguish them subtly but surely from their more conservative counterparts in the East. Though omnipresent olives set the color tone – augmented by traditional black, navy, browns and grays – the sartorial spectrum is enlivened by such offbeat shades as putty and brown-gray, and even by buoyant light blues. Cuffless, short-coated Continental stylings have made modest inroads on the classic look in suitings; and even the two-button sports jacket has found an outpost of limited acceptance. As in the East, dress occasions demand belts in preference to extension waistbands. The formal-wear, drill is strictly black. For casual wear, beltless slacks are still a stylish staple. Buttondowns and tabs are almost neck and neck in campus collar favor, but the short-pointed, button style is beginning to make its presence known. Following the Eastern trend, conventional coattype shirts outrank pullovers, but with a decidedly Midwestern burst of colors and patterns – especially stripes – in both sport and dress models. High-V-necked sweaters in unrestrained tints and rugged self-patterns are preferred to the new zipper-front crew cardigans so popular in the East. Warm laminates and shearlings have already become a wintry basic. Classic tan in raingear has been inundated not only by East-inspired navy and olive but by a plethora of plaids and iridescent tones. In sockwear, Argyles and crews set a brisk pace, led by standard whites as the number-one knock-about necessity. Small-brimmed felts are tops for townwear, but the soft-cloth casual hat has made real headway into Tyrolean territory.

The South: Mellowed Ivy is the prevailing profile – an informally impeccable adaptation of the conservative Northern model, olive-oriented as else-where, but tastefully tinged with soft golds, tans and browns in addition to fundamental black and navy. And though the Southland may not have given birth to the blues – it has institutionalized some of the jazziest tones from the cerulean spectrum; lighter blues are as big and bold as all outdoors from Williamsburg to Baton Rouge. Not that Southern scholars don't play it close to the vest in other ways: matching waistcoats, offhandedly dressy in lightweight Dacron-wool blends and worsted flannels, have all but stolen the suit scene. Up dated with soft-toned stripes and plaids, seersucker is the featherweight favorite in both suits and sports jackets on Deep South campuses. A more rigorous sartorial standard is enforced in the Southwest, where mill-finished worsteds are the order of the day; blue blazers are virtually obligatory; understated tweeds and Shetlands get the knowing nod for jacket wear; and Ivy-tailored corduroys are advised for casual occasions. On formal evening in the cooler climes of such school as William and Mary and the University of Virginias, black dinner jackets are worn in winter, white ones in the spring; though the latter are seen year round in the balmier environs of Vanderbilt and Rollins. At tradition-bound tulane, even the classic cutaway makes an occasional appearance. Slack styles parallel Northern trends: belt loops for dress, beltless, to some extend, for sport. Preference in collars runs strongly pro-buttondown, but the tab (particularly snap-type) has been gaining adherents. On the sport-shirt front, the South reverse the national norm: pullovers out pull button-front models – except at the state universities, where cost-type shirts keep their substantial lead. Southern climates are too mild for heavy outer wear, but topcoats in gabardine, tweed and cheviot of varying types, weights and lengths are in great demand for protection from chilly evenings, and for vacation visits and football junkets north of the Mason-Dixon. In rainwear, oyster- and natural-toned poplin is the favored fabric, balmacaan the favored style, with adaptable zip-out linings of wool or pile. The wool jersey raincoat, too, has a sizable contingent of Southern sympathizers; and there is some evidence that the private-eye-type trench coat is on the comeback trail. In the headgear department, the trimbrimmed, center-creased university hat and the ubiquitous Tyrolean are widely accepted on all campuses.

The West Coast: It is here, along the palm-fringed shores of Southern California, and to a lesser extent, on the rugged coast of Washington and oregon, that the Ivy influence enjoys its most exuberant mutations and contradictions. Sober olives, black and browns coexist peacefully, and somehow stylishly, with uncompromising blues, golds and even red – a major wardrobe element. From Yakima to San Diego, suits are worn in uniformly and uncharacteristically subdued medium and dark tones, and formal clothes in basic black, side by side with bright flannel blazers, madras and plaid sports coats. At USC, for instance, although black, charcoal, gray and deep olive are the official suit shades, jackets appear in solid bright hues ranging from light blue to fireengine red. The less benign clime of the University of Washington calls forth sturdy 'suits of quiet tweed and herringbone; but sunny Saturdays find Seattle's streets throning with striped-and checked-jacketed undergraduates. Thanks to a surf season that lasts from late April through October in Oregon and Washington, and year round in Southern California, coastal campus life and, therefore, college wardrobes revolve around the beach. Fly-front Hawaiian-length trunks, button-collar sport shirts of every color and design (worn with tails out), cotton walk shorts (coordinated with crews, never with knee hose) and commodious, garden-variety sweat shirts (often with sleeves removed for added freedom) – all are considered indispensably correct for beach wear by California's nonconforming collegians. Classic loafers and canvas shoes are in on street or strand; white bucks are regarded as excessively formal. When it rains, most West Coast college men cloak themselves in comparatively conservative oyster poplin balmacaan-style raincoats. The majority go bareheaded, but for those who dig headgear, the styles are animatedly individual. At Stanford, the Ivy-styled hat, raw-edged with Californian casualness, is greatly admired by the more formally inclined; the bold-patterned cloth sports-car cap is in favor at the University of Washington; and at USC, a floppy canvas rain hat oft crowns the heads of campus cognoscenti. Geographically and otherwise, these spirited styles are a long way from the wellsprings of Ivy inspiration, but all are traceable, however tenuously, to that single broadening tradition.