Formal Friday: Since seventh grade, senior shares his fanciest face for week’s end

For many Fridays mark the beginning of the weekend and a chance to relax and let loose from the pressure expectations of the working week, but for senior Noah Wolf, it’s a chance to celebrate outwardly with his finest formal wear.

“I started doing Formal Friday midway through seventh grade. There was one other student at my school that did it, I wasn’t the one to start it. It began in March, after ‘Cabaret’ happened. I was in formal clothes for the dress rehearsals of ‘Cabaret,’ and the acts that I was in and I realized that I liked looking nice. I enjoyed dressing up. After that, I decided to start participating in Formal Friday, and here we are. I enjoy looking nice. That’s not just on Fridays. I like to look decent every day. I never wear sweatpants to school, always jeans, khakis or dress pants. On Fridays, it’s nice to put on a shirt and tie and come to school looking nice. Plus, it kind of breaks up the week, and gives Friday an extra way to be special.”

According to senior Sara Hoy, her Fridays benefit from Wolf’s decisions. “Formal Friday inspires me to also put extra effort into my day. If Noah can muster up the energy to wear formal attire on Friday, (statistically the longest day of the school week), then there’s no reason for me to be anything short of presentable any other day of the week.”

People generally care what others think, but this is not true of Wolf. “I get a lot of weird looks on Fridays, and that’s alright. There’s plenty of people that tell me I look nice, and plenty that give my crap for doing it. Makes no difference to me. If people think I’m classy for wearing formal clothes on Friday, great. People can think what they want. I’d rather people think I’m classy than not classy, so that’s a positive.”

Hoy said along Wolf’s classy side, “I’m a fan because I think it’s a great way to add some fun, something different, to an otherwise regular ol’ high school week. It always makes me smile, and even more so when other people participate.”

With fans looking forward to this, Wolf said he’s surprised that “it hasn’t really caught on. I’ve had people say that they’re going to do Formal Friday, and sometimes someone will wear a nice dress or something for a Friday, but no one else is doing it consistently like I am.Tradition has never been an particularly important value of mine, but Formal Friday is a fun tradition that I enjoy doing, so I keep up with it. I don’t do it because it’s a tradition of mine. It’s become a tradition of mine because I enjoy it.”

Obviously, Wolf isn’t in it for the recognition, but that doesn’t make them go away. He said, “The only different treatment I’ve noticed are compliments. People are much more complimentary of my clothes when I’m in formal attire than in my normal clothes, which is understandable. I don’t get any special treatment of any other kind, at least that I’ve noticed.”

Regarding what Wolf’s wardrobe choices say about him, Hoy responds with, “I think it says that he cares about himself and those around him. He puts in the extra effort to be presentable and goes the extra mile, which takes a good deal of motivation instead of just taking a cop out. Thank you, Noah.”

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.