It finally snowed. Therefore, it’s finally winter.

In Boston, winter usually arrives in late October and brings with it hats and scarves, hot cocoa and apple cider, weekends spent in with roommates and T-rides from campus to the Prudential Center simply to avoid the wind.

Also, yoga pants, North Face jackets and Ugg boots.

Since freshman year, I’ve heard that specific outfit referred to as the “Northeastern girl uniform.” Personally, I’ve had a North Face since high school, and honestly, who doesn’t own yoga pants? At that time I swore I could make do without Uggs – after all, they were ugly and “stupid.” But by sophomore year I realized my mistakes and had a pair on my feet before the temperature’s first dip into the low 40s.

This year’s delayed winter meant they left my seasonal box later than usual. I happened to be on the phone with a friend in North Carolina as I pulled them out.

“You have Uggs?” he asked, not pegging me as someone who’d own them.

“Yes, I have Uggs. I live in Boston,” I reminded him.

Apparently girls in North Carolina also wear Uggs. As did girls in my Missouri high school. As does Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

Years ago when the quintessential sheepskin boots first arrived from Australia, people wore them to be cool. Now we wear them to be warm. They also help to avoid frostbite, which is rather practical if you like your toes.

It’s wrong to dub them an essential piece of the Northeastern uniform under the pretense they’re worn for aesthetic reasons only. North Face jackets fall prey to the same flawed logic. As do yoga pants. They’re real appeal is comfort and warmth – which I’m not sure is limited to Huntington Avenue.

If anyone needs proof, my experiences visiting a friend at Emerson supply it. Girls galore hop from dorms to classes to the gym to coffee shops in this very outfit. Plus, theoretically, isn’t their campus colder because of the city’s vicious wind tunnels and close proximity to the water? Take Suffolk into consideration, and it should be renamed the “Downtown Crossing area colleges” outfit. I don’t think it’s so much the “Northeastern uniform” as it is the “private-university-student-in-the-winter uniform.”

Let’s be real. Many of the students who attend a private university probably aren’t scouring the shelves of Walmart to stay warm. We have slightly high budgets and like nice things – have you seen our designer bags and smartphones, or the Crime Log’s endless catalog of items we leave lying around? Our boots and outerwear are no different.

Name brands like Uggs and North Face are easy to find in stores, reliable, have warranties and come in a variety of styles and colors. It simplifies what could be a painstaking hunt for clothing critical to surviving the winter.

Personally, I don’t have time to look for less stereotyped but equally effective jackets or boots. When I needed Uggs, I asked my friends where to get the best deal (Zappos.com). When I left my North Face at a party sophomore year, there was no question whether or not I’d buy the exact same jacket. And when I realized I really needed a waterproof coat after a season of Boston drizzle, I found myself back at the North Face store.

The question is, are we just snots or just cold? Is this phenomena limited to Huntington Avenue or does it extend across the country? My guess is the latter in both cases.

So tuck those yoga pants into your Ugg boots, grab that forest green Longchamp, zip up your North Face and brave the cold to get to class.

Just don’t forget your phone.

– Sarah Moomaw can be reached at [email protected].