Lighting up the paths with a colorful array of button-down shirts, Dr. Eric Denby, Instructor in History and Social Science, has become well-known on campus for his creative style. Donning everything from spotted and striped patterns to quirky graphics of peacocks, Denby relates his fashion to his personality and identity. This fabulous wardrobe began before Denby started teaching at Andover, primarily being built from two of his go-to stores.
“My last year of teaching at the University of Illinois, I started wearing these shirts. I basically just decided I’d like to look pretty, and I like color. I no longer cared what anybody thought, and it sort of freed me to go a little nuts. There’s a company called ‘Hooshops’ and there’s another one called ‘Hardaddy,’ they’ve got crazy shirts. You can get Star Wars shirts, you can get a shirt that’s just a giant turkey…They’ve got all those novelty [shirts], and then they have subtler things,” said Denby.
Besides being visually enjoyable, Denby’s shirts reflect his spotlight-loving personality. With his eye-catching shirts, Denby often receives smiles and laughter from both students and parents. He explained his philosophy on how brightening others’ days lets him maintain positive energy.
“My personality is loud and gregarious. I sort of like being the center of attention, which makes me a good teacher. It just sort of fits to have these shirts that give me notice. But even more so, really, it’s for the smiles on people’s faces. Last year, during family weekend, at least three parents who came to those miniature classes we do, raved about the shirts. They sent me emails saying it just brightened up the day. ‘Your class was fun, but the shirt made it even better.’ If it can brighten someone’s day as well as my own, I mean, it’s hard to be sad or depressed or angry for too long in the shirts that I wear,” said Denby.
Other than his shirts, Denby is also known for wearing colorful and unique socks. Preferring to stray away from standard methods of styling, Denby coordinates through matching colors between his socks and shirts. He explained how his fashion centers more around being fun and unique rather than following traditional approaches.
“I try to match whatever possible to the shirt. The traditionalists would say your socks should match your trousers, but I try to have the same color scheme. I just like to be coordinated. For most of my life, I wore black socks or white socks. I wore basic polo shirts. [Now,] I’m just having fun buying colorful pants and colorful shirts,” said Denby.
Along with providing himself an outlet of self-expression, Denby’s fun shirts also reflect the energy he brings to the classroom. In class, Dr. Denby uses his shirts to emulate a spunky environment and even offer social commentary. Elise Zhang ’26, a student in his History 300 class, commented on her observations of his style and her admiration for his coordination.
“The majority of the shirts that I’ve seen him wear, they’ve all had funny graphics on them or graphics that make a statement. I remember one of them had these rainbow animals or something, and then in class, he was talking about how he uses his shirts to be really fun and expressive to show his stance on things such as pride support. Something else I noticed is that pretty often his shirts coordinate with his socks as well, which I find really interesting. It’s such a cool way to tie an outfit together,” said Zhang.
