Kinkaid Week begins with a bang—or perhaps a pop of a collar. On Monday, Oct. 24, purple-clad Mavericks peppered the St. John’s campus, adding usually unwelcome splashes of Falcon pride. This was Dress like Kinkaid Day, when seniors got the exclusive privilege of swapping styles with their rival school in preparation for the big football game on Friday night.

“It’s a nice way to start the week,” said Dean of Students Bailey Duncan. “By the time Wednesday, Thursday and Friday get here, the week is really rockin’ and rollin’.”

Throughout the week leading up to the big game, students gear up by dressing up on different themed days.

Dress like Kinkaid Day was on Monday, with the homecoming dance that evening. Tuesday is an Upper School holiday, designated for parent-teacher conferences for faculty and rest for students.

Wednesday is Camo Day, and Thursday is Kinkaid T-shirt Day, with this year’s design submitted by seniors Diane Guo, Alice Xu, Brandon Lozano and Kacey Chapman. Friday is Red and Black Day, where students wear the St. John’s colors.

Monday’s Dress like Kinkaid Day is a chance for Mavs to don their spiffiest and silliest attire. Ensembles can range from tennis sweaters to jerseys to even the occasional ball gown.

“The boas are always my favorite thing. The feathers fall off and we find them strewn around campus for days, ” Duncan said. “They always make me giggle a little bit.”

On Dress like Kinkaid Day, senior Sophie Denham sported a shimmery gold skirt. As a member of Johnnycake, she wore a Kinkaid theater shirt as the centerpiece of her outfit.

“I would say that’s pretty on brand for me,” Denham said.

Not without honor, Mavs always practice good sportsmanship when poking fun at the Falcons. Although competitive, the two schools’ graduating classes work together to plan their game-week garb. Denham contacted a Falcon friend to exchange her uniform for her new thespian top. The two met up a few weekends ago.

“It was nice to reconnect with friends I hadn’t seen in a while,” Denham said.

Kinkaid responds to St. John’s’ annual spirit dress with an event they call “Mock-the-mavs,” where they do just that. Because St. John’s is perceived as an academically rigorous school, Kinkaid students bust out their calculators and tape their glasses to call out their rival school’s nerdiness. Kinkaid sophomore Bridget Gray, who was new to the school last year, was surprised by how engaged the senior class was with the tradition.

“Everyone does it,” Gray said. “It’s almost 100 percent participation.”

A longstanding tradition, Dress like Kinkaid Day sparks excitement among observing underclassmen as well as participating seniors. To Denham, seeing the effort everyone puts into their costumes encourages younger students to “level up” their apparel once given the chance.

“I definitely remember some seniors wearing some pretty cool stuff,” Denham said. “Last year, Matthew Perez had this awesome golden suit.”

This year’s Dress like Kinkaid Day was full of Maverick pride. The class of 2023 plans to bring that same spirit to Rice Stadium on Friday to cheer on their football team.

“I’m excited,” Denham said.