Tell me about the outfit you chose. Why do you love to wear it? When do you wear it?
The outfit I'm wearing today consists of denim jeans that are embroidered with roses and then a denim jacket that is thrifted from I don't know where. It's been handed off to me by my sister. Most of my outfits are a cuffed jean of some sort and then usually a jean top with something under it. I like denim on denim a lot and I like blocky colors. So this one is denim, and the sleeves are blocky colors. And they're also my favorite blocky colors, which is like a maroon and a blue and a dark green. I wear this outfit all the time--even when I shouldn't wear it. I would wear this on a casual Saturday. Maybe I'd wear it in my office.
What are your thoughts on the importance of fashion? Do you think that fashion is important?
Fashion is important because what you wear and how you carry yourself says a lot about you. Like with makeup, hair, or whatever you do. I consider my hair a part of my outfit. It's another way where you can kind of show the inside you. The inside you on the outside. It's an outer reflection of your personality. And I think it's important because self-expression is important.
Do you have insecurities about fashion and where do they come from?
By no means am I the most “out there” person. There are some people who are way more expressive with how they look than me. I do very weird makeup looks, I dye my hair a lot, I wear weird high-waisted outfits, and while I like that because that’s me, I do get a sense of insecurity.
When I was younger my sister told me I seemed “standoffish” just from how I looked. But I was like, “I'm the shyest person in the world. I think everybody's cooler than me!” and stuff like that. So I have an insecurity of like, if I wear this is someone gonna judge me and think I am a certain way just because I look like this? I always got noticed for the way I looked. I was like, “Oh, I feel really seen,” but then at the same time, I’m like, “Why is everyone looking at me? Stop looking at me.”
The way I dress is a little bit more outlandish than the average. I think I like it because it's who I am. And I've gotten comfortable with it, but for a long time, I was pretty insecure because anything you do like this draws attention to yourself and sometimes you just don't want attention on you. I really worried for a long time about what people were thinking about me when I looked a certain way, and then eventually that kind of turned into, “I like the way I look. So if you think that, that's fine.”
What do you hope that your clothes say about you?
I'd like people to think that I'm just super fun...I'd like it to look like I'm very accepting, and like I dress the way I dress because I am who I am, and not because I'm trying to fit a mold or something.
Sometimes I gravitate towards people that dress like me. If I see someone with piercings and dyed hair rockin’ something cool, I feel comfortable instantly. In my experience people that look like that are very expressive and kind-hearted and love it when other people express themselves. So I hope that people would look at me and think that way. I would hope that they would feel comfortable around me, like I'm really energetic and friendly and accepting.
Explain your thought process regarding your daily outfit. What is a common look for you?
I have to get out of quarantine-brain because the daily process is like no process [laughs]. I just wear the same sweatshirt every day now.
Before quarantine I usually base it around statement pieces. My friend Lee has super similar fashion senses and gives me a lot of her clothes. I like statement items. I don't really think in outfits, I think by pieces and then I try to match it to that piece. So if I have a really cool jacket, I just want to wear that jacket. And then I try to style it around the jacket. I got this jacket and I loved it. And then I was like “what can I wear with this jacket?” And what shoes look good with it? I love color coordination and just putting things together.
A lot of it is based on jackets because I love jackets. So it's like this jacket. I have a lot of bomber jackets, like my metallic pink bomber jacket, and stuff like that. Then sometimes I have wicked cool pants. I've got super high waisted dark green acid-wash jeans and I just try to think, “how can I wear these pants today?”
I will also base it on the color of my hair... Like I will literally take colors out of my wardrobe. I just dyed my hair red so I just got rid of all my red shirts almost, because I can't wear them now. Or I won't wear bright green with my red hair. Sometimes I’ll wear flower mint green. But yeah, I'm really big on color coordination and statement pieces. That's how I wear things.
One thing I noticed about you is that you don't care about the weather.
No, I don't. I never take the weather into consideration. I got that a lot at work because it'd be like 110 degrees in the summer and I was wearing a sweater dress and they were like “what?” I typically don't dress for the weather. I'm not really a shorts and tank top person. So when it hits summer, it's dangerous because I like fall fashion a lot. And I refuse to stop dressing like fall when it hits 110.
Who or what are some of your main fashion influences?
In high school it was Hayley Williams from Paramore. She dresses super cute. Maybe not quite so much anymore, but I loved Bruno Mars, and anything Bruno Mars would wear, I would wear. It was like my objective to look like I walked out of his music videos. I literally started wearing hoop earrings because he has a lyric in his song [“Chunky”] that said, “like those girls with the big old hoops.” And I literally was like, “I need hoop earrings.” And I went to the store the next day and I bought hoop earrings. I started watching his music videos and the way that people dressed in those. I was like, “oh yeah that's fun.” It's like 80s streetwear... but not neon. I love blocky colors and bright colors but not neon. I hate neon colors.
I’m very into indie fashion and high-waisted pants and Mom jeans and flashy jackets. And I just always attribute that to a Bruno Mars music video. It's always girls in high waisted jeans with big flashy jackets and hoop earrings. So Bruno Mars is my style.
Any closing thoughts?
Wear what you want to wear. I spent a long time growing up with people being like, “this looks good on you, you should dress like that because it looks good on you.” And I would just wear things that I was told I looked good in and it didn't matter if I really liked the outfit. It wasn't until a couple years ago when I had been living on my own for so long that my wardrobe was becoming clothes that I bought. I noticed slowly but surely they got really outlandish, but they made me happy.
Everything you do to express yourself should make you happy. You shouldn't feel like you're dressing to fit in with a group that you feel like you need to belong to. You should always wear things and do things that just feel like it's you. You shouldn't be worried that people aren't gonna like you or think you're weird just because you dress or look a certain way. Because if that is you then they just don't like you anyways and you don't want those friends. Just be yourself, man. Wear what you want to wear, even if it's 100 degrees, wear the bomber jacket.
