Hey! My name is Saanya Ali and I’m so excited to be a Style Guru this semester.
As a girl living in one of the most fashionable cities in the world, style is a big part of who I am. Not to say that I am an incredibly stylish individual, I am also just an NYU sophomore who, last year, went to get ice cream unabashedly wearing a dog onesie. Keeping up with trends is something one can’t help but do when walking streets awry with models and designers and bloggers to get to class every day.
I have loved people watching from any vantage point for as long as I can remember—from my dad’s shoulders as we traversed Turkey to Turin while living in Europe to playing soccer with kids from Bangkok to Bombay when traveling as a family. Now, living in New York, with people here from every corner of the world, the well rehearsed art of people watching takes on a whole other definition.
My style is an amalgamation of all of the different parts of who I am and, like me, is constantly evolving. Like a true New Yorker, my wardrobe is fairly black and blackish featuring various shades. I feel strong and sleek in neutrals, but I love to spice them up with a statement necklace (usually borrowed/stolen from my mom), a bold lip or a colorful scarf. But there are also those days when I wake up and feel the need to be Audrey Hepburn (as one does), so I opt for minimal makeup and classic black flats, feeling thoroughly Funny Face. Or the mornings when I think I am very Greenwich grunge and leave my room bedecked in an ’80s thrifted jacket, crocheted tights and a tattoo choker. So I guess I can say that my style varies within a spectrum (said spectrum never including pink, never ever including frills and always choosing a Manchester United jersey over anything typically girly).
Besides people watching and traveling, I also love to write, draw, photograph and run. I am never without a huge camera around my neck and as inspired by Humans of New York, I have been taking one portrait every day while living in NYC. This year, I am also interning at Cosmopolitan and working as an Admissions Ambassador at NYU.
So I guess in short, I am a confused 19-year-old girl who tries to figure out who she is and who she is going to be while spending exorbitant amounts of money on coffee. I am in a relationship with Manhattan and am a curious soul, infatuated with the art, culture and speed of the city. In this mass of humanity, everyone with their own life and story, I guess I will somehow be writing my own story as well (all in the perfect outfit, obviously).
