Hello, Fashionistas! My name is Jess Bowman, I’m a junior at the University of Kansas studying abroad in Florence, Italy this semester (living the Lizzie McGuire dream just in Florence instead of Rome)! This is my third semester with the incredible CollegeFashionista organization. One thing I truly love about this site is when I’m getting ready and not sure what to wear, (which happens every time I tried to get dressed) I log on here and get inspiration from (or completely copy) another Fashionista’s outfit, so it’s basically like having hundreds of virtual stylists. Bellisimo!
My style over the past couple years in college has definitely gotten more adventurous with mixing colors and textures. I owe it all to social media; such an amazing tool for finding things you like and incorporating them into your wardrobe. Instagram is my favorite social media platform and obviously, my go-to profile for inspo is CollegeFashionista (they have such great street style)! Even just following a couple fashion labels like Gucci or Dior you’ll find yourself more inspired to try and recreate a look that mimics theirs. A couple other accounts I love are: WhoWhatWear (an aggregation site with fab photos), Jenna Dewan-Tatum, a famous actress and also Channging Tatum’s wife (I shamelessly copied her Halloween Unicorn costume and it was completely amazing), or my current blogger obsession, Chiara Ferragni (she’s like the definition of a ‘cool girl’).
In my look, I tried to play with color and texture in a more unconventional way. My fab fur jacket is faux, so no worries animal lovers (I’m one too); and my red stiletto bootie-esk style shoe that is surprisingly comfortable to walk in, but I wouldn’t recommend going for a 5K, add a little extra pop to the ensemble. My acid wash jeans that I made myself. I had gotten an acid wash color that I thought was too dark and because they fit great I still wanted them; so I soaked them in a bleach and water mixture for about 30 minutes and let them dry. Then I cut the bottom of the jeans to fit my leg length (a bit on the shorter side) and frayed the edge. I also cut the knee holes and frayed those edges (I was really into the frayed look when I did these) and voilà ! Cool edgy jeans that are a little more custom.
Pairing all that with a basic white T-shirt and a triple stack of chokers; which actually happens to be my favorite thing of this outfit aside from the fur, of course! When I stack my necklaces I always try to get some variety, but still have them mesh nicely. With this stack, I picked a forest green stone choker, paired it with a leather one, and topped it off with a bone colored beaded one to give some contrast.
I hope this look will help inspire those of you who need a new fabulously casual lunch date outfit!
