Hello to all you fellow Fashionista/os! As a first time semester Style Guru for CollegeFashionista, I am ecstatic to be able to share my style influences as a second semester student at the Fashion Institute of Technology as an Advertising and Marketing Communications major in the heart of New York City.
New York itself is such an inspiring place on its own for exclusive style. It’s truly an amazing place to run withal your fashion flare and personal aspirations. As for the Fashion Institute of Technology, I feel truly honored to be walking around with so many evolving, creative individuals that will soon be the future of the fashion industry. There is something magnificent about walking onto 27th street between 6th and 7th avenue and being warped into so many ingenious and innovative aspects of what FIT has to offer. Whether its walking past a TV interview for our schools WFIT club, a full blown photo shoot with an photography major exhibiting another fashion students work and even the feeling of everyday being your personal runway is truly an everyday “pinch me” moment.
Before the ever-changing move to the Big Apple, my love for fashion evolved from so many different situations. My parents, after a half a dozen moves, decided to settle in Northern New York (“The North Country”). The fashion statement up here was sweats and a pair of UGGs. My gold-tipped stilettos and beetle-juice striped skinnies paired with a black leather jacket weren’t needed, but I didn’t care. I’d tell myself something like, “You never know who you’ll encounter, the opportunities that could come to pass.”
After traveling the country, I appreciate deeply my relationships with various people and the amazing influence fashion and style have on cultural and societal levels. In the words of Coco Chanel, “In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.” My junior year I challenged myself to wear a different outfit everyday, for one-hundred-twenty-eight days. I wanted to see how my “Audrey Hepburn/90’s hip-hop mash-up”(some blogs I religiously read through this time period—Blair with Atlantic Pacific and WhoWhatWear), style would influence my peers and how it’d make me grow as a deliberate individual. Later throughout my year, I saw my influence, with the sight of an occasional leopard print flare or some retro high-waisted paints. I’d wanted to see if I could make a difference, be heard through what I loved; fashion.
In this next semester, I hope to continue to influence and inspire not only my peers, but also to all that do read my articles. As the fashion industry slowly adopts me into its fast, expanding life-style, I cannot wait to share my constant “pinch me” moments with you all.
