Hello, fashion lovers and style enthusiasts! My name is Amanda Mbuya (let me help you with the latter: “boo-yah”). I’m a Southern girl, born and raised in the sunny state of Florida. Often times, people link Florida with: retirement, vacation, cheesy Hawaiian shirts and uncomfortable floral patterns. However, Florida is anything but drab when it comes to style! Growing up down south, you cannot help but be creative when it comes to what you wear when the weather is so temperamental. One day, the weather can be a hot and humid 90 degrees, and then shift to a chilly 40 the next. Not only that, but the vibrant colors that come off of the forestry and overall landscape are a dream to an artist’s diverse palette.
I am currently in my second year at the University of South Florida, studying Marketing with a minor in Public Relations. In the long run, I would love to be a reputable stylist. I would also love to regularly write and become a creative director for companies like Vogue or Complex Magazine.
As it relates to my own personal style, I tend to combine edgy and girly pieces with a bohemian finish. Think of the dark colors and cuts found in Bianca Jagger’s closet, mixed in with the light details of a typical Audrey Hepburn outfit in the ‘70s. For my summer style, I was inspired by the details found in the spring/summer 2015 Elie Saab couture collection. More often than not, when I’m trying to put an outfit together, I try to pick out a particular piece of clothing or color that I’ve been eyeing and orient my entire outfit around that particular piece. This saves me a lot of time in the morning, and allows for my time to be allocated towards other things, such as ogling over the CollegeFashionista tag on Instagram or keeping up with my favorite beauty gurus on YouTube over some Tanzanian coffee.
For this week’s post in particular, I decided to work around this amazing tribal dress that I happened to find at Forever 21. The colors within the garment went well with a vintage caramel vest I thrifted. I then added some chunky, silver jewelry that I also found at Forever 21, followed by some cool, gray booties that I picked up from Old Navy; nice, light and fashionable—a Florida girl’s dream.
Keep up with my posts on CollegeFashionista this semester and remember to have a RAD week.
