Bonjourno sparkle babies! I am so excited to be a part of the CollegeFashionista team! I’m currently a senior at Eugene Lang The New School for Liberal Arts in New York City where I am majoring in Arts in Context with concentrations in Journalism + Design and Contemporary Music. I also attend Parsons The New School for Design where I am minoring in Fashion Studies. I transferred to The New School from Berklee College of Music in Boston, where I studied Professional Music as a voice principal for three years.
I was lucky enough to have been born and raised in New York City. I come from an artistic family where creativity and self-expression have always been not only encouraged, but also celebrated. My mother is a collector of rare vintage clothing and accessories and she raised both my sister and I to view dress as an art form. One of her mottos is, “There is no box.”
Music has always been a huge part of my life and I spent the majority of my formative years pursuing the performing arts. I attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, a.k.a. the Fame school, where I was a vocal major. My high school memories are some of my fondest, and developing into young adulthood surrounded by like-minded, artistic and creatively inclined individuals greatly impacted the evolution of my personal style.
I would say that, in addition to my creative upbringing and unique high school experience, New York City has been the greatest influence when it comes to my personal style and outlook on fashion, dress and life in general. You can literally be, say, do and wear whomever or whatever you want, whenever you want. Eccentricity reigns and everyone is an individual. I strongly object to the mean New Yorker dressed in all black stereotype—in my experience it is simply untrue, and I am a living, breathing example! People move here to pursue their wildest dreams, and that energy can be felt around the turn of every corner. New York City has an inimitable, unbreakable, purely magical life force and there is nowhere else in the world that I feel as much of a sense of belonging.
My personal style very much reflects my upbringing. I buy mostly vintage and thrifted or secondhand clothing, with a few select new items sprinkled throughout. My personal style icons are Gwen Stefani, Fran Fine from The Nanny and Miss Piggy. I fully embrace leopard print as a lifestyle, my favorite color is bright yellow, and I am a sparkle queen. Other obsessions include black and white houndstooth, red lip prints and anything rainbow. We used to hate each other, but I am currently having a love affair with bright orange. Stay tuned for more sartorial musings and general fabulosity.
