Fashion has always been about change and reinvention. Every season, another new style is embraced by a pioneering designer, while countless others are rehashed and reinterpreted. Every month, the fashion bibles proclaim the latest “it” bag, shoes and clothes, prompting yet another trip to the high street. The constant flux and flow of what’s in or out, from the tame (eg. black) to the wild (eg. furry Birkenstocks), only goes to show the ephemeral nature of this industry. I hope to be able to document how style shifts on the runway translate into the real style of real people around the world.
My name is Emily Cheng, and for my second semester writing for CollegeFashionista, I will be shifting my lens from the urban streets of Hong Kong to the red brick campus of the University of Pennsylvania, examining how Ivy League students balance work, play and style.
“Ivy League style” is typically marked by an abundance of preppy half-zip sweaters, salmon pink shorts and Sperry Top-Sider classic boat shoes, but this stereotype is shattered every day by fashion mavens on campus ranging from minimalists to bohemians to rockers. As a part of numerous fashion organizations at the University of Pennsylvania, from The Walk fashion magazine to the Penn Fashion Collective, I’ve seen proof of an innovative approach to fashion among our pupils that has allowed us to stage stunning fashion shows each semester and curate avant-garde editorials. This semester, I hope to offer a look into these creatives’ lives (and wardrobes), and to showcase the way in which they approach fashion on a daily basis. With this semester has come a change of place, and hopefully a change of pace.
