Welcome Fashionistas and Fashionistos to what I know will be an amazing semester with CollegeFashionista! My name is Julia DePalma and I am a freshman majoring in Fashion Design at Kent State University in Northeast Ohio. I am so excited for this experience, and can’t wait to begin exploring the wonderful world of street style with each of you. When I am not sewing through the night in the studio, studying or attending my Pilates classes at the Rec Center, I’m most likely rewatching episodes of Gossip Girl, baking (which is pretty difficult in a dorm), trolling Pinterest and Instagram or hanging out with friends. I also love to travel, especially in Europe, as I go every so often to visit family in Spain.
I discovered my love of fashion in the third grade—my friends and I drew outfits fit for the runways (or so we thought) in the backs of our notebooks every day at lunch. My life’s purpose has been decided ever since, and my passion has only grown over time. Designers like Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli at Valentino, and Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig at Marchesa inspire me. I absolutely love how their work is tasteful and respects past classics while still being creative and modern, which I believe is a perfect way to represent the style of today’s world. Everything that we wear references a trend or idea from the past that has been rethought to reflect contemporary values. Yet each time we open the closet doors, we are able to make our own statement of self-expression. Wonderful, isn’t it?
The real challenge is understanding how to interpret the trends and images we are given. We can’t all wear an Oscar de la Renta gown to class (although wouldn’t that be fabulous?), and it certainly would be difficult to walk across campus in the towering stilettos that strut down the catwalks. However, we can inflect our outfits with the same poise, grace and most importantly, personality, which are all themes I explore in my own blog.
I attempt to capture these qualities in my outfits each day. I would say my style is preppy (I am from New England, after all!) but also very bohemian. I love mixing the two together. In my opinion, floral crowns go fabulously with navy and white stripes. Mixing prints is never a no. Also, between cold winters at home in Rhode Island and my recent expertise with Ohio’s crippling winds, I learned to love layering and have discovered the beauty of a faux fur vest.
Kent is a beautiful place, filled with individuals that rise above the occasion, and always bring a personal touch to the fashion trends that occupy the campus. With that said, this semester, I hope to show you who and what these individuals wear. I’ll see you all on Mondays with the latest trends and street style from Kent’s campus.
