STYLE GURU BIO: Mandisa Shields

Hey Fashionistas/os! I’m Mandisa, a junior public relations major at Syracuse University. I can’t believe this is already my third semester at CollegeFashionista, and I’m so excited to kick it off with you!

This past summer, I had a major style overhaul and since then my new style has slowly been blossoming and revealing itself to me. I’m into dark colors, especially black, as well as fabrics and prints like denim, plaid and fur (faux of course!). I like layers, simplicity and minimalism. A lot of my outfits give off a masculine grunge vibe, which I couldn’t be happier about since I’m obsessed with ’90s fashion.

For this look, I’m wearing an oversized denim shirt paired with distressed black jeans and a plain dark gray T-shirt. I was feeling sporty, so I decided to wear a pair of running shoes. I topped it all off with a black wide-brim fedora, which has pretty much become my signature hat. Usually around this time of year, an outfit like this would leave me freezing, but the way global warming is set up I was able to get away with a coat-free look.

One of my major style inspirations this year has definitely been Kanye West. Not only do I admire the minimalism and military vibes of his Yeezy fall 2015 line but I’m obsessed with his fashion origin story as well. Kanye faced a lot of difficulty finding investors, designers and fashion houses to support his line because most had him pigeon holed as a rapper and producer. As we all know, Kanye persevered and used his style to break free of the bonds others placed on him as well as to truly express himself.

This is exactly what I want to do with the platform I’ve been given here at CollegeFashionista! Be sure to check out my page on the first of each month for a new post as well as my personal blog and YouTube channel.

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