Hey all!
My name is Paola, or “Sonj” for an alternative that is barely shorter and not at all relevant to my first name. And while it’s true that I’ve had several nicknames afforded to me over the years, my identity ambivalence has manifested itself in more ways than just that one. Stylistically speaking, some days I’m preppy, some days I’m Instagram trendy and some days I’m feeding the over the top style monster inside of me. But regardless of what I’m sporting on any given day, a couple of things stay the same: I am a half Brazilian, half French, Miami-grown 19-year-old student at New York University.
To my parents’ mild concern, I am beginning my sophomore year with a still undecided major, and only a cloudy idea of what the future holds career and academics wise. But that doesn’t stop me from trying my best to figure it—and myself—out. Being a Style Guru for CollegeFashionista gives me an incredible starter platform to explore my two greatest passions: writing and fashion. Writing is a skill that I took my time to curate, but fashion has been with me from the start (think toddler-sized me in a yellow and white floral denim romper cuffed at the ankles, paired with velcroed white sneakers—thanks, mom) and has grown with me along the years. And as the saying goes, you grow from your mistakes, as I surely did after a handful of pleated harem pants and one too many failed color-blocking attempts. But those mode missteps are the ones that have led me to the place that I am now (both literally and figuratively), and have helped me understand clothes and fashion in a way that some people don’t; as an art and a form a self-expression. What I wear isn’t really a concrete representation of who I am, but more of a fluid ever-changing communication of how I feel. And that’s pretty much what I hope to capture in these coming weeks and months: people taking items of clothing and turning them into something so much greater than just pieces of fabric.
For my first ever post, I decided to keep my outfit simple and and representative of some of this season’s most prevalent styles (#chokerlife #offtheshoulder #blockheels). Most people would think a white t-shirt and jeans combo make for a boring outfit, but not I. Instead I say, “add frills and other seemingly unnecessary embellishments and call it street style!” But really, fashion isn’t all fun and games, or fringes and frills. Fashion is about pushing boundaries, both your own and those of the society around you. And sometimes, fashion is about feeling a little (or a lot) uncomfortable for choosing to wear what you want to wear rather than what others want to see you wearing. Besides, when it comes to your wardrobe choices, you should always wear the fringed pants in the relationship.
