After the Storm by Si-Yuan Kong
November – Dragons in the Sky by Jordan Knopp
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Reflections from the Mirror of Fashion
by Colleen Humfreville
Fashion is an ever-changing industry, constantly fluctuating between one style and another, all in the hopes of creating the ‘next best thing’. What exactly does it mean to be fashionable though? Is it mandatory to buy only the most current trends in order to fit in?
Let’s change the scene though, away from the fashion moguls, the overpriced vintage stores, and the ‘chic’ boutiques that are only located in the ritziest of areas.
Kimmie Lucas, a third-year transfer student, looks like one of those girls that grace the pages of Anthropologie. Wearing brown boat shoes, a green cardigan over a sunflower-colored top with delicate lace overlaying the neckline, and a khaki green skirt cinched in at the waist, she gives a modern twist to the vintage styles of the past.
Inspired by movies and fashion blogs, she first became interested in fashion as a teenager. In fact, in high school, she would often dress up with a group of her friends on a given day of the week. She was able to simultaneously fit in and stand out from the general population of her school. “It’s a way of expressing who you are, while being with people who feel the same way,” she says.
These days, inspired by clothes from the turn of the twentieth century, she also looks to television series such as “Mad Men” for ideas. Framed in the 60s, it is the female characters that Kimmie seeks inspiration from. With the majority of these characters wearing flowing dresses and tights, it is the femininity of the looks that draws her attention. “They all wear sumptuous clothing,” says Kimmie. It’s sex for the eyes.
Fashion blogs, similarly, have the same influential effect on her fashion sense. One of her favorites, http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/, includes pictures of people on the street, wearing clothes that are chic, fashionable, and noteworthy. For Kimmie, each and every person featured on the website expresses a point of view through their clothing. “It’s all about putting [on] a style,” she clarifies.
Kimmie aims to do exactly this through her clothing. In aspiring to dress like people that she sees on T.V., in movies, or online, she wants clothes that express her own personal viewpoint. Preferring quality over quantity, she’d “rather have much less but love it.” A frequent thrift shopper at Buffalo Exchange, she also sometimes buys vintage clothing and adjusts it herself for a better fit. What’s important for her is how much she has lived in her clothes, and the experiences that she has gone through while wearing them.
Take her khaki green skirt for instance. Even though she’s had the skirt for years, she cannot get rid of it because of her attachment to it. She’s lived through too many memories in it. “I love this skirt,” she says. “I remember wearing it to Comic-Con where I met Michael Cera, and on a hiking trip with my friends when it was raining.”
So much of what she sees in the media, though, is influenced by the Californian culture. Sometimes an outfit consisting of a dress or a flowery skirt just doesn’t fit in to what we know as ‘sexy’.
“I’ve walked by a club before and have seen girls with the same black dress, black hair, and a lot of make-up. You know, like Kim Kardashian wannabes. I walk by in a skirt or a flowery dress, and I laugh,” says Kimmie.
When she went to London for a 10-day trip with her Shakespeare class in high school, the environment was completely different. Compared to the fairly narrow definition of which clothes fit into what’s ‘in style’ in California, in Europe there is a willingness to explore the different styles available. There are more opportunities for people to stand out, to wear clothes that show their own point of view. Kimmie’s outfit, and her personal style, was just something that was added to the mix.
With shopping trips inspired by outfits she’s seen on T.V. or in movies, her clothes truly are reflective of who she is, and what her interests are. Just by looking at her choice of clothes, you can tell what type of movies she’s been watching – whether she’s been watching more episodes of ‘Mad Men,” or maybe a movie such as “The Brothers Bloom.”
As Roland Barthes would say, Kimmie’s sense of fashion is meant to inspire “jouissance,” to create a moment in which she can let her clothes speak for her and her influences, without actually having to say a word.
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