I usually greet people with a “yo!”…but I’ll spare you guys from that. So hi, I’m Maggie Callaghan (obviously) writing to you from my bedroom floor in Baltimore, Maryland. I am currently a sophomore at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (yes that does exists), double-majoring in Global Politics/Diplomacy and Journalism with a third major in Fashion, it just isn’t declared.
So somebody who reads the newspaper every morning and debates politics, how did I become obsessed with fashion? Well I would say it all began in middle school. I grew up going to a small, all-girls private school where I never the option to pick my outfits, but instead what white polo shirt I wanted to wear with an awkward and hideous green skirt that day. There was really no creativity in that. Then, in 8th grade, when I moved to Columbus, Ohio (go Bucks!) and attended public school, I realized there was a world of clothes out that did not consist of baggy lacrosse shorts and T-shirts. I quickly became obsessed with shopping, labels and experimenting with trends.
Now that I am a college student, I shake my head in embarrassment when looking back on some of my outfit choices. However, I’ve learned an important lesson from even my worst looks. Fashion is an art form, it is a way for humans to express and display our personalities. That is what I love about fashion. With clothes, you can show off all of the unique, amazing and eccentric elements of your personality, and that is what I venture to do with each of my outfits. My style is a delicate balance between a vintage, bold, alternative, outdoorsy and preppy look, which is my personality. The outfit that I am wearing above shows I how try to balance all of these different characters into one. I’m wearing an quirky but comfortable Urban Outfitters overall dress, layered with a basic white Nordstrom T-shirt, and paired the outfit with bold and trendy Steve Madden booties. To make sure the outfit was not like a five-year-old’s playground outfit, I accessorized with Kendra Scott necklaces, bold bracelets, and wore bright red lipstick to dress it up a little bit.
I have always had this philosophy that you should dress yourself the way you want to dress. It doesn’t matter what trends or colors or patterns are “in” that season because in the end you are dressing for you. And that is my goal with all my of my articles this semester. I hope people feel inspired to look at a trend and then interpret them in their own way. I have learned from my fashion experiments that trying to replicate a trend or runway look doesn’t necessarily work and it is so common today to find people that are trying to do just that. There is such an emphasis on following trends and labels, or trying to look like the celebrities that we all end up looking like clones. .
Now being the nerd that I am, I will leave you with a definition. The definition of “style” given by the dictionary is “a distinctive manner of expression.” Don’t strive to dress like the models in magazine, but dress for yourself. And you never know, you might be a trendsetter one day.
