In honor of New York Fashion Week, we invited students to tell us who inspires their style and what they think of this season’s trends in our Picture Prompt “Fashion Idols.” Here’s what they had to say:
The good, the bad and the ugly of this season’s trends
The modern fashion world has been bringing back trends from the past, and as a fellow trend follower, I have no complaints. I love vintage style outfits that scream chic and clean, a reflection of Audrey Hepburn or Chanel. I think my style inspiration comes from various different pupils and culture…I incorporate everything that catches my eye into my wardrobe. I am very decorative of plain outfits, and most style them with jewelry.
The fashion world today is immensely diverse and constantly changing. From bright neon shoes to see-through pants, the fashion trends of the modern world is borderless. Personally, I absolutely love most fashion trends as they seem to reflect different values and personas. One of the most recent trend of soft pastel colors has come to especially catch my attention. I have recently started styling pastel as a staple piece with one or two bright colored statement pieces.
Today’s fashion trends are something that I’ve been doing for rather a long time, wearing hoodies that are 2 sizes too large or and semi baggy jeans is something that I’ve been doing since my junior year. I love the trend about wearing a chain around the pockets of clothing, or the revival of overalls and the different styles of wearing them that everyone has. 90’s fashion has been revived as well, and I really like the colorful energy that it brings when hybridized with the darker parts of rap fashion.
I remember growing up in a time where artists like Soulja Boy, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, etc. were heavy hitters in the hip hop culture. This culture of baggy clothes, pants sagging, backwards hats also came with a sense of hypermasculinity that was religiously practiced in my community. Some kids, like me or my friends, differing from this norm were outcasted as weird, white, or gay. However, I liked being the weird kid sometimes, because while I was avoided by some peers for being different, I was inversely welcomed and embraced by a new community of other outcasts.
It is ironic though because give or take a couple years, this trend begins to shift with the likes of artists like Tyler, the Creator, Frank Ocean, and Kid Cudi becoming more prominent in the media. I began to see the culture that I placed myself in become mainstream. It shows how many people have no sense of self expression too, they just follow trends in hopes to be with the times. Meanwhile, I’m inspired by music artists like Frank Ocean and A$AP Rocky to not be tempted by gender and cultural norms and to express my identity through my style.
Fashion idols and inspirations
In my opinion, today’s fashion trends are lit and fashionable. The thing I love the most is it’s really comfortable and you can just do whatever you want, run or jump. The person who inspires me is Billie Eilish. She has a really unique and comfortable style, which I love the most. I kind of love the clothes that are comfortable, cozy and unique, because clothes also describe who you are.
