For these two interviews, I talked to two close friends at Wellesley. The focus of my interviews was how each woman uses clothes to change her image in different social situations. These situations are: a normal day of class, a date night, a job interview, and a family gathering. Both women identify on the LGBTQIA spectrum and find themselves considering this identity when choosing their clothes.

Lily

The first woman I interviewed, Lily, is a first-year at Wellesley College. Lily is a Chinese-American who was born and raised in Southern California. She describes her personal style as “not too over-the-top Asian.” When deciding what to wear to class, Lily first considers how much time she has to get ready. Often, there is only 10 minutes so she “flips the closet” and throws on “a t-shirt, the first pair of pants” she sees, and runs out the door. On days when Lily has 8:30am pilates, she has twice found herself “just going in pajamas.” If she has a little more time, she’ll consider the weather. Growing up in the mild Southern California climate, she needed to purchase new clothes for the New England fall and winter. She tries not to repeat outfits, but her go-to is a turtleneck sweater and jeans. When asked about if she prefers wearing this outfit to t-shirts and pajamas, Lily says it comes down to how she wants to present herself, “I care somewhat about my looks, but not too much… I’m not a complete slob, but I’m not going to be overdressing for class.” Her motivations to put together an outfit for class have gone down since high school when her “mom used to remind [her] to decide on clothes the day before.” She doesn’t feel the need to impress her classmates because they “understand that you’re a college student and rolling into class at 8:30 is damn early.” (And she finds that many students agree with her.)

The outfit:  https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/document/d/1mWC30sqQMzd_pvGnafMVaGKSbGeezm-AervpgSEMTg8/edit?usp=sharing

How about when Lily needs to dress for a date? To that she continues, “Well then I don’t want to go and be, like, ‘hi, you’re dating a hobo.’” When first planning an outfit for a date, she’ll figure out what the other person is wearing so she isn’t “awkwardly over or underdressed.” She finds that “dressy casual works for most things” and will try on a couple of outfits starting a week ahead of time to make sure she likes the look. Lily explained that she tries “to present pretty feminine.” Lily identifies as bisexual and enjoys dressing androgynously sometimes, depending on the day. The woman she is currently dating “presents pretty masculine” and Lily claims she doesn’t “look nearly as good as her in guy clothes.” By playing up her feminine side, but “not flashy and needy about it,” she feels like she’s complimenting her girlfriend’s style. She pulled out a jacket that she likes to wear on dates. She likes this jacket, which would be paired with skinny jeans and boots, because people compliment her in it “all the time.” Lily also likes the way it accentuates and hides parts of her body: “you can tie up the waist, so I don’t look like a rectangle. But I don’t love the shoulders on this because they’re a little puffy and I have broad shoulders, but it doesn’t seem to bother people.” Sticking to dresses and clothes that compliment, but don’t flaunt, her feminine side give Lily confidence. When asked about how her typical date outfit has changed since high school, she says her style hasn’t changed much except for the fact that she can’t access much of her closet back in California. “Most of the clothes I’d wear on a date are back home because I expected to stay single.”

The Date outfit:  https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/document/d/1TGJDxpscwKebaEF_iP430CiBxrk_jSimyrN6EpmhB9k/edit?usp=sharing

In case of a job interview, Lily has “a very go-to outfit” that she “wears to everything” that is business attire. It is a simple fitted black blazer and skirt with a collared shirt or camisole underneath. She hopes that in this outfit she can look “professional, like I have manners, and that I’m a woman” to employers. This is important to her, and she feels it is important to other people too. Lily has had the outfit for two years. To keep herself “looking polished” she’d probably wear heels and wear some eyeliner, but not so much that she looks “like a hooker in business clothes.” Aside from the watch she wears every day, the only other accessories Lily would add is a simple flower necklace to bring some personality to the outfit that is still “appropriate.”

Job Interview:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dw4EDEpIE79tyH2EZlScKWZWEUizDCgtQq-WJQ3x-XA/edit?usp=sharing

The third scenario I presented to Lily, a family gathering, caused her to need a moment to “think this through.” Because she doesn’t see her family often (about every two years) as they live in China, she decides that she’d wear something “more conservative” and ask her mom’s opinion on the outfit. Her goal is to “look like a hard working student” because she’s the youngest in the extended family and the standards are high. Lily picks out wedge heels, a cardigan, tank top, and jeans from her closet. “Just a cami is a bit too exposed… this cardigan is good because it’s not too heavy and goes with a lot of things. These wedges are formal and make your legs look nicer, but they’re not over-the-top in any way.” Modesty is important to her, she doesn’t want to come off “too flashy” in front of older relatives whom she has limited opportunities to see. Seeing family often also means that these gatherings are large, and comfort is necessary, as well as wearing “an outfit people won’t have lots of opinions about. I don’t want to give the impression I’m drawing attention to myself.” Lily explained that like at any family reunion, you don’t want everyone making a fuss over you or to upset your parents, grandparents, or other relatives. She may keep her clothes neutral, but Lily’s personality will show through her makeup: “I do like doing makeup, it’s my personality.” This family-appropriate style was learned from her mom, who helped her pick out clothes for family gatherings since she was a young girl.

Family Outfit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FsjkAUbYp6Kbn-tpjOD-1nucjGHXofzadaXiYvlRbH4/edit?usp=sharing

Celia

For my second interview, I went to another close friend who is a junior at Wellesley. Celia was born in Boston but raised in Concord, New Hampshire. She is a white woman who identifies as lesbian. She doesn’t like to give clothing advice, but will often lend out her clothes and seek out the advice of others, including her mother. When getting ready for school, Celia decides what to wear “based on what is clean and what I have to do at the end of the day.” If she has to work out, she’s likely to wear a sports bra and workout clothes layered under her usual outfit. Her go-to is a t-shirt, jeans, and maybe a cardigan: “I’m looking to achieve maximum comfort during class, but I try and not look like a slob. Like I’m at least trying to not look like I’m rolling out of bed to come to class in front of my professors.” Celia describes her style as “lesbonic” and “masculine.” She feels comfortable in these clothes and she’s not looking to impress anyone. However, she does consider how she feels day to day: “I may not wear tight shirts on days when I feels self-conscious about my stomach. I like this shirt because my waist can be pretty slim in it, and the sweater can hide my shoulders and whatever’s going on with my stomach.” Although she feels comfortable in more “masculine” clothing, Celia works hard to stay fit and is proud of her body’s thin, feminine waist. As for her short hair, she will occasionally use wax to style it if “the sink shower” doesn’t tame her bed head. The dramatic haircut she got a year ago, from long to “boy short,” marked a turning point in her daily fashion. “Since college, my style has always been more masculine, but I wouldn’t have worn a sweater like that, and it would have been girl jeans no boy jeans.”

Everyday outfit:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/10Vb2QKtTDSmCWzHL-AplgoamoVcZQ06wH3P-UqcbqFc/edit?usp=sharing

When asked how she’d make an outfit for a date, Celia had a similar response as Lily, “I would be thinking for as long as I knew the date was happening.” Her staple date ensemble includes a black long-sleeve collared shirt, bow tie, skinny jeans, and converse or Vans. “I got this shirt last year. It’s one of the few things I don’t let people borrow because I get upset when it’s not in my closet.” Celia hopes the person she’s with thinks she’s attractive as well as feeling comfortable and attractive herself. She does this by “accentuating both the masculine and the feminine: butt and lack of boobs. But I’m not particularly trying to hide anything.” Continuing this trend to accessories, she would also do her hair, light eyeliner, and wear a watch. Celia says her going out style has changed since the beginning of college when she was “more likely to wear a dress or skirt, and sometimes knee high boots.” She didn’t feel uncomfortable dressing in a traditionally more feminine way, but feels like this new masculine look fits her hair and personal style better.

Date Outfit:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SHlKRQpUKz8O2FHPNzIe15F2opeFTwd-mNTCegXI9P4/edit?usp=sharing

Celia has had the same job every summer for three summers and hasn’t needed to interview in years, but still has a tailored black blazer, dress pants, and basic white collared shirt hanging neatly in her closet. “I bought this with my mother in high school because they’d be useful in professional situations,” she explains, “But I would probably decide what I wanted to wear 48 hours before anyway, in case I needed to get something.” The look she’s going for is “professional, non-gender conforming [referencing the pants].” Adding, “But if I had something more colorful, more feminine, I would wear that under the blazer instead of white.” She would also try and make her hair look more feminine, probably re-dye it (currently black for a performance), and add colorful earrings. Her reasoning behind this is: “I want to still be feminine, yet still walk the line between masculine and feminine, but make it clear to others that I am female. I want to be treated like a woman.” When I asked Celia what it meant to her to be “treated like a woman,” she said, “I think the difference is how men to speak to each other, I wouldn’t want there to be any confusion in a professional system,” and continues into a story about a time this summer when she was casually called “dude” repeatedly by a mechanic fixing her car. Having to consider so much when dressing for a job interview reminds her that she’s “being held to another standard,” and to be treated with respect one must often conform some elements of their appearance.

Celia Job Interview:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/15xd6uyX3MaNewOdPad9p57fN0oq8iecVG30nspeUfis/edit?usp=sharing

When it comes to a family gathering, in Celia’s case Thanksgiving, a lot more needs to be done regarding conformity. For Thanksgiving 2013, Celia wore a red dress borrowed from her sister. It was not at Wellesley and she did not take pictures in it, but she describes the dress as high cut but with open shoulders, and she’d wear a cardigan over it and simple flats. She chose this outfit because she’s “trying to not look like a lesbian.” Although her parents and immediate family are comfortable with her sexuality, Celia is considering her older relatives:

“my grandmother is very [concerned]. My cousin just came out and is bringing his husband to Thanksgiving, and I don’t want to rub it in my grandmother’s face that she has a second, and possibly third [referencing another closeted relative], gay grandchild. For her generation, that’s a failure. A biological dud.”

Having this familial pressure is hard on Celia, but she does the best she can to stay comfortable. She likes dresses that cover her shoulders more because she has “a lot of muscle” that she doesn’t want to hide but wants to avoid “looking disproportionate.” Celia also prefers longer dresses not to hide her legs, but because she “tend[s] to sit like a boy.” Adding, mascara and eye makeup to the look, she removes most of what she wears at college to show her masculine side. However, even when styled, her hair is harder to cover up. “It’s a little weird with my haircut… gender confusing with the short hair.” I asked Celia if she always put so much into changing her dress for extended family, and she said “no” because “I didn’t care about the gay before college, I would have worn jeans and a nice sweater like I did in high school.” After coming out her first year at Wellesley, she’s had to be conscious about what she wears. Before, she was not questioned or judged by her clothing choices. Now as an out lesbian, her clothes are seen by others as more identifying.

Conclusion

Both women i interviewed change their style of dress depending on the audience. They’ve learned to do so from family members and trusted friends who help them decide what’s appropriate for different situations. Yet both are comfortable changing their looks and still find ways to express themselves regardless.

Codes for clothing exists in various niches of society, of varying rigidity. They are identifiable in neutral spaces that then govern the impression that defines the person. Neutral spaces, in the case, exist as zones void of fashion conduct. On a street, one such example of a neutral space, a suit would signal a businessman, scrubs a nurse, plaid skirt and blazer, a school girl. For all these occupations, this code carries two layers: The obligatory donning of the garb and the voluntary representation of self. The former relies a necessary level of conformity to the environment to produce the least resistance (e.g. not losing one’s job). The latter then influences how much that environment impacts adherence to codes in other environments and daily style (e.g. gauges in the workplace).

For my interviews, I looked to two athletes to help mark this distinction and how well preserved or blurred the lines may be.

 DARYA “DASHA” KOSTIKINA

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B9CPtM8nbGH8NWxINHhSbkdmSHFsblhfcGU2Sy1fZE9zTXRr/edit

Dasha is a a close personal friend of mine whose style I see on a daily basis. She is 18, Russian American, and plays tennis. When I asked her to explain her style, she replied “I wear comfortable clothing”. For practice she often wears a combination of t-shirts, sweatshirts, shorts, and tennis skirts. The dress code requires them to wear something that is either dry-fit or labeled with the Wellesley logo. When she is free, however, from the threat of running laps, her style changes minimally. Her main edict for dressing is that she, “doesn’t like pants”. She will instead dress in leggings, loose fitting dresses, shorts, skirts, giraffe suits, and spandex. She will often choose sport bras over their regular counterpart, and will rarely fashion her hair into a style more complex than a pony tail. Even without the confines of tennis dress code, her style reflects her sympathizing and identifying with the athlete code of dress. Here, there is little distinction between her obligatory dress code and the voluntary representation of herself.

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B9CPtM8nbGH8QVVnaG4tUUdhc0Npdk01XzdrekZXcjlsSFM4/edit

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B9CPtM8nbGH8UmhLNjhQcGU5MzJ3b0hCbGFVeFhNeU1IVDAw/edit

As we explored her closet and she explained the background behind each piece of clothing, this lack of separation became increasingly clear. Inside, her clothes were divided in origin. Those that she bought with her own money, and those her mother found and bought for her. For the clothes she acquired herself, we found a mix of free, sports themed activewear she earned from tournaments, and Wellesley merchandise and concert t-shirts. For outings that dictated a more formal style of dress, like dinners, she relied on her mother’s choices that she approved. Often these choices accentuated her legs, a feature she found very pleasantly shaped by her daily tennis conditioning. The outfit she felt most comfortable in, though only in the privacy of her home, was a giraffe onesie, the first clothing item she ever purchased herself.

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B9CPtM8nbGH8LV9odFJGSVBDVFBIeGhrUjJqbVAzSXZxMWRJ/edit

Though the onesie and some of her clothes wouldn’t be considered ‘sportswear’ there is so great a similarity shared amongst the entire wardrobe, that the difference between practice and casual became obscured. In the public, private, casual, and formal sphere she relies on loose, outfits that promotes the greatest amount of movement and comfort. In the neutral space, she both wears the sweatshirt and tennis skirt because her role as athlete demands it, and because she willingly appreciates the code of dress. This does not mean she identifies specifically as an athlete in other environments that do not require it, so much as she adopted and identifies with the style of dress.

https://drive.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/?usp=gmail#folders/0B9CPtM8nbGH8TURKWXNlYmtTcmM

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B9CPtM8nbGH8S2thNmxWSHROa0RZSUY5eW9pNDZ5MFNRV1Zz/edit

JESSICA “JESSIE” WONG

Jessie is another athlete, her sport of choice being Ultimate Frisbee. She is Chinese America, lived in Massachusetts her entire life, is 18 years of age, and unlike Dasha marks a clear line between her style for training, and her style for day to day life. Only on days with little time allotted to change will she, “just straight up dress for practice.” This, however, did not define her appearance, which she succinctly labeled, “half hipster, half preppy”. Like Dasha, she described a lot of what she wore as comfortable, though by contrast many of the pieces were fitting for more social, and less active settings. Notably her team’s dress code was comparatively less restrictive, with the only guideline being an awareness of future sweat, dirt, and grass stains along with wear and tear.  When describing her frisbee getup she listed a combination of shorts, leggings, and penny shirts; clothes of either heightened durability, launderability, or disposability.

https://drive.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/?usp=gmail#folders/0B9CPtM8nbGH8WlNCRDBORXhIQkk

This did not carry through to her daily look which currently was comprised of sweaters and jeans. In warmer weathers the discrepancy remained. She showed similarly shaped dresses with form fitting tops and flowing bottoms, a leather jacket from Italy she was eager to break in, and long shirts belonging to her dad that she paired together with leggings. Jessie also showed a great interest in texture and color. Many of her sweaters, jackets, and dresses felt soft, smooth, or fuzzy to the touch, and held bright, distinct color patterns.

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B9CPtM8nbGH8VDhfbG5MbGRuLVZLSzZrdlBNelpNODladDlN/edit

What textures do you like? “The fuzzy ones”.

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B9CPtM8nbGH8LTJxdHZDcE90aldEZGs3T2V1MjU2SlE5ZE9J/edit

“Since its sweater weather, basically just a sweater. If I’m being real, I also just bought a bunch of sweaters.”

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B9CPtM8nbGH8Mm1ESWJBRFNwelF3SnlCeVlWNjZfTTlnTTVr/edit

“Um so i got this jacket in Italy over the summer. It’s the most expensive thing I own. I also really really like it.”

This segregation amongst her closet, likely related back to the very real hazard provided by her sport, however, does not explain it’s cause. Her style did not come forth from her need to keep her casual clothes separate from her frisbee practice wear. When asked the source of her look she referred to Seventeen Magazine, as a source of initial inspiration in her seventh grade, and her, and her mother’s, own preferences in the following years. Though she did not conform to the athletic mode of dress, there was still a set code she attuned herself to. Though she followed through with the obligatory style of dress for practice, she willfully ascribed to another at all other times, in all other environments.

CONCLUSION

Conformity in the sense of dress, has no set universal standard, but is rather a facet of various cultures and environments. What would be considered appropriate in one space could very well incite penalty in another. A bathing suit on the beach would be as scandalous on a cold mountain as a renaissance gown in a hospital. Only in neutral spaces, sections caught between distinct areas of dress, would this eclecticism become apparent and within those spaces exist the possibility of both the obligation of dress (conformity) and voluntarism of style (self expression), and the various combinations in between. In parks, sidewalks, parades, vegas hotels, and such areas there would exist the spectrum between how people should appear and how they choose to present themselves.

In the case of my interviews, it showed the lines are unclear, governed solely have individual discrepancies. For one interviewee her conformity to her sport’s dress code blurred with her own willingness to appropriate its apparel. For the other, the separation between her athletics and casual life was kept clear and definite. She, however, did conform to a certain aesthetic that governed her looks the neutral spaces, and many other environments. Both, nonetheless, and most others are navigating the immeasurable space that lies between self expression and conformity, and lies beyond any set dress code. My post is a mere snapshot of the wide range of possibility that lies in its folds.

If all the world’s a stage, and we are merely players, what are we performing through our costume? Is it our gender, sexuality, class, a mixture of all three? None of those at all?

I set about my interview with the intention of letting two people from different backgrounds explain what their “costume”—their wardrobe, their uniform, whatever they chose to call it—was designed to perform. My first interviewee is Maria, an 18-year-old pansexual Hispanic woman from Southern California. Stylish and full of attitude, she exudes an unmistakably Californian vibe that, if gone unnoticed by a particularly inept observer, would be noticed around the fifth time she muttered, “It’s f*cking cold as balls here.” Her bright clothes create a stark contrast against the wardrobe of my second interviewee, Ally, an 18-year old white woman from Salt Lake City. Ally’s wardrobe, which she describes as “sensible and convenient,” consists of various jackets, sweaters, and thick fabric items that prioritize warmth first and style second. Don’t get me wrong, though, both of these women are undoubtedly well-dressed. I’d know—they’re two of my closest friends at Wellesley.

MARIA

“I shop sporadically,” Maria says, and on the recorded file of our interview, I bark out a laugh so loud that it hurts my ears when I have my headphones in. By that, she means she shops compulsively.

“It’s not that I shop compulsively,” she explains defensively, “it’s just that when there’s a store with a good sale, I capitalize on it.”

Maria loves clothes and fashion, and above all, she loves self-expression, especially with her newfound collegiate independence. This independence provides her with the ability to experiment with clothes away from the watchful eye of her mother. Maria, a pansexual who has always dressed “girly,” is now expanding her wardrobe and adding darker, more butch pieces. She describes her style as “Coming out of the closet with my closet.”

“I bought some more flannel recently,” she explains. “I’ll wear it with combat boots or whatever, but I’ll accessorize and wear makeup so I look cute. I like to look cute, but I also like to look queer.”

I ask her what she means by “look queer.”

“I guess on first glance a straight person might assume I’m straight, since I have long hair and wear makeup and don’t really meet the definition of a butch girl or whatever. I own a lot of butch clothes, though, like that jeans vest I bought at the Fall Out Boy concert. I can put that on and look butch. It varies from day to day what I wear.”

“I mostly got these ideas of dressing queer from stereotypes, you know, like how lesbians wear dark and baggy clothes. I never knew about the flannel stereotype until I was in my junior year of high school.”

Maria claims that when she dresses to attract others romantically, she doesn’t differentiate what she wears based on whether she’s attracting men or women: “Mostly, I just like looking good for the sake of looking good. For me. I like to feel confident, which is important when you’re trying to get people to like you.”

With gender and sexuality out of the way, we tackle class: Maria’s the daughter of a maid and, as such, doesn’t have the budget to buy brand names. She says she draws the line for an article of clothing at $30. “It has to be really cute if I go over $30,” she says. “I buy most of my clothes at Ross. Well, I did when I lived in California. Now I mostly shop at Burlington.”

As if gender, sexuality, and budget weren’t enough obstacles to tackle in the wardrobe relay, Maria deals with one other prime issue: her size, which usually runs around an XXL in women’s sizes. “I have a lot of people I look up to whose fashion I would emulate if I could,” she says when I ask her who her fashion icon is. “But, like, just because I look up to Nicki Minaj doesn’t mean I can pull off the tight clothes she wears. When I put on clothes, I try hard not to wear things that are too tight around my stomach, but that gets hard with pants. Like, I want them to be loose around my stomach, but tight around my booty. I’m all about making my booty look good.”

ALLY

Ally, a self-described 2 on the Kinsey Scale, doesn’t worry as much as Maria about expressing her sexuality. “I don’t want to go into my self-pitying monologue about how boys don’t like me—or anyone of any gender, really,” she says with a laugh, “But I gave up on dressing for others a long time ago.”

On first glance, her solid-color, comfortable wardrobe might sound average, but it’s most certainly not: where she’s from, she’s a rebel. Since Salt Lake City has such a large conservative Mormon population, people—women especially—can incur lots of judgment going outside of their homes wearing immodest or irregular clothing. This standard has created what Ally refers to as a “counter-culture” wherein non-Mormons, or even rebellious members of Mormon families, dress in ways that do not meet Mormon modesty standards as a method of displaying their secularity or rebellion. Ally loves short skirts, short shorts, tank tops, vests, and feminine versions of traditionally masculine items, such as leather jackets. In fact, she says her leather jacket is “the lynchpin” of her typical outfit.

I pose a question: when she does choose to dress to attract someone else, like at an Olin party, what would she wear?

“For context,” she says into the microphone, “I have the body shape of a plank. Like, same width up and down. I don’t really have curves to accentuate, so I try to fabricate some of those when I go to parties. I’ll wear cinch belts or something. I also try to play up non-body-related things, like my eye color. I care a lot about eyes. I like pretty eyes. I think my eyes are one of my redeeming features, so I make sure I wear colors that make them pop.”

Ally’s referring to her blue-green eyes, which she accentuates with grays, soft blues, greens, and light browns. It’s certainly not the yellows, pinks, and sky blues of Maria’s wardrobe, but it’s just as stylish.

Style isn’t the biggest goal Ally has when she gets dressed, though: keeping warm is imperative. A ski enthusiast, Ally refuses to spend any more than $15 on a t-shirt but would willingly drop over $100 on a quality ski jacket. She comes from an upper-class background—both of her parents are doctors—and she can definitely afford nice ski clothes, but her parents have had her working for and buying her own clothes for two years now, meaning her designer items are few and far between and almost exclusively for weather-related purposes. “The warmest clothes are also the most expensive,” she admits. “But even if my family has money, I don’t personally. I haven’t bought a new piece of clothing since I got here.”

CONCLUSION

One pair of friends, two completely different worlds. A Hispanic woman from California, a white woman from Utah. The daughter of a maid, the daughter of doctors. A pansexual, a 2 on the Kinsey scale. An emphasis on style, an emphasis on utility.

Yet in spite of their differences, Maria and Ally share common threads: They don’t like to dress for others. They dress how they want to and assume the people they attract will be the kind of people they like. They buy on a budget. They shop for what they like, but work within various parameters, be it their non-traditional body shape, their climate, or their shared top priority of how a piece of clothing makes them feel. When asked if they’d rather be underdressed or overdressed, they both gave the exact same answer: “Overdressed. Definitely.” The mid-section of the Venn diagram made by their interview points shows that their goals in getting dressed are the same, even if their ways of achieving this goal are vastly different. At the end of the day, they are both Wellesley women with an emphasis on finding their own identity and expressing it through their clothes. Ally put it best, and when I read the quote aloud to Maria, she agreed: “It’s about looking good and it’s about feeling good. That’s it.”

PICTURES GOOGLE DOC:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LhV1heKgMBmVhhBfzatpVha1AIw0UUbqZxhEw5n9bA8/pub

Photos here!!

During this interview process, I was interested in brand-name clothing and the reasons that people wear certain brands in particular. I was also interested in the sourcing of fashion and style, and I wondered which factors affected one’s knowledge of what was “in-style.” Another interesting topic that came up was the accentuating (or hiding) of certain parts of the body.

Meet Dorcas, an 18 year old female from Chicago who is a current Wellesley student. When asked, she replied that she doesn’t look to mimic anyone with her style, and that brand names don’t matter to her. The brand names that she does have, such as True Religion and Lucky Brand jeans, were given to her as hand-me-downs or gifts from family members. She believes that the True Religion jeans look good on her because they accentuate her butt. When she is trying to look sexy for a party/night out or cute for a wedding/holiday party, she wears clothing that will emphasize her butt.

Now meet Olivia, an 18 year-old Wellesley student from Great Barrington, Massachusetts. When deciding what clothing to buy, she does not look to accentuate certain body parts, and actually tries to hide certain parts of her body. A favorite item from her wardrobe is a pair of black corduroy Christopher Blues pants that she got on sale for $120 at a boutique called Glad Rags in Lenox, Massachusetts. She bought these pants because they were casual, yet could still be dressed up for evening use. The reason she wears these pants a lot is because they “fit now;” Olivia has recently lost a lot of weight accidentally due to extreme stress. Her other pants no longer fit her which is why she bought these recently in a different size– however, she bought them to fit tightly, and they are already becoming looser as she continues to lose weight.

Usually, when Olivia goes shopping, she looks for clothing that hides her butt, thighs, and stomach. Specific types of clothing she has for this purpose are long, oversized cardigans. Not only are they warm, but they hide these parts of her body (although her stomach has recently become less of an issue due to the weight loss).

Something that I found interesting about Olivia slipped out later in the interview. She confessed that she actually likes to emphasize her wrists; this is something I had never heard before and wasn’t expecting. She explained that she likes to show her wrists because she likes the large veins on the underside of them. She wears bracelets to accentuate her wrists, and also to make her fingers look “less pudgy.”

When discussing brands, Dorcas was reluctant to list any, and said she didn’t have any favorites and would not buy a piece of clothing just because it was a name brand; this was until I asked her about the several PINK sweaters she had in her closet. Dorcas said that PINK (by Victoria’s Secret) is a brand she likes because their sweaters hide her stomach, and she is comfortable while still looking cute.

Olivia, on the other hand, listed a plethora of brands that she likes. According to her, brand names are important for certain items only; for instance, she’ll wear a no-name shirt with a brand-name blazer. She likes Anthropologie because “it’s an eclectic mix of different styles,” J crew because “it’s timeless,” Jack Wills because “it’s a little funky, it’s a little foreign, and no one else is wearing it,” St. John because “it’s classic pieces and it’s expensive but I buy it at a thrift store in Connecticut where it’s less expensive.” In addition to these brands, Olivia also listed Kate Spade as a favorite for dresses, Vineyard Vines for “preppy golf stuff,” Rebecca Taylor, Lacoste, Marc Jacobs, Juicy, H&M, Cynthia Steffe, and Ralph Lauren for golf clothing. Olivia remarked that being a golfer does influence her everyday style during golf season. In addition to striped shirts and vests, she likes to wear glittery tops, dresses, and tunics, and prides herself in being preppy, girly, and unique. She often buys special pieces from small boutiques and thrift stores, and her mom alters them if necessary.

Olivia’s style is interesting because she mixes in pieces that are not a lot of money with pieces that are quite expensive; for instance, one outfit consisted of a $4 skirt from Barney’s that her mother altered for her, and a $150 top that she bought at a boutique to match the skirt. She also spends more money on clothing than shoes, and has an array of the same Payless flats in different colors. Her idea was that if you mix in 1-2 nicer pieces and walk with confidence, then no one will notice your Payless flats.

A common trend I noticed in both of the interviews was the influence of mothers in personal style and knowing what clothing did/did not look good. Dorcas said that she learned how to dress through trial and error, and through her mother telling her what was good or not. Olivia also knows what looks good on her because her mother will tell her if she looks bad in something. When asked how she knows a certain tunic compliments her, she replied, “Well, my mother had me buy it in 2 colors, so I’m assuming it doesn’t look awful!” Both Dorcas and Olivia reported shopping with their mothers the most often.

Other style influences included magazines. Olivia reported that about 30% of her style influence comes from magazines like In-Style, Cosmo, Teen People, Teen Vogue, and Seventeen. She also has a lot of store catalogues from Vineyard Vines, J Crew, and Madewell.

Dorcas did not attribute much of her style to influence from magazines. Other ideas about how to dress came from friends. For instance, Olivia recently found out from a friend that you can’t wear regular underwear with leggings, for fear of having panty lines. She explained, “I bought a thong. I need to gain the courage to wear it. I shoved it somewhere in here (drawer). I haven’t even touched it yet; it’s frightening, it’s frightening. I can’t even look at it right now.” In addition, Olivia remarked that she often dresses up for French class because the teacher usually dresses up in a preppy style and she doesn’t want to seem like a “slob.” When she dresses up in a tunic, cardigan, and heeled boots for French class, she feels like she put effort into the outfit and should therefore put effort into the class. Also, since the outfit isn’t super comfortable, she is less likely to fall asleep. When socializing with girls, Olivia said she is more likely to wear something crazy, but in a group of guys she would pay more attention to her makeup and wear something a little less “outlandish.”

Overall, clothing choices for both Dorcas and Olivia seemed to be based on comfort, the hiding or accentuation of certain body parts, and the specific situation for which they were dressing; validation for clothing choices came primarily from their mothers. While Olivia was going for a certain “preppy and girly” look, Dorcas described her style as “comfortable and cute.” It was interesting to see how brand-name clothing played (or didn’t play) roles in the fashion choices in their wardrobes.

 –Amanda Lee

Of the many transitions facing international first-years here at Wellesley is the wardrobe adjustment needed to live in this new climate and culture.  Students from the Middle East confront colder temperatures, different weather, and a more sexualized and individualistic culture.  Although these students want to wear clothes in which they will feel comfortable, they often try to retain their sense of style from their native country in purchasing new clothes for this unfamiliar climate.  In this case it is clear that maintaining a connection to their family, religion, and childhood memories is more important than conforming to the fashion standards here at Wellesley.

Nur

Nur Pictures

Nur is a first-year student from Turkey who is a practicing Muslim.  She has worn a hijab, a headscarf worn by some Muslim women, since coming to Wellesley.  She explains stresses that the hijab is her choice, and that not all of the women in her family wear one.  As she goes through her drawer full of colorful scarves, she tells me that her mother is also “covered,” but her aunt is not, and no one judges a woman who does not wear a hijab because it is regarded as an intensely personal decision within her family.  She was only able to start wearing the scarf full time when she moved to the United States because in Turkey no religious symbols were allowed at her school.  “I didn’t like it,” she says, “but I had to get an education.”

When I ask her if she will explain why she wears the hijab, she tells me it is hard to explain to people, but she knows the meaning of it within her culture.  She tells me it is a symbol of her commitment to her religion.  “Plus,” she says, “it’s more convenient now, because you have to have your head and hair covered when you pray, so I had to carry my covering with me in my bag and take it out every time [I pray.]  It got to be a hassle [but] now it’s easier.”

She believes that Wellesley is a safe space for her to display her religion and that in Boston in general “People are very accepting.”  When asked if her style has evolved since moving to Wellesley, she replies that it hasn’t changed much.  It’s not as cold here as she expected.  Modesty is an extremely central element of her style, so she finds it hard to shop for things in American stores.  “You have to hunt,” she says while showing me her most recent purchase, a long loose knit dress which she will wear as a long top with jeans underneath.  She often buys dresses and wears them as shirts with jeans underneath and a long cardigan over the top.  She prefers cardigans and shirts which “cover her butt” because she does not want her figure to be too visible, especially around male visitors.  Around female friends in our dorm in the evenings she will sometimes wear tighter yoga pants or let her hair be visible, but she tries to be covered as much as possible in the event of a male visitor stopping by.

Nur describes her style as “simple, yet elegant… maybe that is not the right word… matching, though, and clean cut.”  Black is her favorite color to wear because it is elegant and goes with everything, she says as she shows me her abaya, a black chiffon garment that she wears like a loose robe over her American style clothing.  It has some golden beaded accents on the front, but is otherwise very simple.

A common theme among her favorite clothes is that they were all bought in Turkey or made by “local Turkish designers.”  Her parents buy all of her clothing and she does not buy things second-hand because “they do not have that [in Turkey]” although she would be open to borrowing or sharing clothes with other people if they fit her style.  For example, she recently borrowed a Pakistani dress from a friend for a fancy occasion because she did not being any formal outfits with her.  She does not pay attention to designer names because modern trends in fashion do not fit her style.

Nur smiles as she tells me about how when she went shopping with her mother, her mom would always say things [imitates voice] “well, it looks awful, but it’s your decision whether to buy it.”  Now that she is here she prefers to shop with friends.

Although she does not often talk about home or her faith in social situations, I can tell by going through her favorite clothes with her that she is still extremely connected to Turkish Muslim culture.  She goes through all of her two dozen scarves, lying them out on the bed and telling me little details about each one.  She does not consider scarves to be an accessory, since they are such an integral part of her outfits.  The only Western accessory she enjoys is an assortment of funky little rings which she picks out each day, because her hands and face are the only skin that shows.

Katie

Katie Pictures

Katie is a sophomore who was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in Egypt and she is Caucasian and Roman Catholic.

She gets style advice from “my mom… and my brain?”  The first thing she takes note of each day when she gets dressed is the weather, which was the main adjustment she made when coming to Wellesley.  “It’s a LOT hotter in Egypt,” she says, but admits that the modest fashion standards in Egypt meant that she did not own a lot of shorts or skimpy clothing.  Like Nur, she tells me that her style has “probably not changed that much – except I own a few more coats.”  She has a lot of strong opinions about American trends.  On the “definite no” list are: shorts, low waisted jeans, jeggings (“I look at people and I’m like, ‘You’re actually an attractive person, why are you like wearing jeggings?’, sweatpants, T-shirts, and sweatshirts.  Her favorite clothing trend is headbands, because she decided to follow her mother’s example and not get her ears pierced.  She likes to splurge on headbands at Nordstrom or other designer stores because she does not wear other jewelry and calls headbands “the jewelry of the head.”

Although she is not religious, another way Katie keeps close to her family while living abroad is by wearing a Saint Catherine of Siena pendant which her brother gave her while she was sick a few years ago, because he is very devoutly Roman Catholic and wearing the necklace reminds her of him.

Katie shops three times a year with her mother (for spring, winter, and fall).  Her mother is a strong influence on her fashion because her mother was a former model (and Katie herself was offered a modeling job by Ralph Lauren!).  In fact, the high-waisted tweed pants she is wearing during the interview are her mother’s pants from thirty years ago.  She is the same size as her mother and is very influenced by 1950’s fashion.  Her mother taught her to accentuate her tiny waist and always dress to impress.  In our French class she is always better dressed than all of the students and even sometimes our professor, and tells me that she would “never wear sweatpants to class.  NEVER.  I am very averse to sweatpants.  Maybe if I had just had surgery and I was coming from the hospital and it was the only thing I was comfortable in – actually, yeah it would have to be a life or death situation.”

Like Nur, Katie uses her clothing to keep connected to her family and culture.  While in Egypt, she tells me that the students at her international school would place a high emphasis on clothing because it showed where they were from, so she would travel back to the States several times a year with her mother and buy whatever was in American stores to show off when she got home.   “Going to an American mall was like the highlight of my trip,” she explains, “it was like being able to take a little bit of America home with me.”  Now that she lives in the States again, she keeps her T-shirt collection (although she would NEVER wear a T-shirt other than for exercise) to keep her memories of over 50 places and events.  Her dad worked for the U.N. so he brought her back a T-shirt from every place that he went.  The one sweatshirt she owns is for the Shakespeare Society here at Wellesley College, which she “bought in solidarity” but she has never worn it.  She owns one pair of jeans, which she admits are “soccer mom jeans” because she feels it is “inherently American to own jeans”.

Although she has always been proud of her American roots, Katie is firmly devoted to the more eclectic and modest styles she adopted moving around through “Egypt, Germany, Morocco, Tunisia, Oman …. A lot of the Middle East, which is why I feel that I dress slightly more conservative than most people”.  She keeps an article of clothing from each country, such as “these awful pants from Ghana which are really so patchy but this woman made them for me” or “this glittery traditional Egyptian dress”.  The clothing she keeps at college are “my useful clothing” while the “memory clothing” is kept at her family’s house in Nantucket.

Conclusion

Although they are different ages, races, religions, and nationalities, Nur and Katie both share the same desire to remain close to their families and traditions through their clothing.  For Nur, the hijab and abaya are ways for her to connect to her Muslim faith, and her mother, who is one of her inspirations for wearing the hijab.  For Katie American designers were an important part of her self-expression while she lived internationally, while now her diverse yet conservative wardrobe serves as a representation of her many exciting experiences before Wellesley, many of which took place in the Middle East.  I was surprised how adamantly they both denied changing their style to conform to typical Wellesley fashion, but very impressed with their pride in their cultures.  They both find Wellesley a safe space but resist societal pressures to conform by buying clothes internationally and not paying attention to trends, but rather what they feel comfortable and beautiful wearing.

“Queer people are just like everyone else,” “There’s no ‘gay uniform’; they dress just like us!”
All are common statements I’ve heard from allies trying to assimilate and normalize the queer experience.  While I appreciate their efforts, they are false.  While the feelings of some do not define the beliefs of all LGBTQIA-identifying people, many queers do believe that there are some clothes that are just gayer than others.  Simmel might say queer clothes are a fashion that is a way to conform (to other LGBTQUIA people) and a way to individuality and self-expression (clearly determining themselves as a cohesive group, as different from straight people).

I interviewed two women who identify on the LGBTQUIA spectrum about how they get dressed for three standard events: going to class, going to a party, and hanging out with friends.  The first woman has a strong sense of style, and the second considers herself without an individual style, as she is “confused by fashion”.  Both women strongly agree with the idea that there is a “gay uniform”.  I investigated the difference between those with/without a sense of personal style, and how that interacts with their desire to conform to the “gay uniform”.

The first person I interviewed is my friend Julia, who is also a first-year.  She identifies as gay, and comes from an upper-middle class household in Scarsdale, NY.  Speaking from personal experience, suburban New York is a heteronormative haven for upper-middle class nuclear families.  There aren’t many gay uniform-ed people walking around Westchester or Long Island, so your fashion icons are well-dressed straight moms.  Or, if you’re a khakis and men’s button up kind of queer, then straight J Crew dads are also an option.  Really, though, it’s slim pickings.

Julia admits she took her style cues from her parents and her friends while growing up, and they are still a large part of wardrobe at Wellesley.  While showing me her “going to class” outfit, she joked that her style is that of a straight woman.  Basically, Julia outfits herself in hip styles from cheap, trendy stores like Topshop or H&M.  While she has a definitive style,  it is also shared by many straight college-aged women who want a more individualized look than their parents have, but still want that classic simple elegance. 

Here we can see Julia’s outfit for class, which consists of a scarf, a cardigan, a pair of leggings, and Converse sneakers.  We talked a bit about her tan cardi.  She found it while shopping at Old Navy, and it caught her eye as a comfortable piece of class-ready attire.  She tried it on it the neutral tan (tan goes with everything, so she only had to buy one cardi), and her mother told her to buy one size up because it looked too short for Julia’s nearly six foot frame.  Her mother is very tall, too, and thus was very important when Julia was learning how to dress; finding and fitting tall clothes is difficult, and must be learned.  The strong influence of her mother combined with her geography, has resulted in a very “straight” wardrobe for Julia.  She recognizes her conformity to suburban clothing ideals, and consciously works to look more gay.  As she is very comfortable with her style, and identity as a “rule finder”, Julia has figured out effective ways of weaving gay into her straight wardrobe.  She calls it, “lesbian preppy”. This familiarity with her role as a stylish rule finder allows her to adhere to the gay uniform. Although our uniform is counterculture, there are still rules; they’re just different from mainstream style. How we appear to the outside world is just as important as how we appear to other queers.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W4TKOrI0un2801z3u9eVka39UPpGy9bC-t_M09D9sJ0/edit?usp=sharing

A tie on a female is a common indicator of queerness.  Julia has quite the array of ties, a few of which are lifted from her dad’s closet. She does not go shopping for ties, merely allowing them to meander into her life in different ways, since it is “awkward” for women to shop for ties.  The plaid one in the middle was thrifted, and Julia primarily describes it as “originally from H&M”.  Even when bought in an unconventional way, Julia still pushes to identify her clothing in acceptable rule finder terms, such as recognizable lifestyle brands (H&M).  She would use a tie to spice up a going to class outfit, but only as of last year when she and her friends started “Formal Thursdays”.  Since other girls, especially straight ones, were wearing ties, Julia felt better about wearing ties to her rather homogenous high school.  Ties are also a part of Julia’s going out attire, as she wore a tie and tuxedo jacket to her 18th birthday dinner.  However, as Julia does identify as a non-butch female, she was concerned with the femininity of the outfit and paired it with a pair of tight slacks and heels to “femme it up a little”.  Speaking to the power of a “gay uniform”, Julia says she found a sense of self, and also of community, in the tux and bow tie that allowed her to come out to parents while she was wearing it.  The outfit was originally a joke to just match with her friend Aron, but became a uniform with a distinct purpose as the night went on.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HOberO6O61sk2xrtoJbZAFnaXBl76fvxZvno9WrwCY8/edit?usp=sharing

At Wellesley, however, Julia will gay up her outfit with ties, her Tevas, or a fleece, without thinking twice.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10M0STVFK_13UaWTuc2Zdftfx5DIaW0EDHRR0rXr1ilQ/edit?usp=sharing

I also interviewed my girlfriend Caroline, who, on the other hand, struggles a bit more with fashion.  She’s a queer first-year currently from Baton Rouge, LA, after having moved frequently over the course of her life. While talking about shopping for clothes, Caroline said she usually goes with her mother, as she “cannot be trusted with fashion”.  Also, having been chided by friends for looking like a dyke the one time she attempted to dress in style, Caroline is done with fashion.  She now just tries to blend in with her style.  She dresses primarily for comfort, and what she tries to achieve with her going to class outfit is “avoiding being arrested for public indecency”.  Clothes are not a vehicle for self-expression for Caroline; she has tried fashion in the past but, “it went so terribly, I gave up”.  Her go-to look is a pair of skinny jeans that show off her calves, and she’ll wear them for a week without washing.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LZyyVCGaH-dhV_Bxzk2cXMCKx5WwQq6SEjOcBdfmy6g/edit?usp=sharing

“I’m just trying to not be the worst dressed person.  I’m ok with being in the bottom 5th percentile, but as long as I’m not disgusting or drawing attention to myself, I don’t care”.

This will be paired with a baggy sweater, since not only is Caroline dressing for comfort and anonymity, she is also dressing for her size DD breasts.

“If you wear something baggy, you look fat. If you wear something tight, you’re a ‘slut’. I can’t win, so I just don’t care anymore”.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lNkweKPJ5ClO1F3_X0utcoWWvfseLke-UZ_PUQ_0_IE/edit?usp=sharing

Caroline does have some short shorts and spaghetti strap tank tops for going out at night, though.  She spent most of her time exploring going to clubs as a straight woman, so her few clothes for partying subscribe mostly to straight stereotypes.  However, when we go to the pub, it’s less about presenting a sexual identity and more about showing off physical assets (butt, breasts, legs), so she doesn’t really care if she doesn’t come off queer.  This was a similarity between Julia and Caroline.  Both agreed that an outfit is successful based on the amount of people who hit on you or dance with you, and by how many friends tell you that you look hot.  Caroline stated this concept in terms of the word “slut”, “I don’t want to look too slutty, or not slutty enough.  I aim for medium slut”.  Julia talked about the tightness of the clothes and the amount of cleavage shown, “Low cut, loose shirt; tight pants; and plenty of sparkles!” Even Julia, who knows how to conform to queer standards unlike Caroline who is still learning, does not present as overtly queer when going out.  There is the assumption, whether it’s true or false is unimportant in this study because it’s so widely believed, that queer women are attracted to the same things on a woman as a straight man, so there’s no need to have a separate wardrobe for straight clubs and gay clubs.

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/document/d/1xEQX78FYj2Vt3CHEBQ4A3uMWt2eJYg9kWTlApNfOW7g/edit

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12Z2DZ9ajZMKLT0i3_gWsPfwBnuUjWcurULobNAIKT0o/edit?usp=sharing

Overall, I found that regardless of style, or lack thereof, the LGBTQIA-identifying individuals I interviewed all attempted to conform to at least one concept of queer fashion.  Even Caroline, who considers herself a newcomer to the LGBTQIA scene, is actively building her flannel collection for the day she attempts fashion again.  But, this time?  She’s doing it right, and she’s doing it queer.

For my interviews, I interviewed two fellow first year varsity soccer players for Wellesley who decided to remain anonymous.

For me at least, fashion and style have never really been associated with athletics and sports stars. Of course there are outliers such as Serena Williams and Dwyane Wade being photographed in high fashion, but they are, I believe, the exception to the rule. I was curious to see how and if both of my interviewees straddled the line between fashion and athleticism in their daily lives.

My first interviewee is 19, straight, white, and lives in Plymouth, Massachusetts. She describes her style as very laid back and comfortable. In the past she attempted to be “hipster,” by attempting to shop at a wide variety of stores including thrift stores, but said that it began to get too difficult to find exactly what she was looking for. Now she shops at malls and department stores, especially American Eagle Outfitters and Gap, and mostly online for conveniency. Her teenage sister also tells me that half of her wardrobe is missing when her sister returns to college.

As all of her friends and teammates can attest to, her daily uniform usually includes a pullover sweater, of which she owns at least 20. During a recent Black Friday shopping spree, where she spent over 200$, she purchased a new sweater in her new favorite color, burgundy. She is very excited to wear it to a holiday party over this winter vacation. She loves to dress up her “plain” sweaters with jewelry and won’t leave her room without a pair of earrings on. And although she had a job over the summer at a cafe, she “spends money the second she earns it.”

At a recent party with friends from high school, she decided to wear leggings, boots, scarf, and her usual sweater. She wanted to look both “laid back and dressy, but not gross or overdone.” She also made sure that I knew that she wouldn’t have changed even if her boyfriend had attended the party. Even at parties where she doesn’t know anyone and she is out of her comfort zone, she tries not to dress to impress. Rather, she wants to be confident and comfortable in what she wears. She doesn’t want “to look fat, but athletic and in shape, by showing off my butt and not my nonexistent chest”.

My second interviewee is also 19, white, straight, and from Denton, Texas. She dresses in far more athletic clothing than my first interviewee. Her daily uniform of sorts is sweatpants, a sweatshirt, an athletic T-shirt, and Nike running shoes. While most people label their styles as hipster or preppy, she labels her clothing choices as solely based on comfort.

She usually doesn’t like to waste time shopping and will only buy something if it is on sale. She usually receives clothing from her mother who will give her daughter the items that don’t fit her anymore. On the rare occasion that she will look in fashion magazines, she will usually be struck by how ridiculous the models’ outfits are and how they are never something that she is looking for.

Most of the time she feels underdressed when she goes out to a party in Boston, but she doesn’t know how to necessarily prevent that. And when and if she goes out, she tries to show off her legs in some skinny jeans, but despises showing off too much skin.

My two interviewees definitely differed on style and fashion ideals, but one similar component between them was their overwhelming love of comfort. Their environment back home also heavily influenced their uniform as my first interviewee dressed a bit more preppy  with high boots and Burberry scarves while my second interviewee dressed a bit more southern with bootleg jeans and cowboy boots. But even during off-season, both of my interviewees would rather choose sweatpants over a dress any day. The sporty aesthetic component of their daily outfits has morphed into an embodiment of ‘casual chic’  with their respective cashmere sweaters and bedazzled jeans.

Many people attach sentimental value to various pieces of their clothing. The emotional value may come from the person that gave it to them, what happened to them while wearing the piece, how the piece speaks to who they are, or a number of other situations. Clothing of sentimental value will often retain its place in a person’s closet long after its owner has outgrown it and will survive numerous “spring-cleaning” donation drives. However, clothing pieces with sentimental value are rarely ever brought out of their sacred place in the closet to be worn again, and tend to have the same function as an old photograph in a photo album. They’re kept for occasional reminiscence, but not for outright display. My first interviewee, Elise, models this situation, while my second, Chandra, incorporates her sentimental clothing into her daily wardrobe.

Elise

Elise was born in California, but considers Oregon her home. Her personal style has remained largely the same throughout her life, although she says that small changes have been to reflect her growing confidence in the way her body is shaped. Elise told me, “I’m proud of my tummy because it fits proportionally with the rest of my body”. She now enjoys wearing clothing that complements her curves, as opposed to hiding them. Elise’s daily wardrobe is geared more towards personal comfort than fashion. On school days, she will wear pants, usually jeans, with a simple shirt and a jacket or sweater for warmth. She is active in the Wellesley Debate club, and enjoys the confidence that wearing a pantsuit gives her, and expressed disappointment in how casual college debate is in comparison to high school debate.

Elise has multiple items with sentimental value in her closet. Interestingly, when I asked her about sentimental clothing, nearly every piece she showed me had a connection one of her family members. She has multiple hand-me-down pieces, most from her mom, including combat boots given to her mother in college and an Epcot sweatshirt from her parents’ honeymoon. Her favorite pantsuit was a Christmas gift from her parents during her senior year of high school. She also has several homemade items of clothing, all of which were made for her by her grandmother. Elise’s grandmother had a tradition of making clothing for her grandchild at the beginning of every school year and for Christmas “ever since first grade”, although she now chooses to pay for shopping trips with them instead. Much of Elise’s clothing with sentimental value is not worn outside of her room, or not worn on a regular basis. The only piece that she wears regularly are her mother’s combat boots. She has two skirts that were made for her by her grandmother, only one of which she has worn one time since transferring her closet to Wellesley. She also has a dress made of fortune-cookie print fabric that she has not worn since the Christmas that her grandmother gave it to her. On the dress, Elise said, “It’s a tribute to her first first day of school dress for me in first grade which was a similar print and she embroidered on the front, ‘You are one smart cookie.'”

Chandra

Chandra was born and raised in Massachusetts. Her style has remained the same for as long as she has been dressing herself. She enjoys wearing t-shirts, usually graphic tees with depictions of favorite childhood characters or “old-school animation type stuff”, jeans, and jackets or hoodies. She loves music and goes to multiple concerts throughout the year, and usually buys a t-shirt at each concert. She wears her concert t-shirts regularly. When she attends Senate meetings, which requires business casual wear, she wears dark jeans and a blouse, but changes out of the blouse as soon as she gets back to her dorm. She noted that she avoids wearing dresses, but has the dress that she wore to her high school graduation ceremony because her mother urged her to bring one dress with her to college.

When I asked Chandra if she had any clothing with sentimental value, her response was that almost all of her wardrobe had some form of sentimental value. She said that her clothes show, “something I’m interested in that I want to share with people”. She rotates through about 14 graphic tees every two weeks, and each one has a depiction of a favorite character on them. She has many more graphic tees, but her parents told her she had to limit the amount of t-shirts she brought with her to college. She rotates her choices when she visits home. She noted that she has about 7 Nightmare Before Christmas graphic tees, but only has 3 in her dorm closet.  Chandra expressed that she could not care less how people perceive her based on her dress, but she does enjoy when people comment on on her shirts, saying, “It helps with the peers, they’ll be like, ‘Oh my god, I haven’t watched the Powerpuff Girls in years!'” When she is at home, Chandra works in the children’s section of a public library, and enjoys when children recognize their favorite characters on her t-shirts. Some of her t-shirts, such as the Nightmare Before Christmas ones, she does not wear to the library. Unlike Elise, most of her graphic tees do not have an emotional connection to one of her family members, although one of her t-shirts is a hand-me-down from her brother, who had outgrown it. She does not have many direct hand-me-downs, although she noted that she does have one of her dad’s U2 concert t-shirts, which she wears for a pajama shirt.

Conclusion

Elise and Chandra represent two ends of the spectrum when it comes to dressing with clothing of sentimental value. Elise has kept sentimental pieces of clothing with her for years, choosing to bring many pieces with her to college despite knowing that she will not wear them. Although Elise does not dress for fashion, she dresses in a conventional way, and thus chooses to filter out many of her sentimental pieces from her wardrobe. On the other hand, Chandra chooses to almost exclusively wear clothing that depicts something that means a lot to her, and enjoys sharing her interests with people through her clothing. She does not conform to fashion trends. Her choice of clothing can often help her to connect with peers and with the children that she works with.

Images Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18asYwWtkktCg1q9sR-xWAqx3umWElZ0BJfDqdTR7jYI/edit?usp=sharing

I grew up with two older brothers who have verydifferent styles, and how they chose their clothes has always interested me. The American young-adult male doesn’t have nearly as many trends or social cues to follow when it comes to what they wear. That is why I think their choices in dress are particularly interesting because it is very straight forward and tells a lot about them (and most of it comes from their mom). I interviewed two fraternity brothers who go to MIT to talk to boys about clothes. I found that conclusions to questions were usually “because it’s comfortable” or “I don’t know why”, while they were actually putting a lot more thought into it than that.

Joshua Vaugts is 21, from a small town in Maryland, and is a Navy ROTC cadet. Kyle is 20, was raised in San Francisco, California, and is a water polo player. Both stressed being comfortable as the most important part of their outfits. Their closets were stuffed to the gills with t-shirts spilling out of drawers, boxers hanging off corners, and dress shirts falling off wire hangers with stray socks lying around.

Kyle faces a problem most people don’t because of his large size that most stores don’t carry, and because of his fluctuating weight with water polo season. He is 6’10” and varies in waist size. His way of coping with this is ordering from catalogs (King Size Catalog, Levis) and going to places such as Mens Warehouse where there is a large selection. He says he doesn’t really mind shopping, but only goes for specifics. His parents buy most of his essentials, and he picks up whatever else he needs. I commented on the large pile of t-shirt he had (mostly) folded in his drawers and he said he wasn’t lying when he said he hadn’t bought any of them, and all of them had logos of his high school teams or were from MIT. I couldn’t help but laugh, and he pointed out two shirts he has that don’t have words on them (a black v-neck, a grey long sleeve). Kyle wanted to point out that he does think about what he puts on in the morning, and tries to match his jacket with his t-shirt. Shoes are a non-thought, as he only has two pairs: one pair of sneakers, one pair of dress shoes. For the fraternity, the brothers have to dress up frequently for dinners or formals. Both Kyle and Josh agreed that they liked having the opportunity to be more formal. They said it gave them more of a choice for colors and ties, and it was nice to be all together and added more meaning to the event. They also wanted to point out their ‘game day jerseys’: Kyle’s the 49ers, and Josh’s the Redskins. They wear the jerseys all day on the day of a game, and like the mood it puts them in.

Josh’s closet was very similar to Kyle’s, except for a few pieces that stood out: his flannels, and his Navy uniforms. Josh and his girlfriend have been together since high school, and he thinks it has changed how he’s dressed. “She gets me these flannels because she likes them… Well I like them too. They’re all tattered now but she patches them up. I wear them over t-shirts most days because they’re really comfortable”. He also commented on how he dresses for their dates and when he sees her (they are long-distance). His mom usually buys him clothes he doesn’t think is his style, such as patterned Polo shorts in preppy colors, but he wears them because his girlfriend tells him she likes it. He enjoys dressing up for her, and doesn’t mind wearing things that aren’t totally ‘him’. Josh also discussed his struggles with weight fluctuation after he stopped swimming, and having to stay in shape for the Navy. While Kyle keeps his small and big clothes, Josh prefers to throw away what he can’t wear anymore. Kyle said about it, “it just doesn’t feel good to wear things that are too tight, I hate gaining weight. I don’t know how you girls wear skinny jeans! I’d rather wear a shirt that was too big for me, even if it looks stupid”.

They both acknowledged that they are conscious of how they look in the morning; they know when they look good and when they look bad, but it usually correlates with how the clothes feel on their body. While their moms and significant others get them or chaperone them in getting their clothes, they have a lot of ownership over their choices. A few brothers in the fraternity dress very well and take a lot of care in how they dress. I asked them about how they see these guys and they agreed that they look great, but they have no interest in time in investing in clothes like that. “I am who I am” Josh said as we finished our interview. I conclude that these two guys care much more about their clothing than they think they do, and controls how they feel throughout the day much like a girl feels about her appearance. Even though Josh and Kyle are nowhere near ‘stylish’, they prove that all people care about how they look and how it makes them feel.

I interviewed two people whom I believed could provide a good insight into how to dress country, but are from two different parts of the country.

Joanna LaPerriere

The first, Joanna LaPerriere, is a “fifth-generation Wyomingite”. She, like her mother, and her grandmother, (and so on for generations), was raised in Wyoming and considers it to be her true home.

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B5hzje8BkVYtNGgwZFgzUG5YOWc/edit

When Joanna came to Wellesley, she decided to bring her cowboy boots and Stetson hat with her. Her boots, she informed me, were a graduation present which she asked for, instead of the typical high school graduation ring. Even though she has owned her boots for only a short amount of time, they are very important to her as a symbol from home. She wears them on a regular basis, and does not think of it as anything out of the ordinary to do so.

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B5hzje8BkVYtMlRjSzdQQVlPSTg/edit

On the other hand, Joanna does not wear her hat as often as she does her boots. Not because it is anything uncommon, but simply out of personal preference because it is such a large hat. However, when she boarded the long flight from home to Wellesley, she wore her hat on the plane in order to avoid having it be flattened in her suit case. When she arrived at Boston-Logan airport, people gave her weird looks, she says. She thinks that it is because it is uncommon for people in the Northeast to see someone wearing a big cowboy hat, whereas at home no one would think to look twice. She claims that even while she was at Denver airport, she did not get the same looks as in Logan.

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B5hzje8BkVYteEJUUjNqTTJhems/edit

Although those two pieces are iconic in country dress, Joanna believes that “dressing country” is more than just the boots or the hat individually. It is a combination of things, the outfit as a collective. It is the style of jeans and type of shirt too. Wearing boots with jeans isn’t necessarily country; “if you don’t wear the whole look, it just kind of looks every day”, says Joanna.

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B5hzje8BkVYtRVBnVkxldXp5dnc/edit

She personally learned how to dress from her family, and says that in her entire life, she has never seen anything but cowboy boots on her grandfather’s feet. She puts her own spin on her country look though, which is something that she got from her father. Even though she would wear a typical button-down, which could be seen as part of the country style, she describes some of the shirts as “artsy” because they’re classier than typical work clothes, but still the same style.

Although Joanna knows the style well enough to tell the difference between what is true country or not (such as an Easterner simply wearing boots, for example), she chooses to put her own spin on it to better represent herself and what she has garnered from her family. Each person has a slightly different style, though the differences may not seem so distinct to the unknowing eye. Big buckles, for example, are typically only worn by people in rodeo, or at least by a person with family that has participated in rodeo, because they earned the buckle. This way, they are representing something about themselves or their family, within the parameters of the dress style.

Estefania Lamas

The second person I interviewed is Estefania Lamas, a Mexican-American who lives in the southwestern region of Texas.

In general, Estefania expressed the same sentiments as Joanna about how to dress country. She also has her own set of cowboy boots, but unlike Joanna, decided not to bring them from home because of their bulkiness. Her boots, she told me, were her mother’s boots and were passed down to her. Therefore, her boots also hold something of value for her; they are more than just a pair of boots.

What I found most interesting though is that when asked if they would be able to tell the difference between real cowboy boots and other styles of boots if they were shown a line-up of several different types of boots, both were adamant that they would be able to. In fact, not only were each able to name several brand-names of boots, but thought that the answer was an obvious yes.

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B5hzje8BkVYtV0JBcEg2X0U1SGM/edit

In the case of Estefania, she showed me more dresses and spoke more about wearing a dress than about jeans and a button-up like Joanna did. This is not to say that Joanna does not wear dresses in a country style or that Estefania does not wear jeans and a button up shirt. Rather, it simply indicates what is more common in their respective regions and this difference could most likely be attributed to the difference in climate.

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B5hzje8BkVYtQzFkdUFaVDdGcms/edit

If wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt instead of a dress, Estefania named a specific brand of jeans, Miss Me jeans. She says that this brand of jeans are very highly acclaimed by women, and are very expensive. She does not own a pair of these jeans mainly because they are not her style, due to that the jeans have rhinestones embedded into them and are very flashy. This style of jeans, she says, and Joanna also mentioned during her interview, are very rodeo-y, or glitzy country.

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B5hzje8BkVYtNG9UQ3JZVmRtbXM/edit

However, Estefania’s considers her style to be more Tex-Mex, not only because of her nationality, but because of the region of Texas in which she lives. This red “reboso” which she showed me is like a scarf from Mexico, but is worn more so as a shawl, which helps in the cold and adds a little of her own style to her outfit; it brings a piece of home.

https://docs.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/file/d/0B5hzje8BkVYtV1ZicGQtNldlNUk/edit

Lastly, unlike Joanna, Estefania also showed me a bag/purse which she described as country. The bag’s big buckle is typical of country dress, and the color and material of the bag gives it a “rugged” look, which Estefania likes very much.

Keeping all of this in mind though, Estefania strongly felt that it was important to keep in mind that some parts of Texas, like the town where she lives, have become more rural and urban. As a consequence, she feels that the country style of dress is not as pronounced as in other parts of Texas, or other states like Wyoming. The style of dress is more prominently seen in ranching or farming culture, which she is not a part of. Nonetheless, she owns “country-style” clothes and knows how to dress country because she likes the style.