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
I thought it was interesting that your first interviewee was very certain that she didn’t care about clothing brands until she kind of just showed that brands did matter to her by explaining which clothes she preferred. Thought it was representative of how many people act in regards to labels. We act like we don’t shop by labels but, we often inherently do.
I love the emphasis on moms and how they influenced style. My mom definitely taught me which brands to value and which ones to avoid, and no matter how many times I have a bad experience at stores my mom taught me to appreciate, I still kind of hold onto the idea that they’re quality. (Looking at you, Gap.)
I noticed the influence of mothers on a girl’s style in my interviews as well. I was surprised that, even for college students, their mothers shape their style more so than their peers. I wonder if mothers are responsible for the emphasis on brand names, since teens who have to buy their own clothing can’t usually afford to buy brand names, and older women are often more conscious of good quality and classy style which are two benefits of more expensive brands. Great post, by the way.
Both of the women I interviewed also mentioned their mothers as primary fashion influences. Personally, I relate to Olivia in this interview when she says how her mother had her buy the same item in two colors – my mom has had me do the same thing.