Hot or not? Make it your look

Armijo features a diverse assortment of clothing styles day-to-day. Cassie David, for instance, wears a lot of neutral-colored clothing, but every day she wears a silver necklace with a small charm. Jewelry like this is important because it can complement and match a person’s unique style.

A person can also make a statement by wearing the same style of shoes every day and the message might be different if they are Nike Blazers, Air Force 1s, Nike Jordan Dunks, New Balance 550s, or Converse. Shoes like these can go with any outfit, since they are considered versatile staples, things that can be worn in different ways, with different situations.

Staple pieces can greatly contribute to what a person decides to wear every day. For instance, if someone only buys trendy clothes, he or she may find that those could only be paired with a certain style, and not others. With staple pieces, though, countless outfit combinations can be found and, because of their versatility, the stress of what to wear is lessened. This is especially true with things that are denim – like jeans, skirts, and jackets – since one can stack other pieces with them and not look out of place. Also, certain color combinations for outfits can help increase the number of outfits available.

“[I wear] black with any color, or just black,” said Zenaide Heer, who is a good example of this. Simple colors like black can be easily worn with anything, since it’s said to be “the sum of all colors”. At Armijo, we see this trend almost everywhere.

Jett Vang uses black as a basic, but also wears a lot of white, khaki, and beige. Aside from black, we also see other colors, like red, blue, white, beige/khaki, green, and brown, worn by students all around Armijo’s campus.

What brands are not hot–and what you should avoid? Heer said, “In my opinion, it’s not the brand of clothing, it’s the execution of styling. Some brands have ugly clothes but with the right vision you can make almost any ugly item of clothing look good.” People who buy things that are trendy from hot brands may find it difficult later on to make outfits when those trendy things aren’t so trendy anymore.

David said, “I will never understand people who buy clothes based on the brand and not based on if it actually looks good or not.” Brand items are only bought for the recognized name, and those who like buying that name should simply buy it, but without sacrificing their individual style.

So, where do students buy chic and fashionable clothes? “Honestly, I thrift a lot of clothes. Sometimes I buy pants from Walmart – they have baggy men's pants that actually fit my long legs. And, Ross also has some good finds… Nike, Zumiez, Forever 21, Spencer’s etc. I also get a lot of vintage hand-me-downs from the 80s and 90s,” said Heer.

“I usually do online shopping when I buy my clothes,” said David. “Most of my clothes are from H&M, Stylenanda, Codibook, Brandy, or Uniqlo.” With new trends, finding a style is a significant way to expressing oneself. Students  should discover the look that makes them comfortable and build a wardrobe around that look and their budget.