For me, maybe you as well, quarantine allowed time for a lot of self-reflection.
Since life in general slowed down, I started to better take care of myself. I put more thought into things like my skincare routine, the organization of my room, my schoolwork schedule, and my clothing style.
I wasn’t planning on redoing my closet…
The inspiration came when I found myself watching a lot of fashion Tik Toks and YouTube videos, and reliving my middle school days by scrolling through Pinterest. I saw so many pieces and overall outfits I loved. I saw people completely transforming thrifted clothes into something more modern. I looked back at old photos and realized what I was wearing didn’t match what I felt my style was anymore. And with all of this put together, I decided to try my hand at my own personal aesthetic revamp.
I’ve gone through many clothing phases over the years.
A Justice phase, a dELiA*s phase, an Aéropostale phase, a hot topic phase…but I noticed I had finally reached a point where what I wore wasn’t defined by a specific store anymore. I had to put in more work to find the type of clothes that I wanted.
After all of those years and phases, I knew my current style had developed into something in the middle of skater and grunge, with the occasional pop of night luxe. My style-based Pinterest board is filled with things like plaid skirts, Vans, ripped jeans, velvet dresses, Doc Martins, black lace tops, moon/star-patterned, and embroidered pieces. I’ve always had a sense of my style, and that I wasn’t a person who followed trends too closely, but seeing a bunch of outfits I loved in one spot made it feel that much more tangible and achievable.
After that was when I began to start my shopping.
I lived for the question feature on Instagram, and with the help of my followers and YouTube, I discovered some new stores that have since become my favorite. Pacsun has become my favorite store for jeans. I used Shein to gather up some inexpensive basics like solid color tops, graphic tees, and fun socks. I went to my local thrift store and found some sweaters and jackets. I shopped at J. Adams for shoes and found other pieces at stores like H&M, and sites like Poshmark.
In addition to clothes, I also switched around my jewelry. I did some digging on Etsy for a couple more everyday rings, bought some statement earrings, layerable necklaces, and basic bracelets.
At the end of the day, the motivation for this came down to how I wanted to challenge myself.
I wanted to step out of my comfort zone of the same black leggings and sweatshirt outfit I always wore. I wanted to put outfits together that I could look back on in a few years and be proud of. I knew I would be coming back to campus at some point, and I made it my mission that I would have much better everyday outfits than I had last year. All in all, I was tired of blending in. Quarantine made me realize how much I took for granted, and throughout it, I decided that that wasn’t going to happen anymore. I wanted to put my all into things, and one of those things was my personal style.