This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Rider chapter.
As fashionistas ourselves, we enjoy meeting ladies who love to dress, even when they’re only going to class. Always dressed to impress, and quite effortlessly so, Vanessa Baawuah knows they key to laid-back chic. We’ve spotted her on campus and had to know more about the inspiration behind her outfits, and why she is so into fashion.
A Woman About Her Business
Turns out this trendy diva wants to work on the business side of fashion. Vanessa says that she has always harbored aspirations of becoming an accountant then venturing off into being a fashion buyer or seller. “My mom didn’t really support a fashion career,” Vanessa says as to why she didn’t go to FIT, which was her first choice.
Mom Knows Best
“When I was young, my mother was a seamstress. People would come to her and she would make dresses for them. I’ve always enjoyed how someone would come to her with an idea and she’d know how to make it.”
The Inspiration
With such a unique taste in fashion, we wondered where her inspiration comes from. “Most of my outfits come to me in my dreams.” Vanessa says with a laugh. “I don’t know if that’s weird…”
Vanessa The Feminist
Fashion is only a small facet of who she is, and, more importantly, isn’t her only passion. Vanessa also considers herself a feminist and says that women’s empowerment and women’s issues is a huge passion of hers. “[At Planned Parenthood] I help girls who are pregnant or sexually active. I’m very passionate about helping young girls.”
Wanderlust
This twenty-one-year-old fashion maven was born in London and says that she yearns to go back there someday soon to explore the endless shopping possibilities. “As my graduation gift my mom is taking me to London, but she says that she will pay for me to go to Tokyo.” Vanessa says. Were so jealous!
More Than Just Outfits
It isn’t just the glitz and glamour that attracts vanessa to the fashion industry. “Just how you can imagine something and then look for it and wear it …you get to express yourself. That’s what I love most about fashion.”
Staying Updated
“I go to a lot of blogs and I have email updates of pictures. I guess because I’ve been in it for so long, I’ve found lots of places to look at things.” Her favorite blog? “Tokyo Fashion. I love ow they have so many different styles. And you’d think they’d be strict over there in Japan, but they’re not and they wear whatever they want.”
Too Little Time
Vanessa says that being in college and being so involved on campus has caused her to put fashion on the back burner some of the time. “I’m high school, I sewed clothes a lot, made a lot of things. And even my freshman year, I came to college I came with my sewing machine, but I just never had the time to make anything.”
Dress for Success
It’s the way every college Queen should think. Forget about schlepping around in sweats; getting dressed isn’t so hard. It’s actually fun! “I feel like at Rider, people think, ‘oh, it’s just Rider; I’m just going to class’. They don’t think they need to get dressed. People need to not just think of it as ‘just going to class’. Who knows? Today they might meet the person that might give then their dream job.” Amen!
Vanessa has an eye for fashion and a head for business. We can’t wait to see where life takes this talented fashionista!
