In middle school, I decided I wanted to go to Parsons School of Design in New York City, and I dressed the same way. I wear a lot of black leather, chunky heels, headbands (definitely inspired by the original Gossip Girl), and oversized, plain t-shirts instead of backpacks. I would look for pictures on the Miu Miu catwalk and stick my binders in, take more cool elements from the collections and try to incorporate them into my own wardrobe. I definitely can’t afford the dragonfly shoes I covet from the brand spring 2008 collection, but my mother helped me find cheap alternatives. To combat the days at school, where I was constantly bullied for looking different (people notice when you don’t dress like them; almost every day I get asked, “Why are you dressed so much? “), Fashion has become my outlet. My mom and I will drive to the next town to read the fashion magazines inside the Barnes & Noble and window shop. We’ll spend hours at Target and TJ Maxx – the only places in the area to find affordable and trendy clothes – poring over different models, holding them up to see what they look like. to us and suggest styles to each other that we wouldn’t normally appeal to.
