Ran Q Huang
occupation: student
“[A lot of my clothes] are like books. You buy a book, and it’s not like you have to read the book all the time. You read the book maybe one time and then put it on your bookshelf. Maybe you read it another day. Clothing for me, it’s like a book, like a reference.” Ran Huang
I remember to this day my relief when one of my high school teachers told me that asking questions was a sign of intelligence and something to be nurtured, not stifled. So when Ran equated her love for SLU to her own inquisitive nature (she told me how she enjoys sitting on the subway, noticing certain people’s styles and fantasizing about their life stories), it was music to my ears. For me, it is the exchange of narrative and connection to each other, not just the snapshot, that we are…
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Olivia Weeden
occupation: student
“I’ll be getting dressed to go out somewhere and I’ll get dressed three times. Then finally, I’ll just take everything off, make a big slit up the back, turn it upside down, safety pin it, and walk out the door feeling perfect.” Olivia Weeden
I love how Olivia’s entire wardrobe changed when she bought a motorcycle to travel on in the City. She went from floral dresses to layers of drapery, hooded sweaters, and leather. Her ingenuity takes her as far as to take a blanket that she found from Eastern Europe and turn it into a strapless dress to stay warm, and to turn an antique scissor into a necklace, in case of emergency. In fact, her accessories seem to be both time-honored and utilitarian, like the camera bag she uses as a purse. However, practicality doesn’t always rule. Despite Olivia’s recent obsession with shades of…
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Coco and Breezy
occupation: accessory designers
“We are one person in two different bodies.” Coco and Breezy
Coco and Breezy, identical twins from Minneapolis, say that together they are one person, and have literally never spent a day apart. They have had the good fortune to have each other while fending off stares in their Grace Jones meets Star Trek style. The twins’ high voltage, over-the-top line of sunglasses began when they needed to block themselves from “taunting peers.” Every day counts both in their work ethic (they sleep three to four hours a night) and in their imaginative and highly assembled outfits. Everything is possible for creating the details that make a difference, like the broken glass off of the street from a bus window that adorns one shoulder of a leather jacket, and their kingsized and king-like rings that they made with materials…
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Lauren Rassel
occupation: co-founder and designer of the clothing and accessories line FLAWK
“My favorite spot in my house has always been the junk drawer. Glue, tape, rubber bands, safety pins, staples, you name it I did it. I’ve stapled my finger a million times.” Lauren Rassel
Wonder Woman, Lauren in her executioner-style over-the-knee medical tights, bejeweled with birth control packets and worn with a dress that was a skirt but is now “boned” (looks bullet-proof), made into a halter with a telephone cord and intensified with a fur shrug made from a jacket, is a warrior for turning everything in your junk drawer into couture. I didn’t have an “Invention Convention” in third grade, but I am now wishing I did. Lauren started her spat-making then, the yellow ones made from caution tape to protect from the snow and ones to cover a cast. Either are fair…
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BJ Panda Bear
occupation: socialite and blogger by day, host and party boy by night
“[My favorite thing about fashion is] how insulting you can be to the norms of society, yet spark visions of unknown subcultures.” BJ Panda Bear
I love that BJ has decided to study sociology because of the fact that people’s differences are respected. BJ thrives on opposition – he dresses in what he refers to as an “explosion” of variety as a way to bring to the surface people’s prejudices and need for conformity. It’s unexpected, but in such a refreshing way, to walk into his apartment in back of his very manicured childhood home in Beverly Hills, where the “expected” uniform in school was a button-up, baggy jeans, and anything Von Dutch. BJ dreads any norms and as a result, his wardrobe is hanging on every surface, like a laboratory, ready for the next personification. The…
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