The new generation: How teens use fashion to express themselves
More stories from Isabella Johnsen
Sophomore Olivia Seery: I make most of my own jewelry. I make my bracelets most of the time, and I make my own earrings. Most of the earrings I wear are made by me. I like wearing silly T-shirts with goth stuff. I want to look funny. I don’t want to look like fashion. I want people to say ‘wow, she looks weird’ when I walk into a room. I want to look like an e-girl but funny.
Senior Caleb Johnson: I dress to make myself feel happy and confident. I’ll choose a bit more of an outfit when I want to feel more confident in myself. The clothes I wear make me feel comfortable, confident and happy. I don’t dress particularly masculine or feminine, I just like to keep it somewhat plain for the most part.
Senior Catherine Kammerer: I like to dress in what makes me feel good about myself. I feel like if I leave the house, and I’m not dressed a certain way, I don’t feel like I’m going to have a good day. I need to feel comfortable before I leave the house or I’ll have a bad day. When I dress well, I set up my day to be better, and I feel more comfortable when I feel good about what I’m wearing. I feel like I dress like Stevie Nicks mixed with a cartoon character.
Sophomore Corina Karling: I try to express myself through my clothing as much as I have confidence in. Even though I identify as female, I’ve struggled with gender expression since I was in third grade. When I’ve had feelings for boys, my main attraction is always to the aspects of them I wish I had. As of recently, I think I’ve found a happy middle of feminine and masculine expression. What I show still isn’t a completely accurate representation of myself, I think. I guess clothes and accessories are just a way to feel more concrete and comfortable in my own skin.
Junior Enzo Rovito: When I choose an outfit, I throw on whatever I want that day, but I try to have the same consensus — either really stand-out pants — I have these pants with newspaper prints all over them with a boring shirt — or a crazy shirt. I have this one shirt that says utopia and is very ‘ed hardy’ with plain pants so I like to have things match but not match. I am more runway fashion than street fashion, yet I do like to mix the two whether it be name designers with street style inspirations.
Senior Jeulian Ramos: Fashion for me looks like I’m trying to gun for like ‘screw norms’, but really I just think it looks cute, and I guess it looks the way it is because of suppressed things I couldn’t do when I was younger and now that I have the opportunity to finally do what I want to, it looks a bit more ‘extra’.
Senior Hewane Melkie: I express myself by dressing how I feel, and I feel like that allows me to be my most genuine self. I dress comfortable as much as possible. Clothes should be fun, never stressful or obligated or pressured. It should just reflect you, you know?
Senior Taylor Turner: I dress with a lot more bland colors. I usually dress in black, white or grey, and I try to accentuate my jewelry. All my jewelry has a meaning, whether it be my friends bought it for me or my family did, and I like to let people draw on my shoes and leave little messages and stuff, so I keep my clothing bland and plain, but I’ll hype up the jewelry and everything else.
Senior Thomas Woods: I like to dress somewhat nicer usually on days that I can. I kind of focus on how I want to be presented to other people. How I want other people to see me and dressing the way I do helps me perform better in school sometimes. It gives me a confident attitude throughout the day.
Deanna Riesen • Oct 24, 2019 at 1:08 pm
Beautiful pictures