Introducing Mady

Mady is a sorority girl. She’s about to be a senior at Arizona State school, where she lives with four other girls in a house that is a ten minute walk from campus. Majoring in Fashion with a minor in Digital Audience, when she talks about going into Public Relations and “stuff like that, fashion related or beauty related”, when she’s older, you don’t doubt that she will. She used to draw a lot when she was younger and remembers her mom buying her canvasses for her to paint on, but now she channels her arty side into fashion, “accessorizing or putting an outfit together”.

Her room here on campus is decorated much like her room back home at her parents’ house in the Illinois suburbs, thirty minutes outside of Chicago; posters of her favorite artists or just “things that look cool” on the walls, tapestries and LED lights, a whole wall of CDs. It’s relaxed and cozy, “kind of edgy” she tells us, looking around the room. Her friends – who she is unswervingly loyal to - describe it as “a vibe”. We sat down in amongst it all to talk to Mady about her world and everything that makes it turn.

Let’s start with having you explain your style to us, Mady...

I like wearing bright colors, a lot of my friends only own black clothing. Like now, I’m wearing a bright pink sweatshirt. In the summer, I love neon, I love vibrant. It’s sunny out so I’m going to be sunny too. I love mixing and matching, bright jeans, bright shorts. If I go out with my friends and they’re all wearing dresses I’ll be like well maybe I’ll wear one but only if I’m comfortable. Comfortable and fashionable are my vibe. When I'm home I love sweats. I don’t like wearing jeans except maybe Mom jeans, no skinny jeans.

Would your friends describe your fashion/style any differently do you think?

I think they’d say the same thing that I wear bright things, even my nails I get bright colors. I love fashion but I don’t have all this money to be spending on things. I’ll go on a shopping spree online every couple of months. I don’t want to be wasteful. I try to be as fashionable as I can and my friends call me a fashionista.

Thinking about your friends, what’s your ‘style/fashion role’ in the group?

Especially with going out, I try to do my own thing, I’m definitely more a leader than a follower. I think to myself, I’m going to wear whatever I want no matter what everyone else is wearing. I’ll put an outfit together and wear like, zebra print pants, and my parents will ask why am I dressed so nice. I try to dress how I want, not whatever other people expect.

Who inspires you style-wise?

Nobody specific. I feel like I just look on Pinterest or TikTok and see trends. There’s this one girl from my school who became Insta-famous, she got a lot of brand deals. So I really like her style. She posts a lot of affordable things, sometimes there’s designer stuff but not often. She also posts links to everything she gets, I like that she does that. I hate when influencers gatekeep what they’re wearing and don’t tag where it’s from, it’s annoying. Especially if it’s affordable. The Instagram girl’s handle is @Luisapiou. I like that she’s still a normal person and posts affordable things. I feel this is how an influencer should be, influencing good things not things that are unattainable to normal people.

In the public eye, whose style do you admire and are influenced by?

There was this one girl on TikTok [Sienna Mae Gomez], she’s not really liked by anyone anymore because of some accusation against her but she was one of the first influencers I saw that was body positive. She’ll let everything hang out and show off her imperfections, so I really admire her. You don’t have to be skinny and petite to be an influencer, you can be any size, shape, gender, race.

If you could ‘steal’ one person [in the public eye’s] closet, whose closet would you steal and why?

@Luisapiou - I love her wardrobe. She’s really out there, she takes risks and makes everything look good and fashionable. She’s always on top of the trendsor, if anything, she creates the trends.

Where are the other places you’re getting style/fashion influence from?

Definitely Pinterest, Instagram - I’ll go on the explore page so I get ads for things I’m interested in. I’ll see things on TikTok and cute outfits and think about finding something like it.

Where are your three favorite stores to shop in for clothing/apparel?

I shop online more. Target in-store is a big one, it’s my go-to when I need to pick something up real quick, like a quick summer dress or jean shorts, I know they’ll have them. I’ve been really into Zara lately, but one thing that confuses me sometimes is the pricing. Sometimes they’ll have a tank top that’s $7 and then another one that's similar to it and it's $45?? How do you go from that? The cheaper option is more what I'm looking for. I can always find something in Zara though, but the stores are so big that they have a lot of stuff. I shop online a lot with Shein, it’s gotten a lot bigger. I’ve known of it since I was in middle school but now especially because it’s on TikTok they’ve blown up a lot. They’ve been doing a lot of collaborations with famous people. It’s becoming a bigger brand whereas before it was just known as being cheap. It’s becoming more expensive but I think it’ll always be on the cheaper side. It’s not always the best quality and the sizing can be off. But one thing I love about them is their returns, they’re free and easy to do. 

What is it about these stores that make them your favorite/preferred place to shop?

Zara has a lot of trendy pieces andI love to be on trend but also a lot of business stuff like blazers, which is something I’ve always wanted to get into. I feel like if I wore one, I’d look like I’m dressing for a presidential campaign! But I wish I could get into blazers, they’re a really powerful statement. 

Does the experience of those stores matter to you too?

I love online shopping because I can just look at an image and order what I want, it’s delivered and I don’t have to leave my house. But the downside is you can’t feel the clothing or try it on. During Covid, when they eventually opened the malls, me and my friend went but all the changing rooms were closed which made me think harder about whether I bought an item or not, and usually, I left it. I like when the stores are organised as well. I feel like Forever 21 is an in-store version of Shein, it’s organized but unorganized at the same time, I love their clearance area. 

Going a little more specific, what are your top five favorite brands?

I really like Rihanna’s brand (Fenty), it’s definitely body positive and she caters to every skin tone and sizes too - she definitely made it accessible to everyone, inclusive. Another one is a brand that I actually had to do a few projects on with school: ASOS. On their website, they have a lot about why they do what they do and they’re also really inclusive, they go up to size 6XL or something like that, and they go down to XXS. They have men, women, kids, and beauty. I noticed they don’t airbrush their models either.

What are your top priorities when it comes to buying new items of clothing?

Style

Price - especially being raised by my Mom it’s instilled in me to try and get the cheapest thing. We love the Dollar Store. If it works, why spend more on it? My Mom has influenced me for sure. If I see a designer item on sale, my friend will think it’s really cheap, and I just think it's still really expensive. 

Comfort - I know what my body is now, what looks good and what doesn’t. I’m not going to buy a certain size because it’s what my friend wears, I want to be comfortable and confident. I don’t want to squeeze in anything.

How many pairs of shoes, any shoes, do you own?

I would say in the 30’s, probably more. There’s a lot I don’t wear anymore but I kept them because you never know. 

If you had to split them up into categories and write a percentage next to them [what, math!] what would that look like?

Sneakers - 75%

Sandals/slides - 10%

Heels/boots/mules - 15%

What type of shoe would we typically find you in, if you there is a ‘typical shoe’ for you?

Nike Air Forces or Birkenstocks. In school, I only ever wore Converse.

What are the most important things for you when it comes to buying your favorite kind of shoe?

Definitely comfort, tjen style. Comfort is a big thing but not always the cutest shoes will be the most comfortable. I don’t expect comfort from heels so I’ll only wear them sometimes.

What about your favorite brands for shoes? Who do you always end up going to?

Nike - always my go-to

Converse

Why are these your favorite brands do you think? 

Nike I’ve always gone back to, I can always find something I like, there’s so many different styles. They have a different style of a style, if that makes sense. Always new colors, new designs. They even have slides and sandals.