Sporting a pair of rainbow socks and sandals adorned with cat faces, Nell Fitts ’18 pairs her black cut-off jeans with a coral tank top layered on top of a black turtleneck. To finish off her vintage look, Fitts styles her hair into two mini “space” buns, allowing some of her wavy hair to fall across her shoulders.
When asked about her style inspirations, Fitts said, “I’ve just always loved history. It’s always been my favorite subject in school, and so it just makes sense that when I’m reading books or when I’m watching movies, I just pull influence from that… I think seeing where our current style comes from is really interesting, and I like dissecting it. Our current style comes from many different places back in our country’s history of fashion, so I think that knowing our current style means knowing a lot about past styles.”
For inspiration, Fitts tends to focus on fashion and beauty trends from older time periods, ranging from the 1960s to the 2000s, to add a vintage feel to her style.
“Obviously I’m not pulling too much inspiration from like the Middle Ages, but I do like to look back to how girls were doing their hair in the 1960s and different things like that. So, I take those influences and I consider them while I get dressed and I like to throw those in there. Just looking at that has influenced how I dress,” said Fitts.
A self-proclaimed television enthusiast, Fitts also draws much of her style inspiration from TV shows like “The Get Down” and “Fargo,” which feature fashion styles from the 1970s.
“The 1970s is pretty in right now, so there have been a lot of TV shows coming out about [that time period]. It’s not one particular character that I find fashion influences from per se, but just like the particular way that they have their collars of their shirts or how women wear their tank tops and things like that,” said Fitts.
Another time period that Fitts draws inspiration from is the 2000s. For Fitts, “Totally Spies,” a children’s cartoon about three teenage super agents that aired in the early 2000s, serves as another source for style inspiration.
“It’s set in the 2000s and they just have the most ridiculous 2000s trends. [Their clothes are] kind of ugly, have a lot of bright colors, and are always paired with creepers shoes… It’s a weird kind of look that I don’t see around very often anymore, so I really like it. It’s lots of [chokers and] weird layering like tank tops over long sleeves and turtlenecks. Just that whole decade is really fun and very funky,” said Fitts.
Through her everyday fashion, Fitts tries to convey a sense of authenticity and her personal beliefs.
“If I were making any statement, it would be to try to express to others who I am,” said Fitts. “I think very much that your fashion is your self-expression; it’s the first thing people notice about you. That’s the first thing I notice when I’m looking at a person. I want my fashion to be very expressive of how I’m feeling and who I believe I am.”
