Kawooya’s favorite store is Urban Outfitters and often buys his favorite BDG jeans from there.
Kawooya pairs beige and white sneakers with aged jeans.
Micheal Kawooya ’26 sports a royal blue corduroy jacket over a white tank top, baggy light wash denim jeans, and Nike Air Force sneakers. He elevates his streetwear aesthetic by adding a silver pendant necklace to his outfit. Kawooya shared his process of how he picks out an outfit.
“Most days, I wake up [at] around 7:45 a.m., so I’m definitely rushing to get out the door. However, every night before I go to bed, I pick out an outfit to wear the next day. I don’t always end up wearing the outfits I pick out… Depending on my mood, I may wake up and want to wear something different,” said Kawooya.
Kawooya likes to express his creativity through his fashion. His style cannot be defined by one conventional aesthetic, but instead is a blend of many. Striving to keep fashion fun, he mixes textures and colors to keep his outfits exciting. Kawooya described how he shifts his outfits across different seasons and days of the week.
“I always check the weather and build an outfit off of that. In the wintertime, I love wearing colorful jackets… I like to dress better on Fridays to celebrate the end of the week,” said Kawooya.
As Kawooya grows as a person, so does his style. His fashion sense is influenced by both his environment and the people he meets. In particular, he gains stylistic inspiration from his close friends and social media platforms such as TikTok and Pinterest.
Kawooya said, “Since middle school, I’ve always liked a lot of streetwear, and recently, I’ve started to like preppier aesthetics… as well as anything with color. Freshman fall, I would always wear sweater vests, and then I transitioned more towards collared, short-sleeved shirts.”
He continued, “I have a pair of beige platform Jordans, which sound terrible on paper, but I love them, and I think they add another texture to my wardrobe.”
Kawooya attributes much of his fashion inspiration to his friend Tina Phan ’26. Phan has been friends with Kawooya since their Freshman Year and watched his style grow and develop. She describes his style as “eccentric” and “individualistic.”
“When it comes to music or pop culture I always feel he is in the known, and his style reflects that. He is very eccentric and I love that. I would say he has become more confident in the clothes that he enjoys. And not just what is considered trendy. He always finds ways to make it his own. In Freshman Year, he was wearing more neutral basics, but now he’s incorporating more unique pieces specific to himself,” said Phan.
Out of all the clothing stores Kawooya shops from, his favorite is Urban Outfitters. As an avid member of the Urban Points program, Kawooya is always trying to get the best deals on his Urban Outfitters apparel.
“I am the biggest Urban [Outfitters] fan. I am constantly enrolling in their monthly gift card giveaways, I’ve yet to win one, and I have an alarm on my phone to remind myself to browse the app daily to get points. I have a pair of BDG jeans that are a staple in my wardrobe,” said Kawooya.
Expressed by his zest for experimentation and devotion to certain fashion brands, Kawooya’s passion for fashion is an important and joyful aspect of his identity. He described how fashion can act both as an outlet for self-expression and as a source of positive energy in an otherwise sometimes negative world.
“Fashion just makes me happy and in a world where it can feel like there’s so much negativity and destruction, it’s important to focus on the things that make us happy. I want my fashion to continue evolving, maybe completely ditch what I’m doing now, and try something completely new,” said Kawooya.
