Ma uses his fashion choices to boost his confidence.
Ma likes to curate one of a kind vintage pieces when he travels.
Finding inspiration from his brother’s style, Ma dresses sustainably.
Michael Ma ’24 curates a monochromatic outfit, pairing black jeans with a thrifted denim jacket thrown over a graphic tee and topping it all off with Birkenstock clogs. For Ma, fashion is not just an aspect of his external appearance but a representation of his journey to greater self-confidence.
“I used to struggle with my self-confidence… Being more conscious about my style and putting more effort into how I was presenting myself definitely helped me feel better about myself and have more confidence in how I looked. And also, I can’t lie, I just enjoy getting compliments on everything and seeming like a cool person. I would say it helps with self-confidence, and it’s important for me in that regard,” said Ma.
Before he began experimenting with his style, Ma often stuck to just wearing what was popular. Ma described how he spent years sticking to hyper-trendy brands, eventually breaking out of this cycle by exploring a more individualized approach to fashion.
“I learned that there is more to making a good outfit or having good style other than the name of the brand you’re wearing. So, I definitely started paying attention… to how clothes fit me, certain cuts, and trying to get more variety into what I’m wearing… I feel I only started developing my own personal identity outside of just chasing trends… only recently, in high school. [I] really developed a sense of what I actually liked instead of what was popular,” said Ma.
As Ma began to step away from mainstream fashion trends, he found himself drawn to thrifting. After being introduced to sustainable fashion by his brother, Ma took advantage of the accessibility of thrift stores in his hometown to build up unique closet staples.
“[I’m] from the Bay Area, and although it’s a bit barbaric to some of my friends, I go to the bins. There are huge bins of second-hand clothing, and you just go through it and dig through it, and you try to find pieces that you like and it’s really cheap… I think it’s two or three dollars per pound of clothing,” said Ma.
Ma’s thrifting experiences have also led him to find some of the most important pieces in his collection. One time, while in Portugal, Ma found a secondhand denim jacket that he now treasures for its originality.
“Last Spring Break, the band took a trip to Portugal. We were performing a few concerts, and in my free time, I just decided to search on Google Maps, ‘thrift stores near me.’ I walked into this store in Lisbon, which had a terrific selection. I ended up spending all my free time that day there, and I found… [this] denim jacket… It’s a really unique it anywhere online. I have no information about this brand. So, I just feel it’s such a unique and interesting piece,” said Ma.
Taking an eclectic approach to fashion, Ma draws on a variety of sources for inspiration, including vintage magazines, his brother, and social media. He tries to not just copy other people’s style, but imbue it with his personality and turn clothes into outfits that are uniquely his own.
“I primarily got my style inspiration from my brother first because I used not to be very original. I just sort of got into streetwear because he did, and then he introduced me to the bins and thrifting and everything… I learned these new things from him and then took it and made it my own… I do get a lot of fashion content online, and I feel I’m very subtly influenced every day by what I see on there… I also collect not just clothes but other vintage things. I have a couple of magazines. I found a vintage Popeye magazine, which is a Japanese fashion magazine and just looking through there is really cool, and it helps me get inspired.” said Ma.
The evolution of Ma’s fashion as a form of personal expression has been visible to his friends as well. Kelly Yang ’24 recollected her first impressions of Ma, and noted how his current style is far more original and personal.
“I really like the way he experiments with his colors. There’s this one outfit of his that I really like where it’s black denim on black denim. I think it’s very out of the box. I appreciate that about his style… I would say it has definitely gotten more mature, and personal. I think in the beginning, when I first met him in Freshman year, his style was kind of Hypebeast culture, but it was not refined. As he’s grown he’s been able to find his own style and what he enjoys for himself,” said Yang.
