GW: How would you describe your personality?
AR: I’m shy, but I’m very good under pressure. I have gained confidence through what I wear, so I’m a little bit more confident than I used to be. And I’m very open-minded.
GW: Does the way you dress reflect your personality?
AR: Yes. I believe it does. A lot of people tell me it does.
GW: Has it made you more outgoing?
AR: Yeah, because sometimes I wear more — I don’t want to say weird — but just stuff that not a lot of people do. So when you wear it, you have to have confidence in what you’re wearing. That ties into how you view yourself, I think.
GW: How do you describe your style?
AR: Vintage. I like to go with vintage stuff — or like pops of color. Although, I always tend to lean more to the darker side. But I love overalls.
GW: Is there any public figure or brand that influences your style?
AR: Yes, I love Lucy hale. I love what she wears. She always has cute little vintage stuff. She’s my fashion icon.
Image taken from teenvogue.com
GW: Can you explain your tradition for what you wear on Fridays?
AR: So I switch it off. Every Friday, I wear either a book t-shirt or a musical t-shirt. Just because I have so many of them, I just thought I’ll designate every Friday to be a book shirt or musical shirt day.
GW: What are your favorite musicals? Favorite books?
AR: Hands down my favorite musical is Kinky Boots. I love it. I own three — I own four– shirts from Kinky Boots. Dear Evan Hansen is an amazing musical, too. My favorite book is the Kite Runner, although I don’t have a shirt of it. It’s tragic; I know. I do have a shirt of Wuthering Heights, one of my favorite books ever.
GW: Did you ever go through a trend that you regret?
AR: Yes. When I look back at pictures, I go, “Oh my gosh! Why did I wear that?” Definitely my sophomore year: I wore leggings, moccasins, long socks, and a long sleeve shirt every single day. It was terrible.
GW: Favorite color?
AR: Yellow.
GW: Favorite brand?
AR: I love American Eagle, but it’s such a struggle because they are so expensive.
GW: Favorite material?
AR: I love the big, soft sweaters. I don’t really know what material, but that’s my go-to.
GW: Favorite piece of clothing?
AR: Overalls. And I have this yellow sweater. It’s my favorite thing ever. I try to wear it at least twice a week because it’s not only a sweater, but it’s yellow.
GW: What’s a staple/go-to outfit in your wardrobe?
AR: My go-to outfit would be — I love long sleeves — so when in doubt, I try to go for an oversized sweater or anything with long-sleeves because I’m always cold.
GW: Sneakers or heels?
AR: Heels.
GW: Do you ever pull inspiration from social media?
AR: Some days when I really can’t figure out anything, and I think, “Oh my gosh. I have nothing to wear, but a closet full of clothes,” then I go on Pinterest. But usually, when I pick out an outfit for school, I pick it out the day before, otherwise it’ll stress me out the day I wake up. I just sit on the floor in front of my closet, look at my clothes, and think, “I wonder what will catch my eye.” And I go for that.
GW: Does your style change or stay constant?
AR: It stays pretty constant, but in that range of where I am, there’s a bunch of things in it. I love dresses. I always have dresses, but they’re so different like no dress is the same. So I kind of stay constant, but in that I spread out and go whatever way I want to.
GW: Does your style reflect your mood?
AR: Yes and no. If I have a bad day, I rarely dress bad. I always feel like if I have a bad day and I dress nicer, I’ll feel better, and the day will be better. So I don’t usually ever — but some days I’ll wear a hoodie because I just can’t deal with it.
GW: What type of music do you like?
AR: I listen to my musical music. I listen to country a lot, which is something that surprises a lot of people. I love slow songs. I don’t like fast-rap-things-whatever-that-stuff-is. I don’t really listen to the songs on the radio.
GW: What is your favorite era for fashion?
AR: Oh gosh, I have a bunch of my mom’s hand-me-down clothes from the ‘80s and they’re probably some of my favorite things to wear. I love it. It’s just interesting how you can take clothes from that era and mix them with what people are wearing now. And she always says with Birkenstocks becoming a thing again, “See everything comes around in the fashion world.”
GW: Where do you like to shop?
AR: My mom and I go to the clearance of Forever 21 maybe once every two months or something, and we go crazy.
GW: Can you describe your wardrobe?
AR: There’s a lot of patterns and colors going on. I do wear darker shades, so I always try to throw something in to make it brighter. But there’s a lot flannels — I love my flannels. And there’s a lot of dresses for the summer and spring. I like to really mix and match, play around with it.
GW: Favorite pattern?
AR: Polka dots or flowers.
GW: What’s the most important part of an outfit?
AR: For me, it’s your shoes or jewelry. When I pick out an outfit, I almost always start with shoes, and then I find an outfit that matches those shoes.
GW: What are the best shoes you own?
AR: This is a hard decision! I got a pair of Doc Martens this year, and they are my favorite things ever.
GW: Would you say you follow a fashion norm?
AR: I think I do, but I’m very close to being outside of the norm.
GW: What type of jewelry do you like?
AR: Bracelets. I wear so many bracelets. I make all my bracelets. I love all my bracelets. If it’s not shoes, it’s jewelry.
GW: Do you like to layer?
AR: Yes. I layer clothes. I layer jewelry. I used to wear six to eight necklaces at one time last year; it was a lot. It was a lot.
GW: Is your jewelry usually silver, gold, or bronze?
AR: I have a lot of each. I tend to go silver, but then bronze is a close second.
GW: Any fashion stories?
AR: I have a younger sister who’s in middle school. Sometimes after school, she’ll ask me to drive her somewhere, and she thinks that what I wear is really embarrassing, so she’ll make me change before I drive her anywhere because if someone sees us out in public, she won’t want me to be wearing whatever I’m wearing. She thinks it’s just too outgoing.
GW: Do you like to wear bags or purses?
AR: Yes. I have a lot; I do. I have both, but I have more purses than I do small backpacks.
GW: Do you have any advice for other people?
AR: I think people really care too much what other people think so they’re always like, “Oh, I don’t want to wear it because I don’t want to be made fun of.” But just wear it because you’ll feel good once you wear it, and you’ll just grow confidence-wise. It’s worth it. It’s so much fun, and people will compliment you. You’ll feel even better now that people are seeing it. And you could influence them to do it, too. It’s just a chain reaction.
GW: Anything else to say about your style?
AR: I wear what makes me happy.
