Anyone who’s known me for even just a few months would know that if there’s one thing I love more than fashion, it’s a good Instagram photo. It doesn’t take years of friendship to recognize that I’m just a teensy bit obsessed over snapping pictures for the ‘gram. After all, I do treat my account as a portfolio– Instagram is an art form to me, and I always get a kick out of doing anything remotely creative.
Recently, I had been asking some friends about the girls whom they found stylish, and was surprised to hear one of them say “Well, I wouldn’t consider X very stylish, she just has nice clothes” about someone they knew. This reminded me that fashion is much more than conventionally attractive outfit pieces. In fact, it’s about knowing how to mix and match what’s plain and what’s eye-catching in a manner that works.
So in line with my desire to reach new boundaries this 2019, I decided to challenge myself by integrating my two favorite activities in one by styling myself for shoots using clothing that people wouldn’t expect.
Fortunately, a classmate of mine, Nate, had reached out before asking me to pose for his portfolio, so I took him up on his offer and got to work.
Outfit 1
For the first look, I wanted something a little bit on the work-wear side. I wanted to look like I had come home from a long day at the office, and now I was casually gliding about my large mansion.
Now here’s the fun part, I knew I wanted to get creative with my top so I had to think of pairing two completely unexpected items together for it. My choices? A tube top from Terranova and a swimsuit cover-up. Yeah, you read that right. I took an old white kimono cover-up that I got from a tiangge selling swimwear for P150 years ago, and tied at the bottom so I could fit in inside my tube. Amazingly enough, it ended up looking like one whole top!
Outfit 2
The vibe for this shot was “Sunday hot mess”, so Nate was gunning for a summer-esque outfit. It took me a while to figure out how I could get creative with my top, but eventually, I spotted it: At the peak of the shelves where I kept my off-season clothes, I found yet another swimsuit cover-up that I had formerly wore as a dress when I was around 6. If you look closely, you can even see that it’s made of towel material! I knew a deep v-neck would give the perfect “sunbathing in the summer” look, so I took a tight high-waisted skirt that flared at the bottom to disguise the end of the dress-turned-top from revealing itself.
Outfit 3
For the last shoot, my best friend Joachim had so kindly allowed me to to bug him for the nth time for yet another session of posing and picture taking. This time, we decided to reprise a theme we’d already done before: retro. With the permission of the Sunnies Cafe employees, we got to posing by their very photogenic magazine wall.
For this outfit, I have my friend, Anicia, to thank. As a fellow fashionista, she spotted this top one day while thrifting and got it for me. After some research, I learned that this actually seems to be some sort of sleeveless shirt for younger kids (I’m talking 5-6 years old)! So yes, essentially, I’m wearing a child’s top as a bralette. But hey– no one said fashion was supposed to be normal.
What were your favorite looks?
Thank you to my two friends, Joachim and Nate, for providing me with their amazing photography skills! Follow their socials down below and book them for your own shoot!
Click here for Nate Bosano’s Instagram. Click here for Joachim Gutierrez’s Instagram.