College can be a hideous area of style. It is a state of sweatpants, hoodies, denim, and unisex Duke T-shirts, and for plenty of humans, “picking a pleasant outfit” is the final factor on their to-do listings. Sometimes, when I say “style” out loud, my pals suppose I’m talking in some mysterious language. For a long time, I believed that college fashion was lifeless. After I was about to give up and buy ten oversized hoodies on Amazon to match, I decided to go searching all over again. And then I saw it. College style is alive and kicking — check international students. One such student is first-year Jamie Palka, Canadian at heart despite her American passport. We lately sat in her room in Bassett, laughing about a photoshoot we had the day earlier, and each time Jamie mentioned Canada, her whole face lit up, and her light-blue eyes commenced to glitter.
Milena Ozernova:
I live in Buffalo, New York. It is 20 minutes from the Canadian border,” Palka stated. “Canada has constantly been an extension of my domestic — more like my backyard than the different USA.” As Palka’s adolescence similarly broke between Abetweena and Canada, her fashion now should reflect the clash of those exclusive cultures and their similar effects. A summertime camp in Canada is the inspiration at the back of both clothing items that Jamie assembled for our photoshoot. Growing up, a variety of the ladies I regarded as much as had this awesome Canadian style,” Palka explained. When she was a kid, she visited a summer season camp in Algonquin Park, which became famous among Canadian and French ladies. They had a very outdoorsy and rugged style that Palka loved and appreciated.
Milena Ozernova:
Dirty leather, cargo pants, greens, darkish grays, and tan … This rustic Canadian style irrevocably modified my taste,” Palka stated. The camp inspired Palka to pick out the simplest garments that allowed her to move so that she could be unfastened. This is why she now hates restrictions — especially proscribing garb. Her childhood legacy consists of Birkenstock slippers, Roots pants, an emblem-less poncho she discovered on the streets of New York, and rusty-searching Dr. Martens, made from leather-based and wool.
After speaking to Palka, I became inspired to journey to the alternative facet of the arena to discover new cultural patterns. Luckily, this changed once I met Defne Yorgancioglu, a first-year Turkish student who could not believe her life without touring and hitchhiking. Yorgancioglu describes her existence as constantly moving from area to vicinity, and her fashion clearly represents such an adventurous, fickle way of residing.
Milena Ozernova:
I certainly like getting things for reasonably priced or free. Almost all of the garments I own are from bazaars, thrift stores, or avenue markets,” Yorgancioglu stated. “I try to wear secondhand and cheap clothes as it permits me not to care about what I’m carrying and stay my lifestyle, embracing all the risks and accidents. This is why many of my clothes look older, ragged, and more bohemian, not utilizing desire but through necessity.
“In bazaars, we used to have these apparel piles wherein everybody may want to get a chunk of wardrobe for one lira [25 cents], and I had to make do with it,” Yorgancioglu continued. “I taught myself to sew, and I found out to convert this garb into something I could proudly put on.” Yorgancioglu grew up in a seaside metropolis around Istanbul, so even at Duke, her style nonetheless echoes the sounds of waves, seagulls, and rustling sand.
Milena Ozernova:
It is constantly hot and humid in my city, so carrying secure, flowy, and cotton garments fast has become my habit,” Yorgancioglu informed me. Now, my cloth wardrobe is composed normally of blacks, browns, and reds because those are the colors that ring a bell in me of the Turkish lifestyle I grew up around.”
My metaphorical go to Turkey left me wondering how European tradition encouraged Duke students’ style. This is why I turned so glad once I stumbled upon Elena Cavallero — a first-12 months global pupil from Italy who radiates sunshine wherever she goes. Cavallero’s huge smile and magical capability to moderate the distance around her come from developing up in Rome, soaking in its sunshine, beauty, and style tradition.
Milena Ozernova:
Appearances are significant in Italy,” Cavallero stated. “Every nook of Rome is magnificent, shamelessly lovely, and people use their street fashion nearly to admire and compliment this beauty. Cavallero explained that her style’s main effects had been the solar, gardens, Roman neoclassicism, and the town’s abundance of open areas.
My fashion has so many sides that it’s impossible to explain it with a single phrase,” Cavallero said. “It can be sublime and reserved or colorful and very smooth-going. My style is part of my lifestyle, and I try toto fill it with joy, sunshine, flora, and beauty! I usually look for adventures, having fun, and leaping around, so I want my garments to specific infinite positivity and love that Italy stuffed me with.”
Milena Ozernova:
Cavallero’s impeccable style sense is an extension of her character — the character she advanced while living in one of the most lovely and lustrous cities globally. Her clothes bring the impacts of Rome’s majestic squares, baroque palaces, and shadowy parks, and he is proud to be different from different students.
College is a time for exploration and discovering your genuine self. But even when chasing instructional achievements, many people overlook other things that lead them to specifics, and style is one among them. Unlike domestic students, global college students incorporate style into their regular lives to remind themselves of the nations they arrive from and create a domestic far away from home. They use life as a canvas for creative expression and let fashion make a declaration about their lives.