Fashionista Callen aspires to be buyer
After finishing up her homework, Devyn Callen, junior, is excited to find that she has time to pick out her outfit for tomorrow. Going through her closet, she grabs her favorite jean jacket and doc martens. But deciding to try a different look, she tries on her new halter top. She just bought it over the weekend while shopping with friends. She pairs it with body chains for a cool edgy look. Unsure of her riskier outfit, she snaps a picture to send to friends to get their input. Even if they do approve, she’ll probably change her mind in the morning anyways.
In the morning, some girls grab the jeans on top in the drawer, but not Callen. “Some people ask friends for music recommendations. I do that too, but also for fashion,” Callen said.
Callen dreams of majoring in fashion merchandising and becoming a buyer for a store similar to Nordstrom’s, so picking out her outfits is a process. She plans on getting a four year degree in fashion merchandising at a school in California or a big city, maybe Chicago. “Ideally, I’d get a job at a store and hopefully get promoted to manager and then go into becoming a buyer. So I’d go to other places and select the clothes for the store,” Callen said.
During her junior year when forced to contemplate what she loves and what she wants to do with her life, Callen realized a career in fashion is perfect. At first, she was considering music but decided fashion was a greater passion of hers. “I have always wanted to dress the best I can instead of just being boring.”
People would not describe her as boring, but rather unique, not caring about fitting in, and having a certain look. When asked to describe Callen’s style, Mason Spillers, junior, friend of Devyn, and fellow fashionista, said, “Sometimes Devyn goes a little more flowy, hippie and sometimes a little more grungy,” Spillers said.
Indeed, Devyn herself said someone she is inspired by, Bella Hadid, a seventeen year old aspiring model, “has this really grungy cool look, where everything is so put together while not having to look matched.”
But her main source of inspiration is herself, not magazines or other people. She goes shopping often on the weekends, usually without buying much, and said, “I get ideas and if there’s something I really want, I will buy it.” Her favorite stores include Brandy Melville, Urban Outfitters, and H&M, while her favorite article of clothing is her jean jacket. “I’ll put it with anything, and I wear it a ton.”
However, even the best styled people make embarrassing decisions when it comes to fashion. Callen said hers was during freshman year, “The worst fashion mistake I made was buying sparkly Uggs because everyone was like, ‘I feel like you’d like those,’ and I didn’t even like them, but I got them and wore them about five times. I felt so bad because they were so expensive, yet really ugly,” Callen said.
Another fashion that Callen is not into besides the obvious no-no of sparkly Ugg boots are Sanuks shoes and anything preppy. She said, “They are just really ugly,” of Sanuks, while hoping not to offend anyone with preppy not being her thing.
“You can just be unique and call it fashion. You can wear anything and just express yourself through it,” said Callen.
