By: Tatum Koster | May 2, 2022
Photo Credit: Nolan Adelsky
To finish out the semester with one more fresh look, I stopped senior psychology student Déja Clark for a quick fashion-focused chat before she departs from the UAlbany campus.
Clark boiled down her sense of style into the alternative category yet she adds her own twist to that genre by adding plenty of colors on occasion. She explained that her style is mostly influenced by Melanie Martinez who displays a “baby girl, Lolita” style, and Rico Nasty who sticks to a “grunge gothic style.” Although these two artists embody two different persona’s, Clark pulls from both to create her own style.
To really understand how Clark creates such cohesive and unique outfits I had her break down her building process.
“I like to find the base of the outfit first, so the top, the pants,” Clark said. “I know that I like to accessorize so if I have two colors I try to go base with those colors, so pink and purple, and that’s why I decided to do the split shoes.”
Photo Credit: Nolan Adelsky
Clark’s creative mind alongside her ability to accessorize her base pieces is what really takes her look to the next level. Don’t be fooled by her adventurous take on fashion, Clark gathers the pieces for her looks from sites we all know like Shein, Romwe, and AliExpress. Even with all of the controversy around supporting fast-fashion-focused brands like Shein, Clark still frequents the site due to their unbeatable low prices.
“If you do find ethically made clothing and it’s in your price range I say shop there. But sometimes it’s really not in the budget to shop from those sites,” Clark said. “It sucks because you do want to do the right thing but at the same time, economically, what are you supposed to do?”
In Clark’s eyes, many college students find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to shopping for clothes. It’s hard to turn a blind eye to the low prices Shein offers when there is still the want to have a self-expressive wardrobe. She acknowledges the downfalls to shopping from these sites and stated that she doesn’t rely solely on them, occasionally looking in stores like H&M.
As Clark moves on from college she hopes to continue to incorporate her style into every aspect of her life. She explained how she would weave her own uniqueness into her look at her previous job at Walmart through her hair and other accessories.
“You know the vest, the Walmart vest. I put a bunch of colorful pins on mine and just decked it out,” Clark said. “Every time people would come to my register they were like ‘oh I like your pins.’ That’s just the little things that I do to kind of bring my own personality into the workplace.”
At the end of the day, Clark stays true to herself, using her style as a way to reflect who she is as a person. She is unapologetically Déja Clark, and she encourages others to do the same.
“If you can make it work for yourself then it doesn’t matter what it is as long as you’re comfortable in it and you feel like you look good in it then that’s all that matters,” Clark said.
I wish the best of luck to Clark in all of her future endeavours, we will sure miss her iconic style here on the UAlbany campus. Until next semester UAlbany… stay stylin’.