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  • Sophie Stekel

“Street style used to mean that you wanted to stand out. Nowadays, people don't seem to want to do that anymore.”


Dr. Kelly Olson is a Professor in the Department of Classical Studies and Women's Studies and Feminist Research. She teaches a 2000 level Women’s Studies course called Gender in Fashion, making her Western University’s go-to fashion expert.


I turned to her for clarity on the phenomenon of street style.


She defines it as:

“A specific time in fashion in which the clothing that people on the street are wearing sort of bubbles up into designers. It's originally associated with subcultural style. Punks, goths and emos to some extent all embody street style.”

Source: Anarchy UK


Dr. Olson says, “It's really having your own taste in your own style and taking trends and putting your own personal spin on it.”


Ripping, pinning or dyeing secondhand clothing to make it your own? That’s street style.


Dr. Olson credits the late Bill Cunningham as the king of street style. The New York Times photographer would scour the streets of New York on his bicycle to capture images of people dressed in fun, quirky outfits.


“I associate him with street style because he's got great taste,” says Dr. Olson. “He would always find something super interesting to photograph.”


Bill Cunningham New York Trailer (2010)


Dr. Olson says that since people are bombarded with so many sources of fashion, it’s difficult for anyone to have a truly individual sense of style anymore.


“Street style started off as something quirky and different and individual and now, street style seems to be everybody looking alike which is unfortunate.”


According to her, that is certainly the case on Western’s campus.


She says: “All the young women seem to be dressed like cookie cutter imitations of one another. It’s kind of depressing actually.”


It perplexes her as to why this is.


This is something you can tell from the moment Dr. Olson gets up in front of a class to lecture. You can see her cat eye makeup from the back of the class.


Dr. Olson says she believes society is going through a time she likes to call “The Cult of Comfortable Clothing.”


Comfort is of optimal importance to most dressers, which Dr. Olson says makes sense. Historically, clothing was super uncomfortable. Think: corsets, high heels, etc. Discomfort was the point.


Now we’re moving away from that to the likes of normcore and athleisure.


The problem arises when designers look to the street for inspiration and the streets don’t have anything of value to offer them.


It says a lot about the future of fashion. “If they look to the street and all they see are sweatpants and UGGs, they’re probably not going to find much inspiration,” says Dr. Olson. “Nor should they.”

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  • Sophie Stekel

Updated: Dec 8, 2019

Sam Stones AKA @highkeygoth. No, that's not his real name.



Name: Sam Stones*

Year: 3rd year

Program: BMOS, Consumer Behaviour

Instagram handle: @highkeygoth

Style described in 3 words: Ever-changing, monochromatic, vintage


Sam Stones says the Instagram @highkeygoth is ironic in a sense. "I'm not goth at all," he says.


He went through a phase in high school, like most of us do, where he wore head-to-toe black every single day. When people asked why, he joked: "I'm making the transition to goth. That's my culture now. That's what I'm identifying as."


"It's low key shits and giggles," he says about his Instagram handle. "But I'm never looking back."


"With the Internet nowadays, you can kind of be whoever you want to be."


Stones began studying in Western's Medical Sciences program because he thought he wanted to be a doctor. But after coming into himself at university and getting involved in the Fashion & Lifestyle Society, he realized his true calling: fashion.

“What I love about fashion is that to me, it's a tangible sort of art form that you can play around with and create different silhouettes and visual storyboards on your own body.”

Stones says he gets a lot of his inspiration from the queer community.








If school doesn't work out for him, he has a plan B.

"There's that side of me that's like: "You know what? Maybe I'll just drop out and move to L.A." I don't know. Try to sing at some bars, send out some mixtapes to a record producer and see if I blow up. Maybe I won't blow up and I'll start dancing on tables. Who knows? I'm in third year."

* = not his real name. But that's what he goes by. Because he's that cool.

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  • Sophie Stekel

Updated: Dec 8, 2019

Maya Chambers AKA @chaos_.agent

Name: Maya Chambers

Year: 3rd year

Program: HBA1

Instagram handle: @chaos_.agent

Style described in 3 words: Baggy, playful, personal


Don't tell Maya Chambers that you wish you could dress like her, even if it's true. "It sounds really passive aggressive and really pisses me off," she says. "Anybody can put on clothes. It's just your mindset that you're in."


Chambers thinks that there are two types of comfort: physical and psychological.


She thinks psychological comfort is what drives the way most people dress, especially on Western's campus.


Chambers says she "dresses kind of ridiculous" but that's how she feels psychologically comfortable. Right now, she's really into giant, furry hats.

She thinks that everyone follows trends to a certain extent, saying "You're not going to look current if you don't."


"Fashion is a language," she says. "If you're just completely ignoring the way people are conversing right now, it's not going to make any sense. And it's not going to have any cultural relevance on what you're wearing."


On being @chaos_.agent?


Chambers says her life feels very chaotic as both a business and fine arts student.

"I have like these two very separate components of my life. I talk to anyone in Ivy about art and they're like, what the fuck? And I talk to anyone in art about Ivy and they're like what the fuck? Nobody ever understands."

Chambers knows she wants to work in the fashion industry once she graduates. She knew she wanted to work in fashion from the time she was in high school. Then joining the Fashion and Lifestyle Society at Western cemented it for her.


"I guess a I'm a little bit intimidated by the risk because the fashion industry it is a really difficult industry to make it in. But my approach to it is that I'm just going to work as hard as possible and meet as many people as possible."

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