You may have witnessed senior Audrey Stanton strutting across campus sporting the latest fashion trends, or perhaps seen a photo of her outfit later that day on her Instagram with the hashtag #todayiwore. Stanton has made herself known for standing out from Tam’s fashion norm by opting for bold statements and trying out intimidating trends like fur vests and wedged sneakers.
For Stanton, coming to school with a completely different look every day isn’t a new routine; fashion was a part her life even before she entered high school.
“I was in seventh grade and I went on a family trip to L.A. My mom took me shopping, and it was kinda the first time I started looking at clothes differently. I wanted to dress differently, not like everyone else,” Stanton said. Beginning in middle school, she admittedly went “a little wild” by showing up to school wearing rainbow suspenders or bright dresses while surrounded by a sea of Abercrombie and Ugg boots.
After Stanton escaped the awkward middle school world, fashion became less of a hobby and more of a passion. “By freshman year I realized it was something I could have as a career and I became really interested in the business aspect of it,” she said. Stanton was recently accepted to her dream school, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City.
She fell in love with New York City and FIT after spending a portion of last summer attending a course in Fashion Forecasting and Fashion Merchandising at the institute, where she learned skills in trend spotting and customer targeting. Although Stanton was technically attending school during the summer, it didn’t feel that way. “It’s exciting to be going to school where you are passionate about what you’re learning,” she said. For the future, Stanton is considering a career in the fashion world, in the creative or business side of the industry. “I’d love to be a stylist; that would be incredible, but that’s a hard job to obtain. I’d love to work for a magazine and pull for photo shoots and write little things,” Stanton said. “I don’t want to work for one brand, that’s definitely what I know. I like variety because I like different types of clothing. That’s what I hope to figure out when I go to college.”
Even during the first semester college application craze and end-of-year antics, Stanton hasn’t stopped maintaining her day-to-day creativity with her clothes. For her, the only constant is change. “One day I can be wearing all leather and the next day it can be flats and a collared shirt,” she said. In planning her outfits, she lets the ideas strike her from every direction. “I look at magazines, I look at what other people wear. You can get your inspiration from anything. I like variety so it changes everyday.”
From there, the outfit planning adventure begins. “I pick out my outfit the night before; I am not a morning person. I would never be able to get dressed if I didn’t pick it out the night before. Sometimes if I can’t decide what I want to wear, I put out some options but even then I still don’t know, so it’s a mess,” Stanton said. “And I have to look at the weather. Of course. That’s always important.”
Stanton arrives at school in her chosen outfit, and prepares to photograph and upload it to her fashion Instagram @Audstant. “It’s so funny that that’s become a thing… I have a Twitter and an Instagram and I like to use social media, besides Facebook, as not really personal, but for fashion,” Stanton said. “I looked at other people who posted their outfits, and [I thought] ‘that’s fun, maybe if I like my outfit that day, maybe that’s how I can show people.’ So I just started doing it and I guess people liked it.”
Dressing up everyday has been more than just a way to stand out. Whether it be in the newest trends or vintage throwbacks, Stanton isn’t afraid to rock it. Fashion is a way for Stanton to express herself. “As I’ve become an upperclassman I’ve cared less and less about what people think, but I just love fashion so much that I didn’t want anything holding me back,” she said. “For some people, fashion is just clothes, but for me it’s helped me become who I am and be able to be confident in myself. I love my friends and I love my school but it’s something I can feel like, ‘This is me and I don’t need anything else to hold me up.”