Fashion

By:

Fashion

Helen Giarratani, Arely Valencia, Gali Ramirez, Emma Dhupar, Evey Neimeyer

Fashion DECEMBER 2022

TABLE of CONTENTS

Letter from the editors

Confidence in Comfort Beauty Dupes

By: Galilea Ramirez

By: Galilea Ramirez

By: Evey Niemeyer

By: Evey Niemeyer

By: Emma Dhupar

By: Emma Dhupar

By: Arely Valencia-Cruz

Letter From the Editors

Gali

Gali Ramirez is a student at LASA high school. Gali enjoys singing, doing makeup, and giving people fashion advice. Gali claims that doing makeup is a great way to start the morning because it gives you the extra boost of confidence and adds to your routine.

Helen

Helen Giarratani is a student at LASA highschool. She wants to be a cathartic surgeon when she grows up and her college of choice would be Harvard. Helen is a Varsity cheerleader and enjoys makin personal statements with her dresses at school.

Arely

Arely Valencia is a student at LASA highschool. She’s on the winterguard team, wants to be an obstetrician gynecologist when she grows up, and wants to go to The University of Texas to study medicine. She enjoys eating snacks from the vending machines, collecting Hello Kitty items, and binge watching Netflix shows. She hates peanut butter and celery, it’s a very weird combination… but she is always interested in trying new things.

Emma

Emma Dhupar is a student at LASA high school. She would like to be a neurosurgeon and continues to work hard towards her goals. One of her favorite things to do is art. She also loves hanging out with her friends over the weekend. Emma has a very personalized style and hopes to inspire others to embrace thier own style.

Evey

Evey Niemeyer is a student at LASA high school. She runs on the Cross Country team, albeit very, very, slowly. Evey mostly learns about fashion through her aunts, her mom, and the New York Times, and she has a wonderful time. She enjoys listening to music, from artists like Florence + The Machine, The Beatles , Queen, The John-Pauls, They Might Be Giants and others. Not much else is know about her. For all we know, she could be spiderman or catwoman.

Sincerely, The Editors

confidence in comfort

by Gali Ramirez

“I’m not ready!” she calls her best friend in the hall from her room- how’s it almost 6 already? The golden evening sun fills her room through the windows, the charms of her necklaces glittering in the light, the subtle shine of her earrings through her hair reflecting onto the wall. “15 minutes!” her friend reminds her.

purse from the hanger and tossing in her phone, her wallet, a lipstick or two, and the rest that was in her brown purse from yesterday. With a quick pose for her mirror, she headed out the door. “All set!”, she smiles, getting in the car to the party.

In a fluid motion, she pulls her makeup bag from her backpack, layering each element onto her face— concealer, then blush and highlighter, and onto eyes, liner, and mascara. Don’t forget a lippie! She sets her makeup with a spritz and in a flick, her heels are on. How could I forget to get a bag to go with the dress? she scolds herself. At least black matches everything, grabbing her black purse

In a single day at LASA, during passing periods, we get a taste of hundreds of classmate’s personal styles through the little things they choose to wear, like their jewelry or their shoes or their makeup, whether through a Vivienne Westwood necklace, Nike panda dunks, or whether or not their eyeliner is winged or lightly brushed onto their waterline. What can mean as little as a matter of saving time to one person can tell someone else’s goals and/or ideals as a member of society, but how?

Many people, for good reason, prefer comfort over style. They may see their peers as more creative or confident in their look, despite their possibility of being uncomfortable.

However, through this person’s favoring a relaxed outfit, we can tell this person is a sensible one, with practicality on their mind. Through another, with a more thoughtful or original ensemble, they would come off as more confident and self-assured.

When people think of a personal stylist, they may think of a person with clothes running around with a celebrity, preparing them with the newest and greatest fashion to offer, but the whole glitterati aspect of this is only available for the famed and fortunate. For normal people, a personal stylist is different. “A lot of times people think that maybe if they change their clothes, they will feel better about everything in their life.

“It’s really interesting to try to help people express their personality with their style”- Laurel Kinney

“A lot of times people think that maybe if they change their clothes, they will feel better about everything in their life”Laurel Kinney

And sometimes they don’t like anything because there’s something else going on in their life. So I have to figure out why they don’t like it,” says Laurel Kinney, a personal stylist based in Austin, Texas. When I interviewed Laurel, I made it a point to ask about why someone

might become a personal stylist. “I think that some people might think that it’s just about kind of fashion and staying on top of the trends and knowing what colors work or like how to put together an outfit, that is part of it. But the main part is being able to connect with people and have them sort of trust you with these things that are all tied up to their identity.”

Laurel works with her clients first by getting to know them, asking less questions about colors and fabrics and more questions about them, to help them

express their personality through their style. “So I start with asking them what they like to be noticed for as a good place to start. And then I ask them to collect images that inspire them, not just clothes, but sort of like all things that inspire them. And then I start talking to them about how those

images might say

“The main part is being able to connect with people and have them trust you with these things that are all tied up to their identity” - Laurel Kinney

“It’s about it being comfortable, and from that creating tangible, wearable pieces of jewelry that touch on trend” - Haley Lebeuf

about their personality. And that kind of helps us get to the root of their style a little more easily than just being like, ``Here’s clothes,

Haley Lebeuf, a jeweler and jewelry designer in Austin, Texas says “it’s really about wearability.” “It’s about being comfortable. And then I really love to create collections and tell stories within them. So kind of taking different inspirations. Sometimes that can be abstract ideas, and from that creating tangible, wearable pieces of jewelry that also touch on trends.”

Even without a super-savvy new stylish outfit, with jewelry, it’s possible to combine the confidence and flair of a creative ensemble and a comfortable one.

When you get ready tomorrow morning, or

maybe not tomorrow or even a week from tomorrow, just sometime- you can think of how what you wear can show about you, and use it for the better. To portray confidence, a first easy step can be to change your style to the person you see yourself being, or if you want to be more mellow, you can tone it down to your heart’s content with as little effort as a beautiful but tangible necklace or an outfit a little more comfortable.

“They want it to be comfortable and wearable, but also unique and touch on the elements that are special to them”

- Haley Lebeuf

Do you like them?”

Striking Footwear

What makes or breaks a running shoe

By Evey Niemeyer

A runner can not afford to get injured, lest they risk losing running time from weeks to months. The easiest way to prevent this, of course, is to run wearing the right shoes. Those shoes depend on a multitude of factors: the shape of your foot, the way you run, the color you prefer, brand preferences, and the list goes on. And if you don’t know, that’s okay. Running shoe stores are there to help.

Mr. Ari Perez is an operating partner at the store Fleet Feet, a running shoe store with locations around the country. He explained that “...what we do here at the business is helping people get outfitted for the proper pair of shoes. So the way that we offer a service is by making sure that we get the proper size and that we’re able to recommend the proper level of support.” It’s a process of deduction, you have some variables and you will choose your shoes (and shoes will be recommended) on these variables. Difficult to choose.

Sometimes people don’t know their shoe size, or maybe they’re running in the wrong size. At Fleet Feet and other running stores, you

can get your feet measured. Also at Fleet Feet, there’s a 3-D foot scanner that tells you the exact measurements of the left and right feet. There are differences between the two, from length to width to the heel to the height.

But how are shoe sizes created?

Mr. Taylor Torino, a footwear developer at Brooks, a running shoe company, says, “A footwear last dictates how your shoe fits. So a footwear last is the start of any footwear product. You have to have it in order to build a shoe because that last is what everything is built

The Difference Between Men & Women’s Running Shoes

Running shoes have come a long way from when women’s running shoes were just men’s running shoes but smaller and in different colors. With more current times here are some ways women’s shoes are different from men’s.

• Women’s shoes are built wider at the forefoot and narrower at the heel, while men’s shoes are wider and are sized larger.

• Women have wider hips than men so the angle in which the foot strikes the ground is different. (This angle is known as the Q-angle, as it involves the quad muscle and the kneecap.)

Because of the wider Q-angle, women’s shoes have more support.

• The Midsole is lighter and softer to make sure there’s 15% less impact as women weigh roughly 15% less than men. Although the differences are significant, they shouldn’t prevent someone from finding their fit. Joanna Wojkowiak, a runner who has ran with the running group ‘Rogue Running’, says “They had a bunch of colors for women that I didn’t really like, and the sales associate said I should try the men’s shoes, and I didn’t think those would fit me. …But I tried them on and they did fit really well actually, and they had cooler colors for men than they did for women.”

onto. You cannot build a shape of a human foot without something that is filling this inside void to hold the shape while you’re putting things on and constructing it.”

Footwear lasts are specific to the brand, that’s why someone who’s a size 6 with one company might be a size 6½ with another. They make the lasts in different ways too.

big and chunky, “you might have a higher drop…[that’s] going to slope down aggressively.” Torino said and the other, you’re running practically barefoot, the shoe being low and flexible “…lower drops, so that just means that from the top height of the heel to the top height of the forefoot, it’s the exact same

Some will spend years researching and doing foot scans and build a last out of that. Some will just take a block of polyurethane (which most lasts are made of) and just start carving. There’s different kinds of lasts as well, like a slip last for dress shoes and high heels, and the last will always affect exactly how the shoe fits as well as the materials that make the shoe. “Some materials will be loftier and thicker than others. So you might try one year with the material that’s really thin and you have a lot more space in it. The next year, they switch over to a different knitting technique for the material. And it has a lot more loft and a lot more stretch.” says Torino. About 15 years ago, there was a large Barefoot Craze, “People really liked Dr. Barefoot Shoes. …So a lot of brands started introducing products that were geared towards Barefoot. Now the pendulum swung the complete opposite in. Now you see these big, chunky, tall platform shoes on those that offer a lot more cushioning. It’s not the most cushioning that’s on the market, but very, very different than what Barefoot Running was many years ago.” says Perez. The pendulum he’s talking about is a metaphorical one, with one side

distance, it’s [like] a straight line, almost”. From these two extremes and everything in between, everyone makes good shoes within that metaphorical pendulum of shoes.

Wojkowiak recommended that over 15 miles, you need more cushion. “I like my shoes because they have like a solid cushion, and it almost has a bounce to it. Like those cartoons where they have springs on shoes and you’re just bouncing around, that would be really fun. It would be hard to run in, but it would be really fun.” she said. “Some foam shoes absorb your energy and it’s not helping you. But the foam I like, it’s responsive, so it kind of bounces back after you hit the ground.”

The Product Line Managers are the people who make the briefs, the brief being the mission for the shoe. What they’re trying to build, who’s for, budget, how many shoes will be made per calendar year, they’re the people who make the goals based on what the runner wants. Like a shoe made with foam that’s lightweight and solid. The reason so many brands exist is because all the Product Line Managers are separately making missions because “… they’ve identified a runner or

walker or someone in their market that has a need for their product.” Torino said. It’s the same reason we’ve got more minimal, lower drop shoes. Some runners want the feeling of running barefoot while still having their feet protected from rocks, glass, and the whatlike. It’s the same reason we’ve got the most maximal shoes. Some runners want to “...just crush that thing all day long…” as Perez said, or a runner wants a thicker midsole so it rocks you forward to the toe. For all brands, wherever they are on this little shoe pendulum, have a reason for existing, and the Product Line Managers are the people who find that reason.

Footwear Last – courtesy of Brooks Development.

These people go talk to runners in different cities, states, countries even, to see what they like and then take the vision they see and make it a reality. “…a lot of it just starts with an idea of, Let’s go talk to runners and see, why do they want a specific shoe?” Torino said.

A shoe from Brooks goes through about three rounds of 150 runners, Torino said, where they ask for feedback from harsh criticism to downright praise. “And we might say okay, how do you like the geometries of the foam does it feel soft, and they say, ‘not really, it doesn’t actually feel as soft as I

expected when I first put it on,’ and we might carve this in a little bit more and get a softer heel. They might say ‘it’s not the heel, it’s the forefoot, we need the forefoot to be softer’. And maybe there’s not enough foam here that’s protecting their forefoot where the balls of their feet are. So maybe we need to add some more foam.”

Some people have brands they really like, a certain shoe that feels like home. That’s no reason to wear one shoe brand for the rest of your life though. Fleet Feet carries 14-16 different footwear brands, some you haven’t even heard of. And if you don’t want to go to a store in person, there are places where you can find things online. Some shoes feel really light, others really heavy, but no matter the shoe, there’s three main roles that create a running shoe.

So the first person in the process of making a shoe is the Product Line Manager. As previously mentioned, their job is to know who they’re building a shoe for, and those people’s needs and wants in a shoe. Then there’s the Footwear Designer, and that person makes a 2D concept of the shoe, they will make sketch after sketch and say, ‘Here’s what we’re thinking. Can you make this?’ And the people who answer are the Footwear Development people, they foam, they know rubbers, and their job is to make the shoe “…fit, feel and ride like it’s supposed to” as Torino puts it.

There’s teams dedicated to the color and materials of shoes. Some people’s job is to know what colors are doing well in the market and apply those to the shoe. There’s another team dedicated to creating different textiles to use in the shoe. As for once the shoe is manufactured, you can find all

“Part of our vision is to provide unique experiences based on human movement and science to deliver different experiences underfoot and then on the run for runners.”

-Taylor Torino, Footwear Developer at Brooks

Fleet Feet Austin -courtesy of Fleet Feet Austin

sorts of colors. Shoes that won’t stand out as much, like black and whiles and grays, the neutral colors, the colors that go with everything. Then of course, there’s the really bright colors, loud colors, the neons, This is good because people will think, ”what do I have in my running attire repertoire” as Perez put it along with whatever they like style-wise, and will take it into account. If you love pink, you try to find pink shoes. If you’re a nurse on your feet all day, “[you] will take into account the color of her scrubs”. But for most people, you try to find what functions the best and work around that. “If it’s not functioning and helping you run and it’s working against you, that’s not good. …If something’s not helping you, then it’s hurting you.” Wojkowiak explains further, “If the shoes are cool, but they’re giving you blisters, it doesn’t matter how

cool they look. So number one, I pick function and what is best for me, the fit and everything.”

• Visit Fleet Feet Austin at 5900 West Slaughter Lane Suite 430 Austin, Texas 78749, 9901 N Capital of Texas Hwy Austin, TX 78759, 211 Walter Seaholm Dr. LR110 Austin, Texas 78701, or on 410 Pressler Street Austin, TX 78703.

• Rogue Running is a running group that develops training programs for runners who want to run a 5K to runners who want to run a marathon.

Full pair of assembled shoes - courtesy of Brooks Development.

• The Running Event is North America’s largest specialty trade show on running that goes from November 29 to December 1 in Austin, Texas. Professionals gather there to see the latest in running.

Do you name your shoes?

Ari Perez: “I don’t. And the only reason why is because I have too many shoes to name. I would have to be repeating names and forgetting them and renaming them. I probably have about 60 pair’s at home for reference. I run a shoe store. And so we want to be able to test stuff out so we have a better idea of how that foam interacts, what my preference is. I’ll have stuff that I’ve never even worn because we’ll have some limited edition colors and that’s just a fun collector’s item.”

Joanna Wojkowiak: “I do kind of name my shoes. So one pair of my Adidas is all black. In the restaurant industry, a lot of people who are waiters or waitresses or work in the kitchens, they wear all black shoes, some places require them to wear black shoes because you can’t see how dirty they are. And so then someone told me they thought my shoes looked like waitress shoes. So those shoes I was going to call them. I’m Not Your Waitress, but I decided to call them, None More Black. And that’s a reference from a movie, Spinal Tap. “

Taylor Torino: “I named shoes by like, what I needed before if that makes sense. So I have a speed shoe. That’s my speed. It’s what I grab every time I need to do a speed workout. I’ve got my lifting shoe because it’s just comfortable. It’s cozy. It fits my foot well, and it looks good in the gym. So I do name them for their purposes. I don’t give them a physical name, though. I see a running shoe as more of a tool”

what*s on your feet?

When asked what they liked about their shoes, 18 out of 42 responded with some vers ion of the word “Co mfortable”

I like them for style(same for the running ones but at the same time I tend to roll my ankles a lot so that’s the main reason why they are convenient!)

“I like them and they’re comfortable”

“I like different shoes for different reasons. For example, I like running shoes because they help me run, but I like sandels because they keep you cool in the summer.”

They’re cool and go with everything

“I like them for mostly comfort, but my boots I like to add to anything to make decently “fancy”. I don’t have a lot, only 3 pairs of shoes, but I think they fit me. :)”

Making a Personal Style Statement

Personal Style and Trends

By: Emma Dhupar

With so much media around, we’re constantly being influenced by new trends and fashion cycles. With us constantly seeing all of these new items and the trend cycle speeding up it can be hard to tell what truly speaks to you and what is just a trend that you’ll drop in a couple of months.

The definition of a trend is “what’s popular at a certain time”. When talking about fashion, this generally refers to the clothing, styles, or accessories that are most often seen in media at that moment. These trends tend to change over time, and they have been changing much more frequently recently especially due to social media and the rise of influencers. Gener-

ally, trends will last for a season before the decline of the trend begins and people start wearing it less and less. What is the decline of a trend referring to and what determines if trends are in and out? Trends are generally introduced by leading fashion houses like Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and Chanel as well

as major fashion publications like Vogue. After these trends are introduced however, it’s up to the people and influencers which trends stick and which are dropped.

All trends go through something called a trend cycle. A trend cycle is the process that determines the lifespan of a trend. Trend cycles are generally divided into 5 stages: introduction, rise, peak, decline, and obsolescence. When a trend starts, it goes through the introduction stage. This is when the look is first seen on the runway or worn by an influencer. Then the trend starts to rise when more and more influencers wear the trend and more publications and fashion houses start to take notice of it. Then, as the trend starts to be worn by more and more people and is seen in stores of all standing and value, the trend reaches its peak. With all the people wearing it, the trend starts to oversaturate and it starts its decline. After the trend declines to an extent, it becomes obsolete, and hardly anyone wears it anymore.

In previous time periods, trends

A trendy soft girl inspired outfit

A look cultivated to capture a feel of luxury and maturity

had lasted up to 10 years but nowadays, some micro trends only last months. Trends also used to come back every 20 years, and now they come back as early as 7-10 years. This is due to the use of media and increased oversaturation of the trend cycle. Influencers and trend hopping also significantly contribute to this.

Trend hopping can be very harmful to our personal style and our environment. While it’s not bad to participate in trends, if you buy into every trend then you’ll never be able to build your personal style. This can also be very harmful to the environment since people tend to buy into trends using fast fashion and throw them away immediately after the trend is over. This contributes to massive amounts of waste which severely harms our habitat over time.

Not only is trend hopping harmful to the environment, but it is also very harmful to our sense of style and self. Our style is a huge part of the way we present ourselves to the world as well as the way we feel about ourselves. Your style should connect you to yourself and be an expression of who you are on the inside. When people trend hop and constantly mirror what they see others wearing rather than finding out what they like, they can feel very uncomfortable in their skin and lack a true understanding of themselves.

Elizabeth Elias from Elizabeth Elias Consulting is a personal stylist based in Austin, Texas. She works with her clients to ensure they “build a wardrobe that’s true to themselves”. Elizabeth believes fashion is a way for you to express yourself. “I do feel like it is a big part of how you communicate to the world. It’s how people perceive you. So if your style is not aligned with who you are on the inside, I think that you could be misunderstood”, she says.

pieces that are timeless to us. We can do this by buying fewer, quality pieces that are true to us personally instead of many, low quality trends that will fall apart soon or that you won’t like in a couple of months.

So how do you start building your personal style? Building a strong personal style takes a long time but it’s also very rewarding. For starters, you will feel much more confident and comfortable in your clothing and your wardrobe will last you seasons while still being of quality, comfort and in style. You will also save money and be able to express yourself properly to the world.

Personal style is an expression of who we are and how we present ourselves to the world. It is meant to be authentic and unique to you. It should be based on items, patterns and colors that you enjoy and that make you feel like yourself. Personal style should feel timeless to you, even if it includes pieces that aren’t traditionally considered “timeless”.

Instead of buying into every trend, we should focus more on building our personal style and finding

Your style should also cater to you and your body personally. An important part of ensuring this is color theory and body types. Dressing according to your body’s shape and skin tone can help you feel more comfortable and look better. These can serve as valuable guides for your personal style and dressing sense and will ensure you stand out. In order to identify these, it’s important to understand the science behind these concepts.

Elizabeth Wooderson from House of Color is a personal stylist who specializes in color theory and body types in terms of skintone and personal style. She works with clients to ensure that their clothing helps them look and feel their best. She is especially experienced in the history

science behind

and

these

“I do feel like it is a big part of how you communicate to the world. It’s how people perceive you. So if your style is not aligned with who you are on the inside, I think that you could be misunderstood”

- Elizabeth Elias

two concepts.

Figuring out your body type is so important because “if you are able to identify the architecture of your body and the shapes that make up your body, and then find the clothing that fits your silhouette, you’ll feel most at home in your clothes’’, as Meredith says. Every body is different, but each body can be classified into 5 different categories or body types.

There is a sharp, straight body where the shoulders are the widest and the body resembles an upside down triangle. This body needs a lot of structure because their body has a lot of straight angles. There’s a straight body, where the body is very symmetrical. There’s a soft straight body that has a touch of curve and is also known as an oblong. This body type looks best with unstructured clothing, and is actually the only body type that looks well with this style of clothing. There’s a soft curve where the body has slight curves but the curves are very soft. Finally, there’s a full curve where the hips and shoulders/bust are fuller and more defined.

The most common way to identify your body shape is taking a picture of your body in skintight black clothing and comparing it to diagrams and descriptions of each body type. After figuring out your body type, you should do more research into the type of clothing that looks best on you, as I touched on in the previous paragraph. A good place to start when researching your body type is talking to personal stylists, taking measurements and reading articles for this topic.

Color is also very important when

it comes to building a wardrobe for your body. Finding your colors is dependent on undertones and color palettes. Undertones are the color that the layer of tissue under your skin is toned. This layer is tinted either yellow or blue/purple which sets your skin tone as either cool or warm. Based on this information, we can identify which color palettes will make you glow and which ones will wash you out.

An easy way to identify your skin

tone by looking at the veins on your wrist. If your veins are green, then your skin tone is warm, if it’s blue or purple, it’s cool and if it’s both or neither, then your skin tone is neutral. You can confirm this with multiple other tests as well. After identifying your skin tone, you can research and identify your color palette. This color palette will

A downtown girl inspired outfit featuring baggy jeans, a fitted striped shirt, doc martens and chunky jewlery

include the colors that will make you look your best and are a good base for building your wardrobe.

It’s good practice to keep your wardrobe inside your color scheme but that being said it isn’t necessary, nor is it meant to be restrictive. Your color palette is meant to guide you but don’t let it limit you or stop you from wearing the colors you truly love and feel comfortable in.

a good starting place to find and develop your style is a wardrobe cleanout. Begin by going through your closet and finding the pieces you really enjoy wearing. Notice any similarities and repeating patterns, colors, and silhouettes in each of these pieces. Also, notice what types of pieces tend to repeat themselves in your wardrobe more often. After making note of that, make sure to get rid of the pieces you don’t like and make note of why you don’t like them.

that you want to emulate. Good places to look for these are influencers, friends and family, and social media like Pinterest and Instagram. Notice again if there are any recurring pieces or elements in your inspirations and if there are any noticeable styles that constantly show up.

After you identify these elements,

Next, find inspiration for styles

Another thing to keep in mind is, while it’s okay to have a style that you feel comfortable in, you don’t need to stick to one style. Branching out and combining multiple styles and pieces that you enjoy is what makes your style personal and unique.

After you have your inspiration, combine it all into a board with outfits and clothing that you really enjoy and feel most comfortable in. Here is where you can make a physical list of any recurring items and any obvious styles and patterns, colors, or pieces that you see. This mood board and the list are what you’re going to use to find the pieces you want while shopping.

Now that you have a general idea of what you’re looking for, it’s time to go buy some new pieces. It’s important to be careful while doing this though because style is built over time and if you splurge and buy everything in one day, you will waste money and likely not be satisfied with your results.

The first time you shop, focus on finding quality pieces that are repeated on your board and list and are easier to style with other pieces. While it’s important to be unique and not limit yourself to basics just because they’re “easier” when starting out, basics are an important part of a strong wardrobe. As Erin

This outfit has grunge roots and a darker color scheme

Ritter, a personal stylist from White House Black Market in Austin says, “you need basics in your wardrobe everyday to keep your trendy ones covered. So if they’re trendy, they’re gonna go out of style faster, and you want to not spend as much money on the trendy you want to spend more money on your basics.” Erin works to help style people so that they’re comfortable, fashionable and true to themselves. She believes that after you have quality basics, then you can look for pieces that are unique and harder to style. This way your wardrobe will be more cohesive and you’ll have an easier time picking out outfits everyday.

After you have a personal wardrobe at least started, you can start to branch out and experiment. The pieces you buy from here should be unique and showcase your style and personality. Don’t be afraid to branch out and try different things. If you feel uncomfortable with this, you can start with smaller pieces, like accessories, and work your way up.

Despite the impacts, participating in trends is not inherently bad, as long as you do it consciously. There are multiple ways to participate in trends while being conscious of the environment and maintaining your personal style. You can buy into trends sustainably, buy into accessories or more basic/easy to style trends, and only buy into trends

that you know suits your personal style. Just make sure to avoid trend hopping and only buy into trends that speak to you.

If done right, trends can be interpreted into your personal style as well. Small trends or parts of trends can be bought into and utilized in the wardrobe that you already have. This way, you can participate in trends while being conscious of the environment, true to yourself, and not looking dated.

Finally, remember that your style is constantly changing and evolving so don’t expect to like the same things forever. Make sure to constantly update your mood board and wardrobe to fit your current interests and lifestyle.

All Photo Credits to Emma Dhupar

This outfit consists of a neutral color scheme and simpler pieces

“You need basics in your wardrobe to keep your trendy ones covered.”

- Erin Ritter

Top Fashion Brands

As of 2022

By: Emma Dhupar

Designer brands are known for their unique designs and high quality. Many of these brands have been around for decades and because of this, they are known to be reliable and very exclusive and high class. Let’s take a look at some of the most recognized designer brands in 2022.

Below is a poll on the most well known designer brands as of 2022.

Louis Vuitton

Saint

Laurent

Chanel

Gucci

Dior

Source: Poll done on LASA HS students

Louis Vuitton is a French luxury house founded in 1854, known for it’s amazing quality and durability

Saint Laurent is a French luxury brand founded in 1961, known for it’s creative designs and haute-couture

Chanel is a French luxury brand known for its simplicity and sophistication

Gucci is an Italian luxury fashion house known for its extravagant designs Dior is credited with revolutionizing women’s fashion and is known for its glamour and iconic runway

Winner: Louis Vuitton

Fashion in Austin, Texas

The industry is in constant change: prices, styles, tones, sizes, and more. But why does this matter? Why do we care about fashion trends? This can be easily solved in a few ways: check what is currently the most liked and try it out yourself.

Trends constantly dictate our sense of style.

If we see something on television that we like, we instantly try to imitate it, like finding a new pair of pants that look relatively close to the ones you found online constantly opens our minds to try new things, new styles, new colors, and points of views.

And sometimes trends can change our ponit of view, of our skin, weight, shape, and even size, a trend can harm anyone. That’s why most companies or organizations try hard to include everyone in their brand. Imitation is a part of our acceptance process, and imitating can harm us without knowing.

Everyone has tried to change their perspective at least once. Changes in the industry constantly alter our taste, like fashion influencers, who always change their liking to fit what is in style right now so that they can gain more followers. Trends can harm our thought process if we allow them to. Not just trends, but stores that have a certain dominance on the market can also influence our choices, for example, sportswear outlets, which are most popular in the hot summer.

Most trends dictate our sense of style, but all around Austin are unique shops, clothing, shoes, outlets, etc,. But treends arent the only thing that influences us, TV shows, movies, friends and family also add on to our inspiration, copying styles is truly an effort, but copying can make us loose our uniqueness, and thats why fashion sense and style is so important. Now, everyone is included everywhere and there are more sizes in common brands. Austin is known for many shops all along the city, from rustic style clothing, to modern dressing, Austin is home to inclusivity.

Online shopping and instore shopping are now leveled as more people have more access to both

Certain shops have the most preference from customers and investors, and that is where she comes in. Ruby Sulter has her own brand called BDFO, which stands for Bold Determined Fierce Outstanding; the brand has had many collaborations with other unique corporations, like Topo Chico, Urban Betty, and the San Jose Hotel which is located downtown by Congress Avenue. The brand specializes in comfortable clothing that everyone can build their confidence in, and luckily for me, I got to interview the creator. Many of her comments were talking about the impacts her brand has on the market, her brand’s purpose is to make everyone feel confident while being careful and caring about the environment.

When I was interviewing Ruby, she talked a lot about being comftorable with yourself, she designed clothing that help with that, she has recently launched a new collection, “I think that my favorite piece of clothing... would probably be the new shorts, definitely the new shorts because they are so comftorable and they have pockets, we made them so that they fit for any ocassion”. After browsing the website for some time I saw that the fabric is very different from other brands, this fabric is much softer and more flexible so it fits all body types. The inclusivity is really showing in the website and the clothing because it has sizes up to XXXL, most shops in Austin have diversity since nowadays there is more options for everyone.

Most of the students that we took pictures of had different styles, comfty and unique were factors in clothing, arriving to school I see many students wearing different outfits, around in the streets I can see people wearing, dull colors, vibrants colors, and different logos. Many shops around Austin have different styles,

courtesy of LASA students

THE FILTER ON SOCIETY

Gali Ramirez

By: Helen Giarratani

How the Fashion industry is effected by Social media and its effects on consumers

“

it starts with just one a person having that passion and, just keep learning because there is always so much to learn.We literally never stop learning, like just teaching people around you that wanna learn. “

-Cailen Easly “

you can see maga- zines, even from the fifties, there’s women with tiny waists and long legs, and I think it predominantly is males who have created this body standard.

- Clara Hamilton

Mental health is something we all face in our day to day life, how things make us feel. At the end of the day we all evaluate how everything in our day made us feel. We spend all day judging how we feel about ourselves, how we feel about other people, how we feel about actions that other people make, and sometimes we end up comparing ourselves to each other.

Social media, a fairly new concept in today’s world, is composed of sharing apps that includes human interaction and an algorithm with functions such as likes, follows, comments, and shares. These apps are specifically targeted at teenagers with young impressionable minds. These apps tell them what they should wear, what they should look like, what they should think, and how they should feel about situations.

Clara Hamilton, an independent business owner of Yarn for Yaweh, says that “ I know firsthand about trends on social media, especially TikTok and Instagram. There’ll be only one body type represented and usually only one type of person presented in the fashion industry” Clara Hamilton also mentions how popular brands like Brandy Melville, which was created by a man, uses one size and labels them as another size then they actually are. Clara says that 75% of women can’t even fit in these sizes, and they are not inclusive and are definitely not realistic. This causes a lot of insecurity,it’s sending the message that all women are supposed to be these sizes. Which is not true. This causes many young girls to take drastic measures in order to fit into these sizes and standards

“

“

people are always going to have something mean or disrespectful to say - Cailen Easly

Cailen Easly, a Social media influencer/activist on social media, specifically Tiktok, says “I feel like I’ve never liked seeing any kind of bullying oppression, like it would really bother me when I was younger to see something bad happening to someone else, even something bad happening to myself because I think that on a smaller scale, many people have been put in situations where something has been said or done that makes them feel helpless or voiceless.” Cailen Easly talks about how people will just take things because they feel like they have to, not because they necessarily want to but because people have told them or they have been influenced to the point that says that they shouldn’t feel a certain way. “ As I was getting older and kind of understanding and learning more about what different groups of people face and how this world actually treats many people, varying by race, varying by complexion, by so many different things, I started to realize that I actually would like to speak for not only situations that have negatively impacted me, but also people around me…It’s kind of like now we like talking about things, whether it’s race related, you know, even size, weight related.. I was very cautious about it because I know things starting can get kind of hectic. But I told myself, I really feel strongly about these things and so I’m gonna go ahead and I’m gonna get into it and I’m gonna talk about it. And I feel. It’s just

been one of those things that it just, it physically irritates me and makes me hot when I see injustice happening because it’s like you would just hope and wonder that people would just do right and not hurt somebody else. But, and then on another level, it’s not just a person to person thing. It’s a systematic thing. And that’s what really kind of pushed me into saying, like going into a point to where I talked and I talked and I talked about a lot of the injustices that have been going on.” Cailen Describes how people will always have something negative to say about you whether it’s the way you look or the way you talk, they will always have something to say, she comments about how sometimes responding is not always useful in social media she says, “ don’t cry over expired milk” which means , don’t cry over something that you can’t control because at the end of the day no one will love you better then you do. People can say all these things but at the end of the day it’s on you to decide what you feel is worth your time to respond to.

A little closer to home, Fashion Design students at LASA High School, Sanvi Paranjape and Valentina Bernal show how schools promote body positivity. Valentina says fashion is “a lot about how people can express themselves and see themselves” she thinks that part of loving yourself is being openly expressive with the way you dress and act. Part of your identity is how you present yourself, how you want people to see you. Valentina explains how the trends set are fast fashion. They go through so much clothing in such little time, not only is it detrimental to the health of the earth but it’s also detrimental to people’s mental health. Sanvi says that they make clothing based on their body size, they have mannequins of all different sizes. It is a very supportive community. She says that the fashion industry is highly unrealistic and edited. The fashion industry uses photoshop in everything, whether it’s to make clothes look better on their body, get rid of wrinkles, or to get rid of every imperfection and dent or bump on a models skin. This standard is not something to look up to though because it’s highly unrealistic the models in the photos often don’t even look anywhere close to the photos. The world has tried to escalate this problem by using bigger sized models and by having influencers that are brave enough to stand up to bigots.”I really would encourage people in our community, to find some good books, find some good documentaries, find some good sources, read those.

“

“

We have manequins of a bunch of different sizes, we all like to make clothing for ourselves. Our classroom has a bunch of different body types -Sanvi Paranjape

By:Helen Giarratani

This chart is a size breakdown of the plus sized clothing in the brands that are in New York Fashion week. The larger sizes make up 0.1% of the fashion market. I got this chart off Racked.com

of women wear a size 14 or above according to racked.com

spent on plus sized womans clothing in 2016, since then the price has signifigcantly grown

of woman are dissatisfied with their bodies according to do something.org

What could be consitered Fashion

Even if it’s not high-fashion, there are ways that can make an outfit shine like one

and Captions by: Emma Dhupar and Helen Giarratani

Blue and white go together to make a classy, elegant outfit.

Layering different materials can create a very dynamic outfit. the fire pattern goes well with the leather.

Photos

Black sweats and a cute top are the perfect and simple combination for a cute and comfy outfit.

Accesorrys can make or break in outfit. I’d say these girls really pulled it off

Fashion is the armor to survive the reality of everyday life “ -Bill Cunningham