Marina Peterson

Maya Hardy, a sophomore, and Laila Wood, a freshman, are best friends, dressing in ways that represent themselves as well as their friendship. Expression can be shown in a variety of ways, but clothing and style are fun ways in which Maya and Laila show it. Laila strives to be herself, which means being different from everyone else, and to break gender norms, opting to wear more masculine style clothes. Laila dresses how she feels and wants to stand out in a way that is different from today’s trends; she strives to make ‘ugly’ clothes look good. 

Laila’s style icon is singer/songwriter Beabadoobee, whose style reflects the music she makes, much as Laila’s style reflects her bold personality. While picking outfits based on the baggy alternative aesthetic, Laila’s favorite color combination is brown and black. Her staple pieces are zip ups, sweaters and baggy or high-waisted jeans. The majority of her clothes have been purchased from the Salvation Army, her preferred place to thrift. 

When it comes to microtrends within the fast fashion industry, both Maya and Laila keep their distance. Maya thrifts the majority of her clothes from Goodwill, but reuses articles of clothing because she believes if she bought it, she might as well wear it. Maya’s staple pieces consist of her favorite oversized black zip up, as it has been with her through thick and thin, that simply goes with everything. Maya’s outfits can determine the way she feels about a day- walking out of the house in a put together outfit can give her a confidence boost like no other while wearing a plain t-shirt and jeans leaves her energy level just as bland.

 Maya and Laila are so similar yet so different at the same time, and their styles reflect that. While Laila sports the baggy, alternative and masculine style, Maya goes for a more 70’s, y2k, indie look. You could say Beabadoobee has a big impact on both their styles as Laila has the artist’s outfits saved all over her instagram, and Maya’s style icon is her one and only best friend Laila. Maya’s own bubbly personality is the only way to describe her style in words; being an extrovert, very funny and nice, leaving her style to simply be named “Maya.”