OUTFIT remix
By Bernice Sun '24 and Riya Balachandran '24
Designed by Victoria Ho '24
May 24, 2021
Inspired by an interview with Michelle Li, a fashion & beauty editor for Teen Vogue, two Wellesley students took on the challenge of creating multiple outfits centered around the same clothing item. Follow Bernice Sun and Riya Balachandran through their week of style iterations!
MONDAY
Bernice Sun: The clothing item that I decided to choose was a Uniqlo white turtleneck. I chose this since it is an incredibly versatile staple item in anyone's wardrobe and I wanted to experiment with how much I could change my look each day.
Bernice Sun '24
Riya Balachandran: I think I initially chose my grey blazer to restyle because I felt like it was a very safe option. It’s a closet staple and as outerwear, I felt like I wouldn’t be risking the garment getting kind of funky by the end of the week. My first outfit, which was Dark Academia inspired, is how I would typically style an outfit around a blazer.
Riya Balachandran '24
TUESDAY
Bernice Sun: After spending a week wearing this piece, I realized that the material was incredibly warm even though it is quite lightweight. It helped me to find out when I should layer on top of the turtleneck depending on the weather, so that I would not feel too warm or too cold. In the past, I never put as much thought into the insulation of my clothing, which sometimes made my outfit uncomfortable during the day.
Bernice Sun '24
Riya Balachandran: One of the most difficult outfits for me to put together was Day 2. I really wanted to include a sweatshirt + blazer look, showing a more casual side to the blazer, but I have never attempted the combination before. I cycled through several different cuts and colours of sweatshirts before deciding that the navy blue Wellesley sweatshirt created a cool shoulder silhouette with the blazer and worked well with the colour palette I was going for.
Riya Balachandran '24
WEDNESDAY
Bernice Sun: As I styled over the week, my feelings did not drastically change toward this piece, but I did gain a greater appreciation for how simple it was while still creating a polished look. I found myself stepping outside the box on how to style it instead of just reverting back to my trademark pairings. Wearing a white turtleneck was perfect as a background to display my various personal styles and made me appreciate basic clothing items.
Bernice Sun '24
Riya Balachandran: I’d say my favourite outfit was definitely Day 3 though — my green velvet bell bottoms are my favourite pants ever. The blazer made me feel a lot more confident wearing a more low-cut bralette, and I think it really tied the whole outfit together. ALSO, THIS WAS THE DAY I REALIZED THE BLAZER HAD POCKETS!
Riya Balachandran '24
THURSDAY
Bernice Sun '24
I wanted to try showcasing my personality in these seven outfits, so I spent some time thinking of what outfits I wanted to wear.
- Bernice Sun
Bernice Sun '24
Riya Balachandran: The simplicity of the piece made me feel worried about my outfits getting very repetitive or boring over the course of the week. The way I tried to combat the outfits getting too monotonous was by frequently switching between pants, skirts, a dress, and shorts.
Riya Balachandran '24
FRIDAY
Bernice Sun: Of all my outfits, I loved the one where I wore black and white checkered pants with a leather jacket and hat. Although it was only black and white, I felt like it was one of my strongest outfits and highlighted the beauty of simplicity and clean silhouettes. My favorite addition to the outfit was the black leather jacket since it gave a structured quality to the outfit and stood out in a more subdued way that contrasted with the checkered pants. It also brought out the white turtleneck in a beautiful way that emphasized the lines and shapes within the outfit.
Bernice Sun '24
What was important to me was making sure that the blazer was actually essential for the outfit to work/feel cohesive, and didn’t just look like an unnecessary afterthought.
- Riya Balachandran
Riya Balachandran '24
SATURDAY
Bernice Sun '24
Bernice Sun: Towards the end of the week, I began feeling a little lost on how else to style my outfit. Admittedly, with seven different ways of styling one clothing item, I was not surprised that I started feeling a bit uninspired during the last few days. To overcome these styling roadblocks, I looked at all of my clothes and picked out a specific item that I wanted to wear. By doing this, I could build the rest of the outfit, including the white turtleneck, around this item. It was interesting to think of my outfits in a way that centralized on one item instead of being fixated on the overall look all the time.
Riya Balachandran: This experience was also interesting for me because I usually style an outfit around one focus piece. However, as the week went on, I started to create outfits around specific aesthetics.
Riya Balachandran '24
SUNDAY
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Overall, I had a wonderful time styling over a week with one clothing item and it helped bring out my style in new, creative ways.
- Bernice Sun
Bernice Sun '24
I feel like I not only have a better ~relationship~ with my blazer, but I really felt like I was getting to think out of the box and get creative with my clothes!
- Riya Balachandran
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Riya Balachandran '24