The Fashion Issue Spring ’22: Fashion Stories

Issue Editors: Mason Leath and Mason Stempel
Issue Contributors: Adriana Guzman, Clayton Kincaide, James Pocchia, Haley Resnick, Ishaan Rai, Sofia Wills
Design Team: Noa Bronicki, Tim Goh, Allie Yi, Natasha Leong and Sophie Liu

In this year’s Fashion Issue, Georgetown University students tell the story of the campus community through clothes or accessories that are meaningful to them. Using fashion as a form of personal expression, this collection shares the stories and histories of Georgetown’s student body.

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Those same sunglasses, the ones that have traveled and looked at different cultures around the world with me. The ones that have watched many sunsets in different beaches, mountains and monuments. Those sunglasses that are always the first item in my luggage and are always eager to take a trip, those same sunglasses that are ready to walk with me on a new adventure. Those are my favorite accessory!
-Priscila Baez (GRD ’22)

There isn’t a crazy backstory behind this shirt, but I like the design and the text. In terms of skate brand apparel, it’s exactly the kind of item I like. The phrase “the youth is the truth” perfectly encapsulates the essence of skate culture, which is why I’m such a fan of this shirt.
-Jasper Hunsinger (SFS ’25)

This shirt only recently became mine. It used to be my mom’s. Any school event, whether it was parents day or a parent-teacher conference, this was the shirt she wore. This light blue blouse, boasting a pattern of flowers and sleeves that flare out at the end, quickly became something I hoped to one day wear. This past parents weekend, my mom gifted me the shirt. This transfer of clothing marked my official departure from being a child whose mom would show up to class wearing this blue blouse. I now wear it for special occasions or when I feel homesick.
-Adriana Guzman (COL ’24)

My mom had gone to visit some of our family out of state a couple of weeks before spring break. Then the pandemic hit. Due to travel restrictions, it ended up being almost four months before I got to see her again. We spent the summer together in Texas with my siblings. She’s really artistically talented, and one afternoon towards the end of my visit we had a little mehendi day. She made this beautiful henna sleeve, totally freehanded. As I went back to virtual school, it’s like I got to take a little piece of her back with me.
-Sarina Tajuddin (NHS ’23)

I hate concert merchandise. Usually, the selection of goods — with prices ranging from $20 to the price of a kidney — scream ‘never wear this in public,’ complete with the useless tour date t-shirts in indecipherable font and hoodies with an ugly, overblown screen-printed photo of the artist. However, when attending the tour for my favorite band, Valley, I was not expecting to stumble upon the sweatshirt of my dreams. Only embroidered in rainbow-styled letters, the sweatshirt contains a simple, poignant motto: I’ll be with you. The phrase is a lyric taken from Valley’s song “Last Birthday,” which describes staying committed to a friend or loved one no matter the circumstances. Especially in these past couple of years — when the world feels like a pressure cooker about to explode, and the light never seems to be at the end of the tunnel — I have found strength in my friends that make life worth living. I’ll be with you, even when I’m living 15 hours away from home; even if it is three in the morning; even if it takes all that I have to give. This is my promise of the person I truly want to be, blemishes and all.
-Clayton Kincade (SFS ’25)

Although no longer in its once pristine condition, this scarf will forever possess immense meaning in my life. Upon a fourth-grade shopping trip with my mother, I saw this scarf and, for some reason, unbeknownst to me now, felt a sincere calling to it and knew it had to be mine. Soon after, the scarf quickly became my good luck charm. I wore it on every first day of school, at winter concerts and at debate competitions. As the scarf proceeded to tatter at the hems and lose its vibrant pink hue, it slowly left my neck and found its way to the bottom of my backpack, where before any significant event, like taking a test, I would reach down for the familiar, comforting feel of the thin fabric. This scarf has proven to be so significant that I even wrote about it in my application to Georgetown. Yet don’t be fooled. You will not find this scarf confined to a dorm room closet. It stays at my home, but the sentiment remains. Before any test, you can still find me looking at the photo of my scarf at the top of my favorites in my camera roll.  -Haley Resnick (COL ’23)

When I bought my faux leather jacket last fall, I was going through a bit of an identity crisis. It was one of several clothing purchases I made at the time that completely reshaped my wardrobe and my perception of myself. In a few months, I went from a Madewell sweater-and-jeans kind of girl to the type of person who wore a black leather jacket every day of the week. That winter, the leather jacket forced me out of my comfort zone: it gave me confidence in social situations that would ordinarily scare me and forced me to hold my head high when I walked down the street. Now, having returned to campus, I am once again a Madewell sweater-and-jeans kind of girl, but I will always have an edgier side of myself to turn to when I put on the leather jacket.
-Emma Ginsberg (COL ’23)

I learned how to crochet in August of 2021, and over winter break I took on my most ambitious project yet: a sheep sweater. I’d just learned how to change colors in the middle of my crochet rows, and my immediate thought was that I needed to have something bright and fun for the dark winter days. What could be more fun than a little field of sheep? The sweater grew over every spare moment in my day, from waiting for Zoom class to start to right before I went to sleep each night. The night I finished the last stitch, all five of my wonderful roommates (who’d been patiently watching this process for weeks) emerged from their beds around midnight to cheer as I tried the finished product on. Never have I been so proud of anything I’ve made. I’m still crocheting obsessively, but in terms of sheer joy in making and wearing, nothing can beat the sheep sweater. 
-Elena Ergener (COL ’23)

So, I know what you might be thinking: “It’s a nice sweater, sure, but isn’t it a little…basic?” And sure, I would agree with that. My blue H&M sweater is not the flashiest or the most exciting outerwear, but it serves its purpose well for me, and it has a degree of sentimental value that gives me comfort whenever I wear it. My former nanny Soy, who helped take care of me for much of my childhood, bought it for me as a Christmas gift last year, and so whenever I wear it I think of her, even as I’m a couple hundred miles away from my home in New York.
Thankfully, now that spring is here, I won’t be needing to wear many sweaters, but whenever I do, I’m thankful that I have it, and I’m thankful to Soy.
-Ishaan Rai (SFS ’23)

This shirt was given out to Boston Celtics fans at the Boston Garden in 1993 to celebrate Larry Bird, a basketball legend, who had retired from the Celtics the year before. I, of course, wasn’t there to get one, but my uncle was; he was a massive Celtics fan until he passed away a few years ago (for all I know, he still is a Celtics fan). I found this shirt when I was rummaging around in his closet not long after he died, and since I’m a big Celtics fan, too, I naturally had to steal it from him. I don’t wear it much — it’s way too big for me, and it’s faded and dirty and stretched and has a tiny bit of what I presume to be his dried blood right above the word “Bird.” But its presence implies my uncle’s presence, so there’s no way I can ever let this raggedy old thing go.
-Ari Filler (SFS ’23)

My mom got me this belt for my 20th birthday — the day I returned home after being away for the longest period of my life. I had been living in Washington D.C. and working in North Carolina, and my arrival to the beautiful city of Charleston, S.C. was a personally long awaited homecoming. 
20 is a long time to be alive, and I think pulling through the driveway I realized how much life I had lived since I moved out freshman year. In that moment, all the challenges, people and events of my time away from home wove themselves together into a tapestry of memories and lessons.
A few minutes later, I was opening presents when I received this belt patterned with palmetto trees. The palmetto tree is a much stouter version of its cousin the palm tree, and it is the symbol of Charleston’s surrounding regions, known as the lowcountry. I have always loved palmetto trees because even though they can be whittled extremely thin by the wind and sea, they still stand strong. This belt reminds me of the resilience of the people of the lowcountry, my home.
-Mason Leath (SFS ’24)

This t-shirt is, for me, one of the meaningful pieces of clothing I own. The image and writing on the shirt reference the 2009 Pixar film “Up,” which I first watched in the movie theater with my mother when I was six years old. Even as a child, this movie captivated me; I never realized before that day how many emotions a single film could elicit from me. To this day, “Up” remains one of my and my mother’s favorite movies of all time, and I credit it as the film that sparked my passion for cinema, as well as my interest in environmental activism. And when I look at this shirt, I am reminded of why I love movies, how movies have influenced my life and, perhaps most importantly, that the true source of the joy I derive from movies is the amazing mother who took me to see “Up” in 2009. Thank you, Mom.
-James Pocchia (COL ’25)

Clothes have always been a source of expression for me. I have always said that picking out a cute outfit makes you excited for the day. I remember this day vividly. This is the day I went to The Women’s March. This is the day I did the training for my CSJ Job. This is the day I met one of my best friends Ana. An outfit can be a monument if you make that. Every piece traveled across the world to get to me. My necklace, my sister bought me in Mexico, my top came from an Australian brand, my skirt from a thrift shop in Virginia, my cardigan and shoes are from my local mall in Arizona. This outfit traveled the world to get to me. Now I get to associate it with some of my favorite memories.
-Vivian Llanes (COL ’25)

Since this blazer was handed down to me two years ago, it has been the most significant piece of clothing in my wardrobe. It belonged to my great uncle, who wore it while he was on the debate team at college. He never got rid of it; even as he got married to my great aunt and they lived together for decades, it hung there quietly in his closet. In 2019, though, my great uncle had a severe stroke that sent him to the hospital. Over time his condition has worsened significantly, to the point that even today he has never been able to come home. One day in 2020, my great aunt decided to take the blazer out of the closet and bring it over to our house, letting me try it on and telling me that it should belong to me. Now every time I wear that blazer out at special events or even just see it hanging in my own closet, it gives me a reminder to appreciate my family, along with all the other irreplaceable people I get to be with everyday.
-Dane Tedder (COL ’24)

For months, I’d been talking about how I wanted an embroidered denim jacket. And then one day, my sister’s roommate came home wearing this, and my sister was like ‘Oh my god, where did you get it? I need that.’ Because it has my name written on it! She bought it for my birthday and it is probably my favorite thing I own. I kind of hate the phrase ‘my aesthetic’ but this jacket is my aesthetic. I love bold patterns and colors and above all, anything floral. I wear a lot of dresses in normal life that other people might consign to a formal event or a costume party, and this jacket allows me to dress them down enough that they look — if you’re squinting — casual. One of the things I most look forward to about spring is getting to wear it. I met my boyfriend in wintertime, and I honestly felt he couldn’t fully understand me as a person until I could wear the jacket. The jacket is me.
-Liberty Phelan (COL ’23)