Posts Tagged ‘Fashion’

“You Online Shop Too Much”-My Mom, Probably

Friday, August 5th, 2022

If online shopping is so bad, then why is it so relaxing? Why is it so satisfying to fill my carts with all of the items that I want, knowing full well that I can’t afford the thousands of dollars of merchandise? Why does it bring me comfort to organize wish lists with things that I will probably never get around to buying? These are the million-dollar questions, I know.

In my first semester at college, I was probably ordering new clothes once a month. It was so convenient to ship them to my dorm, and it’s always fun to get a package when you’re at school, even if you’re the one sending it. However, I do have a habit of ordering clothes just to return them in the next week. My mom considers this a bad habit, but I consider it being fiscally responsible and making sure to get my money back whenever I order something that I don’t like or don’t need. To each their own.

A very high-quality mirror selfie of me trying on clothes that I ordered online in my dorm. We do not have a full-length mirror, hence the standing on the chair. Have to get creative sometimes.

Once the pandemic hit, the term “retail therapy” seemed to take on a whole different meaning. It was one of several ways to pass time during our days of isolation, but it also seemed like a way to stay connected with the outside world and brighten up your life by getting something new or treating yourself in whatever form that takes—whether it was new clothes (ironic, considering the furthest place I was going on an average day was to the kitchen downstairs), a new book to read, or a new appliance to try out. Much more convenient and safer than going shopping in-person, and much less work and cognitive energy being spent.

But, like many things in life, online shopping is not immune to corrupt business practices, ones that of course flourish in our capitalist system; ones that not only take advantage of employees that work in factories with egregious conditions and contribute to environmental destruction, but also manipulate us as consumers because they offer services that we are compelled to utilize.

Take Amazon, an example I’m sure we are all intimately familiar with. As a college student, Amazon is a lifesaver. Need a book for class immediately? It could come the next day. Need back to school supplies but don’t have access to transportation? Order it online and just walk to your mailroom to pick it up. Want to buy a coffee machine but don’t know which ones are the best to buy? Look at the reviews and have it in two days. It’s easy, it’s quick, it’s affordable, and the products are usually very good quality.  

The cost, of course, is more than just the price of the item. The cost is that you are compelled to take part in a system that is as dangerous as it is convenient: employees are being pushed to the brink to work faster in unsafe working conditions, they are kept in the dark about COVID-19 and put at a greater risk for it, they work more than 60 hours a week, and they have to commute two or three hours to get to work, just to name a few of the many issues cited by Justine Medina and Brett Daniels, who are members of the organizing committee for Amazon’s Labor Union in Staten Island.

The same thing goes with fast fashion, “the mass production of cheap, poor quality, disposable clothing.” College students are very susceptible to fast fashion from companies like Shein, who take advantage of a person’s inclination to spend less money while still trying to keep up to date with fast-evolving trends. We see people our age everyday get on TikTok to take us through their shopping hauls, and it makes us want to go out and spend our money to do the same. Shein though, unlike Amazon, usually does not have as good-quality products and is very hit or miss, which personally gives me more of a reason not to shop there. I ordered from Shein one time freshman year, and out of the three items I kept, I have worn one of them exactly once. That is, of course, a perk of fast fashion—the clothes are so cheap that if you don’t wear them, you don’t feel guilty because it didn’t cost you very much. But, that’s also why the cycle is so hard to break, as people are more inclined to dispose of their clothes faster (not usually through sustainable methods) and simply order more.

I want to be abundantly clear that this post isn’t meant for me to sit here on a pedestal, tell you where you can and can’t shop, or make you feel bad. It’s more meant for myself—and hopefully others who feel similarly—to think through these pervasive problems and wonder where we can go from here. I still shop at Amazon and I don’t blame people who order from Shein because truly we are all just doing the best we can to try to save money and navigate a system that is inherently unfair at every step of the way.

I am caught between two schools of thought—on one hand, maybe individuals can try to be more aware of where they are shopping from and shop more sustainably. There are many good options, with the best probably being thrifting your items. Another good solution is to support more small businesses as opposed to large corporations, such as spending money on Redbubble (there is a student discount available!) or Etsy. I personally like buying clothes from American Eagle and Aerie, and I know they are beginning to make more products that are sustainable and eco-friendly.

Image credit: https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/sustainable-fashion

On the other hand, I also think that it is unfair to put the pressure on the individual and not the company—because yes, you could do your research and that would be great, but often we just don’t have the time or energy (especially during a global pandemic), and habits are hard to break. It feels like a losing battle, made worse by living through a time where we rely greatly on online shopping and companies like Amazon or Shein to get us the items we need in a safe, efficient manner. 

We debated this issue a lot in my ethics class last semester, and I still don’t really have an answer. I suppose the lesson here is to choose your battles when you can and recognize that making these choices can be difficult when there are many different factors at play and you aren’t in a position where you can spend more money on more expensive yet sustainable brands. Hopefully someday we can get to a place where the onus is not on us to do better, but for companies and brands to both recognize and actually care about the hurt they cause to both human beings and the environment, instead of just worrying about profits.

The good news is companies like the Campus Clipper are always looking for ways to help students save money and shop locally. For instance, if you’re looking to save 10% on art supplies, check out the coupon below and order from Blick Art Materials!


By: Katie Reed

Katie Reed is a senior at Villanova University studying English and Communication. She is in utter disbelief that she just admitted to being a senior. She loves to read, but has made barely a dent in the increasingly large pile of books on her bookshelf that she told herself she would read this summer. She hopes to enter a career in the editing and publishing industry.


For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services. At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Putting Effort into Your Appearance: It’s About Confidence, Not Vanity

Sunday, July 16th, 2017

Picture this: you’re having a rough day. Maybe your physics exam went horribly; maybe you and your significant other split up; maybe you struggle with anxiety or depression and it’s just worse than usual today. Self doubt and insecurity start to creep in, and your confidence sky dives. Cue sweat pants and a trip to the nearest bodega to check out the ice cream selection, and soon you’re a pile of distress, feeling… let’s just say not your most attractive.

https://twitter.com/ohh_deer

https://twitter.com/ohh_deer

Does this sound familiar? I think we’ve all been here. But even though your impulse is to crawl into a hole, and the last thing you want to do is put on nice clothes and style your hair, that’s exactly what you should do. Putting effort into your appearance makes you look more confident, which makes you feel more confident and act it too. Scientists Adam Hajo and Adam D. Galinsky research the effect that your style and clothing choices have on your mood, health, and overall confidence. This is the result of a phenomenon called “enclothed cognition.” In an article for the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Hajo and Galinsky explain that enclothed cognition “involves the co-occurrence of two independent factors — the symbolic meaning of the clothes and the physical experience of wearing them.” That means what you choose to put on has a real affect on how you feel and what your style and clothing are saying to the world.

https://twitter.com/fpjsprobinsyano

https://twitter.com/fpjsprobinsyano

In a Huffington Post article, “How Clothing Choices Affect and Reflect Your Self-Image,” Jill L. Ferguson quotes Karen J. Pine, a professor at the University of Hertfordshire (U.K.) and author of the book Mind What You Wear: The Psychology of Fashion. Pine maintains, “When we put on a piece of clothing we cannot help but adopt some of the characteristics associated with it, even if we are unaware of it.” Think about it: how do you feel and act in your favorite outfit? In sweatpants? After a haircut? What about wearing loafers? Heels? Gents, wearing a nice aftershave? I know that when I wear a fancy dress for a night out, I stand up straighter, walk with more intention, and probably project more confidence as a result. This isn’t to say you need to be dressed to the nines all the time. I love my flannel shirts and combat boots, and sometimes I feel more confident wearing that than wearing a form fitting dress (especially on a full stomach). Just a touch of something that spruces up your appearance can make a difference in how you feel, look, and present yourself. Often on days when I have to share my work in front of a group or have a difficult conversation, I’ll put on some lipstick, or as I call it, war paint.

https://www.redbubble.com

https://www.redbubble.com

I particularly like red, since it’s the color of confidence. I’ve always thought there’s just something about the classic red bottom on a pair of Louboutins that projects elegance and confidence. But that doesn’t mean you need to run around in heels on the daily. A few days a week I’ll spritz on some perfume, or wear a noticeable pair of earrings, style my hair differently, or brush on some mascara. These efforts don’t need to be head-to-toe 24/7. In the event of a break up, sometimes a dramatic change like a totally different haircut can do wonders to make you feel fresh and attractive; I just got a chop this weekend! But day-to-day, it’s just about putting in the effort to make yourself feel confident—and that’s inextricably linked to feeling attractive. So shine your shoes, try a new hair style, pull out that little black dress, and start wearing red!

By Sofia Lerner


Sofia Lerner is a Campus Clipper publishing intern who is studying English as a senior at NYU. Passionate about literature, dance, and wellness, Sofia aspires to help the arts thrive and help others pursue healthy lifestyles. For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourage them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing and services. 

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.


 

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College Saving Tips for Fashion People: Fashion Is Meant To Be Interesting

Saturday, October 18th, 2014

 

Fashion blends colors and textures in interesting ways

Fashion blends colors and textures in interesting ways

Fashion is meant to be interesting

We talk a lot about the function of fashion in our lives but we don’t spend enough time breaking down the genius and centrality of its artistry and design to its success as an art form. Fashion, to survive, is meant to be interesting.

Just as fashion is meant to be personal and therefore paces its market choices around the general taste of people, fashion also has to present new ideas that people normally wouldn’t go for. In this sense, fashion plays on the dichotomy of pushing tastes to their limits while embracing the old and traditional way of things. The evolution of the house of Chanel through the decades is a perfect illustration of melding a long-established house aesthetic with experimental ideas yielding interesting results. Coco Chanel’s was known for her black and white polished style but that can get boring very easily. The question then becomes; how does her successor Karl Lagerfeld keep Chanel at the top of the game? Firstly, he had to get a perfect understanding of the urban young adult and its social importance. Because as much as Chanel caters to the society matrons and their Emily Post sensibilities, they want to dress the young socialites who star in rock-n-roll videos (when that was a cool thing to do) and the ones with a million plus followers on Instagram who are so famous that they get personal nicknames from followers.

But there is a reason why Giorgio Armani is the complete opposite in terms of exploring avant-garde themes yet is so incredible successful. He has something equally as dull as it is interesting going on for him — he’s predictable. People trust his work because it doesn’t (and didn’t) evolve from its core aesthetic. His color scheme is instantly recognizable. He cuts his jackets the same way every time so when you want an Armani jacket, you know what you want. And next year it might come in a different color or shinier texture, but it’s classically Armani.

That’s an interesting concept too, in fashion, creating a classic. And it’s probably harder to create a classic fashion garment than to push boundaries with new collections every season. The person who creates a classic piece had to rework a single theme over and over again in new ways and still make people want to buy it even though it’s nothing new. When Marc Jacobs was at Louis Vuitton, he shocked people. You wanted to sit at the Vuitton show because you never knew in what new ways you’d be thrilled. And the clothes themselves were thrilling but they seemed to belong more on the runway than on the street.

Fashion is the playground where two divergent ideas both lend an equally important lens into what makes it so interesting. Some designers think the traditional is sterile. And some designers think that true artistry is real focus into craftsmanship and the mastery haute couture which hold traditional values about dressmaking. But there is no question that this artform continues to be interesting. The final product always stuns.

 

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Margael St Juste, Hunter College ’15

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Fashion Is Mean To Be Personal

Wednesday, August 27th, 2014

 

 

Fashion doesn’t always come off the runway donned by a supermodel in extra small. Fashion can be what others find to be cool but that you find to be anything but. It’s simply what you wear and what you like.

When you walk into a boutique and select a piece of clothing, it will not always be a thoughtful process. Sometimes you’ll choose that piece of clothing because it is the first one you saw or it is the right price, or perhaps someone else asked you to try it on because they think that color will compliment your eyes. Sometimes you just want your clothes to make you feel good and it’s not about any trends or fashion statements. It’s about you, as it should be.

Fashion is meant to be customized to you, the wearer. No one understands that better than the urban young adult. As the chief momentum shifters of mainstream culture and peripheral subcultures at any particular time, fashion is just another playground for exploring one’s selfhood, a showcase of personality. One of the things about fashion as a creative process differentiating it from most other art forms is that it gives the wearer the tool to complete the process. We get to experiment and cultivate our own personal way of self-identifying publicly by wearing our clothes to make a statement and intimately by letting our clothes dictate our moods and feelings about ourselves. Any way we express it is fashion and there’s no such thing as anti-fashion.

Fashion is thus as personal as one makes it if one has the eye and passion for it. But it can also be just as impersonal. The design process is guided by rulebooks of what not to do and is in itself limited by sales goals for a majority of high retailers. You may be surprised to find out that much of what feels like your own personal sense of fashion is a product of advertising and other mediated content targeted to you.  But that’s not to say you don’t have somewhat of an indirect say. You always do. Fashion is always personal.

Advertisers, designers, and editors know you all too well. They are the reason that shade of green-yellow which happens to be your favorite color, exists for you to buy in the first place. We may not all be fashion conscious but the market is. The great thing about it however, is that it is engineered to feel personal. You buy a purse with a designer’s name stamped on it who’s a complete stranger to you and somehow that purse can still reflect your own fashion taste or your ideals of luxury. When you’re picking clothes off a rack and you find your right size, it’s as if those clothes were meant for you. It’s as if you’re the one making the choice, deciding your own fashion taste when in fact it’s all been decided for you long before you knew you needed that shirt or those harem pants.

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Margael St Juste, Hunter College ’15

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Fashion Is Meant To Be Disposable

Monday, August 11th, 2014

Gasp! If you’re really into fashion, I know how that sounds. Fashion is art and art is sacred, and this is sounding like an oxymoron?

Well, we are on the subject of modernity and if modernity is the inherent fiber that makes the American urban young-adult aesthetic as commercially successful and as cultural relevant as it is then fashion must be predisposed to imitating its nature, one that mutates and evolves. Which is why fashion is meant to be disposable—it’s meant to be functional and it’s meant to be aware of itself.

You have your  fashion staples, pieces that never go out of fashion, timeless pieces passed down from generations that remain profoundly embedded in the vision of every contemporary class of fashion makers and influencers since its time. We can cite Diane Von Furstenberg’s wrap dress as one of those revolutionary pieces that easily made themselves permanent fixtures of American fashion and are now deservedly iconic. Combining a minimalist design with equal parts high functionality and artistic direction is genius that transcends both time and culture. You can now walk into most fashion retail department stores around the U.S and see a wrap dress on display and it won’t feel retrospective or vintage. The prints, the colors, the textures even, will be as modern as our time but the design remains essentially classic.

Or we may look at a simpler paradigm…

American blue jeans, who doesn’t own a pair? This garment probably holds the same importance to the mediated image of American fashion as Bourbon whiskey does for American leisure. The key seemingly is a formulaic dose of design and function. A pair of denim trousers as an innovation at its time was simply a reaction to the social shift in the workplace. No longer did textile need to be spun at home by hand while adhering to dress etiquettes of propriety and decorum. Because of the much dirtier nature of  factory work and because of available means to mass produce, a new industrial population demanded more casual, more utilitarian fashion, in effect more disposable fashion— cheap practical simple design—fashion that was not in essence concerned  with art but with a primary objective of being wearable.

Inevitably, all fashion ends up reflecting on its approximate culture being bred from the intellectual and material resources of that culture. All design as a general rule takes a creative direction. But the more disposable fashion becomes, the less we see a creative direction in lieu of wear-ability and the more adaptable it is to our own creative expression. Fashion as a disposable commodity responds to the modernity of culture, our need for self-expression, our need for high functionality paralleled to the high-paced structures of our lives, and our endless appetite for consumption and instant gratification. Ideally, fashion has to be obsolete and we want it to be. When constantly seeking ‘the new’ and ‘the modern’, we don’t get that without recycling ‘the old’ to generate new ideas.

So we must go back to modernity and also understanding the instrumental role of fashion being functional for use and disposable for value. We may thus understand why the American aesthetic is ideal to be at the forefront of fashion globally—why people in all corners of the world aspire to the white tee and blue jeans, perfectly bracketed within urban young adult imagery, the most important shaper of culture

 

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Margael St Juste, Hunter College ’15

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The Fashion Complex You’re a Part of

Monday, August 11th, 2014

This blog series is a serialized look at fashion as a function and inspiration in our everyday lives. It explores the urban young-adult aesthetic in modern American culture, specifically in New York City. If you are reading this series, you’re somewhat familiar with urban fashion trends or perhaps you fit the aforementioned demographic. The urban young-adult aesthetic likely saturates every form of media from music to films and other visual arts that you consume. You find that a touch of it lingers in the background track of your favorite dance song when you hear heavy platform shoes on hardwood floors or the clink of metal on some over accessorized clubgoer. You notice that the film adaptation of your favorite young-adult series uses the popular color scheme from the runway that year. It is no coincidence that fashion concepts marketed to young-adults are such popular motifs in other art forms. The young adult is powerful in any form of art. The confluence of their unique and modern generational experience fused with newfound independent thinking, without fail, makes every generation of young adults the most important shapers of culture.

The term aesthetic generally conflates a vast concept of beauty and the perception of it through the senses. In fashion, it has a more direct association to the word style, the concept of self-identifying through clothes. Often it’s used to describe a brand or fashion house’s distinct personality.  That is what I mean when I talk of the urban young-adult aesthetic. I’m talking about the distinct ‘isms’ of this generation that are engaged in formulating this seamless urban attitude that is both commercially successful and culturally relevant.

Once we learn to recognize this phenomenon as part of our cultural affect, we can start to understand it—why the urban young adult is a universal landmark of aspiration on the runway and subsequently in our local fashion department stores. Firstly, being young is always en vogue. The fashion industry’s obsession with youth is another story altogether but it is important here to note since it’s all, believe me, very cyclical. What the urban young adult means to fashion however is newness and modernity. Fashion that adapts to us has the key to being successful.  Modernity, a tried and true American ‘ism’, allows for adaptability to changing times and markets. This series outlines five inherent concepts of the urban young-adult aesthetic that exemplify how it works and works so well.

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Margael St Juste, Hunter College ’15

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The Transfer

Saturday, July 19th, 2014

Remember when you were in high school? Yes, it was fun. But one of the things you looked forward to the most was eventually going to college. And if you didn’t plan on going to college, you still likely planned on doing something with your life. It was so comforting, wasn’t it? Envisioning finally being an adult and all the independent choices you would be able to make. It’s such an endorphin rush…until you’re finally there, in college or the harsh real world, where making choices can be stressful and costly. If you are like me, you may have found yourself simply lost at first.

Choosing a major is hard and so is choosing a school. Thankfully, I already knew I was passionate about history. It was my second best option next to fashion designs which after the market crash of 2008, I didn’t really see as an option at all. I figured, I would eventually find my foothold in fashion, the natural way. But in school, I would major in history. I would write. I’m a writer. Eventually, I would write for a magazine, a fashion magazine, as a fashion editor. Then I would transition, like Vera Wang did. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I always knew I would come back to New York. And that’s easily the best thing that’s happened to me this year as a student. Coming back to New York – not the actual move, because (when isn’t that stressful?), but reacquainting myself with air of New York life.

Yes, it sounds like another anecdotal cliché of a young woman’s life – that New York would be the place where she finds herself and comes into her own.  Well, that’s the thing. I’m not sure I’ve figured it out just yet, like these women do in those clichés. And considering that I’m at the very beginning of my career, I probably won’t figure out everything that I’d need to for a while. But something about being in New York at this stage of my life is great and exciting. Perhaps, it’s being surrounded by so many like-minded people. It’s the vibe we’re able to create, the conversations, the momentous impact we tell each other we want to have. The energy of the city just feeds youthful aspirations, which means, I can still make mistakes. There’s so much room to explore just who I want to be.

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Margael St Juste, Hunter College ’15

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New You– Summer ‘Do

Saturday, July 27th, 2013

Ready for an updated look? There’s no better time than now! Listen, New York gets hot in the summer. The kind of hot where it feels like we’re forever alternating between sticky heat waves and solid weeks of rain; not the best recipe for a good hair day, I know. My hair is thick and curly, which in summer months best translates to massive and frizzy. I’m used to wearing my hair up in a bun almost all the time over the summer, and it’s less because of the heat than because my hair just gets unmanageable.  I was determined to fight back this year, and so I looked into upscale hair salons hoping that there would be some difference between the fancier places and my usual local ones. What I wound up trying was Salon Ziba, downtown by NYU. I want to talk a little about my experience there. (Spoiler Alert: great haircut, great people, great price, happy Laura.)

I walked in and immediately felt that this salon was out of my normal price range: chic and modern where my old place was more drab and uninspired. But I spoke a little bit with the owner, Alonso, and he explained to me that the salon’s goal is to deliver high-end, profession haircuts and styling for an affordable price. Alonso told me that his inspiration came partially from his own haircuts 25 years ago before Ziba opened. He said that he was very happy with how they looked and the great care that he received, but also that he was annoyed at having to pay up to $75 for a trim. When he started Salon Ziba at its first location in midtown, he kept this in mind and aimed to keep the prices low without sacrificing quality. As a low-income college student, I was particularly excited to hear this news.

The employees treated me like a princess. They offered me tea or coffee as they walked me to the back to get my hair washed. When it came time to pick a cut, my stylist asked me what I wanted and had his own advice about what I should do. (I’m on a mission to grow my hair out long, so what I really wanted was a look that would not only frame my face nicely at its current length, but also look just as good in a year.) What he recommended was that I angle it more at the front since my face is almond shaped, and that I try a center part for a more fierce look than my old side part. After I let him do his thing, he asked me if a wanted a blow-out. This is a first for me! My stylist was really nice and he showed me just what he was doing so I could try it at home.

Five days later on a humid day, curls are still intact.

I walked out of the salon that day feeling beautiful and renewed. They all gave me a lot of attention and good advice to help my hair grow faster. And the best part? The whole thing, wash cut and style, cost me $48. That only about $10 more than I pay for just a haircut at the place I used to go to. Guess I have a new regular hair salon!

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Laura DeFrancisci, Manhattan College. Check out my Blog!

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