Interview with Tatyana
This friend of mine, Tatyana K., has kindly agreed to be part of this interview and show us around her wardrobe and her sense of dress and style. She, a 19 year old lady, is currently a student in Parsons studying Product Design, and is my roommate. She lives in a two bedroom apartment (with me) and has a closet full of interesting things that we will be discussing later. Here I am sitting on her bed talking to her face to face in an interview, and discussion questions about her closet and her fashion.
K: Hello Tatyana. Thank you so much for doing this interview.
T: Hello Kat, no problem.
K: So, for the first question, What kind of clothes do you usually wear?
T: I usually wear some sort of knit top, and then something on the bottom half of my body. I try to make it so that it somehow corresponds to one another.
K: And why?
T: I don’t want to think too much about what I’m wearing, hence I like to make it
more simple. Simplicity is very important to me.
K: Then what is your typical routine in getting ready in the morning?
T: It depends on the weather. Also it depends on what I’ve been wearing for the past couple of days. For example, say if I haven’t worn a stripped shirt in the past few days, I’d try to change my style up a bit and wear a stripped shirt the next day. If I’m going out and walking a lot, I’ll probably wear pants that go with comfortable shoes. I usually pick the top part of my clothing first then the rest follows. As for accessories, I don’t accessorize much, but maybe I’ll add on some rings and a bracelet for a short sleeve shirt only though. Long sleeves and bracelets aren’t really a thing, at least for me.
K: How about shoes?
T: I generally wear the same pair of leather tennis shoes since I walk a lot. Sometimes, I’ll also wear some boots, depending on the weather. If it’s raining, I won’t wear tennis shoes but boots. It’s fairly utilitarian, but I try to keep it comfortable. I mostly have dark colors, and my outfit usually match with my shoes.
K: How do you organize wardrobe?
T: Generally by type of clothing, so long sleeve shirts then short sleeve shirts then tank tops. With skirts it would be longer skirts together, then shorter skirts, then pants. The non-denim pants go first, then denim, then similar material pants afterwards. I don’t have many dresses, but they’re usually hung on the hangers. If they’re organized, they’re organized first by sleeve length then color. If color is organized, it is usually from light to dark. I don’t have a lot of colored clothing so it just gets thrown in however it looks best to me. This also really depends on how I feel. It sort of corresponds with hue and shades. Not rainbows because I don’t have a lot of color, but I’d throw it in however that would fit in. If an article is patterned, I’ll maybe alternate a stripped shirt then a solid color to sort of add visual variety.
K: What kind of style or type of dressing would you say you are?
T: I’d say fairly simple. To be honest I’m not really sure. It’s definitely not casual, but maybe a bit “up” from casual, but not much more. Definitely not sporty, but elegant sounds kind of strong sounding. It sounds a bit too grown up. Elegant sounds like it has to be described to you by someone else. I’d say I’m middle ground from casual to elegant.
K: What are the five words you use to describe your wardrobe and how you dress?
T: Dark. Fairly Simple. Formulaic because the top and bottoms have to be coordinated and they most likely do because a lot of my tops do fit my bottoms in some way. Comfortable. Fit is also very important because it’s important if it fits well or else it feels uncomfortable. I’m petite so fit is kinda harder to find for me, especially pant sizes.
K: Do you think that when you dress is that a form of expression of yourself or?
T: I mean yea but only to a degree. It really depends on the day and what I’m wearing. I think that a t-shirt and a pair of jeans are not that expressive, but perhaps, maybe a stripped turtle neck and a nice flowy skirt is more expressive. It has to feels nice and it has to be comfortable to a degree. Oh yeah, I like to dress nicely just for myself.
K: Your favorite article of clothing, shoes and look?
T: My Aritzia black dress, Dr. Martens heeled boots and a set of rings. The dress and everything else feels nice, and it makes me feel nice too; almost like a rich lady but not too much in that sense. Ha ha. I laughed too.
K: Well thank you so much Tatyana and have a great night.
T: Thanks, you too.
Tatyana has a line of shoes, ranging from one pair of sneakers, sandaled-heels, to boots to slippers. Most of the colors are dark and a couple heels are beige and nude. These are lined up against a wall in her room. Next, her closet is a folded-slide door with a portable lamp that points up the ceiling. On the top rack of her closet is a range of clothes stacked on top of each other and put in order from different types of clothing and different colors. Then on her hanging rack, she has a portable-foldable shelf with more sweaters and shirts put in type of uniform on each shelf and the color corresponding. On the rank, she hangs her dresses from light to dark. It’s a rather simple yet aesthetically pleasing arrangement to look at.
Reflection:
Even though I’ve known Tatyana for a longer period of time (ever since last year), I only recently found out how everything is very with structure, almost like uniform but not quite. Compared to my wardrobe, Tatyana does not have as many clothes, but yet her sense of style (or at least in my opinion) is always admired and I find that she is the type of person who always dresses nicely in any and every occasion. Whereas, I am very casual in what I wear out for different occasions. For Tatyana, she has more knits and skirts, therefore she likes the feeling of softness and comfort and flow. On the other hand, I do not have many skirts but I have many shorts, t-shirts and cotton wear, therefore I love the feeling of comfort and flexibility. When it comes to the terms of subject positions, I think she cares more about how she feels, and also maybe about society because she likes dressing nice; whereas, I am more free-spirited in what I wear and how I dress therefore society is not a very important subject position to me. I think this interview really shows the differences in clothing and body in which we talked about being petite sizes and finding the right size clothing (fit) that is very important. Being petite doesn’t mean there aren’t any clothes out there for us to shop, but it’s just harder to find and since our body likes something in one way, our dress needs to be corresponding or the same. A theme that constantly emerges in our discussion of dress and style is that the organizing of the wardrobe is very similar to how we put clothes on and for which day and which season. As Susan Kaiser explains, “To be a subject in the world is also to be an agent of creativity, control, or change, but it also means experiencing regulation”1, in which Tatyana’s way of dress is very much in regulation, also with the way she organizes her closet. I truly enjoyed talking with her and getting to know her sense of style; getting to know her more as a person and just be able to relate to some things and note some differences in both our tastes in fashion.
1 Kaiser, Susan. Fashion and Cultural Studies. New York City: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2012. 31.
