Interview subject:
Emma Jin is a twenty year old heterosexual female attending Parsons School of Design as a Strategic Design and Management major. She is a first generation American with her parents originating from Shanghai. She has studied in both Chinese and American schooling and can say that each experience has equally shaped her. Though immigrants, her parents are fluent in English with stable jobs, and they occupy the upper middle class status. She is a full time student, but has found the time to work as a sales intern at Missoni. She grew up in Potomac, which is considered a sheltered and wealthy area with some of the best schools in Maryland. Emma is fluent in both English and Chinese, though she identifies more strongly with her American background/raising.
Emma is one of my closest friends at Parsons and is currently my roommate and has been for the past years we’ve been in NYC. She is from my hometown, and I chose her to interview because I was curious to see the differences in our way of dress and thought about dress because though we come from similar places, I would say we have completely different styles and personalities.
Q&A:
- What is the number one priority when it comes to getting dressed in the morning?
That’s a really hard question…I think accommodating my dress to the weather is my first concern, so I check my weather app first thing in the morning. Because there’s always so much walking around in the city, I’d rather be safe than sorry. The wind here sucks!
I pick out my pants before my top because if my pants are uncomfortable, then my day will be uncomfortable. Comfort is key. The last thing I want is an urge to pick a wedgie in the middle of the street.
- What sort of image do you want people to have of you when it comes to the way you dress?
When I get dressed, I make sure there is a respectful presentation, meaning sweats can give off a feeling of not necessarily laziness, but carelessness? So I try to look put together in whatever setting while still being comfortable. I associate sweats with a gym day, maybe because I’ve grown up around sports. Even though lougewear is kinda trending, I just can’t associate it with fashion and looking good.
Honestly, I’d like to say that I don’t necessarily care what other people think as much, it’s more so about what do I feel good in; COMFORT. If i’m not comfortable in something, I’m gonna be so self conscious and constantly wanting to make sure everything is in place. How is life supposed to move if I keep thinking about those kinds of things?
So at the moment, my go to outfit for this would be black skinny jeans from Madewell paired with plain white crew socks and my chelsea Doc Martens. Any long sleeve top (current favorite color is baby blue). Hair tied up of course, girl gotta be on the go.
- Do you ever dress a certain way to achieve a certain purpose?
Yes. Yea, for sure. Purposes can be running errands, giving presentations, whether my day is going to be short or long, “athletic” day. And occasionally dressing to impress. I think dress can either mean you’re trying to cover up something or trying to reveal something, just really depends on the circumstances. My life can be a complete mess, but that doesn’t mean I have to dress messily, you know?
- How much of these clothes in your closet do you actually touch? Do you consider yourself a hoarder, or do you think every item has a specific purpose?
Hahahah. MARIE KONDO. I’ve been going through some reflection and some introspection on what things I actually need in my life, both physically and mentally.. I can safely say I touch a good 70% of my wardrobe because of all the different types of days I have. I wouldn’t consider myself a hoarder but I do hold onto items that have a sentimental value and not much of a real purpose. I think the term “hoarding” is an extreme term, and I feel like it’s understood that a person my age would have similar amounts of clothing, no? Maybe not actually, but yea. Not a hoarder, I make too many trips to Beacon’s Closet to be labeled that.
- Do you ever feel self conscious with the way you dress or the way you look in the clothes you wear?
Unfortunately, yes. Body image issues have always been a part of my life. I don’t want to say past generations didn’t have this issue but the growing social media has caused people to be self conscious. I feel like somehow, I’m always in competition with other girls in the way their body looks, their lifestyles, comfort, etc. And this affects the way I dress because let’s say one day I don’t like the way my legs look, I wear baggier clothing. It’s so easy to want to cover up my body because I’m ashamed of it. I’ve done sports my entire life and my body reflects that, so in my opinion, I think it’s not a feminine or pretty. In the summer, I don’t like wearing strappy tops because i don’t want to show off my broader shoulders or unshaved armpits.
- Do you think being in a different environment (Maryland to NYC) changes the way you dress?
Heck yes. I think being in a community such as Maryland, that doesn’t have as much of a hustle atmosphere compared to NYC, lessens the importance of dressing to impress. A normal day in Maryland means dressing in leggings, a hoodie, Ugg slippers, and no makeup. I could wear these things in New York but the pressure to fit in and look a certain way to get to success, gets to you. And it’s so fast paced and I feel like I can see trends moving by on the streets. I think I’ve been doing a good job in switching out items in an outfit that go with my style but also remain trendy.
Yea, being trendy is something I’ve considered more since moving here.
Wardrobe walkthrough:
- Do you have a specific organization to your closet?
I think everyone has an organization that’s categorical to each type of clothing item. I think its pretty normal, nothing unique. Like, there’s sweaters hung up to the left, my pants folded in the corner there on the shelf, and like my five jackets taking up the entire rest of the space. Oh, but I also just shove a bunch of stuff I don’t wear as often under the bed. Gotta do what I can to fit everything in a small New York closet. And at the top here, I just put all my hoodies and stuff so it’s easy to grab. I’m home most of the time anyways, and a hoodie is my uniform for the indoors.
- What are the items you reach for most here? Why?
What I just said, hoodies! They’re comfy and warm and remind me of my bed, which is something I wish to return to everytime I’m out. Other than that, I guess Everland pants.
Everlane pants because they’re comfy! Key work again! Also they’re a pretty good price, so I have a couple from them. I think their ethical and moral stance is also a huge reason as to why I shop there. I care about the environment and ethical working conditions and they make it pretty clear that they do to, so it feels nice to support them. But yea, anyways, in more basic terms, I guess like black stretch pants, because black goes with everything, duh.
- Are there any items you want to get rid of at this moment?
I want to get rid of half my hoodies because I know I don’t need them but the variety makes me feel good so I keep them haha.
It feels good to have choices, and even though they basically all serve the same purpose, I feel like eac sweatshirt has a designated activity. Like these concert ones are pretty cute, so if I’m running errands, I’ll actually wear those out.
- Which area of your closet is the most sacred?
That’s funny because people would say underwear or bras! But I think expensive jewelry. All of them have been gifted to me by my parents for certain specific occasions, like I got this necklace from Tiffany’s after graduation. And my mom gave me her old Cartier ring, which I don’t even want to touch sometimes. It’s a lot of pressure and responsibility for something you’re wearing for a couple hours, it’s crazy!
- What kinds of clothes take up the most space?
Winter coats. If i sorted my closet to the summer season, a third of my closet would be cleared up. I do enjoy winter clothes more so naturally I just have a bigger collection. I think for coats, the puffier the better, hence their takeover in my closet. I really don’t need more than one coat to survive, but the options are nice! Sometimes I want to cover my butt, sometimes I don’t. There’s some control and assurance in my life with these kind of choices.
- If you had a bigger closet, do you think you’d have more clothes?
For sure. I think to the eye, when something is empty, you gotta fill it. I think a completely full wardrobe makes me feel satisfied. So honestly, a small closet is good for me in the end. I have everything I need and more, so getting a bigger closet would mean more mindless shopping, which is a habit we all need to change as a society.
Reflection:
I noticed that the more each question probed at her in a deeper way, she took a longer time to answer. She would pause and be more careful in her responses, I think because she hadn’t thought about her dress habits in such a thoughtful way before. Some of the factors, intersectionalities, that influence our lives and the habits we make may sometimes be not so obvious in the ways they affect our physical actions. As she answered questions about the reasonings for her habits, she came upon some realizations herself. She was always aware that comfort was her number one priority in all matters, including dress, but she did not factor into why. Her background and experiences in suburban Maryland had more impact than she thought. Even I began to understand her in a deeper level. She comes off as such a confident person, her ease reflected in her clothing choices, but I discovered that she does in fact care about the way she is perceived and that she sometimes dresses according to her feelings of insecurity of a certain body part. There is a definite difference in our dress practices that come from the difference in our majors and the people/environment we are surrounded by. While she does attend Parsons, she is in the business degree and does not associate herself much with her peers and the community at school. Though we both come from the same hometown, she has a deeper connection with the people back in it and considers those her closest friends. Whereas I have immersed myself with the people and culture at Parsons and New York, especially in the field of fashion, so I do think I focus a bit more on the way I dress in terms of uniqueness and consciousness of where my clothing comes from and how eco-conscious they are. In Fashion and Everyday Life, Clark and Buckley quote Joanne Entwistle, in her explanation that “understanding dress in everyday life requires understanding not just of how the body is represented within the fashion system and its discourses on dress, but also how the body is experienced and lived and the role dress plays in the presentation of the body/self’. [ref]Hazel Clark, Sheryl Buckley, Fashion and Everyday Life, (London, Bloomsbury, 2017), 7.[/ref] Like this quote mentions, through this interview, I got a deeper understanding that the everyday actions we take and the habits we make affect us first thing in the morning, with the clothing we choose to wear. Each decision of what to wear is defined knowingly or unknowingly by what we are going to do that day, who we are going to meet, what we are going to encounter and how we want to feel and be perceived in each of these situations. Our dress practices are also defined but the actions of our past and the experiences we have been confronted with and how they made us feel and if we want to go through those feelings again or not.
