See also: Artist/student Taylor Tsakopulos spotted on Auraria campus
Name: Vivan Doan.Spotted at: Auraria Campus light-rail station.
Profession: I'm a liquor-store clerk.
Favorite film: I'm a mass consumer. I consume media and literature pretty voraciously with little to no discrimination.
2014 jam: "Blow" by Beyonce.
Style inspirations/icons: I subscribe to Macklemore's style philosophy: never overpay, and always just do you. I also love sci fi and superhero movies, so I have a huge thing for pleather and things that make me look just a little bit alien. Zooey Deschanel is an inspiration to me as well.
Favorite accessory: My cellphone or Kindle.
Favorite color: N/A.
Style mantra:Never do it just because it's fashionable. I skim Marie Claire and Vogue and GQ and other titles online often, so I tend to know basic trends -- but I would never ever let that rule my outfit choices. I buy things I like, and I wear them. Sometimes it turns out badly, and other times it turns out awesome. But I've only got about a year before business casual is going to make up the majority of my wardrobe, so I rock the crazy while I can, whenever I can.
Shops at: I got the corset from the Fashion Corset Shop. I love Etsy because so many of the vendors there are genuine artists; I never feel guilty for paying more to buy from them. I do a lot of thrift=shop grazing. My policy is usually, "If it isn't love at first sight and possibly half-off, don't buy it." I make sure to wash everything I buy first, of course. I also shop at Amazon and ebay and Forever 21. They're not very socially responsible places to shop and a lot of people end up suffering to provide my consumerist ass with more clothes, but I often just don't have the self-control to not shop.
"Fashion is great," says Doan. "I love clothing and I love seeing what the trends are. But no big fashion icon goes into his/her closet and goes, 'Well, the colors for this spring are freesia and orchid, so I need to buy a lot of that.' Some of that is probably subconscious, based on what's happening in society, but most of it is probably more about what the fashion icon just happens to straight-up love. I hate pants, especially jeans. I think they're evil leg-cages. So I wear a lot of skirts. I love princess-themed things despite the fact that I'm a feminist. I wear a lot of big flowy, light things but try to make them more badass with pleather, or a corset, or a pair of amazing boots. These choices aren't about what's popular. It's about what I think is awesome." Doan's boots are an online find from Modcloth."Know why things are the way they are so that you can decide for yourself whether or not you want to follow a certain policy or principle," she says. "That's my rule for fashion and life in general."
Style yourself according to your own stellar fashion principles and you can be spotted next, Denver.
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