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Katya Anleu
Ashley Humphries
ENC 1101
February 13, 2015

#FASHION
So here I am. Feeling a wave of exciting coldness tingle through my body,
doubling my heart race as I wait in line to get my student university card. A card that will
identify me as a member of a group of students who are working towards their future.
Woah! It really feels like I was just applying to an abundant amount of universities,
stressing myself out as to whether or not I would get in anywhere. Makes me wonder
how many happy/sad tears fell when decision day came out. I sure remember that day. I
got a clear read of the word Congratulations before the letters became a blur through
the amount of salted water in my eyes. Like any human would do now a days, I
remember posting a status, tweeting, tumblring, and instagraming an update on the fact
that I was now a garnet and gold girl. There was a post in particular that I wanted to stand
out, and that was my instagram post. I uploaded a picture of me wearing a headdress and
a Seminole shirt and captioned it #FASHION. When I uploaded this picture I really
wanted to share a moment that would sum up what the future hopefully held for me, and
it was as simple as #fashion.
What is a # (hashtag) you may ask? Well when you place a # (hashtag) in front of
a word on a social media, it turns that word into search tag. When you click the #
(hashtag), it allows you to surf the web for similar tags. It is all part of this technological

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world we live in where people communicate and come to understand the world through
#s (hashtags). #Fashion has been around long enough to have fostered my thought
process, turned me into a world traveler and provide me with a passion for fashion.
I remember the first time I clicked on #fashion, the amount of information, blogs,
pictures, news and even tips that came up was jaw dropping. The fact that there are
people out in the world passionate enough to blog about Man Repelling Clothes or
Falling for Fashion or even Fashion Forward is impressive. I find myself surfing
these blogs and mood boards through various digital texts, bookmarking anything that
has to do with fashion. Between the first surf of #fashion to the second, it didnt take long
before I started to care about my outer shell, to care about my apparel. I take risks in my
outfits, such as wearing high-rise when society is strictly low-rise, cutting my hair short
when the trend is long. All of the shared media through #fashion has shaped the way I
think and see others. I feel like image is the most important factor when a stranger lays
eyes on you for the first time. What I dress like makes a statement of who I am which
leads me to expect the same of others. I feel powerful to have people look at my avantgarde style and know exactly what they are thinking because it is not the basic society
look. I dress to look like the girls I see on the blogs and high-end magazines. I dress to be
like the bold one, like the different one, like the unique one. The amount of fashion I
have seen through #fashion has led me to believe that you are what you wear. I believe
that my persona is correlated to my appearance because I have made it to be that way. I
have come to appreciate how people dress and how it correlates to whom they are. The
beauty I see from fashion is that the more willing I am to make risks in my outfits, the

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more willing I am to make risks in life. In a way, #fashion has and allows me to become
more of an open-minded, accepting and extroverted person.
Technology itself has made a statement to the world. In a way it has become the
8th wonder of the world because when used right it can open doors when least expected.
#Fashion has the ability to connect people worldwide who share the same crave of
elongating their passion for fashion. Through the web surfing I do, I have come across
blogs and instagram accounts from all over the world that share their personal style with
a major unconscious influence from their individual culture. When we see foreigners, we
become aware of the differences that stand out: the different spoken language or the
different color of skin or even the different manners. Having #fashion in mind, the major
difference I see is the way they dress. The way culture takes an enormous toll in
influencing what they carry.
What you eat, party and travel in your lifetime is irreplaceable. My parents have
given me the opportunity to see the world through extensive travel in Europe, Asia and
South America. Through my travels, I have learned that a social status or a religion can
influence peoples wardrobes. People around the world are full of traditions that reflect
on their choice of clothing. For example in Japan, when you see a woman wearing a
kimono on a day that is not a holiday or a new year, it represents their coming of age.
That age being 20, which is a significant step into adulthood. Depending on how ornate
the kimono is, you can tell if they have been of age for a while or if they just became of
age. The beauty I have learned from traveling the world and surfing the web is that I,
myself, am a representation of my home country: Guatemala. #Fashion has given me the
opportunity to connect to my roots and show my Guatemalan pride through the

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multicultural feeling I strive to transmit in my outfits, my unique style and my choice of
fabrics. My passion for fashion drove my need to travel the world and see all kinds of
fashion to whole other level last year. My determination found me a way to participate in
2014 Spring Paris Fashion week last fall. The impacting atmosphere led me to stay four
incredible months in Paris, France perfecting my third language. I had the pleasure of
being exposed to another culture while I stayed with a French host family! The first thing
I did when I got home from my trip was retell the recent cultural experience I had just
undergone through my wardrobe.
#Fashion came into my life right around the time in anyones early life when there
is that need to feel identified to something. The web surfing, fashion magazine reading
and dressing I have done has formed a crave I want to fulfill throughout my future. I want
to create clothes for people. I want to dress people and have them feel a cultural and
spiritual experience through a line of unique garments. #Fashion makes me happy and
keeps me on waiting on the edge to see what the next trend will be.
All the fashion talk in my life has given me a reputation of a fashionista. Going
from admiring fashion online to becoming fashion all began freshman year when I
decided to pick up my grandmas Brother sewing machine from basement corner, and
bring to life the images and ideas I had in my head. Later on, I joined my schools
Fashion Club and presented my own clothing line two years in a row. I ended up
becoming Vice President and was able to organize and host the schools Fashion Show.
I look up to a woman wearing a bedazzled garnet and gold jacket, who mouths the
word next as if she were meaning to say earth to girl. She had me stand in front of a blue
screen and smile for the picture. How will I be able to portray my passion through a

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picture that will be on my identification card, therefore identifying that I am fashion and I
am here to become fashion. Little did I notice, while I held my overthinking smile, that
she had already printed the picture. As I took a step back from all the thinking, the lady
hands me a pen and tells me to write a phrase that would go along with my identification
card. That phrase is #fashion. All that I have seen and experienced around the world and
around the web is portrayed through the way I dress, the way I have altered my state of
mind and through my personality.