Spotted: Downtown Oakland
What are you up to today?
I just came from college. I'm a full-time student and a part-time sales associate.
What are you studying?
I'm studying communication with a focus on fashion. I'm looking more into the buying, styling side of fashion.
How did you become interested in that?
I think it's sort of my overall journey of trying to find my own style. I feel like it's always interesting to gather inspiration from people who are walking by. It's a very organic way of expressing who you are.
Where do find the best people-watching?
I feel like thrifting brings you some pretty unique people sometimes. Of course it depends on where you are, but yeah you can see some people in there that have some pretty cool style.
What is your part-time job?
I'm a sales associate at H&M in the city.
Oh, so you're probably also seeing stuff coming through there all the time, too!
Yeah, so I commute all the time.
What are some of your favorite places to go in the area?
I really like the art walk that's part of First Friday in North Oakland.
Is it the same one that's called the Art Murmur?
Yeah. And actually my fiancé and I have a brand right now that we're organizing a Kickstarter for, and one of the ladies that has our products in her shop is in Temescal Alley. We silk screen textiles over at a place in Berkeley.
What kinds of things do you like to silk screen?
My fiancé is a graphic designer, so he designs all the patterns that we've got for our brand — it's called Palms — and everything is inspired by the Bay Area. We have about 10 designs right now and they're all inspired by the area. He's Dutch, so he got a flood of inspiration from the area. We have one for Fisherman's Wharf that's like crab claws, one of them is the bridges — the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate.
What's something that's caught your eye recently?
This is fashion-related. The one thing I'm aiming toward for fall is something really crisp — kind of inspired by menswear, so an androgynous sort of feel. I think that goes for both men and women. I feel like this unisex thing that's going on is pretty interesting. And now that the '70s are back I feel like people are a little more daring when it comes to big volume, and a lot of color. So it's allowing I think more freedom for people to sort of express different sides of who they are.
What's something that has been inspiring to you lately?
I think just life, really. I mean, I think a lot of people get caught up in issues that life throws at them, and I've just really tried to find a silver lining in things. And I feel like the more people try to connect with each other and try to see optimism in situations that can be really rough, then they really find a lot about who they are and that can, in turn, open up a lot of doors that you didn't necessarily see before. Even though we're in a very tech world with a lot of introverted activity, via telephones and things like that, I feel like when you finally get that organic connection with people then it's something that gives you a little jolt.
I wanted to ask you about your personal style. What inspired your outfit today?
Well, I am going to school. I go to school in Concord, and it's super hot there right now. I think it's like 104 there right now. And I usually leave my apartment at 6 a.m., so I really have to balance that. I went for a 3/4 sleeve and shorts. I really like these shorts — they're a nice comfortable material. And this shirt is a little bit breezy so even if it does get a little hot there's some circulation which is nice.
Is this generally your style?
I sort of switch it up depending on my mood in the morning. It really depends on how I woke up that day. I like to acquire a lot of different things for my closet and then cater to how I feel.
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