Over the last few years, maximalism has taken over the fashion world. Bold colors, busy patterns, and elaborate silhouettes have seeped their way into recent fashion trends. The complex characteristics of maximalistic fashion stand in stark contrast to the minimalist aesthetic, which might lead some to discredit it.

In recent years, Gen Z has been enthusiastically adopting the hobbies of those who came before us. Through platforms like TikTok and Pinterest, patterns for crocheted bikinis, sheer knitted sweaters, and sewn mini skirts have spread like wildfire, inspiring fashionistas to whip up their own outfits for the club, the beach, or wherever the wind takes them.

Think of your childhood crush. What were they wearing? 

“Jesus is my homeboy.” 

Oh, do you know who you are when you put that thing on, Ashton Kutcher? Maybe, you do. Or you know for just this one moment in time when you picked out and placed that exact, navy-blue-rivers-I’ve-cried-for-you trucker hat on your head.

For over a century, trench coats have been a powerful addition to wear on top of any outfit. They instantly bring to mind the images of confident businesspeople, hard-boiled detectives, and mysterious strangers. But what makes them such a fascinating piece of clothing? Is it just how it flows in the wind with every step you take, or is there something more at play? 

It's the color of broken glass cast in a cold shadow, wet rocks on the gloomy shores of north western beaches, and the desaturated sky of a midwestern winter. The color gray and other neutral desaturated hues like it are fashion’s new ‘it’ colors this season. 

We all have a pair of staple sunglasses–the glasses we reach for–for our everyday look. There is an occasional switch to a new pair of sunglasses, the pair that frames your outfit just right. You have to have one in every color to match every outfit. What is it about sunglasses that makes an outfit more mysterious, more complete? 

Like moths to a flame, college-aged partygoers flock towards the neon lights of nightlife. Gone are the sweat sets and casual comfortabilities of the day; replaced by the more dark, more daring outfits for a night out.

There are many simple ways to enhance your study outfit that are unique to each person. Feeling good in the clothes you are wearing as well as feeling good about them are equally important. Following these styling tips will help you create new study outfits that make you feel both comfortable and confident!

Finding innovative ways to wear pieces we already own is key to creating an outfit that can transition with the wearer throughout a busy day. Adhering to personal style and thinking of new ways to wear existing pieces in one’s closet are important to accomplishing the “anywhere outfit.”

As July goes and August knocks on the door,

The flowers have lost their shape

A missed kiss, and crushed pomegranate. 

My stained bliss, spilled lips linger red.

Why wait for touch, when none is ever granted? 

If not given, be stripped and named: accused in scarlet, bled.

Tattoos serve as a kind of skin deep accessory. Unlike jewelry that can shift and change, tattoos are an accessory that truly remain embedded into a person’s everyday style. Tattoos can express sensuality, creativity, and sentimental meaning. They have a deep, rich history surrounding them across many cultural backgrounds, and they can serve as one of the most meaningful ways to leave a mark on yourself.

“Bombshell,” “Sex Symbol,” “Sexpot,” “Doll,” “Fox,” – all words historically used to sexualize and objectify women that are still used in the same context today. Beauty standards for women have been around since ancient times, as women have been and continue to be held to the standard of men. While we look at the history of beauty standards for women, specifically in the ‘50s, many makeup trends have played a part in the sexualized beauty realm.

During my tween years, I spent hours glued to reality television shows from the 2000s and 2010s. As an avid Jersey Shore and Bad Girls Club fan, I vividly remember watching in awe, enchanted by bedazzled outfits the women wore on their nights out. Trying to find my own sense of style, key elements like chunky statement necklaces, rhinestone heels, and loud patterns always captured my attention.

In with the old and out with the new—as trends make their way back around, we are saying hello to big hair and goodbye to slick backs and the clean girl aesthetic of gelled hair and pin-straight hair, which became popular on TikTok post-COVID in 2021.

Are you really going to let someone else’s opinion stop you from feeling good? 

My room is a mess covered with failed outfit ideas. My bathroom counter is cluttered with  makeup everywhere. I’ve redone my eyeliner multiple times and two hours later I’m finally satisfied and feel like the prettiest girl in the world. Then I get the photos back from the night. “Is that really what my face looked like?” “My hair didn’t even stay longer than an hour and it’s all over the place?” “There’s no way I followed that tutorial just to look like this?” Unfortunately, these are real sentences said by me and nearly every woman in my life after an event. So why do we put in all this effort just for it to be erased in seconds? 

Throughout history, women have been told to step on that scale and if you aren’t below a certain number, you are not pretty. If you have too much cellulite, you probably shouldn’t wear that! If you’ve got some acne…maybe consider some concealer. Constant criticism and backlash for simply existing.

The first time I saw a pimple on my face, I was in 6th grade. 11 years old and trying to figure out what this white dot on my forehead was, I ran to my older brother asking, “What’s this huge dot on my face?” “It means you’re growing up.” That didn’t make any sense to me, what does this have to do with me growing up?

If you are a regular patron of social media, you are likely familiar with the concept of the “aesthetic”: a style descriptor often used to categorize hyper-specific genres of fashion and lifestyle. Aesthetic labels describing the chill, messenger bag-toting “downtown girl” and muscle-tanked “gym bro” have been floating around the internet for years now—among others—and aid in defining one’s personal style. One of the most recent culturally prevalent aesthetics also coincides with a new character archetype known as the “performative male,” or, more broadly, “performative masculinity.”

Recycled trends are nothing new in today's fashion limelight. The Y2K and 90s aesthetics have taken over in recent years with many trends such as crop tops, low-rise jeans, and platform shoes. One very popular, semi-permanent trend from the early '90s and '00s era that has made its way to the present is tooth gems. 

The fangirl does not vanish — she just evolves. She's now a marketing executive, an author, a designer, or even a photographer. Her devotion didn't vanish; it just matured. The love is still there because she has learned to enjoy herself without parasociality. Since, at the end of the day, these are just people, too. The fangirl grows up, but her joy, curiosity, and creativity never leave.

The experience of love is incomparable. People often argue that love is not some complex thing, but I beg to differ. There is such complexity to the interconnection of two people. The feeling of fear, attachment, and devotion running through your veins all at once, there’s nothing quite like it.

“Ask your mom to buy you prettier pants, yeah?” My Korean grandmother grabbed my arm to whisper these words in a dialect I called her ‘southern drawl’. I glanced down at the black sweatpants decorating my legs before I clarified my purchase.

When I first started playing bass, I never thought of my instrument as a “boy” or “masculine” instrument. I was fortunate to grow up in an environment that didn’t think this way, whether it be my family or school. However, as I grew up through junior high and high school and branched out, I found that not everyone was as open-minded.

Winter in Missouri, as many residents here know, is a fickle thing: some years it’s as mild and temperate as can-be, some years it’s frigid arctic wind and mountains of snow, and more often than not, it’s somewhere in between. This can make outings with friends and general nightlife much more difficult to plan around, since that cold air gets even worse when the sun goes down.

It’s a Friday night. Circa ‘94. Under Eddie Vedder and Billy Corgan’s brooding stares from posters above, you settle into your bean bag chair, and crack open a Crystal Pepsi, as a familiar synthesizer melody echoes through your room, and images of UFOs and distorted figures illuminate your television screen. You step into a world of lost time, clones, and killer cockroaches. Wild conspiracies and lingering cold war anxieties are the governing forces of this world. Men in black pull strings. Aliens exist, maybe. All you know is what you’re told at the start of each episode: The truth is out there. 

In Southwest Missouri, line dancing is one of the most popular forms of dancing. Whether you’re at Club Rodeo or a local bar, line dancing offers the perfect blend of movement, rhythm, and community. 

The endless search for purpose and reason in life can simply be put to an end through the salvation that is friendship. The song concludes, “and you’ll love me ‘til my heart stops, love me ‘til I’m dead.” Detailing that one of the many reasons that life has merit is due to platonic love. At Missouri State University, I have developed deeply valuable friendships. The Talking Heads, just like how the concert developed merit through the addition of friends, my life has had meaning added through friendship.  

I used to idolize mannequins. Yet I didn’t know her. 

There’s a certain anonymity for the girl who stands, posing perfectly beneath shining lights. Draped in silk fabrics, dipped in glossy porcelain. She was pretty; she was present, but she didn’t smile, nor wink at the audience, who were awed by dresses molded to her frame. She stood tall, unmovable. And I wondered: did she know her own name? 

I want to bring Pantone’s explanation for Cloud Dancer to the light and see how it pairs with intense colors and jewel tones. To do this, I created a few Cloud Dancer color palettes of my own. 

While giving your friend a cute pair of jeans won’t fix the world, or make it safer for women, it reminds us that we’re not alone. Now, more than ever, we need to be there for each other. Tell someone you love their outfit, offer to fix your friend’s shirt tag–show your love! I’ll protect you, love you, and you’ll do the same in return. Why? Because you just get me!