By Megan Brown
While the first day of a new school year may mark a time for new classes and new friends, for senior theology and communications major Grace Deitrick, it marks a chance to express her truest self through her first-day-of-school outfit.
“Even from preschool,” she said. “I loved picking out my first-day-of-school outfit.”
As with many kids, Deitrick’s mom chose and purchased most of her clothes, and as she grew up, Deitrick began to discover what her own style was. At the end of high school, she found what went on to make the biggest impact on what she wears today: a local vintage store.
“I started shopping there more regularly,” she said. “And I was like, wow, look at how creative these [pieces] are. There’s so much history in each piece of clothing. And that really inspired me to develop my style more in college.”
While Deitrick spoke, she wore a creamy short sleeve button-down with a muted floral pattern, jeans, and black slip-on shoes. These types of clothes are representative of what she currently loves to wear, a style which she describes as “grandma living on the French Riviera.”
But what makes Deitrick’s choices unique is how she mixes the posh clothing choices of an older woman with a college-aged woman’s practicality. This grandma hasn’t only lived on the iconic Mediterranean coastline.
“But also she lived on a farm before she moved to the French Riviera,” Deitrick said, continuing her analogy. “So she’s got a little bit of that salt-of-the earth in her.”
This parallels Deitrick’s own life as she grew up in rural eastern Pennsylvania but traveled to London her freshman year for Houghton University’s London Honors program.
“Living in London for a little while almost gave me permission to branch out because I saw the full extent of the creativity,” she said. “Since I’ve been in college, I’ve spent more time in different cities. And I always get really excited to go to a city because I can wear whatever I want, and it won’t be the weirdest thing there.”
Deitrick prioritizes unique pieces that stand out, but she also prioritizes comfort. This has been an essential aspect of her clothing choices since she was young because she has always been an active person.
“I’ve always been just throwing myself wholeheartedly into what I do,” she said. “And so that usually results in some kind of stain or rip.”
However, for women, fashion has not always been about practicality. In a recent book study, Deitrick explained how a section discussed how women’s clothing has historically been decorative whereas men’s was functional. She noticed this subconsciously, but facing it plainly written in a book put words to cues she didn’t know she had been observing.
“I don’t think how you do fashion is limited by your gender,” she said. “It shouldn’t be weird for a guy to wear a bracelet or a necklace, and it shouldn’t be weird for a girl to wear what makes her comfortable.”
The clothing that makes Deitrick comfortable is “ratty old button-downs,” blazers, dresses, and statement earrings. While some of these might seem in contrast with one another on paper, it all makes sense to Deitrick and helps her express what is to her the ultimate aspect of fashion: creativity.
“It’s really exciting to have an area of my life that I can just release all the creative energy that I want to, and it doesn’t take that much time out of my day,” she said.
College mars our schedules with homework, extracurriculars, and social events, and makes it difficult to find areas of pure joy. That’s why, for Deitrick, the task of getting dressed in the morning feels so special.
“This is the theology major in me coming out, I think it’s really cool that God puts these little glimpses of beauty that we can find every single day,” she said. “And we can just find joy in the way that something looks.” ★