The sleek, minimalistic, almost foreign way Emily Miner presents herself creates an effect that goes a bit beyond how she simply “looks.” While everyone who has been featured in our past columns has evoked some certain “mood” , Emily makes hers the focal point of her style.
Emily’s style is particularly artistic.
“I appreciate art and beauty in the world in general..and want to be a participant in the world as art,” she said. I find this so venerable—everyone is unique in some way, so why not express this through style? And what is such an expression besides art itself?
“It doesn’t have to be superficial,” Emily said of fashion. “You can live in dreary, boring surroundings—but why?”
Emily finds inspiration in the world at large, and sees fashion “partly as a way to explore places, times, aesthetics, authors,” she said. As an English major, she uses writing as her primary artistic outlet, but sees a definite connection between writing, fashion, and anything with an aesthetic tinge. For example, her style has been influenced by the “bleak simplicity” of Scandinavian literature and film that she has read and seen. This inspired her to “pare things down” to create a “sparse sense of beauty.” Such themes have a “coziness” to them, in her opinion.
“Huge sweaters, leggings, boots…they’re comfortable; secure,” she said.
Emily likes scarves and pashminas in colder weather, wears no more than one to two pieces of jewelry with any outfit, and explained, “muted colors are more consonant with my personality.” She also likes bangles, which “stack musically” and thus have an appealing synesthetic quality. “Deep, rich earth tones” serve as bolder colors that aren’t too neon or invasive. She also believes good style need not depend solely on the clothes themselves.
“A T-shirt and jeans can be composed,” she said. “The way someone walks, stands, and talks, those things should be read into their fashion choices.”
The outfit Emily is pictured in has a deceptively simple quality. Almost totally black and white, the interest lies in the collection of the clothes as a whole, the black on black, and the textural layering of skirt, leggings, and boots. From the waist down she almost looks and seems like a shadow of a person, and each of her three garments neatly affect the shape of her outfit. The white and black stripes provide a more obvious visual texture that complements the feathery material texture of her skirt. Her necklace and rings provide a final stab of detail, adding a touch of color and interest. I love how the only vertical lines in her entire outfit are created by her necklace, bringing the accessory to the foreground and allowing it to be fully appreciated.
Most important of all, I find that Emily’s hair almost flawlessly complements the subtlety of her style. Wavy, yet tame; purposefu,l but not overstyled; it has the moody minimalism mentioned above without being solely decorative. And even though it is just brown, it looks somehow colorful when paired with black and white.
Emily says she wants to convey some part of who she is through fashion.
“It’s hard to put [yourself] into words, so do it through what you wear,” she said. “It’s a good medium because you can give up control to fashion itself.” I agree: sometimes I absolutely don’t understand why some article of clothing or stylistic choice I made rings so damn true with who I am, but I know it does, and I like it.
Well everyone, that’s usually where the article would stop, but I have a little treat for the end of the semester. For some strange reason, Kanye West kept recurring in my interviews, especially the first three. So, I decided it would be cute to ask all the interviewees their thoughts on Kanye himself, and report their silly responses to you at the end of the year (Luca’s article to the right is, coincidentally, relevant as well). Here they are:
Sam Cheney: “The man is both the culmination and catalyst of every trend ever at once, so why pay attention to anything else?”
Blake Gilmore: (This was before I was sure I was gonna do this, so all I have written down is “Kanye, dark lipstick,” circled. Who knows what my brain was trying to convey to future me.)
Ari Mygatt: “He should play Big Bridges … Everyone knows he’s a douchebag, but you have to respect him anyway.”
Emily Radler: “He wore this atrocious red suit with an awful leopard print shirt. I dunno if he was trying to channel MC Hammer or what. Some ridiculous late 80’s shit.”
Bethany Okada: “All I see are the pictures of him going to random fashion events. Amber Rose: ridiculous, Kanye West: douchey … I’m not so much into rap. The only song of his I’ve ever liked is Heartless …. Yeah, I’m not really into him.”
Chris Fiorello: “His blacked-out Rolex is fat [phat?] … He also … wears these beautiful black loafers, no socks, and a three-piece suit. That’s him saying, ‘I’m so wealthy, I only have to walk to my limo;’ what a statement. Get a little ankle showing, that’s great.”
Sarah Sedky: “He’s a horrible artist and a good producer … I care about him so little.”
Emily Miner: “I am completely out of touch. Does he have the weird sunglasses?” (The answer, of course, is yes.)
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