What I love most about Southwest is its uncanny ability to produce some of the most interesting and diverse characters on campus. It’s refreshing to meander into different residential areas and get a feel for the kinds of people there. Outside Berkshire Dining Common, a local group of skate boarders provided a source of continuous entertainment. Personally, I like to keep my clumsy feet planted firmly on the ground but, I was fascinated by the way skateboarding almost perpetuated a sense of style and attitude about all of them. I met the smiley and inconspicuously cool Raysaun Evans, a freshmen at Holyoke College, and originally from Worcester.
He wore old Levi’s, battered old sneakers, and a shirt declaring “I love biters.” At first glance this doesn’t seem like a look to grace the catwalks of Paris or Milan, but I would like to argue the latter. Personal style isn’t always about being what is presumed as fashion forward. It is that same raw personal sense of style that many designers emulated in 2010 and currently with the concept of comfort. The fashionable faux pas in shedding fitted clothing and clean cut shapes is what the fashion industry calls edgy, urban, and shabby chic. It was that same factor that not only transcends fashion, but also music that influenced fashions over the years. Its simple perspectives is a conglomerate of youth advised culture that remindes one of Lupe Fiasco’s first single ‘Kick/Push’ and trends that inspired clothing lines like Obey. In short, it was cool.
Raysaun’s relaxed demeanor translated into effortless combinations of color and comfort.
When I asked how he would describe his personal style, he said, “keepin it Real.”
He also said that skateboarding taught him to enjoy life. Doing what he loved gave him an easy-going mentality that influences whatever ensemble he chooses to put together that day before grabbing his board. Watching them float on the pavement, on their boards, I realized that this was exactly where fashion starts. Fashion was having the ability to take a fixation and turn it into a mode of wearability.
Nia Decaille can be reached for comment at [email protected]
