Peer Eye: Marcus Duquette
Welcome to MODA’s newest series: Peer Eye. We find amazing members of the UChicago community who might need a little bit of support in the style department and help them elevate their look!
The Ground Rules
One: don't pick up the phone, you know he's only callin' 'cause he's drunk and–oh shit wrong rules one sec…
Nominees fill out a questionnaire regarding their fashion style and pick out two outfits they would wear on a normal day.
A MODA blogger meets with the nominee to chat about what they want to get out of their new look.
The blogger goes through the nominees closet and styles two outfits, consistent with the nominee’s fashion style and what they want to be wearing. We aren’t trying to change anybody’s vibe, we just want to give a helping hand!
Simple enough, right? With that out of the way, lets get started with our inaugural nominee: Marcus Duquette! Marcus is a third year Economics and CS double major from the northern Chicago suburbs. He has been told he has the style of a dad, and is a self proclaimed member of the Bachelor nation!
Average Day Look #1
Average Day Look #2
Before meeting with me, he explained that his style and what he wears is not something he thinks about much when getting dressed for the day. He mentioned the brown jacket in look #1 was his current favorite item of clothing and that he wears it almost every day. Two important aspects of all his outfits, he says, are comfort and practicality.
Marcus had a whole bunch of cool pieces in his closet he wasn’t wearing much, like some interesting T-Shirts and very cool Cubs 2016 world series apparel.
It was honestly super easy putting together two new looks with what Marcus already owned. He told me he wasn’t afraid of wearing prints and liked basically everything in his closet so I had a lot of options. I wanted both outfits I styled to be wearable and appropriate for a variety of contexts: class, spending time with friends, out and about in the city, etc. Also, I wanted both to have layers making them warm enough for the outdoors in autumn and cool enough for indoors as well. Here is what we came up with:
For his first new look, I took the first outfit Marcus chose for himself and added a couple exciting elements. First, the “Jeb Bush is my spirit animal” T-shirt and Cubs button-down give the look a lot more intentionality. It looks less like he grabbed whatever was the first t-shirt on the pile as well as simply looking a lot cooler with the Cubs piece. You can totally still wear a comfortable jacket and jeans and still look great by making sure there is something interesting going on with the rest of the outfit. With a bit of layering, the same pieces can become a completely new look!
With the second look, I paired a fun printed shirt with pants and sweatshirt. I like this look for Marcus because it’s a good way to show off a cool shirt he owns while still keeping the dressed-down, comfortable look and feel he values. Two big tips here: first, you can wear short-sleeve button downs with more than just shorts! Paired with a sweater, blazer or even a sweatshirt, you can show off your great prints all year long. Second, cuff your pants! It is so easy to do and can definitely elevate a pair of old and comfortable pants into something a bit cooler and more put-together.
This entire process is really that easy. Looking good doesn’t have to be difficult, uncomfortable or time consuming. Three big take ways from this article regarding style are as follows:
Layering
Wear your prints
Cuff your pants
And with that, our first edition is wrapped! If you have any friends who you think could benefit from and would enjoy participating in Peer Eye, email a nomination to jwiltzer@uchicago.edu or ojia@uchicago.edu. Any feedback is much appreciated as well! See you on the next edition of Peer Eye!
All images courtesy of Isaac Tannenbaum.
