Izzy Sethi: A Barista’s Look Book
Izzy Sethi is a rising fourth-year student studying Business Economics and English. She's also a barista at the beloved ExLibris Café. I met with her on a breezy Saturday morning. We had been discussing what outfits she should bring to the shoot for a week. Now, she approached me with clicking knee-high boots and two big bags filled with clothes. We were both excited to start.
Izzy loves to thrift. Of her closet, 90% is thrifted, and the other 10% is store-bought. She gave me her game plan for thrifting: go for the knitted stuff first, then the tops. In these two categories, she always finds variety in embellishments and beadings. She never goes for pants because the sizing is always hard to get right.
Reminiscing Fall Look 1: Izzy wears a long milkmaid top paired with an olive cardigan. Her skirt alternates between pale orange and brown and has intricate gold details. The outfit is completed with black Mary Janes.
Whimsy Goth look 2: Izzy wears a mesh orange top with a silky fossil skirt. She wears red detailed tights and her favorite pair of lace-up boots.
Izzy's favorite place to go thrifting is Beacon's Closet in New York. Her favorite thrifted item is a top that has beads that looks like grapes.
Apocalyptic 20s Look 3: Izzy wears a baby yellow top with a chain-linked skirt. Her silver belt and mahogany headpiece tie the look together. Her headpiece and skirt reminded me of the 20s but with a darker, more sinister undertone.
When I asked Izzy about her fashion inspirations, she told me that she doesn't like to hold herself up to a standard but is open to anything that catches her eye. This being said, she does naturally gravitate to wearing lace, cottage core, or Victorian-inspired clothing. She prefers more autumn-centered colors and loves silver jewelry, especially big statement pieces. I also asked her how her friends would describe her fashion taste. She told me one of her friends said the song Cardigan by Taylor Swift. Others have described it as versatile and cutesy.
Warrior Princess Look 4: Izzy wears a white slip-on dress with silver jewelry. Her neck is draped in silver chains, and she wears a matching headpiece and belt.
Forest Fairy Look 5: Izzy wears a lacy brown skirt and a green top that pokes through her knitted beige sweater. Her green heels sprinkle in an extra pop of green. The lace in the clothing mirrors the vines of a forest.
When picking her outfits, Izzy usually looks for something in her closet that she hasn't worn in a while and tries to style it. When it's raining, she aims to dress colorfully, and for the holidays, she likes to dress according to the themes. On Easter, she wore a shirt with flowers embroidered on it, and for Halloween, she wore a lacy black top to emulate a spider.
Last but not least, Dracula Look 6: Izzy wears a black top with a unique neckline. Her gray mini-skirt and knee-high boots tie the rest of the look together.
Izzy's style is ever-evolving and inspired by everything around her. It is bound to change and evolve, but it will always stay true to who she is.
