Style Diaries, Housing Edition: Woodward in Max P Central

Dec 1

Dec 1 Style Diaries, Housing Edition: Woodward in Max P Central

Welcome to the first post of Style Diaries, Housing Edition! Through this series, we hope to not only share an individual with a unique style on campus, but also celebrate the wonderful house culture that is on campus. Today, we are featuring OT from Woodward House in Max P Central.

Woodward logo via

"Woodwhat? Woodward!" This is a call you'll hear during house events where the residents show off their house spirit. Woodward House is one of the larger houses on campus with currently 101 people. Some traditions that Woodward House has are jumping in Lake Michigan on the first and last day of school, watching "I Wanna Marry Harry" on Thursdays, and hanging out in the lounge or in the RH's apartment playing with Isobel, the resident cutie, and Jai and Kaylee Meowing, the cats. The house frequently takes trips out of Hyde Park, usually to go find and eat good food in the Chicago area. Some trips taken this year included going to eat dimsum in Chinatown, Korean tacos from Del Seoul and cupcakes from Molly's Cupcakes in Lincoln Park, and Portillo's in Downtown. It is safe to say that the house if full of foodies. I live in Woodward as well, and I can definitely say that we have an amazing group of students who enjoy house culture!

And as a fellow resident of Woodward, I'm so excited to start this series with OT as he's definitely one of the house fashionistas.

1. Hi OT! Can you introduce yourself to our readers?

Hi, my name is O.T. or Tobi whichever one you prefer, which is short for Oluwatobiloba. Quite the name right. I originally hail from Nigeria, but I currently reside in the states, in New Jersey. I am a first year, prospective econ major, but we will see how long that lasts.

Wearing: Coat- Banana Republic; Sweater-Ralph Lauren; Pants- Club Monaco; Shoes- Cole Haan

2. How would you describe your personal style?

Honestly whenever someone asks me my personal style, seldom do I actually find words to describe what it is. And you know, I think that’s alright because I am still exploring different avenues of fashion and what suits me best. But if I had to describe my style, I would say classic with a modern edge. I think my favorite word that doesn’t only pertain to fashion, but to my whole outlook on life is sprezzaturra. It is described as an appearance that is graceful, a studied nonchalance, making what is difficult seem effortless. Although, I am still ambivalent on how to accurately describe my style, sprezzaturra is at the heart of what I try to convey through my clothing.

Wearing: Jacket-Levi's, Sweater- Banana Republic; Shirt- Suit Supply; Pants- Club Monaco; Shoes- Meermin Mallorca

3. Do you have any style inspirations and if so, who are they?

I am really into Bespoke and MTM tailoring, which is basically creating suits from scratch, and an extensive modification of already cut patterns respectively. I am honestly just enamored with the idea of being able to fashion clothing with every specific detail you desire in mind, and bringing those pieces into existence. I think this is what truly makes fashion about the individual, and to me, that is so important. I do my best to model after a lot of menswear connoisseurs in this field. My favorites being Angel Ramos, founder of ANGEL BESPOKE, and Thomas Opdebeck of Todd B Tailoring. Some of my other favorite menswear inspirations are Alex Squarzi, Philip Conradson. The list is actually quite extensive.

Wearing: Sweater- Ralph Lauren; Shirt- Suit Supply; Pants- Club Monaco; Shoes- Del Toro

4. As the weather is getting colder, do you have any must-have style items you would recommend to our readers? Or any staple that you personally love and need?

For me, and probably almost everyone out there, cold weather presents an opportunity to layer, and I take full advantage of this opportunity. As for must have pieces for the winter, I would definitely recommend Chelsea boots, a tailored topcoat, and a solid color turtleneck. In my opinion, you cannot go wrong with any of those pieces.

5. Last but not least, tell us about your house and anything unique that you love about it!

I absolutely love my house, mostly because of the people in it. Many people are not lucky enough to be part of a house they genuinely associate with, and I am extremely grateful that this is not the case for me. I have met so many exceptional people over the last two months, and I am looking forward to spending the rest of the year with all of them.

Wearing: Shirt- Suit Supply; Pants- Club Monaco; Shoes- Loake Shoes

Thank you for reading the first post of Style Diaries, Housing Edition! We hope you enjoyed it. If there is anyone you would like to nominate from your own house, please feel free to contact me at julietlee@uchicago.edu.

Featured photo via,