Teen Vogue Fashion University Day 1

"I feel like I'm going through culture shock or maybe it's just sleep deprivation."-Me upon returning to school after spending 6 days in NYC 

Leather Jumpsuit: Forever 21

Baroque Jacket: Thrifted 

Jeffrey Campbell Spiked Lita Lookalikes: Charlotte Russe 

Hailed a cab from JFK to Manhattan whilst evading the creeper dudes in long coats asking "Do you want a ride?" Ain't nobody got time to star in Taken 3. 80 mph, windows down, speeding towards the city where dreams turn into nightmares and nightmares turn into dreams-- a cloud of smoke/graffiti walls/the first time I've felt alive in a long time. Lower East Side livin': the most delicious panini, Banksy remnants, Banksy is French, Not Banksy, FREE YOUR MIND, all black everything. In NYC we walk everywhere to save $$$, to breathe the city, to see for the first time. Politics of Light. Blue cafes. Fearlessness in clothing. Food truck smells. Chitchat sounds. Where shocking becomes normal: my leather jumpsuit and rave hair. CollegeFashionista Meet&Greet. Mini cupcakes melt on tongues. Sour skull gummies. Diet Sunkist. My bosses are the cutest human beings. Photo w/ Amy + Melissa. The CollegeFashionista family. Lovelovelove. Hopped on the E towards Parsons. Stopped and lurked through MOMA. Freebie Friday: a line wrapped across 5 streets. Contemporary art is my fave, but it's time for the Teen Vogue x Express event. Walked down Madison Ave. Sephora/H&M/Forever 21/Zara. New York pizza. New friends. Everyone's dressed to the nines. Everyone looks so NYC. Black on black on black. Welcome to the Emerald City! DJ blasting Top 20 mini hamburgers baby tacos mocktails. Photobooth extravaganza/too many photos/but there's no such thing. Photos with fashionable friends. Photo with Mary Kate Steinmiller, senior fashion market editor of Teen Vogue. Loved her dress. Hair braiding at the hair styling bar. I got the faux pixie cut. Teen Vogue Style Features Director Andrew Bevan rolls in. Gawkgawkgawk. Firecracker soul. I want to be his best friend. But the night has ended with a box of Express candy. Shuffled out into the night, the city is just waking up. Buildings sparkle in reds and yellows and greens. I think I'm standing under the shadow of the W Hotel. #ChuckBass #OMG But he's fictional so I board the M back towards Brooklyn. Teen Vogue Fashion U Day 1. 

Music: Beautiful Goodbye by Maroon 5. Heard this song whilst shopping in a Brandy Melville on Soho. It's one of those sounds that makes you realize the feelings "forgotten" are still swimming deep in your organs. Stretched hearts and such. Saltsea memories remain alive: the lights of 2 AM between our fingertips as we said our last goodbye. 

xx