SPOTLIGHT: Student with Style

Rolling out of bed 15 minutes before class and throwing on some sweats doesn’t exactly let your true stylish colors shine through. So finding a local fashion guru walking around campus was a bit difficult until Spanish senior Sean Sutton popped out of the crowd looking like he had just spent the afternoon “drinking tea with a professor”.

According to Sutton, when you look good, you feel good. So losing the PJ pants and tossing on an unwrinkled shirt might inadvertently help you get that A … or that date you’ve been trying for.

Sutton has a lot to say about style. He’s a self-proclaimed “clearance nut”, has spent a semester studying in Argentina, taking in South American fashion while wearing his favorite Chuck Taylors and channeling his inner English gentlemen.

Sutton describes style as taking pride in what you wear.

“I love the individuality and eccentricity that comes from what I wear,” Sutton said.

He interprets style as the love of the art that is behind fashion, “the pleasure in the blend of actual materials, colors, and visuals that are created by an outfit”. This is why he loves to mix today’s fashion with ’50s and ’60s styles, like tweed jackets, Ray-Bans, boat shoes and skinny ties.

He sees himself as an eclectic dresser: A blend of retro-classic, urban-hipster, with a dash of old English gentleman.

In Mount Pleasant, Sutton achieves his look by shopping at Kohl’s, 4855 Encore Blvd., “for good outerwear”, JCPenney, 2231 S. Mission Road, “for sharp dress clothes” and T.J.Maxx, 4216 East Blue Grass Road, for “row after row of discount clothes from good stores”.

He says that, despite the negative things people have to say about shopping in Mount Pleasant, “if you have the time and desire to find good things, you can find them anywhere”.

Just because you’re faced with a long week of classes doesn’t mean you have to forget about style, but it also doesn’t mean sitting in three-hour long lectures in a suit and tie. Sutton’s go-to comfy clothes include sweaters, jeans, and boots.

“Comfort isn’t something that’s synonymous with no effort or care,” Sutton said.

Sutton pulls some of his style cues from what he experienced studying Spanish in Argentina. He describes the shopping as “outstanding”.

Streets filled with outdoor vendors, vintage stores, and designer boutiques help the Porteños, or people from Buenos Aires, look flawless and “impeccably dressed”. The women don’t wear jeans and sweaters without adding a brightly colored scarf or something else to jazz things up.

So are the Porteños just born with style? Is anyone born with a fashion gene that just makes style attempts easier?

According to Sutton, having style is equivalent to the ability to draw, sing or play football. Some people are more inclined to think about what they are wearing.

“It’s definitely something that can be improved upon,” Sutton said. “The thing is, it takes a certain amount of research and desire to know what’s happening in the fashion world, and time to shop, whether online or browsing the clearance section for an hour or so.”