Strutting down the hallways like the world is her personal runway, Junior Kimberly Tjantra dresses to impress on a day-to-day basis.
Ever since the eighth grade, she has been intrigued by the ever-changing fashion world after stumbling upon YouTube videos that piqued her interest.
Tjantra describes her personal style as being defined by the 1970s. Among her favorite clothing items from the time period are button up denim skirts, peasant blouses, off-the-shoulder tops and floppy hats.
Most days you’ll see her wear a bomber jacket that has an impeccable ability to complement almost any outfit.
As her fascination grew, Tjantra tried to find more ways to get hands on experience in the fashion industry, which led her to become a member of the Nordstrom’s Teen Fashion Group.
The group meets every second Friday at the Westfield Santa Anita Mall, where teenagers throughout the San Gabriel Valley gather to learn and participate in fashion culture. The group meetings begin in September and then run until the beginning of the summer.
“I applied to the program early last spring,” Tjantra said. “I wanted to apply because I had heard about it from a friend, and it seemed like a cool experience where I could learn more about the fashion industry.”
Throughout the wild ride that was 2016, many trends were recycled from past times. Last year brought back vintage looks from the past century, with items like bomber jackets that first became popular during World War I, Adidas’ old street style looks from the ‘80s, mom jeans and velvet and satin apparel from the ‘90s.
In 2016, Kanye and his Yeezy fashion line inspired many of the clothing trends for men. The most common trends seen this year were the layering of hoodies and shirts, distressed tees and half and half tees.
Among the female population, trends from the previous year included slip dresses, embroidered apparel and materials like velvet and satin.
As for upcoming trends for the year, Tjantra has no way of telling what the future holds. Because fashion changes so quickly, it is difficult to predict what will be in style by the middle or end of 2017.
However, she hopes to see these trends resurface: ‘70s prints and patterns for the spring and summer of this year, the puffa jacket, military jackets with passementerie detailing and shearling for the fall and winter. Passementerie detailing are elaborate trimmings or edgings, and shearlings are coats made from sheep wool.
One of Tjantra’s favorite fashion meetings was one where the members broke off into groups and were able to dress their own mannequins for Nordstrom.
The members of the Nordstrom Fashion group learn about the fashion industry throughout the year, but trends are not their only focus.
“By being a part of the Nordstrom program, I’ve realized how designer fashion is a form of art,” Tjantra said. “People may look at designer clothes that are on the runway and think that they are extremely weird and wacky, but fashion on the runway is the designers’ way of expressing themselves.”
TCHS School Newspaper