Who, What, Wear: Worldwide Style

What a person wears says a lot about who they are and where they come from.

The norm on SEC college campuses may be to wake up, throw on a Comfort Colors T-shirt and rush out the door to an 8 a.m. lecture, but some students take a different approach when expressing themselves through fashion.

International students add diversity to our campus in many ways, including by bringing their unique taste in fashion to UK’s campus. International students have built a reputation among some for sporting designer brands and on-trend clothing in their day-to-day looks.

Many international students’ style reflects the fashion in their home country, and fashion is a way for them to create a home away from home. Other international students, however, may dress according to the trends of their new home.

Francisco Léniz, a student from Chile, said his style may have changed after moving to Lexington to attend UK.

“On one hand, I get to use more blue-colored clothing than before compared to the clothing I wore when I was at my alma mater,” he said. “On the other hand, I’ve got more casual and outdoor clothing.”

Léniz said he’s rather ironically wearing more Patagonia garments now that he’s at UK than he did before, even though the Patagonia logo is the outline of Mount Fitz Roy in the border between Argentina and Chile, Léniz’s home country.

Paulina Zörner, originally from Germany, said her style didn’t really change after her move.

“It did not change much because I did not go shopping a lot,” Zörner said.

When she does go shopping, Zörner said she frequents Zara, Uniqlo and local boutiques.

Zörner said she does not compare her style to other students’ fashion and just wears what she feels comfortable in; she said she thinks fashion should be about expressing yourself.

Léniz said he doesn’t consider his style much different from others’ style.

“I may look a little bit messier or out of place, maybe between outdoorsy and skateboard style, as I don’t really care about how I look,” Léniz said— except, of course, when he does dress up.

Léniz said it’s debatable whether international students are more fashionable than American students or not.

“For some cases, it may be due to exchange students being more exposed to the global trends in Europe, Asia and other continents, which may evolve faster and can be really high-fashion,” he said.

Check out the spring edition of KRNL Lifestyle + Fashion for more about how international students express their fashion in the Bluegrass.