Copying Someone Else's Style: Why It's Good to Have a Fashion Role Model

I will always remember her. I won't disclose her name for privacy purposes, but she went to a high school near mine and I always saw her around town. I don't know if it was coincidence or fate that we always were at the same events, I just liked to consider them as "opportunities" to learn more about her fashion.

She was my age, and a cheerleader. However, she wasn't your typical blonde, Southern California girl. She was part-Hawaiian and Asian, like me, which is why she made the perfect beauty role model for me. It's always good to model yourself after someone who looks similar to you. It just doesn't make sense if a short caucasian girl models herself after someone like Tyra Banks, the african-american super model. The girl I chose was perfect for me because we were both the same height, same build, and had similar ethnic backgrounds.

She was one of those girls who caused you to turn your head without even trying. She was stunningly beautiful, but the thing I admired about her so much was that she didn't overdo it in her efforts to get noticed. She was simply creative and liked to express herself through her outfits and hairstyles, but was always classy and remained true to herself. Every single outfit she wore suited her perfectly. She never looked uncomfortable in any of her outfits, much like other girls did, and she always walked around with confidence.

She had long copper-colored hair, and had angled bangs cut so that they fell into her eyes from the right side of her face. Her hair was shiny and glossy and looked perfect all the time. She usually wore it down, or pulled back into a low ponytail with a flower sticking out from behind her ear. That flower behind het ear was her trademark, she almost always wore one. She never wore too much makeup-usually some bronzer on her cheeks and left it at that. She had a curvy, petite frame and tan skin, meaning she could wear many different colors very well.

She had a hobby of reconstructing vintage t-shirts and turning them into funky tops, skirts or even dresses. She would pair them with jeans and sandals. Or, I often saw her wearing stylish denim jackets with skirts, and funky bags. Even her car looked great, and she didn't even drive that nice of a car. She had an old, white Volkswagon-Cabriolet convertible, the kind you always saw in those eighties movie. But her character had charm to it, and it was one-of-a-kind. She would always hang a freshly cut-lei in the window, and had a big Hawaiian sticker on the side of the car, advertising her mother's vintage Hawaiian shop. She also had a license plate frame with palm trees on the back of her car. I could always catch a glimpse of her driving around town in that little car of hers, and I was quite mesmerized.

She was always cool, calm and collected. She never tried to make people stare, they would already be staring. She knew she had the spotlight, and it was funny because she didn't even really want it. She was voted "best dressed" for her senior class and I'm not surprised. I found myself imitating certain things she did, once I even cut my bangs the way she did hers, and I had many people compliment me. I even had several people tell me I looked like her, which was quite a compliment!

I'm still quite my own person, and have developed my own sense of style, but I will always look back fondly on the memories of idolizing this one girl and her laid-back yet stylish sense of fashion.