My name is Sasha Dorvil. I am in my the first semester of my Freshman year at City Tech. My major is Fashion Marketing. I’d like to tell you a little bit about my background, interests, and hobbies. I am 18 years old. I was born in Manhattan, and raised in Long island. I have many interests and hobbies such and listening to music, playing softball, photography, Youtube, sketching, blogging, and much more. In addition to those interests, Fashion is what makes me, me. Some milestones of me figuring out that fashion was what made me, me, was finding myself as an individual, High School, First impressions, and Youtube.

Finding myself as an individual. What is being an individual? As we all can google up the meaning of what an individual is and it brings us to a definition such as being single or separate. But being in a world with billions of people, what makes us truly different from each other? What defines you, as you? That’s what I was in search of. Approximately 1 in 30 births produces an identical twin pair of babies. Being an identical twin has its pros and cons. As a twin, individuality doesn’t come easy when you’re identical. Being known as “ that twin” or even “ that girl who has a sister that looks exactly like her”, you start to become known as a set instead of just one person. Weird to say, even when our friends and family call both of our names, it even starts to sound like just one name. Ever since we were little, being typical twins, we did what every other pair of twins did. Such as, dressing the same, having our hairstyles the same, attending the same classes in the same school, and not spending a day apart from each other. With growing up, you learn that life throws a lot of setbacks. I wouldn’t say being a twin is one,it just comes with many challenges. People expect because you are twins, you have to be glued to each other at all times. At a point, being separate really wasn’t a choice. Therefore, coming to realization that being known just as “that twin” wasn’t who i wanted to be seen as anymore. You’re probably thinking, it’s hard to not be known as a twin when we’re technically clones. From dressing completely the same to the same colored barrettes, down to the same colored socks. So, how was a twelve year old girl going to stand out from her twin sister? It all started when it was back to school shopping for my first year in high school. This was the first year my mom ever let my sister and i choose our own clothes. Hard at first because it came so natural for us to pick up the same thing but in different colors. After picking up my first piece of clothing I liked and my sister did not, made me realize that i finally had the chance to be different from her and being okay with it . After a while of choosing my own clothes, i’ve realized that my sister and i were more different than we actually thought. We discovered that our style and the way we projected ourselves was what makes us individuals, it was our choice of clothing that accessorized our different personalities. It was what made me, me and her, her.

High school, the period of time when kids find new hobbies, interest, new people and themselves. High School, doesn’t define who you are as a person or who you’ll be in the future but i truly can say high school does characterize you as a type of person to those who view you. High school wasn’t like survival of the fittest for me, or even those false and overly dramatic movies that caution kids that finding a certain group would make or break your high school experience. It was mainly me finding who i was and what made me different from about 2,000 other kids that went there. After finding out that fashion was a way of expressing myself and showed people who i was, without me verbally saying it, I imaged my first day of high school as a fresh start. A start where i could finally be me and people would actually like it. I’d walk into my class and people would be amazed at what they saw. A girl who isn’t afraid to wear what she wants and likes. People would think that i was outgoing, creative, and spontaneous. But, boy was i wrong. Instead i came of weird. But the weird thing i found was that everyone looked alike. Not by their skin color, hair type or even eye color, everyone dressed alike. Walking through the hallways all the boys had the same sneakers and all the girls had the same tops. High school is place where i would say you chose to be with the crowd or stand out of it. I chose to stand out of it. It took time to feel comfortable with what i wanted to wear in school. Seeing what other people wore and thought was “cool”, did make me question what i wore. Everyone has a point where they want to fit in and think that being part of the crowd is a “better look” just for the acceptance. But, following the crowd does get boring. And standing out and being yourself can get you much more. Even though i dressed different compared to everyone, i had character, originality and courage. And all those things that some people saw help me make new friends and meet new people. Being “weird”, helped me gain pride and self-esteem in what i wore that i knew what was showed who i was in the inside. Many people would tell you not to wear something because it doesn’t look good on you or because it’s not so called “fashion”. But fashion isn’t because it’s a trend or because of the price tag. Fashion is the person wearing it. Its how it expresses feelings and emotion through clothing. Fashion is how it makes you feel and the person daring enough to wear it.

First impressions, as i got older in my high school career, meeting new people wasn’t just for making new friends, it was a way of introducing myself not just in high school but also as i got into the real world.I used the words “real world” to describe the different situations and responsibilities of growing up. Such as, going for an interview, volunteering, or even simply going on a vacation. Are first impressions worth the time and energy we put into cultivating them? And are they really as important as other say they are? Well, from experiences i can strongly agree. I can list a handful of situations where my first impression was just as important to what i had to offer, but then you’d be reading pages and pages on it. One major experience would have to be my first retail job. Being young and had a lack of education on professionalism, my friends and i decided to apply to jobs together. A weekend at the mall that consisted of shopping, talking and eating became a weekend of applying for jobs. Around the end of October it was time to find a job and any job that hired sixteen year olds. After many weekend of apply and not receiving any phone calls back, our choices started to get limited. And point we gave up. But while walking out of the mall, we entered an elevator, this lady approached me a nice big smile. As she walked in her style instantly caught my attention. Couldn’t hold it, i had to let her know about the things i loved that she was wearing. As i complimented her she complimented me back. Having a long conversation on the stores we shopped at, the pieces we loved for this season and fashion trends that should die off, she asked me questions like what school I went , how old, and if i had a job at the mall already etc. Not knowing why she wanted to know this information, i found it a bit strange, As we started to walk out she stopped me and said “i like your style, it will fit extremely well with my store in this mall. Stop by and i’ll hand you an application”. After hearing that i felt strongly about getting this job as my first ever job. After three days of waiting, i got a call back saying they wanted me to work there. This had me thinking if i didnt walk in dressed the way i did would i still have gotten the job? I learned that first impressions are important and should be thought out if given the change to. You should always dress the way you want people to see you and how they see you. As many people would say, you never know who you could be standing next too.

Youtube, many people can say they don’t get the point of youtube other than for listening and watching music videos. But, i’d be the first to disagree. I’ve been on youtube ever since i was little and only using it for little things and didn’t know much. Youtube is difficult interest to explain to people that aren’t usually familiar with it. Best way I can explain it, is that it’s like little communities of people with similar interest. For example, fashion, makeup, music, comedy, vlog etc. I truly can say this was probably the most important thing for me while growing up.Starting at age twelve when i got really into youtube. Instead of being a weekly thing it became a daily yo night routine. I could watch makeup, fashion and vlogs for hours. So much that i can it became a hobby. Makeup videos that opened up my creativity to fashion videos that opened up my variety of taste in new styles and clothes by finding out new brands, websites and even making my own clothing at home. You’re probably wondering, what is vlogging? But no it is not the same thing as blogging. Vlogging is another little community that youtube has. It’s all about people who record their lives. sounds people weird that many people would sit down and watch some in their daily lives but after awhile like me you’ll start to think nothing of it. It’s like have little built in relationships or friendships with the people you watch. From learning so much about them and relating with them.
Although, i didn’t get through every little that affected and influenced my decision on fashion, these are the key that i stated in my essay that help molded my way of thought and how i feel toward fashion. Fashion is a part of me and fashion is an art. I get to wear and live the art of fashion everyday of my life and that what truly makes me happy.