We first spotted Zöe Jane McClelland, a Pioneer Valley Performing Arts (PVPA) high school sophomore at the Mullins Center skating rink, where her Laura Ashely style stood out in a sea of sweatshirts and leggings.
Her source: “I get a lot of my clothes from second-hand stores, so everything is a bit thrown together, it’s a hodge podge style I guess”.
The sweater: “I got made fun of by my parents when I first got it, which happens a lot with lot of my more adventurous pieces.”
The blouse: “I like to do historical fashion and with the pleated sleeves this looks almost Edwardian or Victorian to me.”
Victorian style: “I love the era because a lot of the stuff they did was sort of gross, but so elegantly packaged. Like they used to make sequins out of beetle wings and dye their dresses in arsenic and go ‘why is this killing everyone?’”
Inspiration: “One show that’s been really compelling recently has been ‘Anne with an E.’ I listened to it when I was really young, so it kind of has a nostalgic aspect which I really enjoy, and I’m loving the fashion too.”
Her hair: “If you watch ‘80s movies about the ‘30s or ‘40s, this is what the hairstyle would be like.”
PVPA style: “I think PVPA has a really diverse group of people, especially when it comes to fashion. There are a couple of people like me who layer turtlenecks or blouses under dresses, but I think we all have our own developing style which is really cool.”
The future: “I have a pie in the sky plan to go Spain and become a nanny for as long as it would take gain citizenship and pay for art school there.”