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Students find, photograph fashion on streets

March 22, 2012
	<p>Nesterowich</p>

Nesterowich

With the first step she takes out her door each morning, journalism senior Eziaha Adibe takes on MSU’s campus, camera in hand, eager to find fashionable students to photograph for her street style blog.

Adibe started her blog, titled “I.K.I.N.T.O.O.,” in February 2011 after several journalism professors coaxed her to make her online presence known.

“(Blogging) is a way to express your own thoughts and individual passions, and fashion is the one thing I have the most passion about,” Adibe said.

Street style blogging, which involves finding and photographing subjects on the street whose outfits a blogger considers fashionable and then posting the photos online, has become popular on MSU’s campus, with students creating and consulting sites such as “The Spartorialist,” “Pine” and “Memorable Spartan Uniqueness.”

Apparel and textile design assistant professor Theresa Winge, who teaches classes to help students build fashion portfolios, said such fashion blogging is an important learning experience for students pursuing careers in fashion.

“They develop their own voice about fashion (through blogging,)” she said. “It gives them freedom to think about fashion without anyone telling them what’s wrong.”

Studio art freshman Hanna Nesterowich was inspired to start “Memorable Spartan Uniqueness” in February when she began noticing the variety of styles she saw in her art classes.

“I come from a small town where people don’t have a lot of fashion sense,” she said. “When I walk into Kresge Art Center, it’s overwhelming to see the different styles there are in my classes, and I just wanted to showcase that uniqueness MSU has to offer.”

Although Adibe admits she finds it difficult to find students to photograph at times, she said she looks for people who she believes will help change people’s minds about fashion in Michigan.

“MSU isn’t known for its fashion, but seeing people who know how to dress well has always fascinated me,” she said. “Street style is on more of an individual, personal level than just looking at weekly magazines.”

At first, Adibe said she was nervous while walking up to students and asking to take pictures of them. But hospitality business senior Christina Cooley, who Adibe has photographed for her blog, said she did not find the request strange at all.

“I was a little bit surprised, but I wasn’t too weirded out by it,” she said. “It’s a curiosity everyone has — hers just happens to be on people’s outfits.”

Although Nesterowich still is working to gain a steady readership, she posts new photos of stylish students about every day and has found that she enjoys the photography side of her street style blog as well.

“My eye is drawn to the aspect of fashion and to people who are easy to photograph,” she said. “Sometimes it’s vibrant colors and patterns that catch my eye. I look for things that stay implanted in my mind.”

But for Adibe, her blog is all about fulfillment of her passion for fashion.

“I want this blog to translate into something more in the future,” she said. “I want it to be a published work with value, whereas right now it’s just a hobby.”

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