ummer camps are usually three weeks of fun, new friends, and time away from parents. Penn freshman Faith Cho, however, didn’t have the best experience with camps. In 9th grade, she attended a program where she had a hard time making friends. Feeling marginalized, she decided it was time for a change: if one positive thing arose from that bad experience, it was Cho’s decision to consciously improve the way she dressed and presented herself to the world. “Obviously, I think image is a deciding factor in how people interact with you, which is sad because we should never judge a book by its cover,” Faith said. “But I also felt more confident when I was wearing something I liked and put effort into putting together.” Since then, Cho has become more bold in her style, completely embracing fashion as a hobby and passion.
Cho is no stranger to vibrant colors. In fact, she loves incorporating bold shades just as much as she loves wearing a monochromatic outfit. Her wardrobe consists mostly of clothes from Zara and Urban Outfitters, but she also looks to thrift stores, her favorite being a little shop called Little Five Points near her home in Atlanta. Thrifting allows Cho to find for unique pieces such as her blue windbreaker. Whether it be with colors or with individual pieces, she loves to have fun and experiment with her fashion choices.
Drawing inspiration from Youtube fashion guru Jenn Im and Japanese model Yuka Mannami, Cho strives to strike a balance between edgy and organic in every outfit she wears. As a result, she has developed a street-chic wardrobe perfect for the urban fashionista. However, she acknowledges that her fashion is constantly shifting. She is constantly adopting different perspectives in order to look at herself and her style in different lenses. But as her style changes, one thing is certain —with an urban fashion style that is trendy and effortlessly cool, Cho is definitely a girl we’d want to be friends with at camp.
While fashion was initially a way for Cho to connect with other people and build confidence, it gradually became a creative outlet that allows her to experiment. When she arrived on campus, she knew she wanted to join The WALK Magazine. She currently writes for the online magazine as a Junior Fashion Editor while also working on features as an Apparel Stylist. “I joined The WALK because it’s the perfect way for me to combine the two things I enjoy the most: fashion and writing. It’s changed my perspective on fashion in the sense that I’ve found a community of people who are just as obsessed with aesthetics as I am and want to create something out of that passion,” she said. “Fashion isn’t something I just do on my own now. It’s something that I can work on with others.”
—Airika Yee
Images courtesy of Caroline Gibson