His Current Outfit:
Ogunnaike wears a smart-meets-street outfit with a modern silhouette. His footwear, a cross-over between boots and dress shoes, grey summer-weight blazer and textured white shirt are all from Zara. His fitted Levi jeans add a casual element to his look. The pocket square peeking out of his blazer pocket was purchased from D.C. and stands out with its contrasting pink and blue hues. Ogunnaike accessorizes with jewelry of several different materials, especially on his hands and wrists. He displays a wooden ring created by S.P.O.I.L.T. KID Co., an entrepreneurial venture of Ogunnaike’s friend. On each wrist is a stack of handmade bracelets from GoodWood, a Brooklyn-based design company. He also wears an Aqua Teen Hunger Force G-Shock watch. On his neck hangs a short, gold chain that peeks out from under the top few buttons that he has left open. A pair of RETROSUPERFUTURE sunglasses with wood grain-effect ears tops off his outfit. “I like sunglasses … they bring out my eyes,” he said.
His Personal Style:
Ogunnaike’s closet is composed of items ranging from urban streetwear such as graphic print t-shirts to more formal items like dress shoes. “In the spectrum of street wear to smart dress, I like the combination of both,” he said. Although he said there is no formula to the way he dresses, he favors pairing jeans with a collared shirt. His clothes are from an amalgam of s thrift stores, up-market chain stores like Zara and ‘pop up stores’ — temporarily and oftentimes exclusive retail outlets. Occasionally he’ll weed through the clearance racks at Urban Outfitters. “Sometimes you’ll find something that isn’t on any other racks,” he explained. For Ogunnaike, dressing is a way to express individuality so he shies away from trends everybody else displays. “I like finding things that fit me well and essentially make me feel as if I made the decision to wear it as opposed to seeing it on a mannequin,” he said.
Muses on Style Icons and Fashion Trends:
Admitting to sounding cliché, Ogunnaike names men’s fashion consultant Nick Wooster, rapper Kanye West and actors Ryan Gosling and Adrian Brody as his style icons. “They know how to mix casual with smart,” he said. Although he concedes they may have more means than the average person that allow them to be so fashionable, “its not the brands they wear, its how they wear it.” Flipboard, a social magazine application on Ogunnaike’s iPhone, acts as his source of fashion updates and he turns to The Satorialist, the streetstyle blog, for guilty pleasure. Ogunnaike, a sociology & anthropology and education special major, sees women’s and men’s fashion complementing each other. “Women’s trends get transposed onto men’s trends,” he said. This relationship applies vice versa, as he has noticed men’s fashion trends such as rolled blazer sleeves displayed by women.
Trends on Campus and Beyond:
Ogunnaike’s favorite trend of the moment is patterned socks, of which he owns multiple pairs. His penchant for unique socks fits into his notion that fashion is about individuality. “Even if nobody can see it, you know what you’re wearing and you know why you picked it,” he said. As for his least favorite trends, “I don’t like it when dudes wear everything tight and I can see [their] bellybutton,” he said. He disapproves of women wearing leggings as pants. The senior has noticed a change over time in Swatties’ dress sense. In his opinion, “There’s been an increase in people who actually like to dress themselves stylistically. [But] as the semester goes on, it kind of blands out.” But an idiosyncratic Swat style has yet to form, he thinks, as Swarthmore students follow the fashion norms of any other college campus, with students favoring sweatpants and hoodies. “I wish I did see something that was really Swat-like in terms of style … it probably could spread around liberal arts institutions [and] take over the world!”
Do you think you (or a professor) have great style? Then submit a photo of you in your best outfit to sjeong1@swarthmore.edu. Please include your name and contact information.
