Rocking big sunglasses and an even bigger smile, Allyson Chung ’10 is hard to miss on campus. A former Vice President of Eclectic, she also co-coordinates the Traverse Square program, tutors through the College in Prison Program, and isn’t afraid to call it like she sees it. We chatted with Chung about her intimidation factor, her passion for fashion, and the time she met MIA.

Argus: You were a three-sport athlete in high school. What happened?
Allyson Chung: I played basketball, soccer, and softball. I loved all of them. But it took up so much of my time. I was a captain of all three teams by the end. I learned a lot of life skills, yeah, running drills and stuff, but also, not everyone on the team gets along, so I had to mediate, work on building self-esteem. Some people don’t have that cheerleader in their lives, so being supportive and stuff like that. But it was really draining. I was dancing also. School’s over at three o’clock, I have practice for three hours, then I gotta go to a dress rehearsal for dance or some shit. I didn’t get home until eight o’clock and then I still had to do my homework.

A: Have you played in college?
AC: I went to one club soccer game. But I was too lazy. I was normally hung-over. That’s been my downfall at this school. I’d just go out, and everything would seem like a good idea, like, ‘I’ll totally go shoot some hoops with you later,’ but then I’d be in bed sleeping.

A: You joined Eclectic freshman year and served as Vice President junior year. How did you get involved in that?
AC: Well to be honest, I had like zero intention of coming to Wesleyan. I figured I could cut out on a few days of school so I came for WesFest, and my Amherst trip was the next day, and I was like, ‘That’s where I’m really going.’ It was my dream school throughout the whole college process…what a mistake. So I came here and I had some older friends, some who were in Eclectic and some who weren’t. I went to the house a few times over the course of the weekend and hung out. Some of those people I met ended up being some of my best friends at Wesleyan. Eclectic just seemed like a cool, fun place and they all encouraged me to join. And I think when you’re a freshman joining a group you don’t ever really know what you are getting yourself into. It’s all kind of superficial. It can be intimidating. Apparently people think I’m intimidating though…

A: Really?
AC: People tell me that all the time. It’s the worst. Anyone who knows me knows I’m basically always laughing at something. I think it’s because I usually have sunglasses and headphones on. I say hi to people; I go out of the way to show people that I’m happy if I’m happy. But I think the intimidation factor is—I like to think—that I don’t really put up with anyone’s shit. People just say really inappropriate things or really offensive things and I won’t just like raise my eyebrows and make a ‘yikes’ face. I’ll be like, “You probably shouldn’t have said that.” Especially if it’s directed towards me. Which isn’t meant to be aggressive.
I chalk it up to my experiences with the children at Traverse, with my peers here and my professors, and the men at the correctional facility. The men in the correctional facility, they’re so used to people talking down to them, with the stigma of being a criminal. Yeah, they’ve done some horrible things, and I’m not here to make excuses for them, but they’re still people. They’re still trying to do something with their lives. They’re in an education program. These are people who for their whole lives have been used to being barked at, told they can’t do anything. The parallels between them and the kids at Traverse are astounding. The kids know that that tone is a constant power play. I just think if you talk to someone like how you’d want them to talk to you you’d probably avoid a lot of problems.

A: You spent the last two summers doing merchandising internships at Victoria’s Secret and Liz Claiborne/DKNY. What were those working environments like?
AC: Victoria’s Secret was awful, it was kind of like “Devil Wears Prada.” Women were really mean. A lot of whispering, people were very catty. But Liz Claiborne/DKNY was awesome. They had a very structured internship program, whereas Victoria’s Secret wants free labor and has no interest in shaping the interns. But Liz Claiborne, they were interested in cultivating an enriching experience for all the interns, there were like 200 of us, for all the brands. They had luncheons for us. We got to meet the CEO… I met Tim Gunn from “Project Runway.” He came in and gave us a talk, took pictures with us. He even came in on our first day.

A: Your senior essay for American Studies is related to fashion, is that right?
AC: Part of what I’m trying to look at is: What are the implications in the choices that are made in the industry and what are the advertisers trying to accomplish? Do they think I’m really going to buy that bathing suit because a racially ambiguous girl is wearing it? No, I’m not going to, that girl doesn’t look like me, nice try. She’s like tan, brown, maybe, she might be brown. The industry is still very black and white, completely.

A: How would you describe the Wesleyan look or style, if there is any?
AC: Wesleyan has a definitive aesthetic. I hate the word ‘hipster,’ because that gets hurled at me all the time. I would say vintage, thrift, glitter, sequins, couture-chic, because there are the people who are spending a lot of money trying to look like they are not spending money and then there are the people who are not spending much money but look cool.

A: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
AC: Yikes, I’m going to have to pick something not so bad. This is definitely not the craziest, but I can’t share any of those stories. Me and a bunch of people from here, we all cut one day of class and went back to the city for this MIA concert and it was really fun. We got hammered before; we danced our asses off all night. Then we snuck backstage and hung out with MIA. She was really nice. She shared her drinks and food platter with us.