Grunge, extreme, femme: the three words that this Manhattan-hailing sociology major uses to describe her own fashion, most of which she sources from Etsy.

Gavriella Wolf, Staff Writer

You may have recognized Blaise Bayno-Krebs ’16 around campus by her seafoam green hair and penchant for the classic ’90s crop top and choker combo. Bayno-Krebs is a junior from Manhattan, drawing style inspiration from diverse sources, including her own city and Japanese street style. As a sociology major, she is heavily involved with queer studies on campus and is learning to examine fashion through a critical lens. Bayno-Krebs sat down with The Argus to chat about her personal style and how it has been shaped by various musical and cultural scenes.

The Argus: How would you describe your interest in fashion?
Blaise Bayno-Krebs: Well since I was like twelve, I’ve always been interested in fashion. I’ve kind of been aware of the trends that have been going on. So it’s always been a part of my life, and I’m not even sure how it started. Now at this point…it’s one of my top priorities…looking good; I know that sounds really shallow, but I don’t mean it in that way.

I’m not really interested in high fashion or anything like that. I also really don’t know anything about high fashion at all. So anything I know about just comes from the Internet…or musicians, when I see musicians that I like, things like that.

A: Are you involved with music at all?
BBK: I was in a band last year. I was in an all-girl punk band called Faceplant, and we broke up. And then this year, I’ve been doing some. We had like a cover band called FIDLAR, and then we just stopped doing that. So this year, I guess a lot of my fashion is inspired by punk stuff.

A: Describe your personal style in three to five words.
BBK: Grunge, extreme, and femme.

A: How has your style changed since you came to Wesleyan?
BBK: Well I started out looking like a typical “hipster” person, with more earthy influences and stuff, like flannels and maybe like, I don’t know, like earthy jewelry and things like that. And then slowly but surely, I guess just what was in style changed, but also who I was hanging out with was different from high school. And like what I was interested in doing changed. I started listening to more electronic music as opposed to acoustic guitar-y music. And that actually influenced the way I dressed a lot. And then I started listening to people like Grimes and that genre, so it like made me experiment with all these different things.

A: Do you think being in [New York] City has helped shape your relationship to fashion?
BBK: Yeah, definitely. One of my friends brought up this thing from when he lived in the city, and he’s not from there. He said that like every day you walk down the street and you see many, many fashionable people all the time, so it makes you inherently more aware of what you look like, because you are looking at so many people. So I guess because I grew up there, I’ve always been very conscious of the way I look. And I also went to an art school for high school, and everyone there looked fucking amazing. So that definitely influenced me. And also I think that New York is always a little bit ahead of the trends, so then there’s that.

A: What do you like and dislike about style at Wes?
BBK: I like it pretty much. I like that it’s diverse. I don’t like that it’s less, like from my high school, it’s less weird, less exciting. There’s more jocks here than I thought there would be. Actually there are more jocks here than there were in my high school, so that’s a thing that I had to get used to. But there are a few people who I see, who really stand down. That’s cool. I also like that no one really gives a fuck what anyone dresses like, from what I can tell.

A: Where are your favorite places to get your clothes?
BBK: I get a lot of my clothing from Etsy, so I just literally search for what I want, a description of it and I find it, get it. Sometimes I get things from Amazon, very cheap but what I want. So I don’t really care about brands or anything. Also I go to thrift stores and stuff like that, vintage stores. Of course I go to American Apparel for basics and stuff. Yeah, I do a lot of online stuff, because I’m here.

A: Where would you get your dream wardrobe given unlimited funds?
BBK: Anything that Rihanna wears….  She is always wearing what I want to wear, and I would buy all of that, provided that I could.

A: Who are your fashion icons?
BBK: So there’s Rihanna, there’s Sky Ferreira, actually, even though she doesn’t come off as someone who cares that much… Alice Glass, Grimes. And a girl who goes here, Page Nelson (’17), and a girl who I guess goes here but isn’t here right now, Eve Kendall.

A: When you were in and out of different bands, what did you wear to perform?
BBK: I wore always these chunky-heeled black fake leather boots that I got at Goodwill for eight dollars. I was so happy. They’re Sketchers brand. But now they’re like falling apart, very sad. Can’t find any boots that look like them for a cheap price. I would wear like high-waisted black pants or like a miniskirt, with like fishnets. Always a crop top because I just wear so many crop tops. Maybe like a mesh shirt, maybe not…. Dark lipstick. Yeah. [And a] choker, choker!

A: Do you think fashion is something that should be taken seriously?
BBK: I don’t think it has to be. And I don’t even know if I take it, I don’t know if serious is the right word. But I think that people should think about it a little bit, or at least, it should be intentional. Like if you don’t give a fuck, think about that. Don’t just make it seem like it doesn’t matter. If you are going to care, care.