By Caitlin Walsh, News Correspondent
Every male and female, lackadaisical or fashion forward, has his or her own distinct style. Whether one’s fashion sense is based on the “I don’t care what I look like” mentality or the “in this week, out next week” one, every person consciously decides his or her look each day. But for those looking for a little inspiration and guidance from the proudly dressed bunch, StyleUp has come to the rescue.
StyleUp is a fashion-based startup company and website geared towards personalization – a quick quiz of the basics, your name, gender, zip code (for weather purposes) and style definition is all you need to provide. Then, results are given in the form of pictures – outfits that you rate on a love, like or hate scale. The more ratings given, the more the site “gets to know you” – the more outfits shown are geared toward your sense of style as determined by the ratings. On top of that, every day the site sends an email telling you the weather in your area and an outfit to match.
Some might say it’s a fashionista’s social media Bible.
“StyleUp isn’t about dictating what you wear. We have our mothers for that,” said Sora Hwang, a sophomore journalism major and StyleUp ambassador. She said the website was made to give women inspiration to create their own outfits while using similar pieces.
“StyleUp is to just give you fresh ideas on how to put things together, things you might not have thought of on your own,” she said. “It’s taking pieces you already own and getting that excited feeling you had when you first bought them.”
Hwang said fashion doesn’t necessarily work the same for everyone – but that is just what she loves about fashion. The site lets users pick their personal style category, anything from corporate professional to trendy casual, to allow for different styles.
“It’s a way of expressing yourself with a fresh palette every day. Fashion is constantly pushing boundaries and testing people’s patience. I love it,” she said. The site’s daily photo changes up the usual jeans and a cute top with some new accessories, shoes or colored jeans. And the photos change daily, so outfits the user doesn’t like can be deleted in favor of the next day’s outfit suggestion.
Hwang said she is a firm believer that people shouldn’t be afraid to try different kinds of styles and experiment.
“My advice is to know what looks good on you and don’t try to force anything different, no matter how much you may love a certain trend,” she said. “Embrace your body and complement it with the outfit that was made for your body, not for someone else, because we are all different and something that looks amazing on you may not look so great on me and vice versa.”
Jackie Galeano, a middler who is also an ambassador for StyleUp advised students not to break the bank with shopping for something new – sometimes, all you need is a trip to your closet.
“The advice I would give to the ladies on our campus who are looking to stay on a budget but still be fashionable is to dig through your own closet,” she said. “You will be surprised by the amount of great things you have bought in the past – StyleUp is a great tool that will help you do this.
While dreams of clothes made by Prada and Valentino are nice, college budgets aren’t necessarily so accommodating. StyleUp encourages new looks, but not new shopping – in many cases, it’s about finding similar looks from what you already own, and helping you put it all together.
Galeano said StyleUp is like having your own personal stylist.
“Getting stylish outfit recommendations in the morning makes it so much easier to collect my thoughts and figure out what I need to wear that day,” she said. “It also helps me put together different pieces from my own closet into one outfit – which prevents me from shopping every other day and spending too much money.”
Whether or not fashion is a high priority or even an interest at all, StyleUp is handy – inspiration for shopping, or even just a little guidance on color coordination and weather applicable outfits are invaluable tools for all.
