Photo Courtesy of Anna Siefkin

“Basically, my fashion has always been very odd. Always. Last year, I spent a lot of my time in suits, button-downs, very academic, businesslike attire. And I felt like, definitely while it reflected a very serious side of me, I was looked at as very masculine, very serious, very professional. And I kind of realized that’s not – while I do like that side of me, there is another side of me that’s very feminine … And that’s how I got into vintage clothing and cottagecore. I really just enjoyed having that soft side of me, and that escapism. Escapism is really important to me, feeling like you can just transport yourself … I think my motto is all about escapism and escaping this – how do I put it – prison of society … I found the [vintage and cottagecore] trend I think on TikTok, and just instantly fell in love with it. And at first I would just watch the videos; I’d see people dressed in these clothes – there’s another [trend] called ‘fairycore,’ just very magical, fluffy and just, I fell in love … People say, “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have,” and I think it’s the same thing with anything. Dress for the way you want people to see you. And I want people to see me as this very feminine, almost magical kind of personality … One of my favorite outfits, I actually just wore it for Halloween, is this very much pilgrim-looking outfit, with a corset – I wear corsets almost every day – and, I don’t know, it looks very, very vintage, like I’ve been transported right from the 1700s. So, I definitely like that one a lot … Since I was a kid, [I’ve] been interested in Victorian fashion, and there’s something very nice about being able to put that on, and you know you’re one of the only people who you’re meeting who is probably wearing a corset. And it also corrects your posture a lot, which is nice. You’re constantly like, ‘Back straight!’ which is very, very helpful – I have horrible posture … [If you’re looking to dress vintage,] I’d say just go for it. I’d say the biggest thing that holds people back is wondering what people will think. And if you kind of just look at yourself one day and you’re like, ‘I don’t really care how others look at me,’ and you just do it for yourself, I found – like when I was dressing, for example, in my, like, blazers and stuff like that, I knew it was very much for … what I wanted people to perceive me as. And cottagecore is the complete opposite of that. It’s ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Who do I want to embody?’ And I found … it was like a switch being turned off. I was significantly happier not caring.”