By Liana Satenstein

Name: Courtney Hickey

Year: Marketing

Major: Sophomore

“My mom hates some of my clothes,” Courtney tells me in a breath of light, staccato laughs. “I cut up her old ’80s tennis shirt. It was something ridiculous like the Wilson brand; now I wear it all the time at home.” Courtney twirls a coil of her blonde hair and tugs at the cuffs of her leather jacket. “Yeah, I don’t know, I’m a put-together mess.”

“My mom is definitely not an influence of mine. She has her own look; she wears furs and acts like an old woman,” Courtney explains to me. “I used to rebel against my mother-no dresses!”

“So I know your mother is a big influence on how you don’t dress,” I laugh. “But what are your other influences? Like does music influence you?”

“Yeah, I guess music does influence me. My Chemical Romance used to be my favorite band. So embarrassing, I know! But it still is.” Courtney smirks and exhales an innocent laugh. “But now it is a lot of Wolf Parade. I like lots of ’70s and lots of Elvis Costello. He is my boy-a little rebellion! I like the creative geniuses; they don’t play by the rules. They do what they want and are messy and dirty.”

Although Courtney loves the grit and grime of style and the rebels who execute it, it is somewhat hard to believe when her explanations are followed by strings of nervous, girly laughter and complimented by an innocent smile of perfect teeth. Yet, when I ask Courtney about her favorite pieces, I learn a little bit more about how grunge influences her daily.

“My favorite pieces-random things that I wear everyday until they are unhygienic.” Courtney flashes her perfect set of teeth and unapologetically continues, “My friend, Jenny, gave me a skull scarf. She knew I loved skulls. So yeah, I wore it for about two months.”

“Well, then,” I laugh and change the subject. “What types of clothing or trends do you not like?”

“The ’60s. I hate floral, and I hate flowers. Also, I don’t like it when people wear things that don’t fit them and short miniskirts.”

“How about you tell me about your shirt.” I point to Courtney’s white tanktop that shows the plastered outline of a lady looking outwards without pupils but with a set of perfect white teeth that are cradled by a red saturated mouth.

“I did this myself. I like to design and draw. I’m thinking of sending it out to a company to be screen printed, but I don’t think anyone would ever buy it,” Courtney humbly tells me with a trace of doubt.

“What? It’s so cool-I would definitely buy it. You have talent!” I tell her.

“Thank you. I definitely think that is another thing that influences me: art. I like artists like Damien Hirst. It is the worst art ever-like animals in formaldehyde. It’s crazy. He said he smokes because it is a slow suicide. I also like Jeff Koons who makes balloon animal art. And Shepard Fairey, the graffiti artist who created the Obama poster.”

“You mean the guy that just got arrested,” I interject.

“Exactly.” Courtney laughs and tugs at a stray braid almost hidden in her mess of blonde hair. “I mean, it’s weird. I like all of these rebels and terrible art, but I’m still a good kid. It’s like, I do all of my homework, but I idolize trash.”