Mary West poses on a bench in her hand-knitted green vest. Photo by Jada Gangazha. 

ANA DOLLARD | ASSISTANT CULTURE EDITOR | adollard@butler.edu 

College fashion is constantly shifting in order to accommodate function, follow trends in form and reflect the changing nature of the world that students live in. Here on Butler’s campus, students are finding new ways to merge their leisure time with their professional life. Read on to discover the next of our Dawgs with Style through a Q&A-style interview.

Mary West, a first-year piano performance and multilingual double major, has already made a fashionable first impression on campus. Using a combination of sentimental jewelry, handmade sweaters and soft pastels, West has curated a joyous and expressive look. For West, fashion is a protest against the dullness of modern-day style. 

The Butler Collegian spoke with West about individuality, creativity and self-expression through fashion. 

THE BUTLER COLLEGIAN: How would you describe your personal style? 

MARY WEST: It’s always such a hard question because I don’t feel like I have a specific time period or way of dress that I intentionally use. Mainly, I just wear what I find interesting. 

I do really love giving the flavor of time gone by, [or] eras [of the] past. I don’t have any social media, so I don’t know about any of the trends going on. I don’t want to sound blunt, but I don’t care. I admire womens dress of the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s, and all the way through until you get to around 2008. Some of the early 2000s stuff I really don’t like, but there’s still some fun in that. I love old Victorian era stuff too, but I don’t really dress in that style. 

I think another thing is that I feel like the world right now is afraid of color. Houses are being painted in gray and beige. Gray is our favorite color now, and I personally love dressing in colors, and not just bold colors like red and orange, but the soft pastels. So I like to have as much color as possible. 

TBC: Do you have a favorite article of clothing right now?

MW: I wouldn’t say I have a favorite article [but I do have] a favorite piece of jewelry because it’s very sentimental to me. [It] is my heart music necklace, the treble clef and bass clef … I got it six years ago as a Christmas present, and I got it around the time I realized how much I wanted to do music. I kind of wear it as a statement of what I want to be.

West’s signature treble and bass clef necklace is a staple in her everyday wear. Photo by Jada Gangazha. 

I [also] have two rings that I always wear. One was my grandmother’s from her sister, and then the other is one that I bought myself from my very favorite jewelry shop in Florida, and it’s tiny. It’s called Jewelry of Joy. The woman who makes everything is Joy herself, [and she] is now in her 80s. My bracelet is also from there, and was an 18th birthday gift. 

West’s spiral bracelets and detailed silver rings bring a sentimentality to her sense of style. Photo by Jada Gangazha.

TBC: As someone in the music department, how do you think being musically creative and being creative with fashion coincide? 

MW: I definitely notice that anyone who is artistic automatically is a bit bolder with fashion. I think as artists and musicians, we’re a little bit more focused on [expressing] emotions in different ways than using just words. I know I’m a person who has a harder time with [showing] vulnerability [through] words, but I feel like — with art and music — you’re putting all of those emotions into a different kind of language. 

I think a lot of times people who are musicians identify more with older eras, and they’re a lot more interested in history. They look at the world in a different way because things are interesting and they want to explore.

TBC: You mentioned earlier that you made the vest you’re wearing right now. Tell me more about some of your knitting and crocheting projects. 

MW: The first sweater I ever knitted was in 2021. It was a moss green tweed sweater with a little bit of lacing down the arms. I loved having projects that were so big [and] took a lot of time, but I could have a specific time period or memories associated with that piece whenever I put it on. 

Another thing that’s very important to me, [that] goes into knitting and crocheting, is fiber. People say that polyester breathes better. Personally, I just feel like I’m suffocating when I wear it. I love cotton and wool. With sweaters, I can actually make a whole [one] for around $30.

You have to put in about 40 hours of effort, but I just love the fact that when you make your clothes, you also control the fiber. 

TBC: What advice would you give to someone struggling with the confidence to wear what they want? 

MW: This is actually something that someone told me when I was at my first high school prom. She was like, ‘It doesn’t matter what it looks like, as long as you’ve got the confidence to dance.’ I think a lot of times what people worry about is, ‘Oh, if I put this on, I’ll look weird, or people will think I’m weird.’ [But I think] it’s interesting. 

I think the world right now is in a herd mentality, and there’s a lot of pressure put on everyone to be in this camp, behave this way [and] wear these things. I feel like that really crushes individuality. Even as the world is trying to say we’re all individuals … at the same time, it’s still oppressing people. So, I would just say wear whatever you think looks good. 

I do think there are universals about modesty and things like that, but explore and don’t try one thing and go, ‘Oh, now I’m labeled as this person that wears this specific style.’ I think you can change a lot throughout your life and go through different phases of what you enjoy, but as long as you’re wearing what you feel like is you, then I think that’s what the most important thing is. Don’t be afraid of other people’s opinions.