Story by Tess Jewell-Larsen
Photos as noted

It’s not a Dior fashion show, nor a party for Michael Kors; it’s just an ordinary day on a university campus. Among the pajama-clad students, there are those who take time in the morning to walk out of their home looking and feeling stylish. Brand names aren’t the important factors to these fashionistas and fashionistos. Instead, it is the ability to style one’s body in a way that is unique and chic.
London was an eye opener for Amy Levin, the founder of college street fashion website, CollegeFashionista.com. She went to the city to study abroad, and she couldn’t help but notice and be inspired the everyday street fashion she saw.
“I loved how everyday people were influencing designers and began to further educate myself with this concept,” Levin says. After living in London, Levin started realizing that street fashion doesn’t just happen on the streets of major fashion cities surrounded by photographers. It happens all around, including on college campuses. It was this source of fashion that Levin decided to give a voice.
Levin launched CollegeFashionista in August 2009 after she graduated from Indiana University. The site offers style advice, posted on Monday; photographs and trends on campuses, posted on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; and fashion industry news that affects college students, posted on Friday. The site is cleanly organized with photos showing off the latest finds. Originally she designed the site for just the Big 10 schools.*
Soon, however, enough emails poured in from students at universities all around the US asking to join the site that Levin decided to expand the website. This January, CollegeFashionista launched an international college section with universities mainly from England but which continues to expand to more countries. As the site expands to over 100 schools, the site also hosts more than 200 writers, most of them Style Gurus who take photos and document the fashion on their campuses.
“I love the idea that it allows college students a door into the fashion industry,” says Breanne Gratton, the editorial intern for both the US and international sections of the site and a junior at the University of Oregon. “It’s real people; people you can relate to.”
Gratton first started as a Style Guru for CollegeFashionista, one of the first writers for the University of Oregon. To become a Style Guru one must apply, sending in an application to Levin and CollegeFashionista. Over the past couple years she graduated from Style Guru to editor intern. In January, with the international launch, she became head editor intern of the international portion of the site.
“It’s not about designer here, it’s a unique different style,” says Amanda Lee, CollegeFashionista’s sole Style Guru for the UO. Lee, a sophomore studying business, says people “take it as a compliment” when she asks if she can take their picture for the site.
“Fashion is one of those things, for me, that you can’t really define,” Lee says. A few trends on the Oregon campus right now are “combat boots and oversized sweatshirts.”
CollegeFashionista allows students who don’t live in the big fashion cities to, Levin says, “network with other students who share a similar interest.” And it isn’t only for people who look at the site, but also those who are thinking of someday working in the fashion industry. “Having writing samples and photography samples is truly an asset when going into a job interview,” Levin says.
Currently the UO is the only Oregon university featured on CollegeFashionista. In the future, Gratton says the site hopes to include more Oregon schools.
*Editor’s Note: The Big 10 schools are the University of Illinois, Indiana University, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Penn State University, Purdue University, and University of Washington.

Gallery • 6 Photos

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It’s Not a Dior Runway, It’s a College Campus