Senior and stylist Juliana Kulak has earned and certainly deserves the title of December’s Fashionista of the Month!
Since she joined KO in seventh grade, Juliana has certainly stood out from the crowd with her eye-catching and trendy styles. There is a clear effort that she puts in every day to feel confident and proud. However, quite humbly she states, “No I don’t think I’m a trendsetter, but I do think I have a very individualized style.” With this, she said she doesn’t feel the need to prove a point but rather show who she is through her true love of fashion.
Juliana is inspired by several people who have a retro style to go shopping and explore new outfits and types of clothing. Some examples include famous actress Zendaya and model Bella Hadid. When buying clothing, she loves to shop at all sorts of vintage and consignment stores both in Connecticut and states nearby because of all the hidden cool pieces that are difficult or even impossible to find elsewhere.
“I’ve bought a lot of my vintage leather jackets at Cambridge House Antiques in Boston, and I love Amarcord in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn because they have tons of Italian vintage clothes,” she said. “Fashion right now is drawing a lot from the 60s and 70s, so a lot of what is being sold at these vintage shops look like something you would find in Urban Outfitters. Plus, at the vintage stores, you can find a lot of clothes made by high fashion designers with high-quality fabrics and craftsmanship for a fraction of their original prices.” This original take on vintage stores really shows who Juliana is as a young fashionista and the growing love she holds in exploring her own designs.
Besides vintage and consignment stores she also loves to shop at Nordstrom, PacSun, and Urban Outfitters to mix in with her unique vintage items. In several of these stores, she often gravitates to brighter and louder colors, but in the winter she wears more neutrals. In addition, she loves to shop for accessories to add a special touch and sparkle to her daily look. She states that some of her favorite pieces are vintage sunglasses, statement earrings, and delicate gold pieces, and these are often mixed and matched to go with several different outfits and seasons.
Juliana mentions that although she has always loved fashion, she has recently gotten bolder with her choices and gained an appreciation for her own clothing. In the summer season, she loves to wear dresses, rompers, and jumpsuits with additions of sunglasses and other pieces. Juliana loves the summer season of clothing the most because jumpsuits have a very 70s look that can be dressed up or down for any occasion. Outside of the summer season, Juliana often spends several weekends in the school year going to music shows that she dresses up for, often wearing band T-shirts and denim, whereas at school she has been known to wear skirts with boots and sweaters.
For those looking to improve their own stylistic choices, Juliana said she recommends buying comfortable, well-made clothes to make sure they don’t go to waste, in addition to not always ‘jumping on a trend’ just because others do. “Wear what looks good on you and your body type to feel the very best in your own skin,” she explained.
The KO community has certainly loved watching Juliana’s fashion sense evolve and cannot wait to see many more pieces throughout the rest of the year!
