Each morning, a Tech student chooses clothes to wear for the day. This can get complicated, with multiple outfit changes, different styles to choose from, Georgia’s bipolar weather, the test day dash and numerous other factors. So for the style-conscious and the trend-setters out there, fear no more. GaCityStyle is a rising, fashion and arts inspired blog that can now be the answers to those morning debates.
Paris Rouzati, third year MGT major, and Landon McGregor, IE ’10, created the blog following inspiration from style blog creator, Allie Bashuk, who founded the UGA version in 2008.
GaCityStyle includes fashion updates from Tech, Emory and the Atlanta campus of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).
The blog consists mainly of street style photos of different people in trendy outfits. Underneath the photos are captions with the person’s name, major, school and a comment on the outfit and the degree of style relevance. The blog also has updates on big designer lines and what’s hip and new in the fashion market.
“In the fashion industry, street style blogs are really in, so that’s what we focused on and branched off from there,” Rouzati said.
The blog also has information and news about events around the Atlanta area that might appeal to its readers. These events are sometimes hosted and/or publicized by the GaCityStyle blog.
Events include style, music, entertainment, art, charity fashion shows or anything students might be interested in outside of classes, according to Rouzati.
Along with the actual blog, GaCityStyle hosts a Facebook and Twitter account with status updates about all the different related blogs and events. The Facebook photo albums are filled with examples from the blog of the photos of stylish Tech, SCAD and Emory students.
Side by side to the trendsetters are photos of people caught in not so trendy outfits.
“Usually with Tech, we get really entertained by taking candid shots of people that are dressed atrociously,” Rouzati said.
Since starting the blog, Rouzati has changed her own lifestyle.
“Once people found out I was doing the blog, I couldn’t really wear sweatshirts and sweatpants to class anymore because it would be just be so hypocritical,” Rouzati said as one of the blog’s founders.
This is a price worth paying, according to Lillie Molavi, third-year IE major.
“I think that the blog can have a positive effect on the way that other people outside Tech view Georgia Tech students, because…people tend to think that we are only focused on engineering and don’t have any idea about the outside world,” Molavi said.
“[This leads] to the image of a messy, male student body who [hasn’t] washed their clothes in days and don’t know what a mirror is. Perhaps to some students it can seem superficial, but the truth is the ability to look presentable, to know how to look good, is something that we Tech students should value more,” Molavi said.
On the other hand, some people feel that this need to justify the Tech image through a fashion blog, which could criticize some students, might be unnecessary.
“Honestly, if somebody found themselves in the pages of worst dressed, of course they would probably feel disgruntled. But it’s an opinion blog, and they have the right to share their opinion on what is considered fashionable,” said Ashley Rodriguez, second-year ARCH major.
“[Some pictures are] rude and unwarranted, but even if [the subject] didn’t take the photo, anyone on campus was able to see the immodesty of that outfit,” said John Noe, second-year BME major, of photos of fashion faux pas.
Rouzati said that Bashuk wanted to branch out geographically, leading to the creation of the company, The Campus Style. This company runs several style blogs around the country, including GaCityStyle and the UGA style blog.
Approximately 20 new blogs are set to start in Aug., and the Campus Style is even trying to create new groups internationally.
“We have one opening in Canada, and we’re trying to get one in Dubai, Australia and one in London. So we’re trying to go global,” Rouzati said.
The blog can be found at http://thecampusstyle.com/gacitystyle.