My Melting Pot Style: A Hodgepodge of Boho, Irreverent, + Curious Fashion Choices
Well HELLO!
If we’ve never met, welcome! I’m Meggan. (When I sign my artwork I like to go by my first and middle name: Meggan Colleen — so you know how Scotch-Irish I am and because let’s be honest… It just sounds way more distinguished. Which is like, totally me.)
To know me is to think I’m a little weird — which is an accurate personality description and also somewhat describes my irreverent fashion sense and style now and over the years.
I’m a hodgepodge. A melting pot. In high school in regards to my fashion choices my friends would often say: “you could pull that off”. And trust me, it was not because of a surpassing beauty or physique. . . It was because I truly didn’t give a shit what anyone thought and I was genuinely interested in too many fashion styles. If you looked at my outfits Monday through Friday you’d probably think I had a personality disorder.
A very full butter yellow and white seersucker skirt on Monday that I would wear to school with high heels on. (The sheer thought of wearing heels to school makes me laugh now. Oh, to be young!) The next day? Baggy jeans, a Weezer concert tee, (I still remember that concert vividly) and Chuck Taylors. A day of choker necklaces & hot pink lace here, a day of normal Abercrombie + Fitch early 2000s-inspired apparel there. By Friday? My pajama pants — because fuck it. The last outfit choice is no longer one I repeat and was much to my Father’s dismay — I can still hear him telling me how homeless I looked. (SORRY DAD, you were right.)
About eight years ago I was still evolving. (Aren’t we all - always?)
One of my male co-workers who is a dear friend described some of my outfits and my fashion style and I will never forget it ever ‘til I die because I think I laughed for twenty minutes straight:
his description of my fashion style:
High-fashioned homeless.
Nana chic.
High-fashioned farmhand.
Questionably hetero.
What can I say? I’ve been known to throw a look together and turn a head. And clearly my friend had never heard of rocking riding boots and nana sweaters or what “Derelicte” means. I think he meant to say:
Timeless
Irreverent
Curious
Has my style evolved much? I’d like to think a little, but not really.
Almost a decade of working in the outdoor gear + retail industry have however, molded me into a gearhead & technical clothing gatherer, too. I’ve collected enough leggings, hiking boots, puffy jackets, and other essentials to last a lifetime - and I’ve been in the industry long enough to think hiking boots can definitely be cute. What can I say?
Want to shop all of my faves?
CLICK HERE TO SHOP ALL MY FAVORITE THINGS
Once I came down the stairs dressed and ready to walk into downtown with my fiancé, and he laughed and told me my outfit was giving him serious Laura Dern in Jurassic Park vibes. I told him there could be no higher compliment than to be compared to Dr. Sattler and obviously made him take my picture.
Dr. Sattler and I both appreciate dinosaurs and 90s fashion. JP image source: Fortune.
On a Saturday or Sunday lazy summer stroll I might be Dr. Sattler from Jurassic Park.
On Monday I’ll be back in that same old (and now considered vintage) Weezer concert tee and my dad’s hand-me-down ripped up Levis and some Birkenstocks. . .
Then you might find me wearing my Free People dresses and Spell + The Gypsy skirt (like the beautiful pieces of art that they are) for the next few days.
By Friday? Prana leggings and an oversized beige sweater that isn’t style perfection - but I’m cozy as can be and still think Holly Golightly would approve.
Clothing and fashion have the potential to be for me — an outlet and a piece of artwork.
I’ve spent years searching the internet for a certain vintage feather peignoir, a Southwest patterned pendleton coat, and for a specific vintage looney tunes t-shirt with a front/back logo.
They are each equally hallowed to me.
Some of my prized jewels:
One of the most expensive items in my entire wardrobe is a pair of glorious early 90s vintage floral Doc Martens, shown below. (They were another item I spent years searching for.) On the flip side — in high school on a trip to Spain I bought a jersey maxi skirt with a giant Roy Lichtenstein print/face on it, probably for no more than 30 euros, and I will love it forever and never ever part with it because I’ve never been able to find anything as unique as it. My oldest piece of clothing? A marine biology Summer Camp t-shirt from 1998 that - I won’t lie - I get tons of compliments on when I wear it nowadays. And my best thrift store score? The almost exact cut + color golden yellow satin dress that Kate Hudson rocks in How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days for $7. (I’ve found way better designer items in my thrifting pursuits, but none that thrilled me as much as that dress)
I cherish each of them equally.
A closeup of these bad boys. . . My prized 90s vintage floral Doc Martens.
I love it all. Overalls and plunging necklines. Corduroys and sequins. Vintage and bargain. Espadrilles and hiking boots. Technical gear and novelty tees. What can I say? My fashion style is a hodgepodge.
I’m just a classic American melting pot.
I never got into Sex & The City, but the quote below from SJP’s iconic character is one I’ve always comically identified with:
Do you have an article of clothing you love like a piece of artwork or more than your own child?
(I hope not the latter, but if so then definitely tell me what that hallowed piece is!)
See you on the ‘gram!
