Philadelphia Street Style: Rita, Walnut St

Winter is the great fashion equalizer. Nearly everyone wears the same thing: a heavy coat, a scarf, and a hat. For the more fashionable among us, this means sacrificing style for comfort. Those little touches and flourishes that make one stylish in the first place get hidden away beneath layers of wool, or simply left at home on a dresser or in a drawer for a brighter, warmer day. For the less fashionable among us, however, a heavy coat, a scarf, and a hat may be just the thing. These are more embellishes than the average person wears on a given day. They elevate their style to a more level playing field. But who wants to play the fashion game on a day like today? On the streets of Philadelphia in winter, the rich colors of Summer and Fall give way to a monotonous black and brown. The streets are filled with a dull, flat light. Thank God for bright, unnatural hair.

Speaking of which, Rita, whose glowing red hair stood out in the early winter day like an Olympic torch, is wearing a coat by BB Dakota, a sweater by Forever 21, jeans by Urban Outfitters (or more likely one of their house brands, BDG, probably), and shoes by H&M (if one can claim that anything is really "by H&M"). Rita says she's going through a phase right now where she's trying to figure out how to make her style more "grown up" without losing its fun. She's going to graduate from college this year, and she's been thinking that there's probably too much cutesy stuff in her wardrobe: owls, lunch boxes, the various twee accoutrements of contemporary indie culture. But it's still not entirely clear to her what "more grown up" would mean.