Philadelphia Street Style: Angel, Chestnut St

Angel and I had a lovely conversation about image and the importance of creating a personal brand. That's the word she used, "brand." I'm always a bit amazed by the business savvy of people in their twenties. They're raised to be entrepreneurs, and they embrace the language of marketing literature as their own. So have at it, anthropologists, make your predictable argument about neoliberalism now. The youth of today won't hear you. They're too busy living their lives.

Angel's studying to be a hairstylist and sees fashion as a crucial component of what she does. She tries to instill a bit of the urban into all the hairstyles she creates, and if that fails, a bit of grime and grunge never hurts. 

Here, she's wearing boots by Steve Madden, leg warmers from Urban Outfitters over print leggings also from Urban Outfitters, a dress from Anthropologie, a vintage fringe sweater, a jacket from Forever 21,and accessories from the NYC Forever 21. Their Forever 21s, she explains, are a whole different thing than the ones in Philly. Same goes with their Zaras. When she shops for accessories, she'd rather hop on the $10 train to New York than hit the Forever 21s and Zaras here. As for style inspiration, Angel looks to Mary Kate and Ashley Olson. I must admit, I didn't see that one coming.