Q: Would you consider yourself a fashionable person?

A. Yeah I would. I consider myself someone who knows about the fashion and I think I have my own taste, my unique way of dressing up.

Q: So where did your love for clothes and shoes come from?

A. It started in college. I’ve always been into like I guess fashion, keeping up with trends. I think that the when I was in high school my parents couldn’t afford to buy me like Essential or like Jordans or anything like that but i’ve always been into it, so it wasn’t until I hit freshman year of college, where I started to work, I got a job, and when I got a job I started to make money, and I started to buy everything i wanted to buy.

Q. What was the first pair of sneakers you bought that you’d been wanting to buy and had to save up for?

A. I would say it was the Jordan 1s, the what was it, the red ones, the black and red, but the original black and red ones, and I remember those ones at the the time were 450 dollars, yeah so i saved up enough money, because i remember I really wanted them in high school, couldn’t afford them. I bought them with my second paycheck I think.

Q. Since which year of high school had you been wanting them?

A. I would say sophomore year, so I waited 3 years to get them and that was with my second paycheck. I had them in the box … I was keeping them clean. I rarely wore them too, I remember like I wore them once every 2 weeks.

Q. Who would you say is your inspiration when it comes to fashion?

A. Pharrell I like a lot, Pharrell Williams. I would say Pharrell, he may not be be favorable right now. But Kanye, Kanye West, I feel like he knows how to dress. 

Q. How important is color coordination to you?

A. Oh I don’t like to color coordinate, I like to mismatch.

Q. But you still have to match right?

A. I mean black jeans you can wear with anything. But this shirt doesn’t match with the sneakers. And it’s also like you too if you look at yourself like, you have on the Jordan 1s, blue, black and white, and then you got a green shirt, I love that, so I’m not a big fan of blue shirt, blue sneakers ,blue hat. We used to (“we” as my generation), we used to do that in early 2000s. In early 2000s you had to match everything, but i’m not a fan of that. I like to mismatch.

Q. So you like the way people dress in this generation more than early 2000s, or in the 1990s? Which year do you prefer?

A. I love the 90s. I like the 90s because Tommy Hilfiger, one of my favorite brands, and I like the whole oversized Tommy Hilfiger, Tommy Hilfiger jackets, I like the Tommy Hilfiger shirts … Calvin Klein was really big in the 90’s, umm what else, Jordans as well.

Q. How would you describe your style right now? Is it more towards streetwear?

A. That’s a great question. I would say that I’m more… I think 50/50 cuz I used to work in a bank before I was a teacher and when I was at the bank I used to have to wear a lot of button up shirts. So I have a lot of like button up shirts but… I would say I’m 50/50. But I like being cozy, I like to wear sweats, sweaters,  like things like that, so more towards the cozy side.

Q. So how do you come up with an outfit?

A. It’s my mood. But I don’t like to repeat an outfit. So let’s say I wore this today, I won’t wear it for maybe another week. I don’t like to go back to back.

Q. So your outfit changes based on the occasion too, right?

A. Yeah 100%. Honestly I like to wear a lot of gym clothes, so I like to wear a lot of like windbreakers, but when I teach you guys I don’t like to be dressed too down because you know, you still wanna keep a level of professionalism.

Q. Do you think you are the best dressed teacher in the school?

A. Oh man, I haven’t thought about it like that. I don’t… I don’t know, I never thought about it. I really did admire – did you have this teacher? Uhh he co-taught with Moore, he left [Aguello]. I thought he was fly, really cool fly teacher.

Q. What do you think when people call Nike Tech “drip”?

A. So I think Nike tech is more your generation, I don”t fully agree with it, but i also realized it’s more your generation’s thing. I think it’s expensive.

Q. What do you think of expensive brands like Dior and Prada?

A. I like it. I can’t afford, but I do like it! I only have a Louis Vuitton wallet. I used to have Louis Vuitton sunglasses. That’s all I have. I’m not a “loud” person. When i say loud I mean I’m not one of those people who like to wear obvious things, for example that says Gucci, Gucci, Gucci. I’m more like discrete, more like if you see my wallet is 95% in my pocket, that 5 % is me trying to buy something. If you had to see my Louis Vuitton wallet when I take it out, alright fine, but I don’t like to flash it. I’m not a flashy person.

Q. Do you think they are overpriced?

A. No I think the quality matches. My wallet I bought it in 2011 and it’s still great quality.

Q. What about Jordans and stuff, you think they overpriced?

A. Well now I feel like it’s the resale value for sneakers is way overpriced. The resale is ridiculous. I think the quality is great because i have Jordans that I’ve had for years and the quality still good so yeah, I think it matches.

Q. How do you keep your sneakers clean?

A. I have a rag at home, that I use, I just kinda wash it with dishwasher, dish soap rather. 

Q. Anything you would like to add?

A. Fashion is objective. I think the good thing about fashion is that this generation nobody critiques or judges anybody for dressing how they wanna dress. When I was growing up people were like cutthroat, people would just be like, ‘oh you got those sneakers? They are not cool.’ … But I like that this relationship now you guys are really respectable if you wear ain’t no judging. But my last input is continue to wear what you wanna wear. Don’t be afraid. I say try new things. If you wanna wear a rug around your head, a scarf, go for it. That’s it.