FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Photo Series by Graham Wielgos
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Photo Series by Graham Wielgos
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Photo Series by Graham Wielgos
“I’m trying to unpack what it means to think I’m pretty, and how I’ve been told my whole life that that’s how you want to be, but also you’re not allowed to think that you are pretty. That’s a weird thing to be feeling and wrestling with all the time as this half-baked grown person. Because I think I’m pretty! And that shouldn’t be something that makes my stomach flip to tell you.”
“I don’t like that I have all of this internalized misogyny that I feel like I have to listen to and dress for, but it definitely exists.”
“I don’t think other people perceive me - I like to think that I’m perceived as just some guy.”
“When I’m coming on campus and I’m going to be surrounded by a bunch of Seattle U college students I’m much more interested in dressing a little more artsy and being perceived as like - ‘college student, he’s kinda stylish!’ Versus if I’m gonna be walking around the neighborhood I’d rather just wear a hoodie and some pants and look like some guy and not like ‘oh look at that artsy dude he’s coming to gentrify my neighborhood.’
“I really just had to ask myself ‘what would 5-year old me always want to wear? You’re a grown adult now, you can wear that, so you just go out and do that!’”
“When I’m in Montana I’m a lot more granola, maybe even crunchy granola. It’s a lot of flannels and outdoorsy clothes. So I think I’m a little more masculine looking out there. And then when I’m here I feel a lot more comfortable dressing in ways that are a little more exciting to me.”
“Growing up, something that family instilled in me is that I have a little bit of an ‘RBF’ or whatever, which is silly and not really a thing I should focus on a lot, but growing up it kinda got in my head.”
"The perfume I wear is one that my mom wore when I was growing up, and her mom also wore it. I started wearing it when I started at SU as a piece of home.”
“I think that people perceive me as confident and sure in who I am. I don’t think that would be the case a couple years ago, but going into senior year it feels like time is running out so quickly to where it’s like, “I am who I am and that’s just gonna be the situation, and people will love it or they won’t.”
“Coming to Seattle U and seeing people really express themselves through their styles and dress unapologetically what made them feel comfortable, and happy, and beautiful played a big role in my style because I felt like I could do the same thing.”
**Please note that some quotes have been edited for clarity