I struggled to find my fashion sense as a Yale student. I eventually decided to put my own spin on the academia aesthetic.

• Growing up in the South, I never had a winter wardrobe and never developed a style. 
• As a freshman at Yale, I had to find my winter style on campus. 
• I decided to build my wardrobe using the academia aesthetic as inspiration. 

I heard the stories and saw the forecasts, but nothing really prepared me for my first winter at Yale. Coming from North Carolina, I had seen snow growing up occasionally. I knew what windchill could do, but my naïveté made me think I could survive the beginning of my first fall semester in New Haven armed with just my t-shirts, sweaters, a tiny scarf, and a single brown overcoat.