Kayla

Kayla is Booked

As Karl Lagerfeld puts it, clothes do hang better on a 6-foot-tall model (perhaps that’s why they call it high fashion), but the stick-thin, towering models that walk the runways of Paris and Milan rarely resemble the body types of most people. Yet in covering campus style we see every day how regular people manage to look as amazing and fashionable in their own way as those on the runway do, and Kayla Mann is one of those people. Though she stands just five feet tall, I had never really noticed it before until she brought it to my attention when we interviewed her.

We had been wanting to do a style profile on Kayla Mann for a long time because of her mastery of monochromatic dressing and ability to wear both casual, urban looks along with slightly more preppy business attire (like in her second look) effortlessly.  As a third-year Management student, a large portion of her wardrobe consists of dark neutral colours.  Naturally, these colours make one look thin and tall.  Dark neutral colours are simply more appropriate for Management students as they’re often required to wear business attire for presentations.  Monochromatic colours and textured leathers are able to absorb light and recede into the background, rather than reflect light and stand out as bright colours do.  Maybe this is the secret that makes us not notice Kayla's height. Kayla’s looks are heavily influenced by contemporary architecture, interior design and photography, which contributes to her overall clean-lined aesthetic.  Simply put, not only does Kayla have an eye for elongating garments and patterns, but she knows how to wear clothing without wearing her; Kayla is always the one in control and never lets her clothing overpower her. 

Originally from Penticton, Kayla is specializing in accounting within the Management faculty and aspires to pursue a career in the corporate side of commercial fashion.  Post-grad, she would like to work in more of an administrative role, but still have input in terms of the creative direction of a fashion house in a major city like London or New York. She describes her personal casual style as quite diverse.  She wears an array of brands such as Michael Kors, Alexander Wang, Aritzia and BCBG.  A staple piece in Kayla’s wardrobe is J Brand jeans.  However, her way of dressing has progressed over the years from a more casual, over-sized boarder-vibe to a higher-end, more sophisticated style today.  As a well traveling individual, Kayla admits to being inspired by where she is in terms of her clothing choices.  When she was in Europe all she wore was oxfords.  Neither Kayla’s personality nor fashion choices are static by any means.  Her style is multifaceted and ever-changing from city to city.  

Currently living in Kelowna, like a lot of people we interview Kayla often feels overdressed for school, but she doesn’t let this phase her.  We love that she doesn’t dress to impress anyone, rather Kayla dresses the way she does for herself.   One of the main reasons she has always been interested in fashion is because of her parents.  Blogs such as Highsnobette and Style by Kling have also inspired her way of dressing.  We're interested in how students decide what they’re going to wear on a given day to school, and Kayla told us that sometimes it takes her two minutes to decide and other days she’ll think about it first the night before.  Similarly to myself, the weather is not a crucial factor in what Kayla will wear on a given day (even though it probably should be living in Kelowna).  Instead, what she does is wear multiple layers so that the weather doesn’t constrain her.  

As a Management student who is also interested in fashion, Booked wanted to get Kayla’s perspective on what she thinks of major fashion houses like Jeremy Scott, Alexander McQueen and Versace doing collaborations with more mainstream (or "fast-fashion") brands like Adidas, Puma and H&M.  In Kayla’s opinion, she recognizes both positives and negatives with these collaborations.  For example, she thinks celebrity endorsements and high fashion/mainstream brand collaborations allow companies to economically thrive and give people access to clothing which they would normally be unable to afford.  At the same time, she thinks it takes away from the luxury and prestige of some of the more highly esteemed brands like Versace and McQueen when they produce less high-quality clothing for the masses.  Based on our interview with Kayla and her self-assured sense of style, we’re certain she’ll succeed in her goal of working in a creative/administrative position with a fashion house in the future. 

-Liam