LC Style: Closet Sharing, Literally

We all talk about sharing closets, but these two lovely women live it.

By Demi Glidden /// LC Style Editor

Annabel Carroll (’16) and Tess Chudzik (’17) have been living together since their first year at Lewis & Clark. Naturally, when they moved off campus, they continued to share a room. Turns out the room has a small walk-in closet, which (you guessed it) they also share. Dresses, skirts, blouses all hang together in all their patterned and colored glory. LC Style asked them to pick three outfits to share. Here’s what they came up with.

First inspiration?

T: I think probably my mom. She made her own clothes a lot when she was my age, and my sister and I used to wear them for dress up — and now I wear them for real! She also always let me do my own thing with clothes, even though she was sometimes a little skeptical. When I was a toddler I liked to pick out my own clothes, and I was especially fond of mismatching florals. I also loved to wear oversized night shirts tucked into leggings, and I was the only one who could tuck them in properly. My mom was very patient with me!

A: I suppose my family did. My mother was very forbearing with me during the brief phase when I only wanted to dress like a middle-aged business woman and encouraged me to be slightly more adventurous, as did my little sister,  who has always been much more fashionable than me. I loved fairy tale illustrations as a child and always had very vague aspirations to dress like I belonged in them.

Current inspiration?

T: I really love Elle Fanning’s floaty, dreamy aesthetic, as well as the First Aid Kit sisters’ long 70s dresses. I’m inspired by anyone who is doing their own thing and totally rocking it!

A: On my less practical days, I’m inspired by the costuming in the more ridiculous “period” dramas, the kind with no pretensions to historical accuracy–pattern-rich, pretty-feeling textures, lots and lots of fabric. When I’m more practical I try to dress like a character from the Arthur cartoon.

A:  I actually think my favorite is my pearl bead cross, which was a gift from my Nana a long long time ago. I’d thought I’d lost it years ago and rediscovered it in my dresser this summer, and now I wear it all the time. It makes me feel connected to my family and my religious and ethnic communities even when I’m far away.

Closet sharing?

T: Definitely a natural progression of roomie-ship. Annabel and I have very different styles, but I think they also mesh well together. There are things of hers that I wear more than she does and vice versa!

A: I think it’s definitely been a natural progression! Our styles are distinct enough that I think we keep expressing them even when we’re wearing each other’s clothes, because we wear them so differently–Tess will wear a sweater with a collared shirt beneath it that I would wear under a patterned skirt, or she’ll wear a scarf with an outfit while I can’t pull off scarves, or I’ll wear more colorful tights than she would. It just sort of works, and it means neither of us goes clothes shopping as often as we would otherwise!

T: The 70s floral wrap dress is my favorite, because it was my mom’s when she was my age. And it makes me feel like a Rookiemag fairy goddess!