Chatoyant Diary : Fashion Manipulator

Stephanie Espinoza is a student at Phoenix College studying Fashion Merchandise pursuing a career as a stylist for the Red Carpet or for celebrities, and/or a fashion director for a magazine. She's looking forward to a weekend in NY where she gets to hang out and gets to experience the behind-the-scenes of boutiques and meet designers.

Stephanie may not be the type of manipulator that Mack Winston and The Reflections were singing about in their song "Manipulator" (the song that she listens to while dressing up), but she definitely deserves props for her sense of pairing different garments with each other creating something beautiful. Thus, in essence, she's a completely different type of manipulator: one who combines stripes with florals and dots with denim while maintaining a wardrobe balance.

"I like to take stuff from my grandma, heh," Stephanie commented. "She thinks it's wierd."

Stephanie takes her grandma's skirts and adjusts them to fit more her style.

While she turns to her grandma's closet, she states the women she looks to for fashion tips as well:

"I've always liked Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen; I grew up watching them. I like to look at pictures from the '60s, their platform shoes... Audrey Hepburn inspires me when I want to wear something comfortable."

She describes her style as ritzy and comfortable: "I guess it's always different for every occassion. Let's say I'm going out with my friends, [then] I'll just throw something on...I'll never show too much."

Stephanie shops and thrifts at a variety of stores: Target, Salvation Army, Savors, Etsy, F21, Last Chance, Old Navy, Ross and Wal-Mart (at a Yuma location).