My fashion look back (2006-2012)

#ootd photos weren't really as much of a thing when I was in high school (afaik anyway wtf) but thanks to MySpace I did have a ton of random photos of myself in outfits I thought were cool. ...Unfortunately, I wasn't able to dredge up almost anything which is really unlucky and almost makes this post obsolete, but I still wanted to share a small sample of what I could find. Actually most of these are from Facebook since MySpace largely changed from what it was when I was younger, and I can't remember the username or passwords to any of my Photobucket accounts. For some reason (I guess the reason is probably that it's been over 10 years), I can't remember any of the usernames I used to use in high school...

If I had to sum up my younger fashion style in a few words - accentuate waist or elongate legs (or both) and no make up. If my waist wasn't highlighted, basically I tried to make sure that my legs were. I liked fitted tops and a slightly "sexier" style a lot of the time unless I was doing something super casual. For some reason, I was also really into knits. Go figure.
My most frequented stores were Charlotte Russe and Forever 21, maybe occasionally Bebe or Guess?, and I bought most of my shoes from Nine West. 
Like I said, unfortunately these photos don't best capture that, but I still wanted to try to describe it a little!

I did my best to organize these chronologically, but honestly I have no idea when some of these are from or what the occasion was. The earliest ones are from freshman year in high school but I honestly can't even tell the difference between some freshman - junior year in these photos. It's all kind of a blur :O

Hanging out in Wal Mart ??? What is that little purse? What is with this layering? Why would I ever be that cold?

#myspace edgey AF

It's better for #myspace if my head is cut off?? I really did like this outfit though. Leggings were very in at the time, ok?

I posed for this. I was a big fan of this double breasted knit sweater. Idk how I handled wearing it though.

Sure ok....this was necessary. I'm not even sure why I'm including this bc there's no fashion in it at all but fine.

That isn't my stuff on the left. I think I was helping organize for a used items sale or something. But tube top and jeans...definitely something I wore. Usually with a jacket over it though.

this crop is cool right???? also these shoes were a favorite but...they're cut off. I remember liking this cowl neck top because at least it fit my waist well?

this was a dress with a handkerchief skirt that was actually kind of fun but more importantly, I really loved those shoes! Super lightweight and simple but still added a nice touch to an outfit. I had them in pewter and beige.

I think this was for some sort of concert and my friend and I switched jeans...

This was for a holiday dress up day at school but I actually kind of like this outfit?? I think it was Halloween and I was "in theme" by just dressing in all black I guess. Oh, and a crown.

Stripes theme day. I actually wear that "dress" as pajamas now. And I can't say why I ever thought black and white leggings would be useful.

This was some other kind of themed day at school. Not sure why I thought that top was attractive but I had it in black AND white and I'm clearly proudly showing it off in this photo. I'm not going to comment on the rest of it because it was clearly just for the theme....but yes, I owned those socks.

Yet another theme day. I guess that's when I took the most photos. But I still have this dress!

Those shoes don't match and those socks are really unnecessary. This is a "casual" look I guess.

Despite the terrible composition, this is a pretty good representation of how I liked to dress in freshman year. Short hem but coverage everywhere else. I probably wore this with a black shoe or some sort. I did get busted for dress code wearing those tights but come on, im wearing a turtleneck! -__-.

I'm wearing a tamagotchi as a necklace. And I took this picture myself and proudly posted it as a profile picture.

Dresses like this from Forever 21 or Charlotte Russe were pretty common. I guess this was like Black Friday shopping or something like that.

I wish I had a better picture of these shoes because I wore them all the time and also owned them in a silver color.

I think these are for winterball-type events sophomore to senior year. I really liked shopping at the Betsey Johnson store when we had it. But that silver dress was something cheapy from like Papaya. I guess I liked the bubble hem of it?

Let my guy friend bleach my hair between junior and senior year. Cool. Clearly a great idea.

Sureeeeeee.

I think senior year is when my style occasionally started to transition to closer to what it is now. You can start to see glimpses of it.

Idk why I insisted on wearing such short things. I did like the pockets on this though! Pretty sure you're not supposed to wear this tunic as a dress...

I really liked this dress! I recently got rid of it though because it was so worn. It was good for funerals later lol.

Fantastic. That was my school bag my friend was posing with. I definitely felt less inhibited by the actual temperature in high school for some reason. I would never wear this in Hawaii now.

In my first year of college, I used to really like doing these mini photoshoots with my friends but I was usually the photographer. It was fun though because my friends were all willing participants, and we always had so much fun. This was when I really started to commit more into the "cutesy" type fashion style, and you can see its influences even more.

My closet in my dorm room freshman year. Dont mind the trash??

 

I don't really have an explanation for this. But I guess we thought it was fun to do. Those were my old prom shoes.

But I also still dressed like this as well. This is still kind of accurate to my current non-himekaji ish style tbh. Except the hair.

Okay ngl, I still kind of like this look, but I would get a bit more appropriate boots now. I did really love this sweater dress though and I still like this style of sweater dress!

This was after some sort of themed event and we all kind of dressed up and this was the outfit I chose to wear. Notice how that belt came with me to college lol.

Why yes, I do love this cheap yellow dress way too much and in fact, I will do two random "photoshoots" in it! lol. But also featuring my favorite brown shoes as well.

I wore this blue cocktail dress in high school as well but I started styling it a little differently.

This knit dress vest thing also came with me from high school. Why would that have ever been practical in Hawaii? I dont know but I did wear it frequently even back then. Unfortunately I only have these photos from freshman year in college (none from high school) but yeah.

More chunky knits and layering.

I still like denim dresses lol. But this was not a good look for my face.

My "style" continued to evolve after freshman year of college, but I changed schools and just ended up taking less pictures overall until I started posting to Tumblr, Instagram and my blog. The 2012 style is almost like the final transition to what I often post/wear now. The big change that pushed it was access and knowledge of buying actual Japanese clothes! I had never previously considered it an option. I'm definitely a bit of a late bloomer to it in terms of age, but I don't really regret it.
Here's a few snaps from my study abroad in Japan between junior and senior year in college in 2012! I honestly kind of miss looking and dressing like this a little.

Happy?????

Ummmm, there's so many photos of this because I really liked how I looked even in an awkward candid which is kind of funny tbh (and we were out and about and apparently people were just willing to take these photos of me) but the outfit is only OK. However, I still love that top to death and wear it kind of similarly. I still own that cardigan and those shorts and shoes too lol. I bet if I wore it today, I would look different.

The kind of outfit I would wear daily to class with just clothes I brought from HI. I think it's mostly F21, Charlotte Russe still.

This is another casual example. All the clothes were from home and I guess I felt okay walking around like that.

Actually pink florals from a Japanese clothing store! But no flare in the skirt lol. I guess because I was in Japan I thought it would be okay to wear socks with sandals like that, idk lol. Too much toe showing I think. This was when we went to Nara Deer Park and I really liked this Pink Mix dress!

Sorry this wasn't much. I know I have some gems from MySpace hidden somewhere which captured the 2006-2008 years best, but I suppose them being lost forever isn't the worst thing to happen in a general sense!

I started brainstorming for this post a while ago but wasn't sure if I wanted to go through with it. Sometimes I think there isn't much reason to go back, but sometimes it's also fun! I'm sorry this wasn't as good as I wanted it to be as I couldn't find as much old content as I had anticipated. I really enjoyed taking photos back then, but our computer has turned over time and time again since then, and honestly I probably didn't anticipate ever wanting to share those.
My personal favorite fashion moments probably happened some time in 9th grade (1st year of  high school), 12th grade (last year of high school) and then 2012 (3rd year of college). Although I don't have the best pictures to illustrate them, I think these were all points at which I kind of went through a style transition and started exploring something new. I can't wait for my next personal fashion evolution. Who knows what will inspire me next?

You can leave me (anonymous) suggestions and feedback at emiiichan.sarahah.com.

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