Prea Bhandari is a first-year who spoke with me about spiky shoes, hair dye and St. Thomas fashion.
Parker Selman (PS): How would you describe your personal style?
Prea Bhandari (PB): I guess I would describe it as gothic, but I change it up a lot depending on the day and what it’s like outside. Relatively, I do like to dress a bit darker and have more of an edgy vibe. I definitely like more provocative clothing. The more provocative stuff I can get away with in public is more fun for me, especially back home where it’s always 80 degrees out.
PS: Where are you from?
PB: St. Thomas in the Caribbean.
PS: Does being from St. Thomas inform your style?
PB: I have this tendency to always bend the rules. I started doing that first with our school uniforms where I’d wear tights underneath them. I just don’t like looking like everyone else, I like being different. So I started dying my hair. I think I am the only person in St. Thomas who has this color hair. It’s a small island, so if you say, “Do you know the chick with the purple hair?” Everyone will say, “Yeah, I know her." I got bullied a lot in high school for having a weird style, which made high school rough but it made me who I am today. It was hard at first developing the confidence to be my own person.
PS: What would a day-to-day outfit look like?
PB: All black. I usually like to wear a crop tank top and high waisted black jeans and then some kind of jacket over it, whether that be my black fur jacket or my black leather jacket. If it’s cold outside, I like to wear a beanie with some sort of symbol on it that’ll either say “Drop Dead” or have a pentagram.
PS: What are your favorite brands?
PB: Killstar, Disturbia, Doll Skill, also Creepyyeha, have harnesses and stuff that is a bit more risqué, but I like to put them on top of my clothing. Also Long Clothing.
PS: Do you have a favorite item of clothing?
PB: From Monster Shoes, I have my favorite pair. They’re called “DEATHRAP," and for the record, they’re five inches and covered and spikes, and they’re crazy. I kicked them in the middle of the night when I first got them, and I bled.
PS: Do you think being in college has changed your style?
PB: It hasn’t changed it, but I’ve gotten to wear the clothing that I wanted to wear more [before college]. Here I feel as much of an outsider as I did at home. I have met some people here with a similar aesthetic to me. It’s cool to meet people who have the same aesthetic as me, but at the same time, I felt like the same circus freak here that I do back home.
Style Spotlight: Prea Bhandari
