Style File: Simona Zappas

The Mac Weekly sat down with Simona Zappas to discuss fashion, teen phases and lint rollers.

TMW: How would you characterize your style?

SZ: Like a baby trying to dress up like an adult. A baby’s businesswoman.

TMW: What inspires your fashion?

SZ: I guess stuff that I watch. I love the clothes in Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, Miami Vice and Miranda Hobbes from Sex and the City.

TMW: Have you always been interested in fashion?

SZ: I’ve been obsessed with it my whole life. It reveals how extremely shallow I am.

TMW: How has your style has changed over the years?

SZ: I go through such phases. I practice serial monogamy with them. Ever since I was eight I can think of overarching themes and their beginnings and ends.

TMW: What are some examples of themes?

SZ: For a while in high school I tried to dress like a natural history museum. I wore dead animals. Then I transitioned to a baroque painting. When I came to Mac, it was the height of my intense riot girl phase (every trend of the 90’s). I only recently got rid of all of those clothes.

TMW: What phase are you in now?

SZ: It’s hard because of the weather. I’m limited to dressing specifically a lot of the time. In my dream world, I’d look like a businesswoman everyday. I love business.

TMW: What motivates these phases?

SZ: Sheer ego, it’s all for me.

TMW: What does your family think of your style?

SZ: My parents think I dress like an old lady, they think I look ridiculous. My entire extended family was over and it took me an hour to leave because everyone saying “you look horrible,” “you look so stupid,” finally I said “that’s it, I’m leaving.”

TMW: How much time do you spend choosing an outfit each morning?

SZ: It depends, I’d 20-45 minutes. I have those “I don’t have anything to wear” moments all the time. I have simple throw-on outfits. I call them cartoon character outfits because cartoons have one thing they always wear.

TMW: How big is your closet?

SZ: In the past year I’ve gotten rid of over half my clothes, it drives me crazy because I miss a lot of things. I’m a pretty excessive person.

TMW: Where do you get your clothes?

SZ: My grandma gives me a lot of cool clothes. I also really like thrift stores and flea markets.

TMW: What’s your ideal outfit for a Minnesota winter day?

SZ: I hate my winter clothes. I would say most days I’m wearing some sort of all black ensemble and then a big jacket over it. It’s secretly cozy.

TMW: What would you wear for a night out or a special occasion?

SZ: Probably the same thing. I love the process of getting
dressed. I like to do it with friends but it’s more of the process. I generally end up wearing the same things. I love the
transformation, I wake up looking like a piece of white bread.

TMW: What are your favorite pieces?

SZ: A red Angora baseball cap, a pair of lavender John Fluevog platforms, a jean jacket with a patch of Meatwad form Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and a yellow and black polka dot blazer that my best friend gave me. I also love to lounge in my robe and feel languid.

TMW: Have you ever wanted a career in fashion?

SZ: In middle school wanted to be a lingerie designer. I made bras that looked like bacon and eggs. That’s it really. I’m a Media and Cultural Studies Major.

TMW: In ten years, what do you predict your style will be like?

SZ: I think that as I’ve gotten older and gotten jobs my style has really changed. I couldn’t wear half the things I used to wear because you could just see my butt. I also hope I wear more hats. I would love a hat with fruit on it.

TMW: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever worn?

SZ: I had this pair of ripped jeans that just literally didn’t have a butt. I wore them all the time not thinking about that. My friend showed me this old picture, she said “look at this” and I was like “oops!”

TMW: Do you have any style advice for the masses?

SZ: Buy a lint roller, it will change your life. It’s that subtle flourish.

Share and Enjoy

Fashion forward – interview with model Phoebe Drinkall

Fashion forward – interview with model Phoebe Drinkall

11:00am Thursday 27th February 2014 in Focus

By Katherine MacAlister, Features writer. Please call me on 01865 425366

Phoebe Drinkall

She’s beaten hundreds of pretty girls to be chosen as The Face of Oxford Fashion Week, but Phoebe Drinkall is just as beautiful on the inside, writes Katherine MacAlister

There is a calmness about Phoebe Drinkall that belies her beauty, but add the hypnotic cocktail of diplomatic blood and a childhood spent travelling the four corners of the globe to her jutting cheekbones and you’ve found The Face of Oxford Fashion Week 2014.

And yet the Oxford Brookes international relations student has been scouted before, her peachy complexion, huge eyes and full lips catching the attention of several modelling agencies. “I never thought it worth pursuing,” she says tactfully.

Last Saturday, however, saw Phoebe meandering down Oxford High Street to Malmaison to face the OFW casting panel, angling to be chosen from one of 130 hopefuls for their five catwalk shows.

Not for a second did Phoebe consider she’d walk away with top billing and a whole new level of responsibility, having been unanimously chosen by all the casting directors as The Face of OFW 2014.

OFW director Carl Anglim says: “Phoebe was the clear winner form the start even though the scale and quality of the competition was great. Phoebe has exactly what we were looking for and was also hugely popular in the public vote.”

Phoebe’s healthy attitude to her own body also makes her the perfect choice, because although the 20 year-old is 5ft 9 and size 8-10 she hopes to prove a good role model.

“There were so many amazing girls auditioning, so it’s a real privilege and surprise to have been chosen,” she says. “But I’ve never had body or weight issues and I absolutely love my food, having lived all over the world and I’m not willing to compromise on that.

“So I hope I can show that fashion doesn’t need to be that way. It’s not what fashion is all about. It’s about looking good when you are wearing the clothes,” she says and then laughs and adds: “although as I’m doing the lingerie show I’ll be eating healthily and doing a few sit-ups between now and then, which is quite hard to do at university…. and drinking doesn’t really help.”

Phoebe’s colourful childhood has certainly grounded her. As one of nine children, her father is a colonel in the army, so the family have travelled extensively, living in California, Cyprus, Sri Lanka, Ghana and all over the UK.

It also meant that Phoebe had to go to boarding school, so when choosing her university, it was an easy choice to make. “Oxford is where my parents met and bought their first house. So it felt like home. My father was at New College and my mother was at Brookes. They both studied environmental biology and their first home was here on Barnet Street off Cowley Road. They still own the house actually so I’ll live there in my second year,” she explains.

“They live in Belgium now and were all very excited and squeaking down the phone when I told them,” Phoebe says, “but then being the Face of OFW is exciting.”

Not only that, but Phoebe is a twin, so is her sister a rival? “No, we aren’t identical and probably the least alike in our whole family. She’s very clever and studying at Bristol University.”

However, with less than a week to go before OFW opens there’s a lot to be done, with catwalk lessons, rehearsals, fittings and hair and make-up demos to fit in. So how is Phoebe feeling?

“Generally I’m quite a private person, so it’s a bit weird to be in the limelight so much at the moment. But I’m excited and nervous at the same time. Good nerves though. Nerves are the key.” Yes Phoebe Drinkall will go far.

————————————————————————————————–

Oxford Fashion Week is an annual week of fashion events in Oxford. It showcases designs from fashion graduates, established designers, and cutting edge artists in the best venues around Oxford. The Week was founded in 2009 by Carl Anglim and Victoria Watson, and has since grown into an established part of the new fashion week circuit. With a mixture of public and private shows, from high concept to haute couture, Oxford Fashion Week boasts five catwalk shows.

OFW Director Carl Anglim says: “The great thing about OFW is that there is something for everyone, from those who like to play around with fashion who might like vintage or High Street clothing to the luxury end of the market and the ethical side. But that aside, seeing the creations up close and live is like nothing else.” Tickets range from £5 for the High Street show to Couture and Lingerie starting at £35, the venues ranging from the Varsity Club to Malmaison and The Randolph.

– The Opening Party, Mon March 3, 8pm, The Living Room, Oxford
– The High Street Runway Show, Tuesday March 4, 8pm – late, The Varsity Club, Oxford High Street
– The Exhibition, Tue March 4, The O3 Gallery, Oxford Castle. Exhibition is open: 3rd – 9th March Speaker Event – Fashion Revolution, Wed March 5, 6-8pm, 1855 Wine Bar, Oxford Castle
– The Lingerie Runway Show, Thursday March 6, 8-11pm, The Visitor’s Room, Malmaison Hotel.
– The Cosmopolitan Runway Show, Friday March 7, 8pm – 11pm, The Ballroom, The Randolph Hotel
– The Concept Runway Show, Saturday March 8, 8pm – 11pm The Ballroom, The Randolph Hotel
– The Couture Runway Show, Sunday March 9, 7-10pm The Atrium, Malmaison Hotel

www.oxfordfashionweek.co.uk

Showbiz news

• Schiffer snubbed £1m date offer

• Neeson says whoa to NY carriage ban

• Friends star owes ex-manager – jury

• As I Lay Dying singer pleads guilty

• Girls star Williams set to marry

• Katy Perry: I helped deliver baby

Share and Enjoy