From compliments to confidence, Claire Wetscott shares her unique approach to daily campus attire
To express her personality and passion, Claire Westcott, a senior majoring in biology from Utah, said she chooses to dress up every day, intentionally planning her outfits. She said her daily campus attire has become a form of self-expression to boost her mood.
Claire Westcott said her passion for dressing up differently gradually grew as she started to explore different styles in high school. She said the confidence she gained grew from the compliments of others, as she tried to explore new types of outfits.
She said one day she started a habit of mixing and matching earrings, wearing different types of earrings on the left and right side, just because she felt it was fun. To her surprise, she said it became a trend at her school. She recalled people coming up to her and saying, “I need to start doing that because it’s really cool.”
From there, she realized the importance of personal confidence and how it impacted the way she felt throughout the day. Westcott said, “It makes me feel good because somebody else could appreciate the way I dress and like what I like.”
Her habit of dressing up for school continued into her college years. She said, “The moment of creating an outfit is the most fun part of my day. It makes me more confident, comfortable and excited.” Westcott said she often plans out her outfits for the following day the night before, so it helps her get ready faster in the morning. She explained, “For an 8 a.m. class, I usually get ready at 7 a.m. and I take up to 15 minutes to get ready, but it [would] take longer if I didn’t have an outfit plan in mind.”
Radiating positivity through style
“I think dressing up attracts more positivity,” said Claire Westcott. She said she has connected to more people as she put effort into her dress for campus. She said, sometimes when she would walk in the hallway, she was approached by someone whom she never met before who would compliment her outfit. When she has seen people with an outfit she loves, she said she has also stopped to tell them how awesome and fabulous they look.
She said she began to realize the positivity spread from those experiences was not only because of her love for clothing, but also because of how light it can make one feel to open their mouth and say a kind word every day. She said radiating positivity, from a simple thing like an outfit, can have a big influence on the psychology of a person.
Claire Westcott said when people have complimented her, she hopes they walked away thinking, “‘I can dress up in a weird way too. I can be brave to wear different clothes.’ I hope when people find something they love, even if it’s not a normal everyday outfit piece, they will wear it because they love it.”
Dressing up
Claire Westcott said every single person has a different preference for dressing up. She added how she noticed most people are comfortable wearing regular jeans and shirts on a daily basis to campus. However, for her, she said she chooses to wear a long skirt for her comfortable daily attire.
Westcott embraced the freedom to move in a long skirt, being loose and easy to move around in. A playful-patterned and colorful skirt is her go-to campus choice, which she said automatically distinguishes her from other people. She said, “I feel sometimes I look more dressed up because I wear skirts as if I am ready to go somewhere fancy, but I guess I don’t feel fancy. I just like what I like wearing.”
With her unwavering belief there is no limitation to how someone is supposed to look, Claire Westcott said when people doubt their outfits because of others’ opinions, “Say to yourself, ‘I can wear it because I like it, not because other people are going to approve of it.’” She noted it is not always simple to think this way, but she encourages everyone to just do it because it is worth it. “That’s what makes me the happiest when I am getting ready,” she said.
Claire Westcott’s sister, Cora Westcott, a senior majoring in intercultural peacebuilding from Utah, said Claire Westcott’s confidence is something that makes her comfortable with her style. She said people might think twice about wearing the outfit she wears, but her confidence diminished the question. Cora Westcott said, “She doesn’t care what people think. All I know is she dresses for herself. It’s not about making other people think she is cool, but she’s doing it for herself.”
Cora Westcott said her sister’s way of dressing influenced the way she chose her fashion style. She said, “There are so many days when I see Claire wear a specific thing she wanted to wear too.” Cora Westcott highlighted the way her sister sees herself, which motivated her to be creative in exploring her outfit. For her, having a role model in styling is good, but she added everyone can learn to do it their own way.