"Fashion keeps me sane," Lauren Amery '10 says. As an economics major and aspiring financier, Lauren relies on her love for vintage jewelry and fashion styling to express her creative side. While sifting through her hundreds of "baubles," Lauren explained why more Dartmouth girls should wear four-inch heels.
Did you get into jewelry for any particular reason?
I started the jewelry thing when I was 12. My mom always decorated with antiques, and we lived in this old farmhouse with tons of antiques that had passed through the family. There was just too much furniture. My mom had stopped working, was bored and decided that instead of sending all the furniture to auction or something, she would just become an antique dealer and start selling it herself. She started going around to all these different antique stores, auctions, flea markets. I was pretty young, so I would get dragged around with her. I'd get really bored and she'd buy me jewelry to make me happy. You wouldn't believe how inexpensively you can get really cute costume jewelry at antique stores -- even the genuine stones and gems are really underpriced.
And this led to your business?
Right. I ended up with a huge collection of jewelry, and it was just kind of absurd. What was I going to do with it? I was in middle school, I wasn't going to show up to school decked out in all these baubles I purchased. When my mom had all of her spots in these antique shops, we decided to start selling my jewelry there too. We incorporated the business. I had my own business name, my own tax ID number. I think I was about 14. My parents helped me, but eventually they had me file my own taxes -- it really isn't that difficult for that kind of small-scale retail stuff. It was a good experience, but it was definitely more of a hobby. Who knows if I even made money?
Are you still doing it?
I have some stuff on eBay now and I've done some sales, but I don't move pieces that often because it's not really advertised well. I did a sale in the winter at the KDE Art Show, and that was pretty successful and people were really encouraging.
How much do you usually charge?
On the most part, between $5 and $150. I do have some that are $500 -- some designer pieces are of much higher quality and are worth more. What they price pieces at in books is not really what you can sell them for -- it's not like you're trying to sell vintage Chanel, you're trying to sell this vintage designer that people knew really well in the '50s but that no one knows today. If a piece isn't of the best quality, I'm not going to price it really high even if it's really cute. It's about the quality and the look. I've done a lot of work in fashion and fashion styling, so I have an eye for seeing what other people will like. I started just doing it based on what I thought I could sell things for, and obviously not trying to screw people.
It must be hard to buy all this jewelry and not get to wear it, right?
I buy things for myself a lot. I'll start taking the price tags off of my things and wearing them. And then trying to put the price tags back on. [Laughs]. I have a couple pieces that I wear all the time. Some of these are just silly things. This charm bracelet is one of my favorites. It's cute and fun and beautiful, and it has so much history to it. Everything's just so fun and so gaudy, but that's kind of my style.
You said you have experience in fashion styling. Can you tell me more about that?
I interned for the style editor of New Jersey Bride magazine who also does a lot of freelance styling, celebrity styling. The first project I worked on was an employee fashion show at Nordstrom, sort of just a fun thing. We'd be at Nordstrom at eight in the morning in their back storerooms pulling whatever clothes we wanted to pull, all the shoes we wanted to pull. It was great. My boss recognized that I was pretty competent and gave me a lot of freedom. Then she announced that she was realizing her dream and starting a fashion magazine, boho magazine, that's based on the green trend. It's printed completely on recycled paper. I was off last Winter and worked for her the whole term.
Working at a fashion magazine, huh? Anything like "The Devil Wears Prada"?
It's like, complete fantasy world. You're taking all these clothes you could never in a million years afford or imagine wearing because they're a little silly, but you put them together and throw them on models. Sometimes she'd make me try on things, even though I'm obviously not the height of a model. One time I tried on this $13,000 Missoni dress -- that was awesome. I was like, 'I just want to take all these things home.'
Do you think the price of fashion ever gets ridiculous?
I definitely appreciate fashion when it's a piece of art. I think that's what it's all about. If you find a piece you love and it's expensive, if it's a work of art, get it. People spend tons and tons of money on artwork. I don't appreciate fashion when it's a brand name that's overcharging for something that I can go get at Forever 21 for $10. In the market now, it's so great that you can put a Forever 21 skirt with a designer top -- even celebrities who can afford anything are doing it. Places that I generally shop are Zara and H&M because they pick up on all of the ongoing trends and they make them affordable. In college, all my shit gets ruined in a heartbeat, so I'm more about quantity than quality. I don't want that really nice $300 shirt that I may love if it's going to get beer spilled on it tomorrow.
What are your thoughts on fashion at Dartmouth?
I think that girls need to appreciate fashion a little bit more and just put some effort into it. Everyone likes to look nice, that's just a fact of life. I think some people get stuck doing the casual thing here because they think that's what is acceptable. Girls need to take more risks. If you want to dress up on a random night to go out to dinner with your girlfriends, do it. My friends just had a 21st birthday party at India Queen and made it semiformal. We all got decked out - I was wearing these four-inch platforms. Afterwards, people in the frats were obviously looking at us weird, but we were like, whatever, we're having fun. I think girls need to keep their style. It looks good and it's just your creative energy flowing out through your clothes. People here need that -- we're so academically focused. Have some fun with it. It can be done here.
