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In the aftermath of a groundbreaking New York Fashion Week, American style has witnessed a surfeit of artists to gain inspiration from–Marchesa’s watercolor visions to Siriano’s dreamy variations of a classic striped pant. However, on a college campus, young adults often find themselves wearing what is most affordable, comfortable, or even accessible, creating a hierarchy of yoga-pants, Patagonia jackets, the occasional dress, and traditional college sweatshirts. Yet, what happens when a student stands as a departure from the sea of others, draped in a designer coat or even an out-of-the-box thrift store piece? From the stereotyping of a straight man as gay to the stigmatizing of a woman’s confidence as immodesty, the assumptions made about an individual from their clothing is limitless. Here are the experiences of four fashion conscious individuals.

Madison Johnson is a 19-year-old political science and philosophy student at the University of Nevada, Reno. Between enjoying a good Mark Twain novel or planning her potential future as a lawyer, Johnson can be found balancing yoga, fitness, classes, and the occasional alternative concert with her busy schedule. However, despite her many obligations, Johnson is always serving a look, whether it be drawn from personal inspiration or from the likes of Balenciaga, Karl Lagerfeld, Alexa Chung, or Alexander McQueen. Yet, even the most successful individuals are stereotyped due to the way they dress.

“People would never tell my friends and I that we dressed bad. In fact, I would get compliments often but they would always come with a ‘you’re so hipster’ or a ‘why are you dressed so nice for school?’ kind of comment after.”

In addition to being labeled over-the-top or ‘hipster,’ (one of Johnson’s least favorite words) one large stereotype stems from the belief a woman is immodest if her clothes seem revealing to the beholder.

“There is definitely an issue with femininity and sexuality,” Johnson said, “So, if anyone ever says anything of a slut-shaming nature to me in regards to my clothing I just tell them to not look, or that I’m dressed for myself and not them.”

21-year-old Chloe Breckenridge is currently studying human development and family studies as well as community health science at the University of Nevada, Reno. From traveling to the nearest Urban Outfitters to volunteering for the pediatrics unit at Renown Regional Medical Center, Breckenridge can be found hiking in Lake Tahoe or dancing at a music festival. With a closet filled with inspiration from Coco Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger, and Mary Quant, Breckenridge is never far away from a contemporary pair of mom jeans, a faux fur coat, and a vintage jean jacket.

Yet, even the most developed style can be subject to criticism.

“Many people tend to stereotype my friends and I by the way that we dress when going out as ‘sorority girls’,” Breckenridge said, “Yes we are in a sorority, but we aren’t all the same and we do not all dress the same. You weren’t born to be like everyone else, you were born to be like you.”

“Whatever people assume about me because of my clothes isn’t my problem,” said Grant Uba, a UNR political science and English literature double major. Uba, 20, originally hails from Jos, Nigeria, and has aspirations to become a lawyer focused on helping people through civil rights advocacy.

Uba often can be found watching a nature documentary, deep within a Vonnegut novel, or studying at a local coffee shop. His vast closet is influenced by figures such as Solange and Zoe Kravitz, leaving the public to often speculate about his fashion choices.

“Being black and gay, people expect you dress a certain way,” Uba said. “Once someone was having an argument about racial profiling, saying they doubted I would be profiled because of the way I dress. An odd comment.”

“At New York Fashion Week, it was life-changing. Everyone dressed for themselves. Honestly, it’s 2017, you should stop adhering to gender norms and dress for yourself,” said Uba.

Gianni Pinneri, a 20-year-old computer science and engineering major, balances classes, cooking, programming, a rigorous gym schedule, and what he delineates as “white bullshit.” With an expansive wardrobe, Pinneri is influenced by all sorts of entities: fashion blogs, The Migos, friends, and his pug, Susie. Pinneri is avid fan of turtlenecks and raw denim, as well as cropped clothing–cropped jackets, pants, and even tops. However, as the male fashion world is always subject to judgement, Pinneri’s wardrobe is no exception.

“People assume I’m gay, I’m an arm wrestler, I don’t like women, I’m spoiled, or unapproachable,” Pinneri said, “Those are short shorts, or that’s a weird trench coat, most guys don’t dress like that.”

“None of the shit people say matters. Identify as whatever you want. I just identify as Gianni.”

Now let’s go ahead and get this out of the way, Kylo Ren’s chesticles are like no other man or Jedi’s pecks, in this or the next galaxy. That being said, Rey, a promising young woman with the force behind her, has an almost telepathic relationship with the antagonist furthering the film into an ending satiating the audience’s hunger for action, lightsabers, and most of all, a painful demise of Supreme Leader Snoke. By the last scene of J.J. Abram’s latest release, moviegoers could find themselves forming an attachment to Kylo Ren, despite his poor choice to walk among the dark side. Though his experience fighting opposite the resistance for so long, Kylo Ren finds himself relating to his human side, at the fault of Daisy Ridley’s character Rey, intermittently disputing her thoughts on his past actions with the legend known as Luke Skywalker.

The 2016 presidential election is likely the last thing the majority of Americans would like to relive anytime soon, but for those still searching for answers about how Donald Trump ultimately became president, Katy Tur’s Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History offers a unique perspective on the daily life of a Trump campaign reporter. Tur, a former London-based NBC News Foreign Correspondent, was NBC’s first reporter sent to cover Donald Trump’s campaign when he first announced his candidacy in June 2015. In Unbelievable, Tur relives her days on the trail where she recalls her encounters with Trump throughout the campaign, and what it was like to be a target of Trump’s attacks via Twitter and during his rallies. Throughout reading Tur’s accounts of the most memorable moments of the campaign, it brought me back to where I was during those moments in 2016, and how truly “unbelievable” it was in the end that after so many hiccups in his campaign, Trump defied all odds. I recommend Tur’s memoir to anyone concerned with the future of journalism because it provides great insight on the life of campaign and political reporters in an era they’re attacked regularly for their work, and how bringing back trust in the media may lie in better teaching the public what journalists actually do as the fourth estate.

In The Handmaid’s Tale, the show and the book both explore themes of politics and the heteropatriarchy controlling women’s reproduction in a dystopian takeover of the former United States, now Gilead. This is presented from the viewpoint of Offred, a handmaid. While the show tends to stay fairly true to the book, some creative divergences from director Reed Morano help to create fuller storylines. Where the book remains more focused on the viewpoint of Offred, the show explores the perspectives and backgrounds of other handmaids and of those in power. I thought this added some depth to these characters and answered questions I still had after reading the book. The show depicted a followup to Moira’s storyline, which was one of my favorite parts of the series. The Handmaid’s Tale is a thought-provoking, intense, and terrifyingly believable story. The show creates a world beyond the viewpoint of Offred, which, for me, created a more full world and answered lingering questions.

When the famous stairwell in the Church Fine Arts Building was defaced in mid October of 2017, the University of Nevada, Reno faced a shockingly changed campus atmosphere. The spray-painted swastikas, accompanied by the phrase “is this political enough for you?” caused varying reactions from students to faculty alike. From Marc Johnson’s email sent to the student body describing the creative space as a home for “a celebration of artistic expression” to one student claiming the graffitied swastikas are also “forms of expression,” a division at the University of Nevada, Reno was brought to light. However, this stairwell has since been covered with symbols of hope, portraits of leaders of peace, and motifs reflecting progress to a racially and ethnically torn campus environment.

The Church Fine Arts Building, erected in 1962, has stood for unity and expression since its first bricks were laid in the University of Nevada, Reno’s campus. Named after the late Edward Church, professor of classical art, history, German, and Latin, the Church Fine Arts Building houses the arts, music, theater, and speech communication departments. Yet, in the midst of the noteworthy Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery and Nightingale Concert Hall, the famous graffiti stairwell still is arguably the most creative place on campus. The multileveled system of stairs is covered in artwork created by spraycan, markers, brushes, or even the occasional fingers–and at one point, was covered in multiple roughly sprayed swastikas.

However, such symbols did not stay on the walls for long. Various artists congregated to paint over the symbols and phrases, one of which was 19-year-old artist Joshua Chang. He, along with other individuals, painted figures of peace in order to juxtapose the underlying motifs of hate, with different walls having different meanings.

“MLK Jr. and Coretta are both right above an olive branch that symbolizes peace,” Chang said.

In addition, one wall called “Triumph” will feature various black individuals who broke barriers in terms of educational and social reform. Another wall, “Create,” will feature figures of the newer generations similar to Martin Luther King Jr. who have aided history by their examples of equality.

However, one may ask: are the revisions enough to instigate peace on a campus atmosphere in which students may feel unsafe? With the University of Nevada, Reno facing the publicity spread from numerous controversial events this past semester alone, how can students be sure that each community in campus life is being protected and represented ethically?

“I felt this was an expression of how people on this campus can be so insensitive,” said Reece Gibb, a postgraduate political science student. “This shows how people can be so tone-deaf in regards to how to treat people, and also how people can truly be despicable human beings. It shows our campus’s true colors, both in terms of people drawing the swastikas and the administration’s response or lack thereof. Say something or do nothing.”

Despite the varying opinions surrounding the stairwell, the reaction regarding the symbolism used to overlay the harmful images is unanimous: one of hope and progression.

“As a Jewish individual, it was very jarring for my friends and I to see the swastikas in the Church Fine Arts stair complex,” said Ethan Guttman, 19. “The people or person that sprayed that over the artwork probably has some attention-seeking issues, as well as being prejudiced. But now, it looks fantastic.”

Indeed, the art community continues to thrive at the University of Nevada, Reno, as the graffiti stairwell continues to collect new additions of quotes, portraits, and general artwork. All creative  students are invited to contribute to the stairwell with their positive imagery, symbols of peace, and artistic expression in order to contribute to the theme of inclusion found in the Church Fine Arts Building.

“Being an artist is so much more than being good at painting or drawing,” said Hannah Abbott, an artist in her first year of studies at UNR. “Being an artist means seeing a swastika in the hallway of the art building, which is home to many students like me, and doing something about it. As an artistic community, we stand for expression, not hate. We will never stand for hate.”