By Bella Omar
Asst. Arts & Features Editor
You may know Ryan O’Connell from the staff box of your weekly university newspaper, or even from the stage of an improv performance in the forum - but you should know him as your one-stop-shop for fall fashion inspiration.
Here is what this layering paragon has to say about building a stylish wardrobe.
Who or what is your biggest style inspiration?
I like the old-school style. Before centralized heating was a thing we used to wear, even laymen used to wear, like three piece suits. I'm really interested in history as well. So, old photos are cool, and seeing people in workwear from 70 or 100 years ago is really neat to me, because what they wear is what we would consider to be formal wear now. So I'm inspired by that kind of stuff. The image I have in my head right now is the picture of the guys on the steel beam - and they have high-waisted, wide-leg pants, and suspenders and dress shoes 10,000 feet in the air!
How would you describe your personal style?
So I really like a preppy style. I also really enjoy workwear. I don't have the money to be wearing Carhartt every day, but there's a lot of other really good workwear brands. A lot of my clothes are more of a baggy fit, I don't like slim fitting clothes. I enjoy comfort quite a bit. I'm also a short guy, and I'm very thin, so I get cold really easily, so I really enjoy layering. And layering opens up so many doors for being well dressed - particularly because, like a sweater just on its own, does not look very good, but when you layer, it looks so so nice.
Walk me through today’s outfit.
So this is a Ralph Lauren trench coat - I got it on eBay for like $40. The shirt underneath is Tommy Hillfiger. This golf sweater is from M&C Sport - they make sport-related clothing, shocker. These are also Ralph Lauren pants that I got on eBay for like 20 bucks. They're suit pants. This is a Fossil watch that was like $70. It was an anniversary gift. And then these boots are from the Thursday Boot Company. Those were about $200.
Where do you usually shop?
I love eBay. eBay is my absolute favorite. It's really cheap, and they have a bunch of size checking requirements. So it's really, really good. There's just so much stuff on eBay, and it's not really as popular as other things among people our age, like Depop and Poshmark. So it's often marked up less. If you could give out one piece of style advice, what would it be? It would be to not be afraid to try new things, wear what you think looks good. I have recently been very into the trench coat type of thing, which is like a really archaic style. Not many people wear those anymore, and they look out of place, but I think they look really cool and they're very warm, and when they're layered. They just look super neat and very posh. So it took me a while to be able to get the confidence to go and wear that every day, but I would just encourage everyone to kind of explore their style. The world is Ryan’s runway and we are just living in it!
[ Editor’s Note: Ryan O’Connell is an Associate Editor for The Gatepost. ]