ZOE VITERBO: She invited me to New York Fashion Week.
ZOE: I ran straight to my mom, asked if we could fly to New York.
ZOE: It was one of the best experiences I have ever had.
ZOE: Don’t be afraid to reach out.
GRACE SHARMA: This week, I spoke with senior Zoe Viterbo. Whether she is dressing a character on stage or walking the halls, her edgy style is easily recognizable. This episode walks you through everything you need to know about cold emailing, fashion, and how Zoe got invited to New York Fashion Week. Welcome to tjTALKS.
ZOE: I am Zoe, full name Gabriela Zoe Viterbo. I am a senior at TJ, and I am a fashion enthusiast.
GRACE: What led you into fashion in the beginning?
ZOE: Growing up in the Philippines, I would always see everyone else around me dress up and I had always wanted to do that. My mom did amazing with my outfits growing up. She was always on trend, or even sometimes ahead of trends, and I wanted to be like that and continue that as I got into my teen years. I would always scroll through Pinterest, scroll through social media, and see all these people with amazing outfits. They felt so comfortable in what they wore that I was like, ‘I need that.’ And so, right around middle school, high school, I started trying to find my own style and a lot of it was me looking back on my old outfits from when I was a kid. I would see that I would be wearing mostly androgynous outfits, where the outfit can be described as masculine or feminine or neither, but I’d wear both. I really liked that idea, that a person shouldn’t be restricted to one style. I thank my mom for starting my fashion sense.
GRACE: Would you say, for fashion, you typically prefer dressing yourself or other people?
ZOE: I love dressing myself. I feel like I’m my own little doll. However, being a costume designer, for theater especially, having the ability to dress everyone else, and even just my friends, whenever we go to events or just like hanging out, I love being able to give them advice on what they should wear, or what looks good on them, or what doesn’t, or trying to help them find their own style through my knowledge. It’s definitely dependent on the situation, but the majority of the time, I really like dressing myself.