Hey guys! Noura here! It's been a little while since we've had a blog post, and I figured the best next thing to do would be to interview the lovely Catherine Taich, the president of iStyle!
So I showed up to her house with a pretty rough draft of questions scrawled on a crumpled sheet of paper (you will come to learn more about how disorganized and disheveled I am) and bothered her despite the fact that it was Dad's weekend, and she was kind enough to answer some of my questions:
Noura: What motivated you to start iStyle?
Catherine: Well, I was the president of Business of Fashion and I was really into it but I thought it was going towards the wrong crowd. The name was giving the wrong idea and I really wanted to start fresh on campus with a new fashion club that was just geared to a different look and was really pushing for social media and blogging and things like that. I just feel like Business of Fashion didn't really incorporate that.
Noura: So what did you do?
Catherine: Well, then it worked out because I started to merge the two and now they're both under iStyle. And since Business of Fashion was really geared towards fashion show production and getting involved with boutiques in Chicago and Champaign, now we really have both aspects in iStyle!
Noura: Were you nervous about starting it up? How did you think it was going to go?
Catherine: Well, I've actually started a philanthropy-based soccer RSO, even though I don't play soccer, but, I started that! So I have a lot of experience starting registered student organizations on campus. So starting iStyle was really nothing for me because I already knew how to work the system.
Noura: Why do you have an interest in fashion?
Catherine: Well, probably just being around my mom and around the kids I grew up with. I grew up in New York and then in Chicago and I was always around very fashion-forward people. And my godparents! Their daughter, she's really involved with fashion and so I've just had a lot of influences throughout my life.
Noura: What do you think started it?
Catherine: Hahah, well, I pretty much learned how to read from Vogue so I guess that helped! I even learned how to speak French off of French Vogue!
Noura: That's so cool! Okay, so, how would you describe your own personal style?
Catherine: Well, it really depends on a lot of things, such as what I can afford and what's in my closet! But, honestly, it can go anywhere from being a preppy New England look to being very collegiate, but also trying to really push that fashion-forwardness. It really switches around based on my mood because my closet isn't geared to just one specific style. It really goes anywhere. I also love things that are different because then it doesn't get boring.
Noura: Has it changed a lot over the last few years?
Catherine: To be honest not at all. You know, it's funny. I was thinking, since I was little, just my taste in everything... Like a watch my dad got me when I was 16 years old, I look at it now and that would still be the watch I'd want today. Like, I would never want any other watch, so that's how I kind of think about it.
Noura: Did you have a different type of style before?
Catherine: Well, even looking at things that I owned in middle school, and since I haven't really grown that much since then, I still fit into the things I used to wear. It's really nice because that makes it easier for me since my style hasn't changed. At least I know I was kind of stylish when I was little? Hahah I don't know. I hope so.
Noura: What do you think of the fashion on campus at Urbana-Champaign? Considering we're surrounded by corn.
Catherine: Well, it's pretty surprising. Like, my freshman year I didn't really realise how many students on campus, well I'm not saying there's a ton but, there's a pretty good-sized number of students who are interested in fashion. Just really connecting with them and kind of joining forces to make it more well-known on campus has really helped, especially in the last year alone. No! Not even the last year; in the last six months, all the different clubs have really started working together.
Noura: That's pretty awesome.
Catherine: Honestly, I know we're in the middle of champaign and stuff but we're not too far away from Chicago. And I mean, I am a city girl at heart, and I will always be a city girl, so just really trying to stay in touch with people in Chicago and, if you can, New York. But you know, at least just once a month, well I go home every other weekend but, I really try to go just once a month and try to and remember that there is fashion out there, because you start to forget about it in Champaign. But there are a few boutiques! I don't know, I really stay in touch with New York, so I think that helps me be up to date with everything.
Noura: What do you look at when you feel like being inspired? Like any blogs or magazines?
Catherine: To be honest, a lot of it really comes from me. I do read blogs and magazines but at the end of the day it's really just based on whether I like it or not. I really try to base it off of that because, I read a lot of blogs, and they can really inspire the thought of “oh I like those shoes” but I like the shoes because they reflect me as a person, like what my style is.
Noura: Who in the fashion world do you love and look up to?
Catherine: Oh, wow, a lot of people. Although it's pretty cliché, I love Anna Wintour. I just think of her power as a woman in the fashion world and how she just controls it all.
Noura: She's terrifying.
Catherine: Yeah, she's terrifying. But just how she really has such control over what is in style. You've got to look up to that. She determines what IS fashion. And I guess otherwise besides her, Michael Kors.
Noura: Oh cool! That's not one you always hear about. Why?
Catherine: I didn't get to meet him but I heard him give a lecture in New York a couple weekends ago and I loved his outlook and how he's just very... him. Like, you were listening to him, not him giving a speech. His take on the fashion world really stood out to me and made me adore him even more, because he was just honest about it. He wasn't really changed by the fashion industry and he still felt like a normal guy. He was just telling us that if you have goals then, yeah you have to pursue them but, in this day and age it's a lot harder than it was back in the day. So you just have to think about it from a modern-day perspective, and that really helped me.
Noura: That's really great. I'm jealous you got to see him! Okay so to finish up, what advice would you give girls here who are interested in fashion, considering the U of I doesn't have a fashion major?
Catherine: Yeah, that's the thing that kind of annoyed me, that we don't have a fashion major. But I would say, just get involved with the fashion clubs, the very few that there are hahah. But really get involved with them. Like, make a statement! Be on the exec board for them!
Noura: Like me!
Catherine: Yeah! And so, I have an internship with all these different places; I have one lined up for next summer, and the reason that I have them is because I'm involved. It's not because I'm a fashion major, because I'm not. I'm a History and Communications major!
Noura: Yeah I'm an advertising major.
Catherine: Yeah, at the end of the day it has nothing to do with your major, it just has to do with what you're doing as a student. And besides being the president of iStyle and being involved with other fashion clubs, I do a lot of other stuff to help with my passion. For example I love writing, so I do a lot of writing on campus, and at the end of the day just combining my writing and fashion together. So then you have a product that's better than only fashion or only writing. So just working with that and you know.. finding internships!
Noura: God, I need one of those.
Noura: What?! I need to check this out.
Catherine: Just looking at that type of stuff, or www.collegefashionista.com! Doing things like that. Yeah, they're generic, campus-wide websites, and every university has them, but you get known and you get noticed.
Noura: So you have to start somewhere.
Catherine: Yeah you start somewhere! And you can't expect to be at the top at the beginning so you have to work to get there. I'm still working hahah.
Noura: Okay awesome! Thank you! Go have fun with your family!
So, yeah, she's pretty cool, and I'm definitely going to be taking a lot of her advice.
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