Credit: Josh Ren/The Foothill Dragon Press
“I’m like a young deer. One that likes to play and frolic in the grass,” is what was given as an answer to the question of what junior Luke Stowell likes to do in his free time. Inferring that Stowell enjoys answering questions with attention-summoning replies, his style also fits the description of “out of the ordinary.”
Stowell’s eye-catching shirts paired with a quirky pair of socks add interest to the usually bland menswear that plagues the campus. Stowell tends to lean towards bright colors and cool graphics; really anything that doesn’t fit the norm.
Retweet if you want these Odd Future socks.. pic.twitter.com/Xuo8cOuyrC
— Odd Future Fans (@OddFutureWorld) December 29, 2013
“I’m not inspired by what other people wear and I don’t mean that in a rebellious way. I just wear what I want to.” Stowell said.
This carefree attitude that he possesses about his clothing is admirable because he is able to express exactly who he is without feeling the need to dress to impress others. However, his style has definitely caught people’s attention.
Stowell frequents the internet and engages in online shopping when looking for new clothes. He can often be seen wearing the brands Odd Future, Stussy, Undefeated, and Peas and Carrots. These brands are his favorites because they fit the genre of casual “street wear,” versus other brands like Billabong and O’Neil, which “have to do with surfing and water,” says Stowell, who doesn’t identify with the surfer image.
The shaping of his style has mainly to do with the types of music Stowell enjoys. For example, he really likes the band Odd Future, and has a lot of their clothing merchandise. One of his favorite types of music that he frequently listens to is Electronic.
“I think people who like the same type of music I do dress like me because it is a culture,” he said.
This music culture has definitely influenced the way Stowell dresses. He interprets the erratic nature of Electronic music through his bold, varied looks.
Junior Tyler Gray feels that the reason Stowell and so many other students feel comfortable wearing what they want is because of Foothill’s accepting environment.
“I think that the fact that Foothill’s environment is so different from other schools makes it so much easier to be able to dress however you want,” Gray said.
It is true that because of this feeling of acceptance at Foothill, students are comfortable wearing what they want to, and the results of this are people like Stowell, who wear what is most comfortable to them.
While Stowell is partial to bold clothing choices, he has a more practical approach when it comes to shoes. He can be seen walking around school in a comfy pair of Vans that he probably got on sale. He thinks it is a waste to buy expensive pairs of shoes because “you’re literally using them to walk on bird poop and dirt.”
Stowell has made much progress from the days when he used to sleep in the clothes that he would wear the next day. He claims that the cause of a change in this habit was due primarily to the fact that he started wearing pants, jeans to be exact, which were too uncomfortable to sleep in. However, he is content with the way he dresses currently and will continue to turn people’s heads as he walks through the halls sporting Odd Future paraphernalia topped off with a pair of their doughnut-print socks.
