My earliest contact with fashion

When I was a child, while most people were reading Sweet Valley High I read the Babysitters' Club series. I totally loved the character Claudia Kishi, a Japanese-American with the most amazingly described thick, shiny jet-black hair. I enjoyed reading the descriptions of her wacky outfits, which usually included clothes thrifted, stolen from her dad or whatever, and handmade jewellery. The funny thing is, looking at her outfits now, they actually seem wearable today. She's pretty fashion-forward for her time, I think. I admire her for her mix of creativity, sense of humour, courage and nonchalance in her outfit choices. To put it simply, she wears what she wants, doesn't care what others think and looks great doing it. I love that devil-may-care attitude, not just with regard to fashion but to other aspects of life too. Some illustrations from the books depicting Claudia's style:

Why oh why does she still look so good despite being injured and hospitalized?

Claudia does menswear-inspired fashion in a black tuxedo pantsuit and white blouse. She makes it feminine by undoing the top few buttons and wearing a brooch.

Claudia stands out from the crowd in androgynous dressing again. The other girls' dresses are not very flattering (then again, this was some time ago).

Once again, she proves her ability to look chic in the most unglam of situations (this time a campfire). The loose shirt over leggings and side ponytail are adorable.

Black vest and red necklace over a casual T-shirt? Great school outfit.

Another of my style idols was Nancy Drew. I loved the mysteries and her pretty outfits. Think demure floral shift dresses. Not to mention her short titian hair! Some people, realising the potential of old Nancy Drew book covers, went on to make these:

Nancy Drew book purses! I love them!