W
hen junior Abby Mitchell (CC ’14) stumbled upon her favorite vintage clutch on a shopping excursion in Los Angeles, she immediately fell for its delicate floral pattern and 1940s charm. While the handbag is lovely in and of itself, what makes this vintage find a prized possession is the small handwritten note she found tucked inside—signed by none other than Frank Sinatra. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a real card from Sinatra,” she says, smiling. “I’ve created a whole fairy tale about this Hollywood wife carrying this bag.” While not every piece in Abby’s extensive vintage collection comes with a story quite like that one, they all share the same sense of fun and imagination that sparked her love of fashion, particularly vintage. “I was a huge history nerd, and I started exploring the past decades of fashion and found these amazing women in film and in books that, as a middle schooler, I looked up to and wanted to be like: Jackie Kennedy, Twiggy, Diana Vreeland,” she says. “I first wanted to be part of the fashion industry because of the amazing film “Funny Face” where Audrey Hepburn basically falls into a modeling career with Fred Astaire as a fictionalized Avedon. It’s all about pizzazz and style, and that’s what I wanted my life to be.”
With a closet chockfull of clothing with stories to tell, this CC student has no shortage of conversation-starting outfits. WRITTEN BY: emilia shaffer-del valle PHOTOGRAPHED BY: emilia shaffer-del valle DESIGN BY: esther kim and hannah keiler
Abby has certainly succeeded in creating such a life. Since starting at Columbia, Abby has served as Arts and Entertainment editor of the Columbia Daily Spectator, and now regularly contributes style stories to the section as a senior staff writer. Off campus, Abby has worked her way up from obligatory intern tasks at big-name fashion houses where she recalls nearly getting fired over a yogurt, to working as an editorial assistant at e-commerce startup Shoptiques. In describing her current experience at Shoptiques, she says, “I walk in the office and work with these powerhouse businesswomen who are pushing boundaries in new and exciting ways.” Through Spectator and her various internships, Abby has developed an important and inspiring relationship with the fashion industry, along with a passion for it. Yet, in her time spent outside of school and work, Abby experiences fashion in more imaginative ways. Her Upper East Side bedroom, which she considers an extension of her closet,