When I met Devon Lee Carlson outside of a concert a couple weeks ago, she talked to me as if we were best friends. We bonded over our outfits, phone cases and dogs. One thing that she said that stuck out to me was: “I definitely did not peak in high school.”
Co-founder of the popular Wildflower Cases, model and vlogger, Carlson has developed quite the following over the past couple of years. With an electric personality and an astonishing fashion sense, it is hard not to be intrigued by her style, appeal and charm. In her Youtube videos and Instagram posts, Carlson connects to her viewers by bringing them along for her daily routine.
I challenged myself to channel Carlson in my daily life. To embody her successfully, I had to do my research — which consisted of binge-watching her vlogs on loop and endlessly scrolling through her Instagram for inspiration.
To ease myself in, I started with skincare. I broke my normal hygiene habits, showered in the morning and spent extra time on my skin routine as Devon does in her vlogs. She raves about trying new products and serums as well as getting facials. I didn’t have any of the same products she typically uses, but I still went about washing my face and applying my own moisturizer, toner and eye cream. For good measure, I applied a pore strip and painted my nails with glitter. Taking my time that morning and focusing on myself allowed me to feel relaxed and energized for the rest of my day.
In a recent vlog, Carlson personalized a bucket hat that she had bought at an army surplus store. Coincidentally enough, I had a bucket hat lying around that I had not yet decided how to style. I took it out for a test run and realized I looked more like a fisherman, and I was struggling to keep it from flying off my head. I did notice a couple people stare at me or a do a double take — which either meant I was really channeling fisherman vibes or I looked like quite the fashion killer.
With my personalized bucket hat in tow, I walked made my way to Trader Joe’s. Carlson has raved about Trader Joe’s Crispy Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies. Crispy chocolate cookies definitely stood out from diet of mostly salads. In less than a week, the tub was gone. Life changing? Yes, Carlson was not exaggerating when she said; “Do yourself a favor and go buy these.”
Dressing as Devon, I was nervous. How was I going to live up to her? On my first day, I wore black cargo pants from Brandy Melville, a store she shops at frequently, and paired them with my bucket hat and an NYU sweater for a more casual look. I felt cute in my outfit, but I knew l could go a step further.
My second outfit emulated chic late ’90s vibes with a red fur jacket and faux-vintage bell bottoms — inspired by one of Devon’s Instagram posts in which she paired a black and white ensemble with a luscious fur jacket to top things off with a jacket. The only things I was missing were her Louis Vuitton boots and Chanel bag.
Most of my inspiration for my outfits came from an array of styles and particular pieces she has posted on Instagram. Observing that she is a fan of flair jeans, Converse and statement pieces –– I mixed them all together and made them my own. Yet, I still channeled her by stepping out of my comfort zone. Whenever I thought, “Oh, this is too much for today” or “I usually wouldn’t wear this with this…” I asked myself: “What would Devon do?” And I knew the answer was that she would say to throw caution to the wind. This gave me a newfound confidence that I carried with me the rest of the week.
My favorite thing I did this past week as Devon was vlog. I did a dorm tour, a Trader Joe’s haul, an unboxing try-on haul and a get-ready-with-me and posted them to my story. I felt kind of weird doing them at first because I was just talking to a camera about myself. But by the middle of the week, I had so many friends telling me that they adored watching them and were looking forward to the next days’ videos. They were tweeting about them – I got so much positive feedback I almost seriously considered becoming a vlogger myself for a hot second.
Modeling myself after Devon for a week improved the mundane aspects of my week and left me feeling happy and confident. I was pleasantly surprised by my newfound confidence. Who knows? I might just become YouTube’s next best thing.
Email Bella Mae Gil at [email protected].
