The day that I decided to wear my Garage Clothing quarter zip to class, I just so happened to spot a pink Garage coffee truck on campus promoting their new store at 508 Broadway in SoHo. The coincidence was more than enough to inspire my attendance to the launch party on Thursday, Sept. 8, where I spoke to featured TikToker Caroline Ricke.

Popular for pretending to be a Harvard student, Ricke — known as @richcaroline on TikTok — has amassed over 3.1 million followers for her satirical skits where she puts on an obnoxious, rich girl persona. While she began her career on YouTube as a college student four years ago, she took her YouTube content to TikTok and made videos in her dorm room during the pandemic.

“I decided to just to lie and be like, ‘Oh, I’m in my mansion,’ even though I’m in my dorm,” Ricke said. “When I was on YouTube, it was when Jake Paul was huge. The flex culture clout was big and I’m like, ‘OK, well, it’s kind of easy to just make fun of [influencers] and kind of do it in a satirical way that’s not too mean and not very direct.”

Much like Ricke inspires confidence in her fans, Garage designs clothes do the same for their Gen Z audience. Its fall 2022 collection draws inspiration from the early 2000s in its streetwear, nightlife attire and comfortable layers — perfect for lounging around or going to class. Featuring low-rise jeans with Y2K detailing, washed out flares and cargos paired with cute graphic tees, the collection plays to the main trends of this season.

First created in Montreal, Canada, in 1975, the on-trend Garage brand opened its doors in the United States in 2008, launching its new SoHo location in June this year. Leading up to the launch party, Garage gave out free coffee drinks — lattes, americanos and macchiatos to name a few — to many NYU students, professors and passersby from its branded coffee truck painted in Garage’s signature hot pink, parked in several locations on and near NYU’s campus from Tuesday, Sept. 6, to Thursday, Sept. 8.

For the first 100 customers to enter the launch party, the store gave away free branded goodies, including a pink SoHo tote, a square cap water bottle, a pink trucker cap and pink sunglasses. Once inside, people could enjoy Ricke-branded, 90s-themed snacks, like popcorn, gushers, airheads and ring pops, and sip on blueberry and cranberry sodas as they browsed the store. 

While there, Ricke gave some fans an informal styling session and joked with her youngest fans in her obnoxious persona during the launch. Ricke’s goofy and down-to-earth personality adds to the confident and carefree vibe that Garage tries to exude.

“I love their miniskirts — like miniskirts and tall boots. Now tall socks and kitten heels,” Ricke said about Garage’s collection. “Even though I’m very, ‘I love a lot of jewelry, I love a lot of color,’ I like that [with] Garage you can style it so easily because it’s so simple. You could get dressed in the dark and it would look good because everything just kind of goes together.”

Taking her inspiration from Iris Apfel, Carrie Bradshaw and Lizzie McGuire, Ricke first started experimenting with fashion while attending high school because she wanted to dress differently from how people typically dressed in Ohio. Ricke said she was a fashion major “for a second” in college before switching to marketing, and looks forward to New York Fashion Week, which starts today.

“I like New York Fashion Week because runways are more avant-garde than street style or ready-to-wear,” she said. “I love looking on Instagram or TikTok and seeing what the designers are doing because that gives me inspo for what’s coming next.”

While it isn’t possible to tell the future, I’m excited to see what Garage comes out with next. No more free coffee is a loss for everyone — but at least there’s a new dimension to fashion in the SoHo scene. 

Contact Roshni Raj at [email protected].