Check me out

By Katherine Gamby

Braylen Barr, a sophomore fashion design major at Columbia, is a modern-day hippie with an Afrocentric splash, which she showcases with the African-inspired earrings she bought from an African festival in her hometown of St. Louis.

Barr normally sports eccentric, colorful, mismatched pieces such as the one she was dressed in when The Chronicle talked to her. She also designs some of her own clothes, which are inspired by Tim Burton films.

“Tim Burton is my main inspiration; I basically base my collection off of his movies,” Barr said. “For example, Sweeny Todd, I would do a jacket, but actually make it my own.”

Aside from designing her own historically-inspired clothing, one piece being her featured Marie Antoinette skirt, Barr prefers to shop at vintage stores rather than popular department stores such as Forever 21, Inc.

“I don’t like looking like everyone else … their clothing is made poorly to me,” Barr said.

She joked that a pair of pants she bought from the store can easily rip by simply bending over. One of her favorite places to shop is at a local vintage store in St. Louis.

“In St. Louis, there’s this place called The City Museum. It’s a fun, artsy kind of place … they have $1 shirts, 50 cent shirts, $2 pants,” Barr said.

She said she also shops at vintage stores in Wicker Park, but loves to shop out of her grandmother’s basement, which is where she got the scarf that she sometimes sports as a belt, along with her basket woven shoulder bag. She also uses spare material from her grandmother’s basement to incorporate in her designs.

“I really like the shabby chic look … I don’t really like my things ironed,” Barr said.

Barr is currently interning with Elite Model Management Chicago and wants to intern in New York next summer with Colleen Atwood, who has designed costumes for several Tim Burton films.