LET'S GET FUNKY
Featured Closet: Emma Funk
If I could have anyone’s closet, hands-down, I would choose Emma Funk’s. Her style is bold, innovative, yet still comfortable. It’s delicately feminine, perfectly contrasting the badass attitude she carries so well. After a long day of taking photos, we sat down and enjoyed Chick-Fil-A (one of her favorites). While chatting with waffle-cut fries still in our mouths, I found out where she shops, her favorite items on her hangers, and the style that inspires her.
Color. That’s the most important thing in Emma’s closet. In fact, she organizes her closet by the shade, and let me tell you, it looks magical (at least over FaceTime #quarantine). It’s the defining quality of her style, and anyone can tell from a mile away. She innovatively mixes colors and prints, pairing together items that I never think would work. Yet somehow, Emma always pulls it off. When she wakes up in the morning, and she decides on a color to revolve her outfit around. But it doesn’t always have to be a mix. In her words, “monochromatic is my shit.” Color is Emma’s best friend, and she definitely has a knack for it. She even told me that if she could spend the rest of her life putting together color palettes for people, she would (and I would honestly pay her to do it for me).
The vibrant color she often uses is clearly inspired by the 80s. But Emma doesn’t borrow everything from the decade, making sure to leave the ratted hair in the past (where it belongs). She describes her style as “romantic 80s meets a tomboy.” The boyish element is found at her feet. Emma’s new thing at the moment is sneakers. She wants them all, but easily gets the most wear out of her Nike Air Max 270s. Her priority is comfort because, at the end of the day, she just doesn’t f*ck with shoes that aren’t comfortable. Who could blame her?
Emma’s comfort-first priority is emphasized when she picks out her outfits for school. Because of her ceramics class, practicality must be considered. Although she usually would don a skirt or dress, for her preferred art form, she needs to be able to move and get messy. So if you see her at the College of Dupage, you will find her in overalls or jeans. You might also see a bandana-scarf tied on her head. Inspired by her mother’s gardening look, this hair accessory is perfect for when you don’t want to put your hair up, but still don’t want strands falling in your face. Most importantly, it’s cute.
Along with her mom, her style is inspired mostly by @rociomarie__. If you see Emma wearing crazy unique earrings, she probably got them from her. Besides Rocio, the only other inspo that came to mind was Rihanna (duh), especially her makeup line. To go with Rih’s Fenty products, Emma is a true believer in Glossier and Milk. Even though both are all-natural, her top recommendation is Milk since it gives you more product for the money you spend.
Speaking of money, Emma likes her clothes affordable while still high quality. Her go-to’s include Free People (for the hippie aesthetic), ASOS, and Urban Outfitters. Yet, she still adamantly defends that all of her best pieces come from thrifting. The best part is that it’s sustainable. Her favorite thrift stores are the vintage stores in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, which I will easily second. But she will invest every once in a while, always towards items of structure: jean jackets, pants, and shoes. Emma stands by the mantra, “if you spend money on the right pieces, they will last you a lifetime.”
Emma’s style is obviously unique, and I have never seen her wear the same outfit twice, which she attributes to layering. You can wear the same, old clothes again while still creating a new outfit. And for everyone living in the Midwest, layering is possibly the most important skill to have in your back pocket since the weather changes every. Single. Second. But when is there such a thing as too much layering and too much color? Emma likes to teeter on a fine line of crazy. After all, the person she’s most compared to is Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus. Somehow, I don’t disagree.
