Millennial optimism but as a brown girl in art school

Millennial optimism but as a brown girl in art school From 2013-2025 I attended a French speaking art school in Switzerland I learned a new language, and was very much a fish-out-of-water being a Pakistani Muslim and the annoying English speaker I had trouble making friends so I threw myself into my art and social media. I had a popular tumblr account where my posts reached 100K+ reblogs It was hard to find the indie clothes I loved. I would save up to buy from ModCloth (and eat the import fees) and would beg my parents to drive me to the Urban Outfitters in Germany So sometimes I designed my own clothes! When visiting Pakistan, I would design and tailor fun shirts like these I lived with my parents while attending art school, and also had to figure out how to dress indie but modest Sometimes it was cardigans, dresses and leggings, and sometimes it was more eclectic stuff like this I wanted to be like Zooey Deschanel so bad, but I always felt like it wasn't working because I never saw this aesthetic on brown girls Again, I was BIG on nerd culture. And of course I had an owl necklace I made this necklace myself and sold a few on Etsy! I felt a little removed by the Hipster aesthetic since I was an ocean away (and living in Pakistan earlier) but the friends I made on Tumblr and all the media I consumed fed that hunger for whimsy But I think I did a decent job! I was an artist, I attempted an aesthetic IG account, listened to indie music, and dressed like I was a Manic Pixie Dream Girl Here's a school field trip to Paris! We went for a children's Book conference (I was in the illustration program) In 2015, my tastes started to evolve a bit after I listened to the AM arctic monkeys album and got more into an indie sleeve vibe More edgy, lots of British punk and indie angst lol I made this necklace too! You could NOT see me without that damn olive green jacket and a UFO baseball tee I wish I had better photos of this time, but my photographer was my dad He tried his best In 2015 I graduated and moved to Canada! I got my first job at an animation studio and started working as a children's book illustrator Working in animation I got more into the Japanese street fashion scene and the world of vaporwave so this was a fun but very short detour Ten years later, I'm still making books! And I love color and maximalism! Justice for Clap Stomp music!