Carin Falk’s POV: My New Favorite Designer And How She’s Thinking 

…like a five-year-old (and I love it).

You know when you were a kid and you thought to yourself “I love birthday cake and I love fish sticks, I bet they’d go great together”. Well, maybe you didn’t have that EXACT thought, but surely you tried mixing coke with Fanta?? I added dish soap to recipes on more than one occasion because it smelled so good, lol. I’m pretty convinced we all experimented with the adult rules of where things are supposed to go and with what. And honestly, 9 times out of 10, we just made a big mess. My dish soap sponge cake obviously had to be thrown out.

Sometimes though, on very rare occasions, two wrongs like that actually make a right. Like fries dipped in a milkshake (definitely not an adult invention) or watermelon topped with feta cheese. Another amazing combo is peanut butter and sriracha. It sounds wild I know, but trust me on this one. Right about now, you’re probably wondering why Hobnob decided to add a food column to their otherwise very fashion-oriented content, but let me tell you that THIS IS NOT REALLY ABOUT FOOD, I PROMISE YOU I’M GOING SOMEWHERE WITH THIS!

As far as fashion is concerned I’ve always had two very different preferences. One very boyish oversized look that includes American football jerseys, sneakers, and (obviously) hoodies. Omg, the love I have, and have always had since as long as I can remember, for gray melange hoodies is unmatched. U-N M-A-T-C-H-E-D I tell you. The other side of me is basically Elle Woods. That is a reference that should need no explanation, but I’m talking about the main character in Legally Blonde. What that means is that I am obsessed with pink and everything miniature or feathery. I also have an undying love for high heels. Those are the only similarities between us tho, my personality is not nearly as cool as Elle’s.

So, being an adult and all, up until a few years ago creating *mY pErSOnaL sTyLe* was all about trying to keep these two worlds apart. Obviously, I was not gonna mix birthday cake and fish sticks, like some five-year-old. 

But. Little did I know, that’s what I should have been doing all along. As the years passed, Rihanna’s street-style game was made known to me and Amina Muaddi entered my consciousness, it became clear. Laker tanks and high-heeled fur booties make that same magic that fries dipped in a milkshake do. These days it is that exact thinking that I look for in a designer – the willingness to add some sriracha to my peanut butter. So, you can imagine how moved I was when Tega Akinola’s pieces started popping up in my feed. God bless the algorithm. Her upcycle project is the physical manifestation of my lifelong inner style battle. And it works, not only in theory (the five-year-old’s mind) but also in practice. Next time you have the urge to dip your chili cheese tops in a glass of pinot noir, just do it.