Walking down the hallways at Tunstall tends to be an adventure. There are many different styles throughout the student body. There are the guys with mullets, cowboy boots, jeans, and t-shirts; girls with skinny jeans, nice shirts, and shoes; everyday sweatshirt/sweatpant wearers; and UGG, Hey Dude, and Crocs wearers. Rarely are there people with alternative or unusual styles in the halls. 

Alaina Kirby is a senior at THS and has an exceptionally different style compared to other students. She wears Demonia boots, black ripped jeans/pants, band tees, bleach dyed jackets, flannels, the occasional dress, and a bunch of chains and accessories. “The music I listen to influences my fashion the most,” Alaina said. For example, she listens to bands like My Chemical Romance, Twenty One Pilots, and Deftones. “I kind of look at them as examples, and I take a little bit from everyone.”

Kirby is one of four children. Her mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Kirby, works at Tunstall as a science teacher and helps her children express themselves in different ways. “I really love Alaina’s unique fashion sense! She is definitely an individual, and I look forward to her appearing upstairs each morning to see what outfit she has put together for that day of school,” her mother said.

Kirby buys a lot of her clothing from Goodwill, and the majority of her accessories are from Spencer’s.  Her most used accessory happens to be a Vera Bradley wristlet that she adorns with Squishmallows and keychains. “I feel like I dress similar to some people, but at the same time, I think that is okay,” Alaina said. “We are all original in our own ways even if we dress the same.”

Alaina’s fashion sense has changed throughout her years in middle school and high school. She used to dress in skinny jeans and shirts instead of how she dresses now. Her clothes would not draw the attention of other students like it does now. “Some people can’t dress how they want to, but I think the people who can and do, like me, that it does define them as a person,” Alaina said.

Kirby offers this advice to any individuals who want to start dressing differently but do not know how to start. “Don’t care about anything or what anyone else thinks. If someone looks down on you for it, they just have a bad attitude. They aren’t worth your time to be worried about at all. Literally just laugh in the face of people. That is what I do now. You just have to ignore what everyone else says and do what you want to.”