After a two-year hiatus, The Hotchkiss Lookbook is finally back, highlighting students’ diverse fashion choices. Once again embracing social media as its public platform, The Lookbook hopes to publicize creative self-expression in fashion at the school. 

First established in 2012, The Lookbook ran as an Instagram  account [@hotchkisslookbook], Facebook page, and Tumblr blog that celebrated students’ fashion. However,  Lookbook posts declined during the past two years.  Current club heads Shine Lee ’20 and Danielle Piccone ’20 decided to revitalize its social media presence this year, carrying on the mission of the Lookbook: “to promote the diversity of styles and fashion and clothing of the people of Hotchkiss.”  

The Lookbook also aims to become a useful guide for new students. Because its online presence is public, new students can use it to gain a sneak peek into the school’s fashion culture. Lee and Piccone hope such early exposure will reduce the intimidation for new students who are not only entering  a new academic environment, but a new social one as well. Clothing, after all, is the skin one elects for oneself, and in a new environment (especially one with a dress code), it can be challenging to understand the culture.

Lavina Ngo ’21 recalls, “I remember first getting into Hotchkiss, and my first thought was ‘what are the people like?’  I asked the people I knew and looked all over the Internet. Instagram and The Lookbook really helped me get an understanding of the school before I got here.”  To new students from other parts of the world, the school’s clothing traditions are foreign, evoking worry. The Lookbook hopes to help ease new students into the culture of the school. “The Lookbook helped me see the students here as people,” Ngo ’21 said.  While many aspects of the School will remain an enigma to new students until they finally arrive in late August, the Lookbook will offer them “a gist of what life is like at Hotchkiss in fashion and style.”