Style Story: Liz Power
Hey, Fashion Friends!
In case you’re just tuning in, Style Stories is an interview series with people who embody the Style for Good PGH mission.
Today’s guest is Liz Power. She’s a former student and current colleague of Taylor (your favorite S4G Stylist) and an all around stylish gal! Keep reading for Liz’s thoughts on self care, rocking your style with a disability, and the power of “channeling.”
Hi, Liz! How would you like us to refer to you in your interview?
My name is Liz Power. My pronouns are she/her.
That’s great! Can you give us a quick bio about yourself? Like who you are, what you do, what you love, where you live...
I currently live in an apartment in Oakland really close to the campus of Pitt. I work at the Carnegie Science Center as an interactive exhibits person, which means that I walk around and explain to people what all of the exhibits are for, to put their masks up over their nose, and try to stop little kids from destroying things that they shouldn’t be destroying. It's a cool job.
Sometimes the other thing that I do is being a Standardized Patient, which is where medical students need to practice talking to people, so they work with us. They give you a scenario of why someone would be at a doctor and you have to learn all of the information, then these students will ask you questions as if you were a person going to the doctor. It’s to get them used to asking people awkward questions that doctors have to ask.
What else do I do? I do anything related to theater or acting, anything like that.
I’m really glad that I live on my own. A really important thing is that I have Cerebral Palsy which affects my life in a number of ways. Some of which are annoying and some of which I have gotten used to.
Taylor: That's so cool that you have your own place now. And you and Sarah are both Carnegie Museum employees!
Liz: Yay!
Taylor: What musicals are you obsessed with these days? I always want to know!
Liz: Usually, I have one that I’m on a kick about but I don’t have one currently. I always go down rabbit holes on YouTube, watching people sing, and most of the people on my Instagram are actors from New York. Which is interesting now because none of them are doing what they normally do and they are figuring out ways to do things virtually, which is super interesting.
So, diving into the clothes part of stuff, what is the role of fashion and style in your life?
I think I only recently figured this out-- different people figure it out at different points in their lives-- but what you wear can actually have an influence on what's going on in your life. I used to think of it like, “Okay. I'm going to go do something, so obviously I have to dress a certain way.” Which is obvious, but then it becomes fun when you have to adapt it to your situation, like in an acting sort of way, if that makes sense.
If I’m doing something important and have to know what I'm talking about, I dress like I know what I’m talking about. I do that a lot where, if I have to do something important, I’ll pick someone who knows what they’re talking about and channel them. And part of channeling someone could be that you dress like them. Or if I need to be someone who wants to go and be creative and interesting, I dress like someone who's creative and interesting. And if I am feeling a certain vibe of history or something, sometimes I see if I could dress like that in a way that doesn’t look like I’m wearing a weird costume. I see how close I can get to that and not look weird in public.
Especially since you said that you're coming into this realization of fashion right now, have you ever had any struggles around clothes or your personal style?
Now, this is where it gets into the nitty gritty of Cerebral Palsy. Certain types of things with snaps or things that are like “I can’t put this on by myself.” If I can’t put something on by myself, I'll be less likely to wear it. Even if there's something I really like, if I can't really put it on, I don’t end up wearing it and that kind of sucks.
Also, if I'm doing two different things in a day where I would have to wear two different kinds of clothes, it kind of works if I don't have to change it completely. Like, if I can keep the same pants and only put on a different top. Shirts are easier to change than pants for me, personally.
When it comes to tops, what do you like? What is easier for you, what is harder?
Well, a few years ago I reached this whole thing where I got super into hippies and 60’s things and that kind of stuff. I’d look at all these pictures of people and I’d be like, “I need to start dressing like this!” I wear a lot of things with weird long sleeves and tops where some people look at it and go “is this a dress?” Anything that's really flowy and ephemeral.
Then the other vibe of that is where I want to be historical. There are people on the internet that wear vintage clothing all the time and they look like they stepped out of 1845. Sometimes, I wish I could be one of those people. It would be a lot of effort to dress like that all the time, but sometimes I would like to be one of those people. It would be so cool, but I wouldn't be willing to do that every single day. And like I look at those people and think “they do not just dress like that when they’re sitting around their house.”
Taylor: I don’t know, maybe they have really perfect, period nightgowns or something that they wear when they’re “Netflix and chilling.”
As someone who loves to put on clothes that make you feel good when you're practicing self-care, how do you think style habits impact your mental health? You already touched on how clothes can make you feel a certain way.
Sometimes, some days, if certain things are not going the way I want them to, I'm like, “I'm not in the mood to be a person this morning,” but then sometimes I say, “Oh wait, I like this outfit. Maybe it'll make me more in the mood to be a person today,” and sometimes that works and it’s cool.
Do you have certain looks that you love to put on when you're in that kind of mood, or is it just sort of whatever catches your fancy?
Well, a lot of times, I feel like there are days when I don’t have a plan and sometimes I’ll tell myself “Dress like I have a plan and maybe a plan will emerge!” Also sometimes I like to think, “I don't have anything going on today, but in case something cool spontaneously happens, I want to be dressed for whatever adventure is going to happen.”
Taylor: Yes, aspirational fashion! That is fantastic. Manifest!
Why were you interested in sharing your style story with us?
Well... Okay, full disclosure, when you asked me to do this, I was like “You are asking the wrong person,” because I've never considered myself to be super into style or that I think about it a lot. But then, also, it was you and I figured you’re cool and whatever you're doing, it probably will be interesting. So, that's why I'm here right now!
Taylor: Oh, thank you! Do you feel like we asked the right person now that we've had this chat?
Liz: Yes! There wasn't anything you were expecting me to say. I don't know where I got that idea. I guess it was just, like, if someone is starting a business, I thought it would be a commercial or something. And people say weird things in commercials!
Taylor: I mean, you’re not not a commercial! You’re a fashionable, lovely person that we’re excited to have on our blog.
Do you have any tips, especially with how you’ve recently come into your style, about developing your sense of style?
I would say, don’t be concerned about whatever people say is popular because that’s just a societal construct. But if you see someone that is wearing something cool and you think “That looks cool, I should try that,” go for it! Even if it's an old photograph of someone from 1972, go for it! And also, if other people want to do the “channeling clothes for different occasions/facets of your personality/things that you need to accomplish,” I would recommend doing that.
When you do that, how do you start channeling a vibe or a person?
Well, how I start it would depend. A lot of channeling arises when I have to make a phone call, and my voice changes completely. If I have to make an important phone call to someone, I try to be very news reporter-y, and that's not my actual personality, but it works for having to make phone calls to doctors and things like that. It’s like that. With the Standardized Patient thing I do, it'll tell you what the person is wearing to give you the vibe of who the person is. That's a lot of what I do, but I have channeled this to real life.
I think of someone, it could be a person I know, it could be a character I like, who would be good in this situation -
Taylor: Like you cast someone in the role?
- Mm-hmm, and I try to be like that. Even just moment-to-moment, I talk to all sorts of different people at my job everyday and, depending on who you're talking to, you switch the vibe up a little bit. And that can translate to fashion I think.
Taylor: Yes, definitely. I think that's a really good point because a lot of people tailor their energy to what they're doing but you’re taking it even another step where you connect that your fashion and how you're physically presenting as well. That's really cool.
We can keep talking about this forever, but our final question is: What is your favorite piece of pre-loved, thrifted, hand-me-down, or handmade clothing?
One of the coolest pieces of clothing that I have ever owned is, when I was little, my friend's mom was a seamstress and I used to have one of those American Girl dolls, so she made me a dress and then made one to match my doll and it was the best thing ever. It was really cute.
Sarah: That’s so cute!
I remember it had, in olden times they would call it a pinafore. So there was a green turtleneck looking thing and then the pinafore over top of it was purple. It was great.
Also, one of my friends is a sort of quirky 60-ish year old woman who keeps giving me all of these fancy purses. I don't know why she wants to get rid of them or why she keeps giving them to me, but she likes me and they’re very fancy and I need to go somewhere so I can actually use them.
That is very cool. Yeah, that is definitely that hand-me-down fashion we're talking about. What kind of fancy are we talking?
Well, for Christmas she gave me a beaded one with a gingerbread man on it. The best one is this black one that’s all lacey and there are beads on it and it’s this little thing. The interesting thing is I tried to put my phone in it and my phone didn't fit in it and I realized “Oh, this is from before when people had phones and instead they had all these classy things.”
Taylor: It’s just big enough for a $2 bill and your lipstick!
Liz: Yes!
Taylor: What a great friendship to have. We all need more quirky, 60 year-old women in our lives.
Liz, this has been wonderful! Is there anything else that you want to say about fashion or clothes or what you would like to see in the world of fashion?
Well, my first recommendation would be more things that work for people with disabilities. But remember if you're trying to do things that work for people with disabilities, not everything will work for every person with a disability because different people have different things.
Also, I guess since I have just figured this out now; if you don’t think that you know anything about fashion, don't you feel that way about yourself. Just don't pay attention to whatever you're supposed to wear and wear what you want. If you focus on that, then maybe you will turn into someone who cares about fashion. If that's the way you want to be, go be that way.
Taylor: “If that's the way you want to be, go be that way” is a pillow that I want really badly.
Liz: [laughing] Thank you!
That is freaking fabulous! Thank you so much.