00:00Connie Wang, the happy medium. Like the crazy people and the boring people.
00:03It's right in the center.
00:08I moved to New York without a job, knowing that I wanted to write about fashion,
00:12and Refinery29 was my favorite website at the time.
00:15I saw that there was an opening and applied, and I guess they liked me.
00:18I had my dream job kind of right out of the bat, which was incredible.
00:22That's what New York is all about.
00:23So, some people might see, you know, like, music as the thing that really helps them define their life,
00:29but for every single big milestone in my life, I see it in terms of clothes.
00:33Like, what I was wearing at the time? What kind of styles was I really into?
00:36What kind of trends was I into?
00:38I remember the first time I was able to go shopping for myself,
00:41because my parents always stressed me, and usually it was all on hand-me-downs.
00:46And I remember getting an allowance for back-to-school.
00:48I think it was, like, maybe $30, and my parents said,
00:50you can buy one outfit or whatever, just go nuts.
00:53And I bought three t-shirts on the clearance rack and one pair of shoes,
00:57and I literally rotated between those three t-shirts.
01:00I wore those pair of shoes every single day, and I remember that was, like, this is me.
01:04The way that I used to consume fashion in high school
01:06and the way that people are able to do it now is totally different.
01:08I would wait around in my mailbox.
01:10I knew that on a certain day that I would get all my magazines at once,
01:13and so I would wait for that day in order to, you know, be at home so I could read
01:17them all.
01:17And now it's every single day, every single minute of every single day,
01:20technology affords this opportunity to do things that, you know, you normally wouldn't be able to.
01:25There's a sense of connection that you feel with the clothes that you see on the runways
01:29in a way that's never been available before.
01:32You get access to all of these things, like, right at your fingertips,
01:35and in a way that feels so personal and tangible now.
01:38It's like technology is so crazy intimate.
01:41Fashion is hugely important in my life because I believe that it is transformative.
01:45It can be an art form if you want it to be, it can be, you know, a mouthpiece if
01:50you want it to be,
01:50and it can be a stepping stone to true empowerment if you want it to be.
01:54I just think it's important to have fun with it.
01:55My name is Connie Wang and I'm the Senior Global Editor of Refinery29.
