On a typical day in the spring semester at Rockwell Hall, the atmosphere is chaotic as students shuffle through the lobby conducting photo shoots for the Kent State’s Fashion School’s upcoming Annual Fashion Show Catalog.

Allyson Kramer, a sophomore fashion merchandising major, is familiar with this atmosphere. She describes it as just one of the many things she loves about the Fashion School.

The Fashion School provides Kramer and many other students the opportunity to branch out and reach bigger audiences through their work.

For example, the online website, CollegeFashionista, features a Kent State section that has seen rapid growth over the last few years. It offers an easy way for college students to stay updated on the latest street-style trends.

“CollegeFashionista is an online source for college fashion around the United States. It started out pretty small and recently it has blown up,” Kramer said. “So many writers have been added in and it has just become such a wonderful thing to be a part of.”

Kramer, a style guru and writer for the website, played a key role in the expansion of the website on the Kent State campus.

“Last year when I joined the CollegeFashionista team, we met at Scribbles (coffee shop) and there were only about 15 to 20 of us,” Kramer said. “When I came back this year, a roster was sent out showing students from Kent State that are writing for CollegeFashionista, and I counted about 65 girls that signed up. It was such an incredible thing to see.”

This growth is no surprise to Kramer, as she talked about the promotional work the site does to increase its audience size.

“The CollegeFashionista page is up to nearly 22,000 followers on Instagram, and it is only continuing to grow. They are being featured in Seventeen Magazine and Teen Vogue. They are also launching campaigns with companies like Aerie, PINK and Neutrogena,” Kramer said. “They also do collaborations with MTV. They try and collaborate with brands because they know brands are always looking for ambassadors, especially college-aged ones.”

Cassie Dulworth, a 2015 Kent State graduate and current freelance creative consultant, was one of the first students at the university to join CollegeFashionista. She said Kramer played a key role in spreading awareness around campus.

“When (Kramer) loves something, the world knows about it in the best way possible,” Dulworth said. “I’m sure that a lot of CollegeFashionista’s growth at Kent State over the last two years – as she has been with the company – could be attributed to her.”

Kathryn Reaven, a senior fashion merchandising major who also writes for CollegeFashionista, described Kramer’s writing style as casual, but dressy. She also added that Kramer has helped improve her own writing style.

“(Kramer) has definitely inspired me. I love the way she writes. She includes a lot of detail and uses a lot of nice phrasing,” Reaven said. “I always look at her work for inspiration and try to find different ways to phrase my own writing.”

Reaven went on to also talk about CollegeFashionista’s growth on campus over the last two years.

“When I started as a style guru for CollegeFashionista in May 2014, there were only five writers,” Reaven said. “I believe there are close to 100 writers now here at Kent (State). It’s insane how big CollegeFashionista has grown in the last two years.”

Kramer said she continuously works hard to help spread awareness of CollegeFashionista across Kent State’s campus and to her peers.

“In order to spread the word on campus, it requires public relations work combined with the use of social media. We are such a well-connected generation, so I make sure to go on sites like Instagram and Twitter to promote my articles,” Kramer said. “Whenever I’m in a Fashion Student Organization (FSO) meeting, I make sure to talk to girls and mention CollegeFashionista. If I notice that a girl is particularly interested in photography or writing, I’ll definitely recruit her. My editors are always looking for new girls and do a lot of recruiting as well.”

CollegeFashionista gives students the opportunity to expand their interests and network with large companies all over the country.

According to Dulworth, Kramer has no problem coming up with new ideas to write about, and her passion as a writer is admirable.

“I knew (Kramer) closely during my senior year when I worked with her through CollegeFashionista, FSO, and FS2 (Kent State Fashion School’s Annual Fashion Show.) She is one of those people who always has new ideas and she isn’t afraid to share them, which is what I love about her,” Dulworth said. “Through her articles on CollegeFashionista and her writing in general, I think she’s done an amazing job of sharing her views and ideas.”

Last summer, Seventeen Magazine featured Kramer’s writing and style advice in a spread about CollegeFashionista at Kent State.

“Being featured in Seventeen Magazine was quite a whirlwind. I remember hearing about CollegeFashionista’s collaboration with Seventeen back in April 2015 and thinking ‘oh my gosh, that’s so cool,’” Kramer said. “ I got a text in May from the head style guru from Kent State last year, and she said she submitted some photos to Seventeen Magazine. A couple of them were ones she took of me. Seventeen really liked the pictures and decided they wanted to feature them in the magazine.”

Kramer recalled how she felt once she learned she had landed a feature in the magazine.

“The next thing I know, I’m jumping around in my room screaming from excitement,” Kramer said. “The magazine was published in late July, but the spread was featured in the August issue. It was amazing,”

Kramer said her Seventeen Magazine feature gained a lot of attention from classmates and helped her generate views from a larger audience.

“One of the best moments I’ve had throughout my entire experience here at Kent (State) was in the beginning of this school year, when girls were starting to come to the first FSO meetings,” Kramer said. “Within the first two weeks, girls kept coming up to me and telling me they saw me in Seventeen Magazine.”

Not only had students recognized Kramer for her work, but one had even told her that she inspired them to be at Kent State. 

“One of them even said that I was the reason they came to Kent State, because they saw how cool the Fashion School was from the article,” Kramer said. “I was on the verge of tears, but tried to be cool about it. I was just so happy that I could represent my school like that and be a part of a great publicity campaign for Kent State. The Fashion School really is incredible.”

Madison Merz, a senior fashion merchandising major, is also a style guru and said Kramer’s writing motivated her personally to become involved with CollegeFashionista.

“(Kramer) and I are in the same sorority, Alpha Phi, so we know each other pretty well. (She) has been with CollegeFashionista for a long time … since she got to Kent (State),” Merz said. “She has definitely had a huge impact as a writer.”

Merz made a point to say that Kramer’s achievements have positively impacted CollegeFashionista.

“(She) has definitely been the frontrunner for influencing students at Kent State to join CollegeFashionista,” Merz said.

Taylor Pierce is a fashion reporter for The Kent Stater, contact her at [email protected].