Dashing, different, and distinguished are the three words that sum up the style of a very fop young man. Junior Alfonso Soto catches everyone’s eye with his stylish clothing choices every jeans day. Alfonso, to say the least, is very particular about what clothing brands he buys and wears. He likes to stand out and be different from the other guys at Noll, while at the same time, express his love for fashion. The 17-year old fashion guru currently tailors and makes his own clothing with hopes of entering the fashion world after high school.

  Alfonso got his sewing knowledge from watching sewing tutorial videos on YouTube. After practicing on his own clothing, he helps his fellow classmates stay in style as well. He has tapered the school uniform pants for junior Nicolas Gonzalez and senior Gabriel Anguiano.

  From an early age, Alfonso was always interested in fashion.

  “I’ve always wanted to present myself in a certain way”, Alfonso says. His interest in fashion stemmed from his parents owning a clothing store for six years called “Authentic Style” located in Alsip, Illinois.  Although the store is no longer open, it is what exposed him to all types of designers and brands and it encouraged Alfonso to learn more about fashion. Alfonso began his research on different designers and learning basic things about fashion. Some of Alfonso’s favorite designers are Raf Simons, Alexander Wang, Tom Ford, Hedi Slimane, and Christian Dior.

  “I like to pull specific things from each designer. My style is interchangeable and contains something from everyone I look up to,” Alfonso says.  

  He also admits that his love for fashion is something he’s had since birth.

  Alfonso isn’t the only one in the Soto family with a passion for fashion. Alfonso’s parents and younger brother are also fashion forward, but their styles all differ from one another. He admits that his brother’s style is similar to his own, and his parents’ style is inspired by him and his brother.

  “A family should present themselves well as a unit,” Alfonso says.

  Usually when someone is very interested in fashion, it’s only common to think that maybe one day they would want to start their own clothing brand; this is true for Alfonso. He says that starting his own clothing brand will always be a goal of his, but it is not an easy goal to reach. If Alfonso does eventually decide to start his own clothing brand, he says it would have to be done at the right time and all the needed resources would have to be available to him.

  “A lot goes into it, says Alfonso, “It isn’t just slapping a logo on a t-shirt. If I put my name on something it has to be creative and it has to be high quality, gaining a strong core following is key.” Alfonso is not sure as to which college he wants to attend after high school but he says that Parsons School of Design in New York is definitely an option.

  As far as the official name of his clothing brand, Alfonso says he doesn’t want any weird acronyms or phrases but strictly his name behind whatever he creates. Clothing by Alfonso. Simple, proud, chic.

  Alfonso isn’t an average guy, so he wouldn’t want his clothes to be sold in an average store.

   “I wouldn’t want to expose my label too much, so I would only want it to be sold in certain stores,” says Alfonso. He would love to see his label in Ssense, Barney’s New York, and RSVP Gallery.

  Alfonso gets much of his inspiration from celebrities who have a love for fashion much like himself.  

  “There are certain people that have had a big impact on myself. People like Alexander Wang, Tom Ford, Kanye West, Pusha T, Pharrell Williams, Raf Simons, Jeff Koon, Nick Wooster, John Elliott, Jerry Lorenzo, and the list goes on,” says Alfonso. He also mentions that each one of them inspires his clothing choices in a different way but the person to have the  most impact on his fashion would have to be Kanye West. Alfonso refers to Kanye West as the “tastemaker of our generation” and admits that he would love to intern for him one day for Kanye’s creative company, “Donda.”