SEU Fashion: Murphy Heal
Freshman Murphy Heal is inspired by bold, bright designs and monochromatic outfits inspired by ‘70s fads.
Bold, bright designs and monochromatic outfits inspired by ‘70s fads paired with what she calls “extra” shoes are trademark signs of freshman Murphy Heal’s fashion.
The psychology major’s wardrobe originates from a combination of trendy Los Angeles-based fashion company Ur Not In Fashion (UNIF) and local Austin thrift stores.
“I love Savers. It’s so much fun,” Heal said. “It’s therapeutic for me just to dig through things and find something.”
Heal is on a constant search for statement pieces that she can form into outfits. Savers supplies her with racks of affordable, trendy and rare pieces.
Her favorite article of clothing is a pair of jeans from Savers that Heal is “absolutely in love with.” She said some of her friends even try to steal them from her.
When she attended Griffin School, a private liberal high school in Austin, she decided to wear more extravagant pieces to class. Specifically, a pair of yellow and red plaid platform boots that Heal eventually wore down to the soles. Today, they sit at her house collecting dust as she struggles to throw them out.
Heal struggled with fitting her fashion sense to her environment. Although she doesn’t wear her “extra” shoes to class anymore, she feels that at St. Edward’s she can express herself more freely than her former high school. Heal says that at St. Edward’s, “less people seem that they will judge you and more will accept me for who I am.”
“Sometimes I can throw people off a little bit, but usually it’s a magnet for people that are like me and that I can get along with well,” Heal said. “It kinda fends off the people that aren’t like me. People usually think that I’m an extrovert on crack. It’s a big part of who I am, actually, in just that I don’t give a hoot.”
