By Natasha Ivery

She’s almost like a portrait- smooth, milk chocolate skin, with rope textured braids boasting a wiry, silver gray color reserved for grandmothers and women entering menopause. To the world, this is unusual and bold. But for Taylor, it’s just her everyday style.

Taylor Hartfield is a 21-year-old African-American student at the university. She is an apparel, merchandising and product development major with a minor in marketing.   She also does natural hair for students on campus and is invested in taking care of and styling natural hair, along with fashion work.

“I got started doing natural hair when I began watching YouTube videos and doing my own braids,” said Hartfield. “I did a lot of protective styles (braids, twists and weave which is designed to protect your own hair underneath), looked at tutorials online and different products and just practiced.”

After receiving questions from her hair clients about ways to care for their own hair, Hartfield put together and hosted Curlies in Session, an event dedicated to natural hair, in September. The event featured a panel about natural hair, tutorials about how to style headscarves and hair accessories, and even featured a student catering company.

“I worked with Taylor on the event because I debuted my student catering company, CurlyCooks at the event,” said Kaleiah Jacobs, pre-med bio major. “She is a very motivated person, especially when it comes to her passion for fashion and student entrepreneurship.”

But Taylor’s interest in fashion is something that supersedes everything else in her life. She recognized that fervor at a young age from watching a popular Disney Channel show.

“Fashion has been a part of life for a long time,” said Hartfield. It started when I saw the first episode of That’s So Raven and saw how fashionable and free the character Raven and I wanted to be just like her.  I mimicked her outfits and added my own style, then I wanted to be a fashion designer just like her.”

Her mother soon caught on and purchased Taylor a sewing machine to practice her budding skills.

“I started taking old jeans and cutting off the bottom of the jeans off and sewing the bottom, adding straps and making my own purses,” Hartfield said.   “My family members knew exactly who to give their old jeans to because they would be put to good use.”

Hartfield then began selling her purses to family members, even having her friends model them at her 9th birthday party.

“I disregarded my mom’s rules about not having a birthday party that year,” said Hartfield with a bashful smile. “But everyone was so amazed that a fourth grader had all of this going on-I made business cards, Bubbalicious purses, inventory and sell sheets to keep track of what I was selling.”

After Hart realized that she wanted to be in the world of fashion, she began her career at BGSU as an AMPD major. She’s involved in various fashion organizations on campus, including FadWatch, an organization that puts on an annual fashion show. That is how Taylor began meeting people with the same interests as her regarding fashion and natural hair.

Kayla Fowler, another AMPD major and one of Taylor’s close friends, says she’s a very fashionable person who is going to make a big impact in the world of style.

“I met her through FadWatch’s annual fashion show, and afterward I sought her out to be on the exec board due to how interesting her style was,” said Fowler. “She is a very trendy person who incorporates trendy and vintage clothing, but with an air of sophistication. She’s gonna go far.”

While Taylor said she doesn’t design many clothing pieces anymore, fashion is still a large part of her life, as evident in the carefully crafted outfits she wears each day and displays on social media in only the way a stylish artist can.

“Fashion has remained a big part of my life and will continue to be,” said Hartfield. “I’m always browsing blogs on Tumblr to see what people are wearing. I also love the street blog Peeper because I like to see what people are wearing in different parts of the world and gather inspiration for future looks.”

Mariana Mitova, Hartfield’s academic adviser, said Taylor is an excellent candidate for breaking into the fashion world.

“Taylor is in my field experience seminar and one of my classes in which we study merchandising for product lines,” said Mitova. “She is definitely quiet until you get to know her, but once you talk to her and interact with her interests, you’ll see that she is very humble.

Mitova said one of Taylor’s first experiences with couture that truly shaped her vision about clothing was in high school.

“Taylor organized a high school prom dress drive for girls who didn’t have money to purchase one,” said Mitova. “In my eyes, she’s very generous and driven. I’m curious to see where she goes after college.”