Style Icon: John Hawley, A Walking Tapestry

As I was walking down the Axinn hallway for my interview with John Hawley ’14, I noticed him from 20 feet away. He was wearing a bright, but soft, yellow button-down shirt with simple faded blue khakis, sophisticated rectangular glasses and a classic pea coat thrown over the chair next to him. We exchanged a friendly greeting and got right into the interview after a few minutes of chitchat. However, what I didn’t realize until a couple minutes into our interaction was that his simple faded blue khakis were actually not so simple and his classic pea coat was not so classic after all. His pants had a hidden line of colorful pattern on the inside of the back pocket, and his coat was lined with a preppy fabric.

At first look, Hawley’s outfit was very typical of a Middlebury guy — put together, modest and definitely “cool.” Yet, after further investigation, I noticed that Hawley’s outfit was extremely detailed, thought-out and subtly high fashion. After a very enjoyable 20-minute conversation I learned that this is John’s “mantra” if you will. He loves to wear things that “pop,” adding bits and pieces into his outfit that stand out without “standing out.”

Hawley is a senior Econ major and plays on the men’s rugby team. He was born and raised in New York City, which he still calls home, with his older sister, mom and dad. His mom is a Broadway actress and his dad is a lawyer. Hawley says having parents in those two professions makes him the “world’s perfect liar,” although he laughed and quickly confessed that he is actually a terrible lair. His mom and sister seem to inspire him most, not so much in fashion, but rather in life. He admires the fact that his mom succeeded in a business that is so difficult and takes such passion and dedication to pursue. And he really values his sister’s ability to be confident wearing ridiculous clothes while pulling them off extremely well.

Hawley had a very exciting background growing up in NYC. He says that growing up he saw so many different types of people everyday either in the subway, walking down the streets or playing basketball at public courts around the city. This made it impossible for Hawley to be close-minded and forced him to accept and acknowledge the large and greatly diverse world we live in. After attending prep school in the city, Hawley continued his education at the College and studied abroad in Argentina. It is through all these experiences that Hawley has shaped his style and sense of fashion. He loves to take bits and pieces from all facets of his life, combine them and paint a story of where he has been, what he has seen, the people he has met and perhaps even tell where he wants to go. This guarantees that his style is unique — simply because no one has lived the exact same life John has and therefore cannot share the same story.

What I love about Hawley’s approach to fashion is that he doesn’t confine himself to one “genre” or “style.” He wakes up in the morning and decides what to wear based on how he feels and what version of himself he wants to be that day. Who wants to be one-dimensional? We all can relate to and admire so many different types of clothing, so why should shouldn’t we explore all of them?

Hawley says his true interest in clothes began in high school, partly because he was starting to hangout with girls, but also because he went to a prep school with a dress code, and he didn’t want to be stuck in its boundaries. In a concerted effort to not look like everybody else and not get bored by wearing the same thing every single day to school, Hawley had no choice but to get creative with this clothing. This meant little touches and additions to things that made him stand out (again, without “standing out”). Unfortunately for Hawley, this was a difficult task and allotted him numerous detentions for wearing things such as “illegal pants.” So it was in the halls of Fordham Prep in New York City’s Bronx borough that Hawley came to develop his distinctive sense of style.

Similar to Middlebury’s last style icon Kathleen Gudas ’16.5, Hawley likes to look for a good bargain. He shops at all the common stores you would suspect like J.Crew and H&M, adds in some Bonobos clothing (which is a men’s tailored clothing line out of New York City), but also values items from thrift shops and vintage clothing stores. Once again, it’s about taking things from all corners of the world and putting it together to create the myriad of himself.

I love to ask every style icon why they like fashion and what exactly they think fashion gives to people, and in a greater sense, to the world. This usually tells a lot about a person, their background, their mindset and their idea of the world. and I find it extremely interesting to hear the different responses. According to Hawley, fashion gives people a chance to “create something artistic everyday and to express anything they want through a pretty manageable medium.” Hawley claims that he has “atrocious” fine motor skills, so for him fashion is not that hard of an art form to succeed in; after all, “everyone knows how to put on pants.”  If you are the person putting together an outfit, you are undergoing a creative process in your own way. Artistic expression is important and to John, this is his version of it.

Inspired by his sister, Hawley tries to approach fashion with a “don’t give a f***” attitude. However, what might surprise you is that his mom is the one exception to his free-minded way of expression. Hawley says that he does not wear anything he would not want his mom to see him in. He can wear something she would think is crazy or ridiculous, but nothing that she would deem inappropriate in anyway. I think all of our moms would hope this is our mindset when getting dressed in the morning. As far as icons go, Hawley takes inspiration from all sorts of people from Johnny Depp and Benedict Cumberbatch to random kids on the streets of NYC. He likes to take what he thinks looks cool on others and replicate them and incorporate them into his own wardrobe.

As Hawley gets ready to graduate this spring, he will be moving to Boston to work for a private equity firm. That means no more t-shirts, sweatpants or skinny jeans, but slim-fitting suits and shiny loafers. John relates this upcoming stage in his life back to his high school days and will have to challenge himself to be creative in the new confines he will confront in the working world. He will have to achieve professionalism, while still expressing himself in a way that allows him to be excited when he gets up in the morning to get dressed. Although challenging, something tells me he will impress those Bostonians just fine.

Who thought a rugby-playing, econ major Midd kid would be so interested in fashion? Hawley represents creativity and artistic ability in a new light. He never wants to feel pigeon-holed into one style of clothing simply because he plays a particular sport or attends a certain school.

“Everyone has their own personality and style that is unique in some way – being able to non-verbally reflect that through your clothing is a pretty powerful thing,” Hawley said.