Now, twenty years old, Melissa Aflalo was never really into fashion and never thought for one second she would become the ‘fashion girl’ in Montreal. But she sure did. ‘’ I attended a private school so I pretty much had to wear a uniform everyday,’’ says Aflalo. ‘’There was no specific reason for me to be into fashion.’’ After high school, Aflalo attended Dawson College for for two years. ‘’ I was into liberal art,’’ she says. ‘’ It was a small program and everyone dressed up in a very cool and different way. They loved expressing themselves throughout fashion.’’ Aflalo admits that CEGEP was a way for her to discover her passion : fashion.
‘’I started buying little things that I thought were cute but weren’t necessarily trendy,’’ she says. ‘’ I knew I could pull them off perfectly though. I wore a lot of high collar, peter pan collars and skirts or shorts with tights.’’ During her second year at Dawson College, Aflalo started getting really into it. ‘’ All the time, teachers and students would 
comment on my outfits,’’ she says. ‘’ I was never the ‘fashion girl’ but from there I started making that image for myself.’’ At the end of the year, during the liberal art ceremony, Aflalo got ‘the best dressed’ award.
Contrary to many fashion bloggers, Aflalo never had any interest in posting her daily outfits on the famous social media application, Instagram. ‘’ I only got my first IPhone last year and downloaded Instagram then,’’ she says. ‘’ I didn’t want to conform to the social network aspect and I was really against it. I simply used Instagram to look at what kind of pictures the fashion bloggers posted.’’ At first, Aflalo didn’t want to post the similar and typical fashion outfit so she decided to use Instagram in a different and a more creative way. ‘’ I started posting cool scenery with me in the background,’’ she says. ‘’People would comment and say: ‘’Cool outfit!’’ as well as ‘’Love what you’re wearing!’’ So that’s when I decided to start posting my best outfits.’’
Everyone gets inspired by someone or something when it comes to fashion. Aflalo’s biggest inspirations are the famous fashion bloggers, Olivia Palermo (@oliviapalermo), Blaire Eadie (@blaireadiebee) and Rivkah Levy (rlevy01). ‘’ Palermo has a good way of mixing and matching,’’ she says. ‘’ She dresses very modestly and that is something I find very important in fashion. I think it is more beautiful to look at someone who humble and unshowy then someone who shows too much skin.’’ Her second inspiration inspires her because of her coquette and girly style. ‘’ She always wears skirts, cute shoes and high collars,’’ she says. ‘’It is very similar to my style. ‘’ Her third inspiration is a friend of hers that started her own fashion blog called MyFashionology. ‘’ She is very successful and inspires me so much,’’ says Aflalo. ‘‘ She manages to pull off her clothes in her own kind of style.’’
Aflalo’s favourite season is fall and I was wondering what she thought about the trends for this year’s season.‘’ This fall, the famous turtle neck is in,’’ she says. ‘‘As well as fur, plaid, leather, big scarves and pointed booties
.’’ Winter is the season Aflalo dislikes most. ‘’It’s very hard to wear cute shoes during winter.’’
Being into fashion or not, Aflalo’s main message is to not have the fear that you won’t be able to pull your outfit off. ‘’ When I was in liberal arts, everyone was really supportive of my creativity as well as what I was wearing.’’ Aflalo says, ‘’ I never had the feeling of ‘I can’t pull that off’ or ‘that’s too fancy for school’. She says to wear anything whenever you want. ‘’ Don’t be afraid. Don’t hold yourself back and most importantly, wear whatever you want and own it.’’ Aflalo declares very proudly that people can’t pull their outfit off if they put that in their heads.
Today, Aflalo studies industrial relations and a minor in communication at McGill University. ‘’ It is not directly related to fashion because I have another passion which is the film industry, ‘’ Aflalo says. ‘’ After university, I want to move to New York City and pursue a career in the film industry but somehow relate it to fashion.”
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