How does a fashion columnist find her subjects?

This one stands atop the Technology building leaning over the balcony, scoping out ladies and gentlemen by shouting out to them to extract the distinguished from the dreary and downtrodden.

This is precisely how I came to be so fortunately acquainted with this week’s subject of praise – Mr. Sean Welling. This first-year, 19-years-young Moorpark student lets his long golden locks provoke a vision of a teenage Kurt Cobain.

I met him on a bench on campus and we sat across from each other as he shared where he shops, what inspires him, and how he arrives at his outfit for the day. We begin by hitting the first basic – where?

“For the most part just Buffalo Exchange and Goodwill,” says Welling. “I thrift more out of monetary reasons, but also because they don’t make 27-size-jeans anywhere. People from decades ago seem to be the only ones who have it.”

He has a slender frame and owns his size by wearing jeans that leave little to the imagination. Form-fitting jeans are still a thing of the modern man.

Welling’s white and purple Bowie tee and his pale-pastel-striped-button-down juxtapose the black pants and shoes that divide his body at the waist. Welling illuminates each piece of the outfit as he takes me through his greatest style influences.

“My inspiration comes from music and literature,” says Welling. “I want to look like David Bowie as much as possible at all times – preferably a mix of Morrissey and David Bowie as one,” says Welling.

“He [Bowie] has this freedom about him,” says Welling. “He is this carefree enigma that can just be creative and express through whatever outlet he has. Morrissey is morbid and depressing, and his style is dark and beautiful,” says Welling.

While I get neither morbid nor enigmatic from Welling, there is a deliberate and thoughtful nature from which he chooses his words and his clothes. It is not random for this young man, and he makes a point to express himself through the construction of his outfits as a channel mirroring his emotions.

“The most important part of an outfit? . . . The flow of colors and the emotion behind it. You can tell how that person is doing by what he is wearing,” says Welling.

He goes on to describe a phenomenon that can be connected to color psychology. According to Welling, the combination of the way an outfit is put together and the synthesis of how to the colors interact on the body are a determining factor in the overall attitude and emotion of the individual.

Welling’s clothing choices, which feature bright and colorful tops, reflect his joy for the upcoming break from school. His merry demeanor is shown through his vibrant apparel.

However, theories aside, Welling is committed to his philosophies.

“I don’t gamble,” says Welling. “I promised myself I would never gamble, so this is my form of gambling – going to thrift stores and hoping there is something I like. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose,” says Welling when asked about his shopping habits.

He encourages anyone out there to take the risks and take the time to thrift to not only to save a dime, but to fuel the thrill.

As he runs his fingers through his hair, Welling leaves me with this pearl of wisdom on an outfit:

“Shoes are the cherry.”

And how sweet it is.