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"I first noticed Virginia Anton last summer at a Max Mara dinner in Los Angeles. The cat-eyed 22-year-old stuck out like a sartorial thumb amid a sea of flirty, sherbetcolored, red carpet\u2013ready frocks. Little did I know that every piece of her sophisticated ensemble, which included an intricate vintage blouse and Ala\u00EFa pencil skirt, was excavated from her mother's closet.\n\n While some girls shudder at the thought of mom's handme- downs, Virginia revels in the hunt. But, then again, this Pitzer College studio art major has always marched to the beat of her own drum. \"I realized at a pretty young age that I was different from other girls,\" she reveals. \"I was a tall and lanky tomboy who wore blues and grays while all the other girls wore frilly pink and flower prints.\" Virginia admires labels like Prada, Dries Van Noten, Marni, and Maison Martin Margiela (brands that match her self-proclaimed \"classically weird\" style), but high-end shopping sprees aren't in the cards yet for this girl. \"For now, thrifting in my mother's closet is where it's at, and I am more than OK with that,\" she says as she unearths a suitcase brimming with everything from fifties Balmain to eighties Dolce &amp;amp; Gabbana\u2014a mother lode of printed pants, bright suits, and charming dresses. \"I don't think I ever thought my mom, aunt, or grandma didn't dress 'cool,' I just didn't realize how cool they were!\"\n\n In Virginia's family, the chic gene goes way back: Her mom, Italian journalist Alessandra Venezia (who has saved clothing for Virginia since she was born), is a contributor to Vogue Italia and L'Uomo Vogue, and she never saw her own mother \"without red lips and heels on.\" Heels Virginia also remembers fondly: \"Around ten years old, I would go through all of my grandma's extravagant, beautiful shoes and reorganize them,\" she says. \"That piqued my fashion interest\u2014and my shoe obsession!\"\n\n Aside from Virginia's fashion lineage, she credits her art background as a major style influencer. \"Three years ago, there were many things of my mom's I didn't like or wouldn't have dared to wear, but now I look back and think, You knew nothing, Virginia!\" she explains. \"Now I like to mix and match and clash with strange colors and patterns that may not seem like they'd go together. My taste changes and evolves.\"\n\n Yet one thing stays the same: Virginia's strong Italian heritage, passed down from the women she admires\u2014and steals clothes from. \"Whenever I attempt to look casual, my friends comment that I seem dressed up. This is a very Italian trait!\" she says. \"You will never see me wearing flip-flops unless I'm at the beach, and that's that.\" True fashion DNA."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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