Albert Tran’s Depolarization of Fashion

*Originally published in DIG Magazine online.

Albert Tran poses for a photo in front of the CSULB Library. Photo by Charlie Nguyen.

Dressed in vibrant and thematically stylized outfits, Albert Tran, also known as @aesthetic_alberto on Instagram, is one of many young men redefining the polarized landscape of traditional fashion.

A 22-year-old fashion content creator as well as a full-time student in the Department of Communication Studies at Cal State Long Beach, Tran draws from influencers and celebrities with versatile fashion arsenals “like Timothee Chalamet and Harry Styles.” He is inspired by outfits with inherently masculine structure, such as blazers or suits, that also manage to use color palettes typically regarded as feminine. 

When piecing together his own outfits, Tran uses this inspiration to make his visually unique, often monochromatic fashion statements and an appealing exploration of the apparent dichotomy in industry trends caused by the gender binary. 

“I like to dress in very masculine clothing but I also like to feminize it with the colors because of society’s association of pink, purple, really any bright colors and pastels, with femininity,” said Tran.“Being able to combine both of them makes the outfit more of a standout, rather than sticking to one or the other.”

One of Albert’s many hot pink outfits. Photo courtesy of Albert Tran.

As a fashion content creator, Tran posts photos of himself in a variety of outfits, both as a form of self expression and as a means of potentially inspiring one of his many followers. Despite only investing a little more than a year into his content creation and with the modest wallet of a college student, Tran has managed to consistently equip himself with head-turning style as well as over 7,000 followers on Instagram.

“I’ve been doing [content creation] for about a year now and I love it because I like to get creative and I feel like what I do online is like having an outlet because I don’t get to do that anywhere else,” he shared.

In contrast to many other people passionate about fashion, Albert shared that he derives most of his inspiration from social media.

“A lot of people say ‘I find it from my family and my friends’ but I feel like my style is really drastic from my family and friends,” shared Tran. “Everytime I go somewhere I feel like I dress very much with bright, colorful clothing and I usually get that from social media and the influencers I follow.”

Finding many of his statement pieces at local second-hand shops as well as on online second-hand marketplaces like Depop, Tran is also an avid thrift shopper and also sells his unused clothes. A testament to the growing accessibility of fashion, Tran, like many other fashion creators, constructs aesthetically pleasing outfits without breaking the bank - high quality, low cost.

Despite not being a fashion major, Tran maintains aspirations of professional styling and design. Although he hasn’t styled anyone or designed anything yet, Tran intends to continue cultivating his interest, focusing on himself and further pushing the bounds of how to express Albert Tran. 

In Harry Styles’ music video for his hit single, “Watermelon Sugar,” Harry dons a watermelon themed crochet crop top. Screencap from GMA Entertainment Network.

Tran again referred to Styles and Chalamet’s pushing of what is typical masculine fashion.

“I want to experiment with more feminine clothing,” shared Tran. There’s a lot more masculine pieces in my closet right now and I want to get into more of what they’re doing: crop tops, corsets, more revealing vests, clothes that’s more feminine per se. Since clothing has become more universal and there’s a lot more versatility between men and women, there’s no clothing between genders anymore. I’m trying to elevate that moving forward.”

Tran attributes some of his founded confidence to experiment to his participation in the clothing ambassador program hosted by “Drmrs Club,” a brand and platform dedicated to empowering dreamers “To be more committed to your dreams than your own damn comfort zone.” Tran connected with similarly impassioned people from all over the world, further developing both his brand and sense of self.

Albert Tran poses for a photo in front of the CSULB Library. Photo by Charlie Nguyen.

Furthermore, Tran offers advice to anybody else looking to explore and possibly redefine their sense of style. 

“Don’t be afraid to experiment and always try to know yourself. At the end of the day, if you’re not comfortable wearing a blazer or a pop of color, trying to start small and building your way up to finding your style is the way to go. Don’t be afraid but also don’t be too uncomfortable to the point that you can’t wear it.”