Pinning down the fashion scene in Carson City

Milan del Vecchio likes scissors.

The flowered backpack that became a shirt wouldn't have happened without them.

She also likes safety pins, as the few puncturing the left heel of her black knee-length boot attest.

There is nothing conservative about the 19-year-old. Not her makeup, her hair nor her attitude.

Not even her name, which some would say is designed for haute couture, or high fashion. She dreams of runways, but not the New York City ones.

"Hopefully, I'll work in Europe," she said.

A 2005 graduate of Carson High School, delVecchio will write a fashion column for the 411 section until she heads back to school in September. Future columns may focus on best places for second-hand finds, or how to dress on a budget.

"I never strive too much to match," she said. "I wear red and sea-foam green together. Whatever."

She first showed fashion interest at a young age. By about 10, she was leaving cartoons behind and finding intrigue in clothes and the human body. Her mom, Michele, who graduated from the college her only child now attends, was influential.

"She's never been one to go with fads," Milan delVecchio said. "She wears whatever she wants."

A large fairy is painted on her bedroom wall. In a cast-iron bathtub - $300 from a rummage sale - fashion magazines are collected. Underneath is a colorful collection of second-hand shoes.

"Fine art is more about you expressing your own ideas for yourself," she said. "Design is more like finding a solution to a problem."

She is in a five-year program at the College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning at the University of Cincinnati, a school considered tops. During her second year, she'll delve into classes on textile design, figure-drawing and fashion history, and learn to sew.

Many of her best clothing finds come from second-hand shops, like Friends In Service Helping or the cleaners, like Mercury's, where she found a man's vest. She's most intrigued with 1920s-style design.

When she does buy new, clothes come from Urban Outfitters or Delia's. Anything casual, conservative or too man-on-the street is avoided, eliminating mall stores such as Abercrombie and Fitch or the like.

"I did get something at Old Navy recently," she said with a laugh.

"But I cut it up."

• Contact reporter Maggie O'Neill at moneill@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.