At University of California Santa Barbara, strolling across campus may result in more than just a tranquil walk. A student-run Instagram account under the username @hotticket_ucsb has shaken the college’s fashion community, anonymously posting images of students, faculty, and passersby alike in their most stylish outfits, highlighting who, in fact, has the fashionable “hot ticket.”
The account, run by UCSB students Cynthia Wong and Laura Witucka, featured its first post in April: an image capturing two passing students in brightly patterned blouses and flare jeans walking in front of the campus’s convenience store The Arbor. Following this post are hundreds of images of passersby in quirky outfits walking around this same location, highlighting the diverse amalgamation of styles found in the UCSB community.
Wong describes the inspiration behind the account: “Hot Ticket was created on a random day Laura and I were sitting on the grass in front of The Arbor. We would sit there almost every day in between classes and just watch people walk by, and sometimes we’d spot cool outfits that we liked, so we made the Instagram account — kind of as a joke and for ourselves — to document and highlight the different outfits that students and faculty wore.”
