interview by Jess McCuan . photo by Rimas Zailskas

Name: Rachel Austin

Age: 25

What do you do for a living? I’m a social worker at Mainstay, a women’s shelter in Hendersonville. I’m also a grad student in sociology at UNC-Charlotte. I commute to Charlotte twice a week.

What do you do on that long commute? I listen to the radio and decompress from the workday. Also, I smoke a whole pack of cigarettes.

Where did you get your knit sweater? I like anything loose. It’s not even mine. I found it in my office when I moved in.

And what do you think happened in it before you picked it up? I think the person who had it before me was a children’s counselor, so probably a lot of play therapy.

Do you always find clothes and start wearing them? I hate to shop, and I don’t generally like clothes. Yeah, I wear clothes that people give me and that I find. I call it poverty chic.