25 Most Stylish Bostonians of 2009 -- Elena Sanders

Age: 23

Occupation: Costume designer

How would you describe your personal style? Victorian, vaudeville, gutter-glam royalty. Although my look is very tongue-in-cheek, I dress myself obsessively. I think it’s important to have style, but I wouldn’t say I take fashion too seriously. I think a woman’s best accessory is a megaphone. And money. And maybe a garter belt to store it in.

What do you always buy too much of? Candy and sugar-free Red Bull (to balance it out). I have a habit of purchasing cheap shoes and then regretting it later. A big weakness of mine is buying shiny.

What inspires your work? Fear and satire. It’s something new every day. I design for myself. One of the main reasons I went into clothing design was so I could make my wildest fashion dreams come true. Design is very similar to getting dressed. Both start off as a very conceptual activity, but quickly turn into a chaotic frenzy and race against time.

You can tell a lot about a person from: Digging through their trash

So what’s in yours? Paper. And candy wrappers.

What are you obsessing over now? Mostly everything. My favorite things are a patent leather under-bust corset, an aviator hat with some tubular horsehair coming out of it, and a fitted neo-gothic jacket.

Where do you shop? H&M, Garment District, CVS, eBay, Savers, Store 24, yard sales, Dorothy’s, and the mall. One of my best clothing finds ever was a red dress at Savers.