Xochitl Gomez Goes Back to School with Hot Topic: 'Wear What Makes You Feel Good' (Exclusive)

Xochitl Gomez didn’t discover her love for Hot Topic at the mall. She did so just by browsing through her mom's fashion archives.

“My first memory with Hot Topic clothing is actually digging through my mom’s storage boxes in the attic where I found OG stuff from the '90s – lots of plaid and band T-shirts that I still wear sometimes,” the 17-year-old actress tells PEOPLE exclusively. 

It wasn’t long after that she bought her very first Hot Topic item for herself – a pair of “classic red plaid skinny pants that never go out of style.” 

Perhaps, without her knowing it, the haul would be a nostalgic token of her early beginnings with the pop culture retail hub as she entered her own partnership with the brand.

This month, Gomez was announced as the face of Hot Topic's Take Note 2023 Back-to-School campaign, which includes a lookbook of cool outfits photographed on a real school campus – and a chance to win a $1,000 shopping spree with the Doctor Strange star in Los Angeles. 

Styled by Gomez herself, each of the looks gives a glimpse at the different sides to her flair, from the skater girl vibe of the baggy ‘fit to her edgy interpretation of Wednesday Addams-core — complete with spikes in her pigtails.

“I love all the looks,” says Gomez, “but my favorite is a tie between the skirt with the striped cardigan and the gray maxi dress – those two are totally ‘me.’ ”

Putting together her own outfits for something as major as a Hot Topic campaign, which will be displayed in stores nationwide and on the site, isn’t uncommon for Gomez. For a red carpet occasion or two outside of her own projects – including the Barbie world premiere – she, with the help of her friends and mom, will execute her own glam.

"I love it when I can have a traditional glam team and I’m grateful whenever it’s offered to me, but that’s not usually the case," she explains.

Thankfully working with her mom can be a breeze. “It’s easy because my mom is great at tailoring clothes, plus, we’re in sync with ideas and themes," she tells PEOPLE.

Gomez's hunt for the right ensemble begins with a thrifty process of browsing for second-hand designer pieces online and tackling the challenge of finding shoes and accessories, which is "a whole other thing."

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Leaving an impression with a cool ensemble on the first day of classes is also a part of Gomez's style DNA.

She says one her favorites to this day was the old quinceañera dress, borrowed from her neighbor, that she wore to her fourth-grade debut. "That was so random! I thought it looked so pretty and we were taking photos that day, so I wanted to look special."

But on her list of regrettable outfits? "I can remember it very clearly because it went so badly," she thinks back on her entrance into second grade.

She recounts: "I was new to the school [I was going to] and I wore a long ruffle skirt with tennis shoes and the teacher had us running races. I made it to the final round against a couple of boys, but the wind blew my skirt up as we crossed the finish line and the boys all laughed at me." The relay of events left her feeling "traumatized."

From then on, she took with her one lesson. "To this day I wear shorts under my skirt!"

A fashion partnership for the rising star shouldn’t come as a shocker. The Baby-Sitters Club actress is a self-described “theater kid” who was surrounded by makeup and “fun costumes" from a young age.

And once the stage curtains lowered, Gomez found other ways to experiment with her wardrobe – “I didn’t wear makeup in middle school and I had a uniform, so I was pretty limited [in fashion], but I always found a way to do something original and unique to my outfit,” she tells PEOPLE. 

In some cases, that meant wearing a tutu over her school outfits. In others, it meant piecing together influences from her “style icons” Gwen Stefani, Zendaya and Katy Perry, high-fashion runway shows from the ‘90s and 2000s and, not surprisingly, her mom, to whom Gomez credits her “eclectic mix” of clothing and “artsy handmade and vintage items" growing up.

Along the way, Gomez created her own dress code, some of which she shares with her nearly 11 million followers across TikTok and Instagram.

"If I’ve made someone feel a little joy, that’s great!" she says.

However, with such a large audience keeping up with her online, societal beauty standards aren't something that she “dwells on." She tries to maintain a balance between sharing the glamorous bits of her life with the everyday while maintaining the essence of her “vibe" and who she is.

“Believe me, I have a ton of drafts that nobody will see because they didn’t work out for some reason. Confidence just comes from going for it and not worrying about how ridiculous it might look,” says Gomez on filming her TikToks, which include self-made music videos of her dancing and lip syncing to ear worm hits, many of which go viral. 

That translates to what she wants young Latina girls watching her to know: how to conquer limitations and hone in on your superpowers on screen.

“Wear what makes you feel good. Wear clothes that feel like they are an extension of what you are feeling on a particular day or maybe how you’d like to feel,” she encourages. ”Clothes have the power to add on to your personality, so make them work for you.”

There's also one message she'd tell her younger self too: "You’re doing great. Don’t change a thing!"