Renaissance/Revolution Side 2

Revolution Renaissance

insecurity

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Allison Nguyen

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Styled by Katya Katsnelson — Tristan: shirt; Gosha Rubchinskiy.

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Allison Nguyen

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Styled by Katya Katsnelson — Tristan: shirt; Gosha Rubchinskiy.

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Duality

Delia Curtis

Adam Ward

Julianna Sy

A Foreign: and Familiar

many of the demographics being targeted. Yazon is especially concerned for her grandmother, who lives in the States on a visa. Knowing that her fate is uncertain has caused Yazon quite a bit of anxiety. Being from Connecticut, Yazon is also still recovering from the horrors of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and this experience has understandably fueled her passion for stricter gun legislation. Ultimately, much of what the Trump administration has already proposed thus far already affects her and her family.

Because Kasteel Well is more isolated than some students would like, it’s easy to feel far removed from social movements and waves of change. Yazon was definitely upset about not being able to participate in the Women’s Marches back in the States, but she said, “that’s the good thing about being a writer.

Writers capture history and you can spread more by writing. For us, Black Swan captures what’s going on [in the United States] from a different perspective.” By having this creative outlet, students abroad are able to have a voice in the effort for change. Even if travelling students aren’t able to physically participate in the traditional forms of protest, they can still be politically involved by focusing their pieces on issues

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“There’s an idea that you’re not an activist if you’re not out protesting.”

At Kasteel Well, we are far from home. Yet, home follows us to Europe as we read about the turbulent political climate in the United States and the changes that are shaping the country.

Janii Yazon and I sit in the receiving room at the Castle on overstuffed brown leather couches about 3,519 miles from the Boston campus. She’s sporting her signature cat-eye glasses, choker, and sweater combo. A portrait of the Castle’s former owner stares down at us in all his royal glory. We talk travel, politics, and most importantly, Black Swan.

Janii Yazon ‘19 – a Writing, Literature, and Publishing major with a Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies minor – is the student elected Editor-in-Chief of Black Swan, the Castle’s unique, travel-centric literary magazine made by and for the students in the program. The magazine itself tends to focus on the experience of traveling around Europe, drawing stories from Emerson students as they immerse themselves in new cultures.

Each semester, Black Swan centers on this general theme, but often other choices are made in terms of content to create a layered approach that allows more depth.

Seeing as our semester at Kasteel Well began after the 2016 presidential election and before the inauguration, it was only natural that this edition of Black Swan would be politically charged. As students at the Castle, it’s natural to understand why we might feel disconnected from the world and from our home in the States. We’re smack in the middle of the rural Southern Netherlands, but for Yazon, that doesn’t mean that we can’t contribute to the communal effort for change. “We’re all artists,” she said. “It’s important to remind ourselves that what we’re passionate about is how we can create change. Art and politics aren’t separate. We become better people through introspection and reflection of what’s going on.”

For Yazon, the Trump presidency is a scary reality.

As a queer woman of color with a mental illness, the political climate is worrisome for her. She is also a Filipino, first-generation American. All of these personal identities have different, nuanced meanings for her under the new administration. She fits into

Duality

Delia Curtis

Adam Ward

Julianna Sy

A Foreign: and Familiar

many of the demographics being targeted. Yazon is especially concerned for her grandmother, who lives in the States on a visa. Knowing that her fate is uncertain has caused Yazon quite a bit of anxiety. Being from Connecticut, Yazon is also still recovering from the horrors of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and this experience has understandably fueled her passion for stricter gun legislation. Ultimately, much of what the Trump administration has already proposed thus far already affects her and her family.

Because Kasteel Well is more isolated than some students would like, it’s easy to feel far removed from social movements and waves of change. Yazon was definitely upset about not being able to participate in the Women’s Marches back in the States, but she said, “that’s the good thing about being a writer.

Writers capture history and you can spread more by writing. For us, Black Swan captures what’s going on [in the United States] from a different perspective.” By having this creative outlet, students abroad are able to have a voice in the effort for change. Even if travelling students aren’t able to physically participate in the traditional forms of protest, they can still be politically involved by focusing their pieces on issues

70

71

“There’s an idea that you’re not an activist if you’re not out protesting.”

At Kasteel Well, we are far from home. Yet, home follows us to Europe as we read about the turbulent political climate in the United States and the changes that are shaping the country.

Janii Yazon and I sit in the receiving room at the Castle on overstuffed brown leather couches about 3,519 miles from the Boston campus. She’s sporting her signature cat-eye glasses, choker, and sweater combo. A portrait of the Castle’s former owner stares down at us in all his royal glory. We talk travel, politics, and most importantly, Black Swan.

Janii Yazon ‘19 – a Writing, Literature, and Publishing major with a Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies minor – is the student elected Editor-in-Chief of Black Swan, the Castle’s unique, travel-centric literary magazine made by and for the students in the program. The magazine itself tends to focus on the experience of traveling around Europe, drawing stories from Emerson students as they immerse themselves in new cultures.

Each semester, Black Swan centers on this general theme, but often other choices are made in terms of content to create a layered approach that allows more depth.

Seeing as our semester at Kasteel Well began after the 2016 presidential election and before the inauguration, it was only natural that this edition of Black Swan would be politically charged. As students at the Castle, it’s natural to understand why we might feel disconnected from the world and from our home in the States. We’re smack in the middle of the rural Southern Netherlands, but for Yazon, that doesn’t mean that we can’t contribute to the communal effort for change. “We’re all artists,” she said. “It’s important to remind ourselves that what we’re passionate about is how we can create change. Art and politics aren’t separate. We become better people through introspection and reflection of what’s going on.”

For Yazon, the Trump presidency is a scary reality.

As a queer woman of color with a mental illness, the political climate is worrisome for her. She is also a Filipino, first-generation American. All of these personal identities have different, nuanced meanings for her under the new administration. She fits into

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pieces include their opinions, experiences, and reflections on being abroad at such a strange time. The goal for this issue was to address important topics facing these two parts of the world, rather than picking one or the other.

Yazon hasn’t had much leadership experience yet, so this a new role for her. She wants to make something great that enables the student body to work together in order to navigate their complex feelings about the world at large. She is hoping to shift the focus from strictly traveling to the spirit of the students and how they’re really feeling throughout their experience abroad. Yazon also clarified that it’s not just about politics, but about the relationship between people and politics. In her letter from the editor, Yazon quotes Percy Bysshe Shelley from A Defense of Poetry: “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.”

This means that we, as artists and creators, make the social laws of the world; we choose what becomes history and what our future is. This extends to all artists, whether they’re writers, actors, filmmakers, communicators.

Through Black Swan, we’re able to tell the story of political turbulence, while maintaining a unique viewpoint through a foreign lens.

68

like mental health, catcalling, sexual harassment, and U.S. politics. The latest issue also includes images of some politically charged street art. One of the photos depicts a young topless girl holding a gun into her open mouth.

The words written on her chest read, “May Fascists Rest In Hell.”

At the Castle, people come together as a community because of circumstance, which is not unlike what is seen in the U.S. as protests help to create a communal movement of people who are rising up against injustices.

However, something that Yazon wants us to keep in mind is that we need to be critical of activism. Much of the activism that we see in the United States right now is catered toward straight, cisgendered, white women. These forms of activism don’t necessarily consider the fact that others may be unable to participate, whether it be because of mental health issues, safety concerns, or even socioeconomic class restrictions – for many, getting time off of work is a rarity, especially when it comes to attending protests. Yazon deals with depression and feels like these types of protests aren’t always an option for those facing mental illness. “There’s an idea that you’re not an activist if you’re not out protesting,” she said. This thought process is especially harmful because it takes away those people’s ability to feel like they’re a part of the community of resistance.

“I’m a person of color with a mental illness and I identify as queer and asexual,” Yazon explained to me. “Because of these things, it’s not always accessible for people like me to be at these protests.” Often times, these movements are more exclusive than inclusive, especially the Women’s Marches – the heavy focus on genitalia as a marker of womanhood can make trans women and other groups feel excluded. Other issues like representation of asexuality are hardly discussed at all at these marches and protests, and as a result they’re often either mis- or under-represented. In order for Yazon to feel like she’s a part of a larger group, she identifies as queer, which she feels is more inclusive and helps build a greater community of support.

While working on Black Swan, Yazon is focused on keeping this sense of community alive. She strives to accomplish this in the latest issue of the publication by including the feelings and emotions of students as they reflect on the situation in the United States. These

69

pieces include their opinions, experiences, and reflections on being abroad at such a strange time. The goal for this issue was to address important topics facing these two parts of the world, rather than picking one or the other.

Yazon hasn’t had much leadership experience yet, so this a new role for her. She wants to make something great that enables the student body to work together in order to navigate their complex feelings about the world at large. She is hoping to shift the focus from strictly traveling to the spirit of the students and how they’re really feeling throughout their experience abroad. Yazon also clarified that it’s not just about politics, but about the relationship between people and politics. In her letter from the editor, Yazon quotes Percy Bysshe Shelley from A Defense of Poetry: “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.”

This means that we, as artists and creators, make the social laws of the world; we choose what becomes history and what our future is. This extends to all artists, whether they’re writers, actors, filmmakers, communicators.

Through Black Swan, we’re able to tell the story of political turbulence, while maintaining a unique viewpoint through a foreign lens.

68

like mental health, catcalling, sexual harassment, and U.S. politics. The latest issue also includes images of some politically charged street art. One of the photos depicts a young topless girl holding a gun into her open mouth.

The words written on her chest read, “May Fascists Rest In Hell.”

At the Castle, people come together as a community because of circumstance, which is not unlike what is seen in the U.S. as protests help to create a communal movement of people who are rising up against injustices.

However, something that Yazon wants us to keep in mind is that we need to be critical of activism. Much of the activism that we see in the United States right now is catered toward straight, cisgendered, white women. These forms of activism don’t necessarily consider the fact that others may be unable to participate, whether it be because of mental health issues, safety concerns, or even socioeconomic class restrictions – for many, getting time off of work is a rarity, especially when it comes to attending protests. Yazon deals with depression and feels like these types of protests aren’t always an option for those facing mental illness. “There’s an idea that you’re not an activist if you’re not out protesting,” she said. This thought process is especially harmful because it takes away those people’s ability to feel like they’re a part of the community of resistance.

“I’m a person of color with a mental illness and I identify as queer and asexual,” Yazon explained to me. “Because of these things, it’s not always accessible for people like me to be at these protests.” Often times, these movements are more exclusive than inclusive, especially the Women’s Marches – the heavy focus on genitalia as a marker of womanhood can make trans women and other groups feel excluded. Other issues like representation of asexuality are hardly discussed at all at these marches and protests, and as a result they’re often either mis- or under-represented. In order for Yazon to feel like she’s a part of a larger group, she identifies as queer, which she feels is more inclusive and helps build a greater community of support.

While working on Black Swan, Yazon is focused on keeping this sense of community alive. She strives to accomplish this in the latest issue of the publication by including the feelings and emotions of students as they reflect on the situation in the United States. These

Child's Play

Dakotah Malisoff

High Fashion and the Street The culture of our rising generation is influenced, but not defined, by designer labels. The influence of big name brands is not soon to leave, but it isn’t the driving force in defining today’s trends.

While our government might be a reflection of upper class rule, fashion doesn’t have to be. Class divides have been central to inequality in America since it’s founding. The look of youth today, whether intentionally or unintentionally, works to do away with that. Chanel, Dior, and Dolce do not control the look of college kids wandering city streets. Instead, the blending of high style and affordable, informal wear speaks to us and the casualization of avant-garde and couture.

Born out of California skate and surf culture, streetwear has been a part of urban youth subculture for decades. In recent years however, we’ve seen streetwear “trickle up” into high fashion circles. Kim Kardashian can be spotted out in a full, plush sweatsuit paired with a set of clear Yeezy heels. Recently, she was seen sporting sweats with a binding white corset and a huge parka. In one comfy casual look, Kardashian reflected the marriage of comfort, necessity, and both upper and lower class culture—a look undeniably influenced by her husband. Kanye West is the first non-athlete to sign with Adidas in a ground-breaking deal. His influence, and the influence of hip-hop on street and athletic wear, is growing with each Yeezy release. Athletic wear is no longer separated from haute couture.

The new Vetements x Champion collection proves casual sportswear is not immune to the innovations of high fashion. Vetements takes an ordinary sweatshirt and shreds it, literally and figuratively. Armhole cut outs leave the sleeves dangling, adorned with long Champion logo tape trims that extend beyond the sleeve itself. On Net-A-Porter, the tracksuit is seen

paired with a pair of bold red Vetements ankle boots.

Thirty-three-year old Gosha Rubchinskiy founded his namesake brand after graduating from Moscow’s School of Technology and Design. He’s an artist-turned-designer who’s menswear line mixes high style, utility, and comfort. On the Gosha spring 2017 runway, suit jackets are paired with sportswear t-shirts, and dress pants are paired with hoodies. The new Gosha x Fila collaboration retails at a considerably lower price than his personal line, but reflects much of the same sensibility, combining sportswear and unorthodox design.

It’s no coincidence that more affordable sporting good brands like Fila and Champion are collaborating with designers to bring their looks into haute couture circles. Youth street culture is becoming just as relevant to high fashion as high fashion has always been to contemporary society.

Abigail Baldwin

Bursting the Binary Street style-inspired brand Vetements came on the scene in 2014 and has quickly created a name for itself that exceeded the reputation of its head designer, Demna Gvasalia, who previously designed for Louis Vuitton. The first collection of relaxed fit trousers and structured jackets wasn’t earth shattering, but it was the beginning of a transformative label. In the years that followed, Vetements has combined avant-garde and streetwear, blurring the lines between men’s and women’s clothing.

Fashion has always reflected the gender norms of the time. Today, the lines between the binary sexes are less distinct, and the new look is at the forefront of that development. Online retailers like BKBT Concept have done away with marketing for gender altogether.

Shirts, jackets, wide leg trousers and even dresses are all labeled as unisex. Rising luxury brand Pyer Moss has also done away with gender in their recent collection, with designs in the same vein as Vetements featuring long lines and oversized silhouettes.

Other influential, youth-oriented brands such as Acne Studios, Lazy Oaf, and Unif still have separate sections for men and women, but they endeavor to break boundaries in other ways. Lazy Oaf’s men’s and women’s Spring 2017 campaigns have more in

common than meets the eye. Relaxed fits, pastel colors and beat up jeans infect both of the campaigns equally.

The girls rock loose, skatewear-inspired denim, and the boys work well-coiffed hair and pursed lips.

Androgyny, which has long been avant-garde, is becoming a definer of today’s youth culture.

Expression goes beyond gender, and the most influential young brands know to capitalize on that.

Opposition At the recent Vetements Fall 2017 show, the brand broke boundaries with it’s diverse casting. The models, regular people plucked from the street, reflected different races, body types, and even ages. Looking at the image of an elderly man in a structured white button up dragging his red velvet coat luxuriously behind him, it seems the blurring of boundaries goes beyond just class and gender, but also transcends age.

The hottest runway styles right now are all about opposition—take what is trendy and current and distort it; be uncool in the coolest possible way; be on the next level. But subculture is also oppositional, taking what's hip and rejecting it instead choosing rebellious self-expression. Today we see a phenomenon that has existed for a long time: subculture influences high fashion, which trickles down into the mainstream and is then opposed by the very subculture that inspired it.

It’s a constant seesaw. For example,

look at trendy highwater trousers vs. Vetements new, deliciously ridiculous, extra long pants, hems dragging dramatically on the runway.

These oppositions have always existed, but that does not negate the uniqueness of our generation. Don’t be fooled by tradition into ignoring the innovations of our youth culture, or culture in general. There’s always a new spin to be made on the old. Today we see it with the takedown of gender conformity, and the rise of sportswear collaborations and diverse representation.

Tomorrow, the elevation of the casual and the marriage of avant-garde will robe the everyday passerby.

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There is no denying the enduring influence of youth cultures of the past on today’s fashion. Museums highlight the hippie culture of the ‘60s, and TV longs for the MTV-fueled teen culture of the ‘80s. But what about today?

The heart of all subculture is self expression and personal style. Despite the impact of the past, the youth style of today is not just tiredly looking to the past for inspiration. We are not defined by the same music or economic conditions that our parents were. We are not wrapped up in the looks of a long-gone generation.

Today’s garb has moved beyond retro into a zone all its own.

Today’s trends reflect the blend of couture and casual, of youth culture and designer wear. Online retailers, sports wear brands, and designer names all show these fusions in their own way to reflect the fact that style can go beyond gender, age, and social class.

Child's Play

Dakotah Malisoff

High Fashion and the Street The culture of our rising generation is influenced, but not defined, by designer labels. The influence of big name brands is not soon to leave, but it isn’t the driving force in defining today’s trends.

While our government might be a reflection of upper class rule, fashion doesn’t have to be. Class divides have been central to inequality in America since it’s founding. The look of youth today, whether intentionally or unintentionally, works to do away with that. Chanel, Dior, and Dolce do not control the look of college kids wandering city streets. Instead, the blending of high style and affordable, informal wear speaks to us and the casualization of avant-garde and couture.

Born out of California skate and surf culture, streetwear has been a part of urban youth subculture for decades. In recent years however, we’ve seen streetwear “trickle up” into high fashion circles. Kim Kardashian can be spotted out in a full, plush sweatsuit paired with a set of clear Yeezy heels. Recently, she was seen sporting sweats with a binding white corset and a huge parka. In one comfy casual look, Kardashian reflected the marriage of comfort, necessity, and both upper and lower class culture—a look undeniably influenced by her husband. Kanye West is the first non-athlete to sign with Adidas in a ground-breaking deal. His influence, and the influence of hip-hop on street and athletic wear, is growing with each Yeezy release. Athletic wear is no longer separated from haute couture.

The new Vetements x Champion collection proves casual sportswear is not immune to the innovations of high fashion. Vetements takes an ordinary sweatshirt and shreds it, literally and figuratively. Armhole cut outs leave the sleeves dangling, adorned with long Champion logo tape trims that extend beyond the sleeve itself. On Net-A-Porter, the tracksuit is seen

paired with a pair of bold red Vetements ankle boots.

Thirty-three-year old Gosha Rubchinskiy founded his namesake brand after graduating from Moscow’s School of Technology and Design. He’s an artist-turned-designer who’s menswear line mixes high style, utility, and comfort. On the Gosha spring 2017 runway, suit jackets are paired with sportswear t-shirts, and dress pants are paired with hoodies. The new Gosha x Fila collaboration retails at a considerably lower price than his personal line, but reflects much of the same sensibility, combining sportswear and unorthodox design.

It’s no coincidence that more affordable sporting good brands like Fila and Champion are collaborating with designers to bring their looks into haute couture circles. Youth street culture is becoming just as relevant to high fashion as high fashion has always been to contemporary society.

Abigail Baldwin

Bursting the Binary Street style-inspired brand Vetements came on the scene in 2014 and has quickly created a name for itself that exceeded the reputation of its head designer, Demna Gvasalia, who previously designed for Louis Vuitton. The first collection of relaxed fit trousers and structured jackets wasn’t earth shattering, but it was the beginning of a transformative label. In the years that followed, Vetements has combined avant-garde and streetwear, blurring the lines between men’s and women’s clothing.

Fashion has always reflected the gender norms of the time. Today, the lines between the binary sexes are less distinct, and the new look is at the forefront of that development. Online retailers like BKBT Concept have done away with marketing for gender altogether.

Shirts, jackets, wide leg trousers and even dresses are all labeled as unisex. Rising luxury brand Pyer Moss has also done away with gender in their recent collection, with designs in the same vein as Vetements featuring long lines and oversized silhouettes.

Other influential, youth-oriented brands such as Acne Studios, Lazy Oaf, and Unif still have separate sections for men and women, but they endeavor to break boundaries in other ways. Lazy Oaf’s men’s and women’s Spring 2017 campaigns have more in

common than meets the eye. Relaxed fits, pastel colors and beat up jeans infect both of the campaigns equally.

The girls rock loose, skatewear-inspired denim, and the boys work well-coiffed hair and pursed lips.

Androgyny, which has long been avant-garde, is becoming a definer of today’s youth culture.

Expression goes beyond gender, and the most influential young brands know to capitalize on that.

Opposition At the recent Vetements Fall 2017 show, the brand broke boundaries with it’s diverse casting. The models, regular people plucked from the street, reflected different races, body types, and even ages. Looking at the image of an elderly man in a structured white button up dragging his red velvet coat luxuriously behind him, it seems the blurring of boundaries goes beyond just class and gender, but also transcends age.

The hottest runway styles right now are all about opposition—take what is trendy and current and distort it; be uncool in the coolest possible way; be on the next level. But subculture is also oppositional, taking what's hip and rejecting it instead choosing rebellious self-expression. Today we see a phenomenon that has existed for a long time: subculture influences high fashion, which trickles down into the mainstream and is then opposed by the very subculture that inspired it.

It’s a constant seesaw. For example,

look at trendy highwater trousers vs. Vetements new, deliciously ridiculous, extra long pants, hems dragging dramatically on the runway.

These oppositions have always existed, but that does not negate the uniqueness of our generation. Don’t be fooled by tradition into ignoring the innovations of our youth culture, or culture in general. There’s always a new spin to be made on the old. Today we see it with the takedown of gender conformity, and the rise of sportswear collaborations and diverse representation.

Tomorrow, the elevation of the casual and the marriage of avant-garde will robe the everyday passerby.

66

67

There is no denying the enduring influence of youth cultures of the past on today’s fashion. Museums highlight the hippie culture of the ‘60s, and TV longs for the MTV-fueled teen culture of the ‘80s. But what about today?

The heart of all subculture is self expression and personal style. Despite the impact of the past, the youth style of today is not just tiredly looking to the past for inspiration. We are not defined by the same music or economic conditions that our parents were. We are not wrapped up in the looks of a long-gone generation.

Today’s garb has moved beyond retro into a zone all its own.

Today’s trends reflect the blend of couture and casual, of youth culture and designer wear. Online retailers, sports wear brands, and designer names all show these fusions in their own way to reflect the fact that style can go beyond gender, age, and social class.

Goldmond Fong

independence in dressing themselves,” said Lea Yoon, the current director of the organization. Teo and colleague Alice Tin co-founded the O.S.L. in 2013 as a public service project. It has since grown to become a paragon in the world of handicapped fashion.

Each summer, a team made up of an occupational therapist, an engineer, and a fashion designer collaborate to create clothing that perfectly matches the needs of clients who apply to be part of the program. Though the designs are specifically created for a handful of clients each summer, the innovations can be reproduced to accommodate a wider market. Examples of recent designs include waterproof pajamas with an interior space for catheters and shirts without buttons.

In addition to not having many functional clothing options available, there is also a lack of representation for the disabled in the fashion industry. Nancy Allen, who teaches Images of the Disabled at Emerson College, said, “the narrow focus on aesthetics in fashion prohibits inclusion in many forms — particularly any form of visible disability.”

There has been a recent surge in activism to rectify this misrepresentation. In February of 2015, Jamie Brewer made history; while she floated down the runway during New York Fashion Week, she also officially become the first person with Down Syndrome to walk at the event. In the same week, the first amputee model, Jack Eyers, walked FTL Moda’s spring show. Nike’s “Unlimited” campaign, which launched during the 2016 summer Olympics, also featured models of varying abilities — notably including quadriplegic mountain climber Kyle Maynard.

Maggie McNulty

There are bio-electronic prosthetic limbs that carry Olympic runners to finish lines. There are wheelchairs that can climb stairs with the precision and agility of a seasoned mountain climber. There are “smart glasses” that can, quite literally, help blind people “see the light.”

Despite these recent technological breakthroughs, day-to-day activities like getting dressed in the morning remain difficult, if not impossible, for many people living with disabilities. When co-founder of the OpenStyle Lab Dr. Grace Teo was working toward her P.h.D. in Health Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she interacted with many people living with disabilities and noticed a common thread throughout many of her conversations. Many of the people expressed a desire to wear clothing that was not only functional, but reflective of their personal style as well. One local college professor wanted to wear scholarly clothing that accommodated her wheelchair, while another woman wanted a pretty dress for her daughter’s wedding that would allow her to move comfortably in her brace.

After listening to them explain their experiences, Teo decided to combat what she thought was a seemingly fixable problem: the lack of accessible clothing for people living with disabilities. Initially, she wanted to design a website that compiled all the clothing directed toward people with various disabilities. However, she soon realized the difficulty of this task, as she could barely find any clothing on the market to sustain her website. This realization sparked the beginnings of the OpenStyle Lab. The OpenStyle Lab, or O.S.L., is one of the few organizations that, “helps people with disabilities reach a level of

Yoon feels that people with disabilities need to be seen as the consumers they are. Allen agreed, saying, “it is hard enough for a lot of women to find clothing that complements their body types; when you add in specific needs, it becomes even more complicated. People with disabilities want to look and feel good, too.”

Rio-Glick echoed these sentiments about representation and fair treatment in the industry, and said that “everything is connected” when it comes to fashion and society. She added, “I don’t expect companies like Victoria’s Secret to immediately start featuring disabled women, but if we only have one version of what is and isn’t beautiful, then everyone who doesn’t meet that standard will feel even worse.” Currently, Rio-Glick believes that, “we are stuck in a place where people are trying to meet an industry that wasn’t made for them.”

Even though Professor Allen studies the representation of disabilities on an almost daily basis, she still admitted that she did not fully understand the pitfalls that people with disabilities often face when it comes to finding accessible clothing. She later said that “it takes someone to identify a problem and make that problem clear for everyone in order to truly affect change.”

The OpenStyle Lab, now under the direction of the current executive director Grace Jun, intends to continue growing in order to reach a larger sphere of people who would benefit from their work. Currently, the organization is moving from M.I.T. to Parsons in New York City, and hopes to “develop and distribute clothing designs and technologies that will increase clothing accessibility.”

Allen understands that a completely inclusive fashion industry will be difficult to execute, but she also believes that fighting ignorance is vital to making changes.

“Everyone must develop a level of consciousness that is difficult to have without direct experience. Read articles.

Talk to your peers,” she advised.

With the efforts organizations such as the O.S.L. and people who are passionate about creating inclusive environments, not just on the runway, more people will realize that sometimes the sneakers that carry the Olympian to the finish line, the jacket that keeps the mountain climber warm, and the frames on the glasses that help discern shifts in light are just as important as the technology behind them.

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Brace Yourself

However, although there has been a noticeable increase in the representation of disability, the practice is still not widespread. Theatre and Performance major Sonya RioGlick ‘19 said, “as a person with cerebral palsy, I am not necessarily going to see myself represented.” Rio-Glick — who was wearing a pair of fashion-forward bootcut jeans and a crisp striped shirt when interviewed — believes that “society as a whole needs to redefine what it means for a woman to be beautiful in order to create a more inclusive fashion world.”

“There is more than what meets the eye when it comes to how I dress,” Rio-Glick said. Due to the braces that she must wear on her legs, she cannot wear a lot of “trendy clothes” like skinny jeans. She said that “disability prohibits me from fully expressing myself, and I think a lot of able-bodied people don’t realize that.”

The O.S.L. is not the only organization devoted to meeting the needs of specific disabilities; there are other brands and designers working toward similar goals of inclusivity.

Scott Summit, a designer who has reimagined prosthetic limbs as works of art, is inspired by the combination of medical and aesthetic value in a piece. This is a direct response to situations like Rio-Glick’s, as she admitted that she likely would have worn her leg braces more often growing up if she felt more confident and comfortable in them. Aesthetic reservations about wearing assistive gear can leave lasting medical problems, since they are often very necessary for one’s health and development; this can be combatted by making these assistive devices more desirable to wear.

Fashion students Alba Gardener of University of California Berkeley and Kristie Seidow Thompson of the Fashion Institute of Technology are also revolutionizing fashion marketed towards people with disabilities. Both produced shows that featured models with cerebral palsy, while Gardener specifically designed a whole line made for people with the disability.

Unfortunately, this type of inclusivity is still not commonplace. Former MassArt fashion student and current Lesley University Special Education and Psychology major Chrissy Crocker said, “fashion students are often interested in issues surrounding representation, but that representation does not often include people with disabilities.” Crocker observed that when representation was discussed among the fashion students she knew, the conversation often touched upon gender, sexuality, and race, but rarely physical disability. She said, “ableism runs rampant in our society. I think my generation, including Millennials and Generation Z, is dedicated to facing these issues, both in fashion and otherwise, but there’s still a long way to go.”

According to Yoon, one of the OpenStyleLab’s ultimate goals is to achieve “universal designs,” which meet the needs of every consumer. In order to reach this goal,

Goldmond Fong

independence in dressing themselves,” said Lea Yoon, the current director of the organization. Teo and colleague Alice Tin co-founded the O.S.L. in 2013 as a public service project. It has since grown to become a paragon in the world of handicapped fashion.

Each summer, a team made up of an occupational therapist, an engineer, and a fashion designer collaborate to create clothing that perfectly matches the needs of clients who apply to be part of the program. Though the designs are specifically created for a handful of clients each summer, the innovations can be reproduced to accommodate a wider market. Examples of recent designs include waterproof pajamas with an interior space for catheters and shirts without buttons.

In addition to not having many functional clothing options available, there is also a lack of representation for the disabled in the fashion industry. Nancy Allen, who teaches Images of the Disabled at Emerson College, said, “the narrow focus on aesthetics in fashion prohibits inclusion in many forms — particularly any form of visible disability.”

There has been a recent surge in activism to rectify this misrepresentation. In February of 2015, Jamie Brewer made history; while she floated down the runway during New York Fashion Week, she also officially become the first person with Down Syndrome to walk at the event. In the same week, the first amputee model, Jack Eyers, walked FTL Moda’s spring show. Nike’s “Unlimited” campaign, which launched during the 2016 summer Olympics, also featured models of varying abilities — notably including quadriplegic mountain climber Kyle Maynard.

Maggie McNulty

There are bio-electronic prosthetic limbs that carry Olympic runners to finish lines. There are wheelchairs that can climb stairs with the precision and agility of a seasoned mountain climber. There are “smart glasses” that can, quite literally, help blind people “see the light.”

Despite these recent technological breakthroughs, day-to-day activities like getting dressed in the morning remain difficult, if not impossible, for many people living with disabilities. When co-founder of the OpenStyle Lab Dr. Grace Teo was working toward her P.h.D. in Health Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she interacted with many people living with disabilities and noticed a common thread throughout many of her conversations. Many of the people expressed a desire to wear clothing that was not only functional, but reflective of their personal style as well. One local college professor wanted to wear scholarly clothing that accommodated her wheelchair, while another woman wanted a pretty dress for her daughter’s wedding that would allow her to move comfortably in her brace.

After listening to them explain their experiences, Teo decided to combat what she thought was a seemingly fixable problem: the lack of accessible clothing for people living with disabilities. Initially, she wanted to design a website that compiled all the clothing directed toward people with various disabilities. However, she soon realized the difficulty of this task, as she could barely find any clothing on the market to sustain her website. This realization sparked the beginnings of the OpenStyle Lab. The OpenStyle Lab, or O.S.L., is one of the few organizations that, “helps people with disabilities reach a level of

Yoon feels that people with disabilities need to be seen as the consumers they are. Allen agreed, saying, “it is hard enough for a lot of women to find clothing that complements their body types; when you add in specific needs, it becomes even more complicated. People with disabilities want to look and feel good, too.”

Rio-Glick echoed these sentiments about representation and fair treatment in the industry, and said that “everything is connected” when it comes to fashion and society. She added, “I don’t expect companies like Victoria’s Secret to immediately start featuring disabled women, but if we only have one version of what is and isn’t beautiful, then everyone who doesn’t meet that standard will feel even worse.” Currently, Rio-Glick believes that, “we are stuck in a place where people are trying to meet an industry that wasn’t made for them.”

Even though Professor Allen studies the representation of disabilities on an almost daily basis, she still admitted that she did not fully understand the pitfalls that people with disabilities often face when it comes to finding accessible clothing. She later said that “it takes someone to identify a problem and make that problem clear for everyone in order to truly affect change.”

The OpenStyle Lab, now under the direction of the current executive director Grace Jun, intends to continue growing in order to reach a larger sphere of people who would benefit from their work. Currently, the organization is moving from M.I.T. to Parsons in New York City, and hopes to “develop and distribute clothing designs and technologies that will increase clothing accessibility.”

Allen understands that a completely inclusive fashion industry will be difficult to execute, but she also believes that fighting ignorance is vital to making changes.

“Everyone must develop a level of consciousness that is difficult to have without direct experience. Read articles.

Talk to your peers,” she advised.

With the efforts organizations such as the O.S.L. and people who are passionate about creating inclusive environments, not just on the runway, more people will realize that sometimes the sneakers that carry the Olympian to the finish line, the jacket that keeps the mountain climber warm, and the frames on the glasses that help discern shifts in light are just as important as the technology behind them.

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Brace Yourself

However, although there has been a noticeable increase in the representation of disability, the practice is still not widespread. Theatre and Performance major Sonya RioGlick ‘19 said, “as a person with cerebral palsy, I am not necessarily going to see myself represented.” Rio-Glick — who was wearing a pair of fashion-forward bootcut jeans and a crisp striped shirt when interviewed — believes that “society as a whole needs to redefine what it means for a woman to be beautiful in order to create a more inclusive fashion world.”

“There is more than what meets the eye when it comes to how I dress,” Rio-Glick said. Due to the braces that she must wear on her legs, she cannot wear a lot of “trendy clothes” like skinny jeans. She said that “disability prohibits me from fully expressing myself, and I think a lot of able-bodied people don’t realize that.”

The O.S.L. is not the only organization devoted to meeting the needs of specific disabilities; there are other brands and designers working toward similar goals of inclusivity.

Scott Summit, a designer who has reimagined prosthetic limbs as works of art, is inspired by the combination of medical and aesthetic value in a piece. This is a direct response to situations like Rio-Glick’s, as she admitted that she likely would have worn her leg braces more often growing up if she felt more confident and comfortable in them. Aesthetic reservations about wearing assistive gear can leave lasting medical problems, since they are often very necessary for one’s health and development; this can be combatted by making these assistive devices more desirable to wear.

Fashion students Alba Gardener of University of California Berkeley and Kristie Seidow Thompson of the Fashion Institute of Technology are also revolutionizing fashion marketed towards people with disabilities. Both produced shows that featured models with cerebral palsy, while Gardener specifically designed a whole line made for people with the disability.

Unfortunately, this type of inclusivity is still not commonplace. Former MassArt fashion student and current Lesley University Special Education and Psychology major Chrissy Crocker said, “fashion students are often interested in issues surrounding representation, but that representation does not often include people with disabilities.” Crocker observed that when representation was discussed among the fashion students she knew, the conversation often touched upon gender, sexuality, and race, but rarely physical disability. She said, “ableism runs rampant in our society. I think my generation, including Millennials and Generation Z, is dedicated to facing these issues, both in fashion and otherwise, but there’s still a long way to go.”

According to Yoon, one of the OpenStyleLab’s ultimate goals is to achieve “universal designs,” which meet the needs of every consumer. In order to reach this goal,

Winged eyeliner so sharp it could kill a man, red lipstick borrowed from Rosie the Riveter, and sharp nails that could easily be called “claws” stand out as staples in the camp of those looking to weaponize femininity as a tool to defeat the patriarchy. Makeup has long been heralded as a way to express oneself. But with the beauty industry’s history of teaching women to cover up their flaws in order to be more attractive to men, is it possible that makeup could truly be a feminist act?

On the day of the January 21st Women’s March, journalist and proud feminist Lauren Duca tweeted out to more than 100 thousand followers, “Doing my makeup for the �WomensMarch felt like donning war paint.”

Just a month prior, Duca battled Tucker Carlson on Fox News, discussing a Teen Vogue article of hers, entitled “Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America.”

Teen Vogue, which covers Donald Trump with the same vigor as it does supermodel Bella Hadid, is a great example of how traditional femininity coexists with modern-day feminism. Alongside stories covering Selena Gomez wearing pajamas out of the house are political articles like “We Fact-Checked the Biggest Lies Trump’s Administration Told This Week” and “Why Trump’s Treatment of the Media Is Actually Really Dangerous.”

Duca expertly pointed this out to Carlson: “a woman can love Ariana Grande and her thigh-high boots and still discuss politics. Those things are not mutually exclusive,” she said. “We treat young women like they don’t have the right to a political conversation and that you can’t enjoy Kylie Jenner’s Instagram and worry about the future of this country.”

Carlson didn’t buy it. “You should stick to the thigh-high boots,” he told her. “You’re better at that.”

Weaponized Femininity 63

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Andri Raine

Jillian Meehan

Casey Denton

Quincy Elliot, Luke McDonough, Aliyah Browne, Hayley Joseph

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Men like Carlson see women as two-dimensional figures entirely unable to have more than one interest at a time.

In his mind, if you are a woman, you either care about fashion or politics, but never both.

From our body hair to our makeup to our clothes and hairstyles, women’s appearances are constantly being policed by men — men who loudly and proudly state their preferences as to how women should look, men who don’t take women who wear makeup seriously at the office, men who run multi-billion dollar cosmetic companies that advertise products teaching women to cover up imperfections they didn’t know they had. Because of this, a dissonance exists between the idea that “real” feminists shouldn’t care how they look and the idea that women can wear makeup and shave their legs but still be feminists.

Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie addressed this when she spoke to Allure about her personal relationship with makeup in January. She said she stopped wearing makeup for years because she realized she couldn’t be seen as both intellectual and feminine. “At some point I started to realize that there was something very wrong with the idea that if you're a woman and you're interested in things that are traditionally feminine, then somehow it means that you can't possibly be serious, or feminist, or intellectual,” she said. “And I just thought that there's something deeply problematic about that, for a number of reasons but the most important being: well, why not?”

Winged eyeliner so sharp it could kill a man, red lipstick borrowed from Rosie the Riveter, and sharp nails that could easily be called “claws” stand out as staples in the camp of those looking to weaponize femininity as a tool to defeat the patriarchy. Makeup has long been heralded as a way to express oneself. But with the beauty industry’s history of teaching women to cover up their flaws in order to be more attractive to men, is it possible that makeup could truly be a feminist act?

On the day of the January 21st Women’s March, journalist and proud feminist Lauren Duca tweeted out to more than 100 thousand followers, “Doing my makeup for the �WomensMarch felt like donning war paint.”

Just a month prior, Duca battled Tucker Carlson on Fox News, discussing a Teen Vogue article of hers, entitled “Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America.”

Teen Vogue, which covers Donald Trump with the same vigor as it does supermodel Bella Hadid, is a great example of how traditional femininity coexists with modern-day feminism. Alongside stories covering Selena Gomez wearing pajamas out of the house are political articles like “We Fact-Checked the Biggest Lies Trump’s Administration Told This Week” and “Why Trump’s Treatment of the Media Is Actually Really Dangerous.”

Duca expertly pointed this out to Carlson: “a woman can love Ariana Grande and her thigh-high boots and still discuss politics. Those things are not mutually exclusive,” she said. “We treat young women like they don’t have the right to a political conversation and that you can’t enjoy Kylie Jenner’s Instagram and worry about the future of this country.”

Carlson didn’t buy it. “You should stick to the thigh-high boots,” he told her. “You’re better at that.”

Weaponized Femininity 63

62

Andri Raine

Jillian Meehan

Casey Denton

Quincy Elliot, Luke McDonough, Aliyah Browne, Hayley Joseph

This weaponized femininity often takes on an exaggerated form in order to more clearly express intention. Eyeliner can help draw attention to your eyes, but bold, coal-black winged eyeliner sends a message that you are not to be fucked with. Manicured nails will make you look put-together, but long, acrylic nails resembling talons make a statement.

Stilettos add some punch to your nighttime look, but their sharp heels can do more than give you an extra three inches if you know where to stab them.

Feminist writer Gina Tonic wrote a story for Bustle embracing this sentiment in 2015 called, “7 Ways Your Acrylic Nails Are A Feminist Tool For Shutting Down The Patriarchy,” in which she states her belief in reclaiming socially constructed beauty standards as a way to empower women. “Whether the intention behind your false nails is feminist or not,” she says, “the next time a misogynist accuses you of conforming, mentally scratch their eyes out with these feminist nail theories.” False nails can be used as vehicles for political nail art, a sense of confidence, and — if need be — a literal weapon of self-defense, Tonic argues they can send a feminist message out to the world.

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Youtuber Tadelesmith also tackled this disconnect in a 2013 video called “Feminist Makeup Tutorial (PARODY),” that has since gotten over one million views. She starts off the video by saying, “ever wanted to singlehandedly dismantle the patriarchy? This fresh yet powerful look will give you the upper hand when defeating your male enemies, thereby allowing you to establish an Amazonian world order over which you and your sisters will rule.”

The parody follows the standard format of many popular beauty tutorials on Youtube — Tadelesmith applies her makeup step-by-step on camera with commentary, including everything from product information to application tips. When applying foundation, for instance, she says, “make sure you give every part of your face a fair and equal amount of representation, unlike the government and primetime network television.” Where other Youtubers might recommend using a powder from Sephora to set your foundation, Tadelesmith prefers to use “the powdered ashes of Susan B. Anthony.”

The feminist makeup tutorial, though clearly a parody, echoes viral posts on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr that praise the weaponization of femininity. Phrases like “eyeliner as black as my heart, lipstick as red as the blood of my fallen enemies” have been posted and reposted so many times on so many platforms that it’s nearly impossible to tell when and where they originated. They have become rallying cries for the many women who find themselves at the crossroads of feminism and femininity.

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Men like Carlson see women as two-dimensional figures entirely unable to have more than one interest at a time.

In his mind, if you are a woman, you either care about fashion or politics, but never both.

From our body hair to our makeup to our clothes and hairstyles, women’s appearances are constantly being policed by men — men who loudly and proudly state their preferences as to how women should look, men who don’t take women who wear makeup seriously at the office, men who run multi-billion dollar cosmetic companies that advertise products teaching women to cover up imperfections they didn’t know they had. Because of this, a dissonance exists between the idea that “real” feminists shouldn’t care how they look and the idea that women can wear makeup and shave their legs but still be feminists.

Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie addressed this when she spoke to Allure about her personal relationship with makeup in January. She said she stopped wearing makeup for years because she realized she couldn’t be seen as both intellectual and feminine. “At some point I started to realize that there was something very wrong with the idea that if you're a woman and you're interested in things that are traditionally feminine, then somehow it means that you can't possibly be serious, or feminist, or intellectual,” she said. “And I just thought that there's something deeply problematic about that, for a number of reasons but the most important being: well, why not?”

This weaponized femininity often takes on an exaggerated form in order to more clearly express intention. Eyeliner can help draw attention to your eyes, but bold, coal-black winged eyeliner sends a message that you are not to be fucked with. Manicured nails will make you look put-together, but long, acrylic nails resembling talons make a statement.

Stilettos add some punch to your nighttime look, but their sharp heels can do more than give you an extra three inches if you know where to stab them.

Feminist writer Gina Tonic wrote a story for Bustle embracing this sentiment in 2015 called, “7 Ways Your Acrylic Nails Are A Feminist Tool For Shutting Down The Patriarchy,” in which she states her belief in reclaiming socially constructed beauty standards as a way to empower women. “Whether the intention behind your false nails is feminist or not,” she says, “the next time a misogynist accuses you of conforming, mentally scratch their eyes out with these feminist nail theories.” False nails can be used as vehicles for political nail art, a sense of confidence, and — if need be — a literal weapon of self-defense, Tonic argues they can send a feminist message out to the world.

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Youtuber Tadelesmith also tackled this disconnect in a 2013 video called “Feminist Makeup Tutorial (PARODY),” that has since gotten over one million views. She starts off the video by saying, “ever wanted to singlehandedly dismantle the patriarchy? This fresh yet powerful look will give you the upper hand when defeating your male enemies, thereby allowing you to establish an Amazonian world order over which you and your sisters will rule.”

The parody follows the standard format of many popular beauty tutorials on Youtube — Tadelesmith applies her makeup step-by-step on camera with commentary, including everything from product information to application tips. When applying foundation, for instance, she says, “make sure you give every part of your face a fair and equal amount of representation, unlike the government and primetime network television.” Where other Youtubers might recommend using a powder from Sephora to set your foundation, Tadelesmith prefers to use “the powdered ashes of Susan B. Anthony.”

The feminist makeup tutorial, though clearly a parody, echoes viral posts on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr that praise the weaponization of femininity. Phrases like “eyeliner as black as my heart, lipstick as red as the blood of my fallen enemies” have been posted and reposted so many times on so many platforms that it’s nearly impossible to tell when and where they originated. They have become rallying cries for the many women who find themselves at the crossroads of feminism and femininity.

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Many beauty accoutrements can feel personally empowering, but there is a difference between something that makes you feel good as an individual and something that is actively helping a movement as a whole. On one hand, someone who identifies as a feminist can wear makeup and feel confident and powerful in doing so, but that does not necessarily make wearing makeup a feminist act — nor does it make that person any more of a feminist. On the other hand, choosing not to wear makeup is a similarly a personal choice that has little to no effect on how women are treated by society in the long run.

Whether your winged eyeliner is sharp enough to kill or you’ve never even set foot inside a Sephora, these choices do not matter as much as the intent behind them. A feminist is a feminist, no matter what’s on their face — so, wear as much or as little makeup as you please, as long as you show up to fight when it really matters. Wearing red lipstick is cool, but wearing red lipstick to a march for a movement you believe in is even cooler.

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Many beauty accoutrements can feel personally empowering, but there is a difference between something that makes you feel good as an individual and something that is actively helping a movement as a whole. On one hand, someone who identifies as a feminist can wear makeup and feel confident and powerful in doing so, but that does not necessarily make wearing makeup a feminist act — nor does it make that person any more of a feminist. On the other hand, choosing not to wear makeup is a similarly a personal choice that has little to no effect on how women are treated by society in the long run.

Whether your winged eyeliner is sharp enough to kill or you’ve never even set foot inside a Sephora, these choices do not matter as much as the intent behind them. A feminist is a feminist, no matter what’s on their face — so, wear as much or as little makeup as you please, as long as you show up to fight when it really matters. Wearing red lipstick is cool, but wearing red lipstick to a march for a movement you believe in is even cooler.

effortlessly beautiful artist who posts her poems, drawings and photography on social media. “On my Rinsta, I share my art like a mini gallery, but on Finsta I can just have a private space where I can share my life with people who genuinely want to know what’s going on,” Morales explained.

Sydney Anderson personifies rainbows like your favorite vegan aunt. We ended up FaceTiming for hours, ugly laughing about technology, finding common ground in our experiences, and realizing that although she is fifteen, she feels like she could be twenty. “Everyone is always shocked when they realize how old I am,” explained Anderson. “I guess I just feel more aware of things because of technology and I’m okay with that.” Like Morales, Anderson gushed over how much she loves what Finsta has done for her. “We all have it. If you don’t have a Finsta people probably don’t know the real you.” This double persona phenomenon seems to be a central theme with Generation Z. Broadway-bound, tap dancing, Snow-White’stwin Greta Weber explained that although social media has helped her with things like school and keeping connected with friends, it has burned a few bridges. “iMessage is scary. You can’t trust it because sometimes things you thought were private are just not.” I felt like she was taking me on a tour of a screenshot-themed haunted house as she listed some cringe-worthy experiences. “It’s so easy to avoid problems with technology because you are able to hide behind a screen, saying as much or as little as you want.” I thought this was where it would all roll down hill. “Just tell me that you hate it,” I remember thinking, but negativity was not an option for these interviewees.

Then I asked my last question, “Do you have anything else to add?” Miraculously, all said the same thing: “I could never live without it.” And to be honest, neither could I. The vast ocean between people born only five years apart needs a bridge built from both sides. We need to meet in the middle on this topic, and we need to meet now.

Imagine what it’s like to know technology better than your first language. Imagine how confusing it must feel to be ridiculed for something you have no control over. But above all, imagine how beautiful the world will be with the positivity of a new type of person finding their passions, connections, and ultimately themselves through one of the greatest revolutions of our time.

54

brown sparkles faded from her eyes. Mia Miller’s mermaid hair seemed to grow shorter. Grace Waronker’s tattoos all looked mad at me, and it was then that I realized how disconnected our generation really is. The involuntary response to a simple question was frightening. Each one had different ways of growing up, but one common thread would never separate them: they all remembered life before touch screens.

“Mine looked like a peanut,” giggled Miller about her first phone, while Krivit, whose heart belongs in the 1970s, sighed. “I can’t talk about this,” she said and glided out of the room, exasperated by a toxic topic. Waronker nonchalantly told the story of her glamourous LA life, full of bubblegum Razor phones and formal lessons on how it all worked.

The conversation felt like a massive shoulder shrug. It seemed like we didn’t know where to go from here.

“You could say we have lived in two dimensions,” said Waronker. “We don’t agree with anyone about ideas on technology and I think it is why we are one of the most overwhelmed group of young adults in history—it’s like we don’t fit in anywhere.” I swallowed that down and asked about their opinions on kids five years younger than them. By the looks of them, I thought they might cry. There was not

Morgan Wright

This is a story that will take you on a journey far deeper than ideas of technology should.

Originally, I intended for it to be an ode to the twenty-year-old. I wanted to explain how “lucky” we are to have had a “childhood” and how “sad” it is that people only five years younger will never get such a “luxury.” However, I want to thank all that is good in the world that that is not the story you’re reading.

I decided to stop playing God (shocking) and actually talk to real people (shocking) who called Generation Z, those born between 1996–2010, home. Through seven beautifully vulnerable conversations, I felt as though I had read seven unique books on the concept of hope. I hope that my words will give you a glimpse into a sea of harbored bitterness after the first iPhone pulled into port. I want their confused nostalgia about lost childhood experiences to burst through these paragraphs like the sunlight that they have, in fact, played in. This is a story to rebuild broken bridges. It is to show you that lemonade stand kids and Apple-raised babies are simply separated by a fruit.

“Can I ask you guys about growing up with technology?” I said to my three best friends on a day too sunny for their dreaded answers. Annie Krivit’s

Jenny Griffin

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Wires and Bridges

much they could say, except that they are scared for people who don’t know what life is like without an iPhone. I said thank you and tip-toed towards the door, thinking it was over.

“One more thing,” said a voice that sounded like gray clouds. “I would be way more fucked up if I had the amount of social media I have now when I was fifteen.” It was Miller. I didn’t turn around.

I could tell that it hurt everyone in that room a little too much to talk about a piece of their life that was thrust upon them. To us, the idea of owning a well-visited Instagram before your first kiss sounds like giving fireworks to a toddler fingerpainting with gasoline. We were born into this world during one of the most overwhelming revolutions of all time, unprepared for the technology that was put into our hands. We were just kids.

Through FaceTime chats, I connected with four brilliant kids from my hometown. I queried them about their relationship with technology.

Humanity clothed their words with vulnerability deeper than any judgement you could make about them. Please be gentle with them. Yes, they can still see the sun while they photograph it, and yes they know what a playground is. They can still climb a tree. They are exceptional multitaskers whose childhoods happened to converge with screens.

Soft-spoken and crystally humble, Isaac Dunbar’s answers sounded like a million string quartets. I found him on Instagram through his original music. “I have been writing, producing, and recording my own music since I was twelve.”

He’s thirteen now, believing that without technology, that would not have been possible. The quality of Isaac’s music, due to self-taught editing skills, is something that would have been lost on me at his age. While his words oozed with passion, I couldn’t help but wonder if he had missed out on any part of childhood due to his immediate introduction to technology. “I mean yes, sometimes I want to play outside, but that isn’t my main focus or passion. I think that a childhood means having fun doing something you love, and for me that is music.” In that moment, I reevaluated the definition of childhood. Is the phrase “playing outside” essential to that concept? If childhood simply means “the state of being a child,” why can’t technology play a part? This is the plight of the middle children of Generation Z. The voices of Shaya Morales, Greta Weber, and Sydney Anderson echoed Dunbar’s thoughts on being introduced to technology at an early age. “Finsta is like my diary,” said Morales, an

effortlessly beautiful artist who posts her poems, drawings and photography on social media. “On my Rinsta, I share my art like a mini gallery, but on Finsta I can just have a private space where I can share my life with people who genuinely want to know what’s going on,” Morales explained.

Sydney Anderson personifies rainbows like your favorite vegan aunt. We ended up FaceTiming for hours, ugly laughing about technology, finding common ground in our experiences, and realizing that although she is fifteen, she feels like she could be twenty. “Everyone is always shocked when they realize how old I am,” explained Anderson. “I guess I just feel more aware of things because of technology and I’m okay with that.” Like Morales, Anderson gushed over how much she loves what Finsta has done for her. “We all have it. If you don’t have a Finsta people probably don’t know the real you.” This double persona phenomenon seems to be a central theme with Generation Z. Broadway-bound, tap dancing, Snow-White’stwin Greta Weber explained that although social media has helped her with things like school and keeping connected with friends, it has burned a few bridges. “iMessage is scary. You can’t trust it because sometimes things you thought were private are just not.” I felt like she was taking me on a tour of a screenshot-themed haunted house as she listed some cringe-worthy experiences. “It’s so easy to avoid problems with technology because you are able to hide behind a screen, saying as much or as little as you want.” I thought this was where it would all roll down hill. “Just tell me that you hate it,” I remember thinking, but negativity was not an option for these interviewees.

Then I asked my last question, “Do you have anything else to add?” Miraculously, all said the same thing: “I could never live without it.” And to be honest, neither could I. The vast ocean between people born only five years apart needs a bridge built from both sides. We need to meet in the middle on this topic, and we need to meet now.

Imagine what it’s like to know technology better than your first language. Imagine how confusing it must feel to be ridiculed for something you have no control over. But above all, imagine how beautiful the world will be with the positivity of a new type of person finding their passions, connections, and ultimately themselves through one of the greatest revolutions of our time.

54

brown sparkles faded from her eyes. Mia Miller’s mermaid hair seemed to grow shorter. Grace Waronker’s tattoos all looked mad at me, and it was then that I realized how disconnected our generation really is. The involuntary response to a simple question was frightening. Each one had different ways of growing up, but one common thread would never separate them: they all remembered life before touch screens.

“Mine looked like a peanut,” giggled Miller about her first phone, while Krivit, whose heart belongs in the 1970s, sighed. “I can’t talk about this,” she said and glided out of the room, exasperated by a toxic topic. Waronker nonchalantly told the story of her glamourous LA life, full of bubblegum Razor phones and formal lessons on how it all worked.

The conversation felt like a massive shoulder shrug. It seemed like we didn’t know where to go from here.

“You could say we have lived in two dimensions,” said Waronker. “We don’t agree with anyone about ideas on technology and I think it is why we are one of the most overwhelmed group of young adults in history—it’s like we don’t fit in anywhere.” I swallowed that down and asked about their opinions on kids five years younger than them. By the looks of them, I thought they might cry. There was not

Morgan Wright

This is a story that will take you on a journey far deeper than ideas of technology should.

Originally, I intended for it to be an ode to the twenty-year-old. I wanted to explain how “lucky” we are to have had a “childhood” and how “sad” it is that people only five years younger will never get such a “luxury.” However, I want to thank all that is good in the world that that is not the story you’re reading.

I decided to stop playing God (shocking) and actually talk to real people (shocking) who called Generation Z, those born between 1996–2010, home. Through seven beautifully vulnerable conversations, I felt as though I had read seven unique books on the concept of hope. I hope that my words will give you a glimpse into a sea of harbored bitterness after the first iPhone pulled into port. I want their confused nostalgia about lost childhood experiences to burst through these paragraphs like the sunlight that they have, in fact, played in. This is a story to rebuild broken bridges. It is to show you that lemonade stand kids and Apple-raised babies are simply separated by a fruit.

“Can I ask you guys about growing up with technology?” I said to my three best friends on a day too sunny for their dreaded answers. Annie Krivit’s

Jenny Griffin

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Wires and Bridges

much they could say, except that they are scared for people who don’t know what life is like without an iPhone. I said thank you and tip-toed towards the door, thinking it was over.

“One more thing,” said a voice that sounded like gray clouds. “I would be way more fucked up if I had the amount of social media I have now when I was fifteen.” It was Miller. I didn’t turn around.

I could tell that it hurt everyone in that room a little too much to talk about a piece of their life that was thrust upon them. To us, the idea of owning a well-visited Instagram before your first kiss sounds like giving fireworks to a toddler fingerpainting with gasoline. We were born into this world during one of the most overwhelming revolutions of all time, unprepared for the technology that was put into our hands. We were just kids.

Through FaceTime chats, I connected with four brilliant kids from my hometown. I queried them about their relationship with technology.

Humanity clothed their words with vulnerability deeper than any judgement you could make about them. Please be gentle with them. Yes, they can still see the sun while they photograph it, and yes they know what a playground is. They can still climb a tree. They are exceptional multitaskers whose childhoods happened to converge with screens.

Soft-spoken and crystally humble, Isaac Dunbar’s answers sounded like a million string quartets. I found him on Instagram through his original music. “I have been writing, producing, and recording my own music since I was twelve.”

He’s thirteen now, believing that without technology, that would not have been possible. The quality of Isaac’s music, due to self-taught editing skills, is something that would have been lost on me at his age. While his words oozed with passion, I couldn’t help but wonder if he had missed out on any part of childhood due to his immediate introduction to technology. “I mean yes, sometimes I want to play outside, but that isn’t my main focus or passion. I think that a childhood means having fun doing something you love, and for me that is music.” In that moment, I reevaluated the definition of childhood. Is the phrase “playing outside” essential to that concept? If childhood simply means “the state of being a child,” why can’t technology play a part? This is the plight of the middle children of Generation Z. The voices of Shaya Morales, Greta Weber, and Sydney Anderson echoed Dunbar’s thoughts on being introduced to technology at an early age. “Finsta is like my diary,” said Morales, an

Julianna Sy

run, climb and catch up. Be that as it may, recent representations of feminine clothing have made me rethink that concept. A red-headed model in a sheer blue floor-length gown emblazoned with embroidered flowers walked down the runway and stopped me in my tracks: nothing about this girl seemed weak to me, though she was definitely romantic. Instead of simply “pretty,” I saw her as strong—strong enough to strangle the patriarchy with her chiffon skirt without batting a perfectly mascaraed eyelash.

Dior’s designs as a brand embody the feminine silhouette, and Chiuri has stayed true. Daring to take it up a notch, she created a collection with powerful women in mind—women who dress for themselves, not for male approval. This is something that Dior’s original New Look hinted at with the classic bar jacket, a structured white blazer with accentuated slopes and curves that followed a woman’s shape—as opposed to rectangular jackets that hid the waist—paired with a full, pleated black midi skirt. This iconic outfit presented a woman ready to take on whatever she wanted in the world, whether that be running a company or redefining blazers as an item not exclusive to menswear.

Head over to Chanel’s Spring Couture 2017 show and the bad-assery only increases. Here, models scowled in curvy silhouettes and strong shoulders, all with impeccably clean styling, clad in an array of soft pastels and sparkling silvers. Many models wore mod-reminiscent tweed suits, looking like they were the most powerful CEO on the block.

Karl Lagerfeld took the Mad Men sixties secretary vibe and turned it into the look of a woman about to get a promotion or perhaps run the world. A pearl anklet proves that she is smart and elegant, but her glare implies that she needn’t deign to tell you that.

The last look of Chanel’s collection, a voluminous pink wedding gown worn by Lily Rose Depp, cemented the spring season’s most powerful trend: loud, in-your-face femininity. Depp floated down the runway in large bubblegum-tinted ruffles that presented a bride who is unique and charismatic, not at all the wilting paper doll stereotype that some wedding designers perpetuate. While this collection may be a stretch from Chanel’s roots in

Isabel Crabtree

On February 12, 1947 on L’Avenue Montaigne in Paris, Christian Dior exhibited his high fashion brand’s first spring/summer collection. The line focused on bringing back a feminine silhouette as a response to boxy clothing made with primarily non-rationed materials during World War II: think accentuated waists, full skirts and supple textiles in a range of colors. Dior’s vision-turned-trend was dubbed “The New Look.” Decades later, it’s 2017 and Maria Grazia Chiuri has debuted her first couture collection as Dior’s head Creative Designer. Models dressed in yards of chiffon and tulle covered in hearts and embroidered flowers stalked down a moss-blanketed runway within an enchanted forest tucked inside a posh mansion.

Accentuated busts and breezy, romantic styles threw Chiuri into the spotlight as a visionary, but with a playful nod to the maison’s roots.

The Spring 2017 Fashion Weeks, from New York to Paris to London, saw everything from medieval gowns in rich velvet to barely-there sheer dresses leaving nipples exposed, to structured black capes and jackets from Dior and other designers. As I watched model after model power-walk down the runway from my Macbook in my faraway East Boston bedroom, I thought to myself, “Hey. They all look like badass bitches.”

Normally, I feel like I’d be able to hold my own in a fight against most Paris Fashion Week models, but I began to question my confidence when I saw Chiuri and her team.

They proved that they were not just mannequins showing off clothing, but people being empowered by the fashion of today. “Feminine” fashion can quite often be seen as weak or frail, as not-feminist, as pandering to hetero and gender-normative standards. Long skirts and high heels, things that are stereotypical elements of “women’s” fashion, can sometimes read as debilitating—they just get in the way, making it harder to

shows, I was reminded of a dress in my closet that I’d only worn once. It’s a blush nude ballerina dress with a tulle skirt. I bought it on a whim and then shoved it to the back of my closet—it made me feel inadequate and frilly. For the next few days, I couldn’t stop thinking about that dress.

Chiuri made women look like powerhouses in blush tulle, so why couldn’t I? I decided to wear it, and all day I felt more powerful and capable than I ever had before in a dress. Usually I take myself less seriously when I’m wearing a dress, as if there’s a connotation that I can’t be as independent and industrious as when I’m wearing a pair of pants and a blazer. However, on this day I flipped that mentality around. Soon after, I wore another dress, this time with a fuller skirt, paired with pink shiny earrings and purple lipstick. I twisted my hair up into a ballerina bun and threw on a pink jacket for good measure. At first looked I was reminded of ballet recitals in elementary school.

Then, after remembering Lily Rose Depp’s fierce visage, I reworked that image of myself into a strong, powerful, kickass woman. I remembered why I love fashion: it gives everyone a chance to show the world their own personal, unique power.

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53

The New New

drop-waisted, boyish black dresses, it’s a welcome shift.

Menswear is usually designated as the most powerful statement to be made, but I’d like to question that. No one way of dressing is more powerful than the other. Suits, no matter who is wearing them, cannot top dresses.

The best spring couture collections this year had a mix of genres and pieces, from lacy skirts to structured blazers. Similarly, some of the best men’s couture collections included stereotypically female-designated articles of clothing: men in skirts and dresses looking just as powerful as their comrades in suits. Articles of clothing don’t have to be inherently gendered.

One of the most popular items from Chiuri’s debut at Dior is a t-shirt that reads “WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINISTS.” Catch celebrities repping it across the globe. On the runway, it’s been styled with sheer chiffon skirts and soft white layers of tulle. The models looked just as strong and assertive as a woman in a pair of steamed slacks.

Instead of only allowing structure and masculinity to portray strength, high fashion designers are taking back “feminine” details and reshaping our perception of them. I’ll never be able to look at another sheer bodice or pearl necklace without thinking that maybe it isn’t frail and girly, but strong and expressive and girly—because, girly, in my opinion, is a good thing. These designers aren’t saying that “feminine” style is better than any other, but instead are taking a genre that has generally been classified as frivolous and reworking it to show that anyone can portray power through personal, deliberate, and uninhibited expressions of fashion.

Flipping through the photos from these fashion

Julianna Sy

run, climb and catch up. Be that as it may, recent representations of feminine clothing have made me rethink that concept. A red-headed model in a sheer blue floor-length gown emblazoned with embroidered flowers walked down the runway and stopped me in my tracks: nothing about this girl seemed weak to me, though she was definitely romantic. Instead of simply “pretty,” I saw her as strong—strong enough to strangle the patriarchy with her chiffon skirt without batting a perfectly mascaraed eyelash.

Dior’s designs as a brand embody the feminine silhouette, and Chiuri has stayed true. Daring to take it up a notch, she created a collection with powerful women in mind—women who dress for themselves, not for male approval. This is something that Dior’s original New Look hinted at with the classic bar jacket, a structured white blazer with accentuated slopes and curves that followed a woman’s shape—as opposed to rectangular jackets that hid the waist—paired with a full, pleated black midi skirt. This iconic outfit presented a woman ready to take on whatever she wanted in the world, whether that be running a company or redefining blazers as an item not exclusive to menswear.

Head over to Chanel’s Spring Couture 2017 show and the bad-assery only increases. Here, models scowled in curvy silhouettes and strong shoulders, all with impeccably clean styling, clad in an array of soft pastels and sparkling silvers. Many models wore mod-reminiscent tweed suits, looking like they were the most powerful CEO on the block.

Karl Lagerfeld took the Mad Men sixties secretary vibe and turned it into the look of a woman about to get a promotion or perhaps run the world. A pearl anklet proves that she is smart and elegant, but her glare implies that she needn’t deign to tell you that.

The last look of Chanel’s collection, a voluminous pink wedding gown worn by Lily Rose Depp, cemented the spring season’s most powerful trend: loud, in-your-face femininity. Depp floated down the runway in large bubblegum-tinted ruffles that presented a bride who is unique and charismatic, not at all the wilting paper doll stereotype that some wedding designers perpetuate. While this collection may be a stretch from Chanel’s roots in

Isabel Crabtree

On February 12, 1947 on L’Avenue Montaigne in Paris, Christian Dior exhibited his high fashion brand’s first spring/summer collection. The line focused on bringing back a feminine silhouette as a response to boxy clothing made with primarily non-rationed materials during World War II: think accentuated waists, full skirts and supple textiles in a range of colors. Dior’s vision-turned-trend was dubbed “The New Look.” Decades later, it’s 2017 and Maria Grazia Chiuri has debuted her first couture collection as Dior’s head Creative Designer. Models dressed in yards of chiffon and tulle covered in hearts and embroidered flowers stalked down a moss-blanketed runway within an enchanted forest tucked inside a posh mansion.

Accentuated busts and breezy, romantic styles threw Chiuri into the spotlight as a visionary, but with a playful nod to the maison’s roots.

The Spring 2017 Fashion Weeks, from New York to Paris to London, saw everything from medieval gowns in rich velvet to barely-there sheer dresses leaving nipples exposed, to structured black capes and jackets from Dior and other designers. As I watched model after model power-walk down the runway from my Macbook in my faraway East Boston bedroom, I thought to myself, “Hey. They all look like badass bitches.”

Normally, I feel like I’d be able to hold my own in a fight against most Paris Fashion Week models, but I began to question my confidence when I saw Chiuri and her team.

They proved that they were not just mannequins showing off clothing, but people being empowered by the fashion of today. “Feminine” fashion can quite often be seen as weak or frail, as not-feminist, as pandering to hetero and gender-normative standards. Long skirts and high heels, things that are stereotypical elements of “women’s” fashion, can sometimes read as debilitating—they just get in the way, making it harder to

shows, I was reminded of a dress in my closet that I’d only worn once. It’s a blush nude ballerina dress with a tulle skirt. I bought it on a whim and then shoved it to the back of my closet—it made me feel inadequate and frilly. For the next few days, I couldn’t stop thinking about that dress.

Chiuri made women look like powerhouses in blush tulle, so why couldn’t I? I decided to wear it, and all day I felt more powerful and capable than I ever had before in a dress. Usually I take myself less seriously when I’m wearing a dress, as if there’s a connotation that I can’t be as independent and industrious as when I’m wearing a pair of pants and a blazer. However, on this day I flipped that mentality around. Soon after, I wore another dress, this time with a fuller skirt, paired with pink shiny earrings and purple lipstick. I twisted my hair up into a ballerina bun and threw on a pink jacket for good measure. At first looked I was reminded of ballet recitals in elementary school.

Then, after remembering Lily Rose Depp’s fierce visage, I reworked that image of myself into a strong, powerful, kickass woman. I remembered why I love fashion: it gives everyone a chance to show the world their own personal, unique power.

52

53

The New New

drop-waisted, boyish black dresses, it’s a welcome shift.

Menswear is usually designated as the most powerful statement to be made, but I’d like to question that. No one way of dressing is more powerful than the other. Suits, no matter who is wearing them, cannot top dresses.

The best spring couture collections this year had a mix of genres and pieces, from lacy skirts to structured blazers. Similarly, some of the best men’s couture collections included stereotypically female-designated articles of clothing: men in skirts and dresses looking just as powerful as their comrades in suits. Articles of clothing don’t have to be inherently gendered.

One of the most popular items from Chiuri’s debut at Dior is a t-shirt that reads “WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINISTS.” Catch celebrities repping it across the globe. On the runway, it’s been styled with sheer chiffon skirts and soft white layers of tulle. The models looked just as strong and assertive as a woman in a pair of steamed slacks.

Instead of only allowing structure and masculinity to portray strength, high fashion designers are taking back “feminine” details and reshaping our perception of them. I’ll never be able to look at another sheer bodice or pearl necklace without thinking that maybe it isn’t frail and girly, but strong and expressive and girly—because, girly, in my opinion, is a good thing. These designers aren’t saying that “feminine” style is better than any other, but instead are taking a genre that has generally been classified as frivolous and reworking it to show that anyone can portray power through personal, deliberate, and uninhibited expressions of fashion.

Flipping through the photos from these fashion

distortion

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Kai Grayson, Dakota Malisoff, Bruce Song Noah Chiet Styled by Katya Katsnelson, Carina Allen, and Noah Chiet — Kai: Dress; Lazy Oaf.

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distortion

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Kai Grayson, Dakota Malisoff, Bruce Song Noah Chiet Styled by Katya Katsnelson, Carina Allen, and Noah Chiet — Kai: Dress; Lazy Oaf.

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Rise Up Revolutionary: radically new or innovative; outside or beyond established procedure, principles, etc. These six women are redefining what it means to be a college student through their intense dedication to their craft, organization, and disposition.

In powerful spots of history from the Revolutionary War, we asked our heroines to share how their passion projects help to drive their empowerment as women.

Shot by Austin Quintana.

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Sofia Alvarado Mendoza

EVVY36 Creative Content Executive Producer and Kappa Gamma Chi 2017 Emerald Empowerment Co-Chair "I have been inspired by women who go above and beyond, women who do something that has not been done before, and women who are unapologetically themselves. I would not have achieved what I have during my time if it weren’t for the women who mentored me and stood by me. I am now at a point where I can offer that type of mentorship to other women and it’s truly a privilege."

Rise Up Revolutionary: radically new or innovative; outside or beyond established procedure, principles, etc. These six women are redefining what it means to be a college student through their intense dedication to their craft, organization, and disposition.

In powerful spots of history from the Revolutionary War, we asked our heroines to share how their passion projects help to drive their empowerment as women.

Shot by Austin Quintana.

45

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Sofia Alvarado Mendoza

EVVY36 Creative Content Executive Producer and Kappa Gamma Chi 2017 Emerald Empowerment Co-Chair "I have been inspired by women who go above and beyond, women who do something that has not been done before, and women who are unapologetically themselves. I would not have achieved what I have during my time if it weren’t for the women who mentored me and stood by me. I am now at a point where I can offer that type of mentorship to other women and it’s truly a privilege."

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Alice Yuan Marketing Director for Verified Film and Co-President of Emerson Treble Makers "I believe in the importance of challenging social constructs and sexism on a day to day basis by posting way too many posts and photos on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook. Singing is another way I channel my love and fight the fight for anyone who identifies as a woman. I feel most comfortable singing songs of female empowerment, written by inspiring female artists, because they are easy to identify with."

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Alice Yuan Marketing Director for Verified Film and Co-President of Emerson Treble Makers "I believe in the importance of challenging social constructs and sexism on a day to day basis by posting way too many posts and photos on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook. Singing is another way I channel my love and fight the fight for anyone who identifies as a woman. I feel most comfortable singing songs of female empowerment, written by inspiring female artists, because they are easy to identify with."

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Lissa Deonarain

Documentary Filmmaker and President of Flawless Brown

"The motivating factor for a lot of the work I do is simple: uplifting the voices of those who are continually silenced and ignored. I find empowerment in watching all of these talented women of color grow and create art they are passionate about. As a queer woman of color, every time someone shares with me, it makes me thankful I am part of such a strong, resilient community."

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Lissa Deonarain

Documentary Filmmaker and President of Flawless Brown

"The motivating factor for a lot of the work I do is simple: uplifting the voices of those who are continually silenced and ignored. I find empowerment in watching all of these talented women of color grow and create art they are passionate about. As a queer woman of color, every time someone shares with me, it makes me thankful I am part of such a strong, resilient community."

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Sara Barber

Founder of Emerzine and Photo Director of Gauge Magazine "As for how I use my passion to help find empowerment as a woman, I think it essentially works both ways for me. My womanhood has shaped the majority of my experience, so it fuels what I create with my passions. I produce publications that are centered in making something strong out of what I've been told is weak. My femininity can be dainty but it is always powerful. "

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Sara Barber

Founder of Emerzine and Photo Director of Gauge Magazine "As for how I use my passion to help find empowerment as a woman, I think it essentially works both ways for me. My womanhood has shaped the majority of my experience, so it fuels what I create with my passions. I produce publications that are centered in making something strong out of what I've been told is weak. My femininity can be dainty but it is always powerful. "

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Angelina Salcedo

Bilingual Multimedia Journalist, President of RTDNA/WEBN & NAHJ Emerson "My passion is helping people. I found out that I could do that by giving people a voice through my profession. As a woman, it's empowering to know that in the future people will be relying on me for their news and that I can be a reliable source for them. As a bilingual journalist, it's even more empowering to know that I get to open the door for Latino/Hispanic girls that dream to be able to do my job one day."

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Angelina Salcedo

Bilingual Multimedia Journalist, President of RTDNA/WEBN & NAHJ Emerson "My passion is helping people. I found out that I could do that by giving people a voice through my profession. As a woman, it's empowering to know that in the future people will be relying on me for their news and that I can be a reliable source for them. As a bilingual journalist, it's even more empowering to know that I get to open the door for Latino/Hispanic girls that dream to be able to do my job one day."

dismissed her position as hypocritical, since she went on to pose topless for Vanity Fair the next month. This criticism dismissed the fact that Lawrence never condemned nude photos as a concept, instead commenting on the distribution of personal photos without consent and with the intention to hurt or embarrass. It’s easy for internet trolls to scream “slut” before moving onto the next juicy gossip that’s available to them, without analyzing why a star would chose to take off clothing in the first place.

The shift in values from modesty to physical liberation is a direct reflection of society’s move towards a world with more than just a few “ideal” body types. Recently, there has been a noticeable push for a more diverse representation of body types, skin tones, and genders not only within art, but within media as well. The goal of this movement is to encourage people to be comfortable in their own skins by exposing them all bodies, instead of only filtering out the “perfect” ones. Not only is representation on the rise, but nudity is

also becoming normalized. Programs on Netflix, HBO, and Showtime take full advantage of their ability to broadcast sensitive content such as aggressive or offensive language, sex, and partial or full nudity.

Artists are using nudity as a way of liberating the body from scrutiny. “Before nude modeling, I never looked at my body like art… I picked myself apart piece by piece,” says Bishop. “Now, I see a Rubens painting, or a Botticelli, or a Michelangelo sculpture. I see the pastel sketch that Larry did of me in the last class I posed for, or the painting 17-year-old Chloe did that won her a scholarship to an art university.”

Bishop has learned that her body is a muse for these artists, that is has the power to inspire. “I’ve posed for high school art classes and I love those the most. The boys are so respectful, and I hope through my confidence the young women in the class can feel empowered to embrace their own womanhood, their own beauty.”

“I was so nervous the first time I posed nude, but especially because adult men made up the majority of the class, but I never once felt gawked at, or objectified.”

34

Aren Kabarajian

The lines between art and profanity will continue to be blurred, as long as artists follow their own inner compasses rather, than those of their audiences. It was Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart that said, “I can’t define [pornography], but I know it when I see it.” It seems only fitting that decades later, Justice Potter’s 21 year-old great niece, Emerson senior Mikayla Bishop, would be clarifying the distinction between nudity and pornography within the realm of art. She has been posing nude for community art classes for the past four years.

Despite initial hesitation, Bishop was convinced to try modeling nude by a friend. “I was so nervous the first time I posed nude, especially because adult men made up the majority of the class, but I never once felt gawked at or objectified.”

According to Bishop, the models can often convey their intentions for their bodies through their poses. “If the subject is sitting with legs open and fingers in her mouth, you’re going to immediately get a different interpretation from a photograph or drawing of a woman sitting peacefully and neutrally,” says Bishop. “I often find that sexualized art just uses the nudity as a ‘prop’ of sorts, but the human form is the main subject of the figure drawing.”

Any pair of breasts or set of genitals can be seen as sexualized body parts, but Bishop prefers to see the body as a whole. She thinks about nakedness as a human map, marking every stage of life and human development.

“Have you ever just stood in the mirror and looked at yourself naked?” she asks. “It's like looking at a oil painting of a landscape... the mountains of your breasts, your hips, the rivers of your veins, the lightning of your stretch marks, the strong tree trunks of your legs…”

While being nude can put one in a position of vulnerability, the creation of nude art or participation in nude posing can be a way of regaining a sense of ownership over one’s body. When nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence were distributed during the infamous 2014 celebrity iCloud leak, the actress stated that the hack was a “gross” invasion of privacy and called the act a “sex crime.” Internet critics

Caroline Long

He stands casually, one knee cocked with the adjoining foot turned out. The other leg stands confidently, bearing the weight of his 17-foot tall, smooth, pale body. The contours of his abdomen create natural shadows, just above the crease of his pelvis and thighs. The veins of his hands pop, hinting at the blood coursing through them. His furrowed eyebrows compliment two eyes, devoid of color but not of emotion. Rugged hair curls effortlessly atop his head, giving the impression that you could tussle it, even though you can’t. He is naked, he is a marble sculpture, and he is Michelangelo’s masterpiece: David. Art, right?

Of course, if the nude statue was sculpted by a famous artist, it must be art. What if the statue of David was not sculpted by someone of such significance, or what if it wasn’t a sculpture at all?

If David was a live man, made of human flesh and skin, with his genitals exposed, standing in front of an iPhone camera in the 21st century, would he still fit the credentials of fine art?

To evaluate the difference between beauty and obscenity, we must first acknowledge what makes a great artist: intention. Exposing an audience to naked skin can convey vulnerability or emotion, help one gain perspective, or even function in a way that is entirely different and unexpected; these are the decisions that an artist must make. When Michelangelo sculpted David, his inspiration was the biblical character of the same name preparing for battle against the behemoth Goliath. The sculpture’s casual, yet concentrated stance emphasizes the idea that David’s victory was one of cleverness, rather than brute force. His classic sensitivity can be compared to a piece that came nearly 400 years later: Rodin’s The Thinker, which was representative of the standards of perfection during the the time.

Michelangelo interpreted the story of David in a way that expressed ideas of precision and perfection. From the 1500s to now, the human form hasn’t changed—only the social norms that dictate the perceptions of the viewer.

However, David continues to be considered a masterpiece.

Sara Nagie

35

Nude or NSFW?

dismissed her position as hypocritical, since she went on to pose topless for Vanity Fair the next month. This criticism dismissed the fact that Lawrence never condemned nude photos as a concept, instead commenting on the distribution of personal photos without consent and with the intention to hurt or embarrass. It’s easy for internet trolls to scream “slut” before moving onto the next juicy gossip that’s available to them, without analyzing why a star would chose to take off clothing in the first place.

The shift in values from modesty to physical liberation is a direct reflection of society’s move towards a world with more than just a few “ideal” body types. Recently, there has been a noticeable push for a more diverse representation of body types, skin tones, and genders not only within art, but within media as well. The goal of this movement is to encourage people to be comfortable in their own skins by exposing them all bodies, instead of only filtering out the “perfect” ones. Not only is representation on the rise, but nudity is

also becoming normalized. Programs on Netflix, HBO, and Showtime take full advantage of their ability to broadcast sensitive content such as aggressive or offensive language, sex, and partial or full nudity.

Artists are using nudity as a way of liberating the body from scrutiny. “Before nude modeling, I never looked at my body like art… I picked myself apart piece by piece,” says Bishop. “Now, I see a Rubens painting, or a Botticelli, or a Michelangelo sculpture. I see the pastel sketch that Larry did of me in the last class I posed for, or the painting 17-year-old Chloe did that won her a scholarship to an art university.”

Bishop has learned that her body is a muse for these artists, that is has the power to inspire. “I’ve posed for high school art classes and I love those the most. The boys are so respectful, and I hope through my confidence the young women in the class can feel empowered to embrace their own womanhood, their own beauty.”

“I was so nervous the first time I posed nude, but especially because adult men made up the majority of the class, but I never once felt gawked at, or objectified.”

34

Aren Kabarajian

The lines between art and profanity will continue to be blurred, as long as artists follow their own inner compasses rather, than those of their audiences. It was Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart that said, “I can’t define [pornography], but I know it when I see it.” It seems only fitting that decades later, Justice Potter’s 21 year-old great niece, Emerson senior Mikayla Bishop, would be clarifying the distinction between nudity and pornography within the realm of art. She has been posing nude for community art classes for the past four years.

Despite initial hesitation, Bishop was convinced to try modeling nude by a friend. “I was so nervous the first time I posed nude, especially because adult men made up the majority of the class, but I never once felt gawked at or objectified.”

According to Bishop, the models can often convey their intentions for their bodies through their poses. “If the subject is sitting with legs open and fingers in her mouth, you’re going to immediately get a different interpretation from a photograph or drawing of a woman sitting peacefully and neutrally,” says Bishop. “I often find that sexualized art just uses the nudity as a ‘prop’ of sorts, but the human form is the main subject of the figure drawing.”

Any pair of breasts or set of genitals can be seen as sexualized body parts, but Bishop prefers to see the body as a whole. She thinks about nakedness as a human map, marking every stage of life and human development.

“Have you ever just stood in the mirror and looked at yourself naked?” she asks. “It's like looking at a oil painting of a landscape... the mountains of your breasts, your hips, the rivers of your veins, the lightning of your stretch marks, the strong tree trunks of your legs…”

While being nude can put one in a position of vulnerability, the creation of nude art or participation in nude posing can be a way of regaining a sense of ownership over one’s body. When nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence were distributed during the infamous 2014 celebrity iCloud leak, the actress stated that the hack was a “gross” invasion of privacy and called the act a “sex crime.” Internet critics

Caroline Long

He stands casually, one knee cocked with the adjoining foot turned out. The other leg stands confidently, bearing the weight of his 17-foot tall, smooth, pale body. The contours of his abdomen create natural shadows, just above the crease of his pelvis and thighs. The veins of his hands pop, hinting at the blood coursing through them. His furrowed eyebrows compliment two eyes, devoid of color but not of emotion. Rugged hair curls effortlessly atop his head, giving the impression that you could tussle it, even though you can’t. He is naked, he is a marble sculpture, and he is Michelangelo’s masterpiece: David. Art, right?

Of course, if the nude statue was sculpted by a famous artist, it must be art. What if the statue of David was not sculpted by someone of such significance, or what if it wasn’t a sculpture at all?

If David was a live man, made of human flesh and skin, with his genitals exposed, standing in front of an iPhone camera in the 21st century, would he still fit the credentials of fine art?

To evaluate the difference between beauty and obscenity, we must first acknowledge what makes a great artist: intention. Exposing an audience to naked skin can convey vulnerability or emotion, help one gain perspective, or even function in a way that is entirely different and unexpected; these are the decisions that an artist must make. When Michelangelo sculpted David, his inspiration was the biblical character of the same name preparing for battle against the behemoth Goliath. The sculpture’s casual, yet concentrated stance emphasizes the idea that David’s victory was one of cleverness, rather than brute force. His classic sensitivity can be compared to a piece that came nearly 400 years later: Rodin’s The Thinker, which was representative of the standards of perfection during the the time.

Michelangelo interpreted the story of David in a way that expressed ideas of precision and perfection. From the 1500s to now, the human form hasn’t changed—only the social norms that dictate the perceptions of the viewer.

However, David continues to be considered a masterpiece.

Sara Nagie

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Nude or NSFW?

Change Your Perspective.

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Change Your Perspective.

Change Your Perspective.

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Change Your Perspective.

Joseph Boudreau Katrina Chaput

HALCYON The road to discovering a lexicon of the abstract is the road of dead poets and crazed vagabonds. And my journey down this road has been frightful, lonely, and confusing. What I bring back are the rotten fruits of a thousand authors left dusted on library shelves. I bring them back not to scare or to remind, but for us to catch light and heat upon. For it is in the word of the wise, the fellow wanderers who trekked alone, muddy and mad through this journey of definition, that we can see clearly and feel inspired to continue.

I wanted to seek knowledge about art, renaissance, and beauty; the more and more I read, the simpler it became: artists’ fascination with the Renaissance comes from their insecurity as creators. Artists have historically chosen to represent something clearly, but because of modernism, we choose to obscure it. Likewise, harmony and beauty play an important role in the construction of our frame, but modernism tells us to ignore that. Modernism also

encourages us to believe that art does not need to be well-executed; that perfection of style, craft, and representation has already been completed, and modernism embraces the idiosyncratic, the eccentric and the chaotic.

Many people, however, are unsure of whether they actually subscribe to modernism or whether it is a trend lying to itself, trying to cope with an inferiority complex.

Think about all the comments you hear walking through the abstract section of an art museum. “This is not art,” the visitors say, confused and stubborn. The rose-colored glasses we put on for the Renaissance seem reasonable, for this movement has created works of monumental scale—works that mark the crux of imitation of real life.

But let us not make ourselves inferior in comparison, for we live in a post-aesthetic era, one in which that renaissance style no longer holds credentials.

Knowing we live in a post-aesthetic era may not allay our insecurities, and it sure as hell won’t make us stop

idolizing the Renaissance. We must, however, understand that the specific art which we appreciate came from the dominant paradigm established by bourgeois society— its emphasis on beauty, figurative art, and artistic skills. Then, maybe, we can take art to mean more than the meaning given to us.

The Renaissance seems to be both perfection and divergence. It was the apex of creation and the jumping-off point leading to surrealism, impressionism, and modernism. It is unfortunate, however, that we narrow our perception of the Renaissance to the movement’s concrete works of art when it encompasses so much more: it is the general excitement and enlightening of the human mind, the zeitgeist of an age intrigued by abstractions and the rebirth of life, love, and expression.

If we can subscribe to that broader definition, we can stop with the glossy eyes and awe-distracted sycophants.

The Renaissance knew of its greatness, splendor and achievements. It is, however, only a temporal moment— not a spatial period—and we must stop hanging onto it, for our hands have become wrinkled and wizened. Drop the Mona Lisa and look at Velázquez; see the similarities and differences, notice the changes, the alterations, the evolution. If you can stop over-glorifying the flawless representation of life that occurs in artwork from the Renaissance, you can develop a critical eye for this world of art which is obscure, slanted, and unhinged. This eye may lead to creativity and knowledge, for you are opening up your value scale to appreciate whole new works of art.

Descartes, the father of modernist philosophy, argues that it does not matter what things actually are, because each individual’s perception of it is unique and different.

That means art is self-determining. The Eccentric Genius of Salvador Dalí, with its walking sticks that move extraterrestrially and hold up a melting face, has no clear intention: its worth and meaning are up to the viewer.

This freedom of creation, which accepts interpretation as unpredictable and vague, enables the artist to produce anything they want. And this liberty often leads to some artworks of which many may question the artistic purpose. The important thing to remember here is that the Renaissance perfected the naturalist style of art: every medium imitated life in the most realistic way possible. The Renaissance’s prowess, therefore, should not be compared to modern-day works, as modernism aims for something else.

A recent shift in linguistic theory tells us that thought emerges first, not structure. A baby is born with inchoate knowledge, feelings, and ideas, but he learns how to shape them through socialization. This linguistic theory is true in art, too. We once thought that structure and imitation were the most valuable works of art, for they communicated something clearly, but now we’ve realized that, like language, our initial thoughts are abstract and inchoate—and sometimes transferring these can be more real and universal.

"I wanted to seek knowledge about art, Renaissance, beauty; and the more and more I read, the simpler it became: artist's fascination with the Renaissance comes from their insecurity as creators."

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Joseph Boudreau Katrina Chaput

HALCYON The road to discovering a lexicon of the abstract is the road of dead poets and crazed vagabonds. And my journey down this road has been frightful, lonely, and confusing. What I bring back are the rotten fruits of a thousand authors left dusted on library shelves. I bring them back not to scare or to remind, but for us to catch light and heat upon. For it is in the word of the wise, the fellow wanderers who trekked alone, muddy and mad through this journey of definition, that we can see clearly and feel inspired to continue.

I wanted to seek knowledge about art, renaissance, and beauty; the more and more I read, the simpler it became: artists’ fascination with the Renaissance comes from their insecurity as creators. Artists have historically chosen to represent something clearly, but because of modernism, we choose to obscure it. Likewise, harmony and beauty play an important role in the construction of our frame, but modernism tells us to ignore that. Modernism also

encourages us to believe that art does not need to be well-executed; that perfection of style, craft, and representation has already been completed, and modernism embraces the idiosyncratic, the eccentric and the chaotic.

Many people, however, are unsure of whether they actually subscribe to modernism or whether it is a trend lying to itself, trying to cope with an inferiority complex.

Think about all the comments you hear walking through the abstract section of an art museum. “This is not art,” the visitors say, confused and stubborn. The rose-colored glasses we put on for the Renaissance seem reasonable, for this movement has created works of monumental scale—works that mark the crux of imitation of real life.

But let us not make ourselves inferior in comparison, for we live in a post-aesthetic era, one in which that renaissance style no longer holds credentials.

Knowing we live in a post-aesthetic era may not allay our insecurities, and it sure as hell won’t make us stop

idolizing the Renaissance. We must, however, understand that the specific art which we appreciate came from the dominant paradigm established by bourgeois society— its emphasis on beauty, figurative art, and artistic skills. Then, maybe, we can take art to mean more than the meaning given to us.

The Renaissance seems to be both perfection and divergence. It was the apex of creation and the jumping-off point leading to surrealism, impressionism, and modernism. It is unfortunate, however, that we narrow our perception of the Renaissance to the movement’s concrete works of art when it encompasses so much more: it is the general excitement and enlightening of the human mind, the zeitgeist of an age intrigued by abstractions and the rebirth of life, love, and expression.

If we can subscribe to that broader definition, we can stop with the glossy eyes and awe-distracted sycophants.

The Renaissance knew of its greatness, splendor and achievements. It is, however, only a temporal moment— not a spatial period—and we must stop hanging onto it, for our hands have become wrinkled and wizened. Drop the Mona Lisa and look at Velázquez; see the similarities and differences, notice the changes, the alterations, the evolution. If you can stop over-glorifying the flawless representation of life that occurs in artwork from the Renaissance, you can develop a critical eye for this world of art which is obscure, slanted, and unhinged. This eye may lead to creativity and knowledge, for you are opening up your value scale to appreciate whole new works of art.

Descartes, the father of modernist philosophy, argues that it does not matter what things actually are, because each individual’s perception of it is unique and different.

That means art is self-determining. The Eccentric Genius of Salvador Dalí, with its walking sticks that move extraterrestrially and hold up a melting face, has no clear intention: its worth and meaning are up to the viewer.

This freedom of creation, which accepts interpretation as unpredictable and vague, enables the artist to produce anything they want. And this liberty often leads to some artworks of which many may question the artistic purpose. The important thing to remember here is that the Renaissance perfected the naturalist style of art: every medium imitated life in the most realistic way possible. The Renaissance’s prowess, therefore, should not be compared to modern-day works, as modernism aims for something else.

A recent shift in linguistic theory tells us that thought emerges first, not structure. A baby is born with inchoate knowledge, feelings, and ideas, but he learns how to shape them through socialization. This linguistic theory is true in art, too. We once thought that structure and imitation were the most valuable works of art, for they communicated something clearly, but now we’ve realized that, like language, our initial thoughts are abstract and inchoate—and sometimes transferring these can be more real and universal.

"I wanted to seek knowledge about art, Renaissance, beauty; and the more and more I read, the simpler it became: artist's fascination with the Renaissance comes from their insecurity as creators."

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Cubic Zirconia is Forever

Andri Raine Aren Kabarajian Courtney Major

In the past, jewelry on a woman agrees with Apfel’s state of mind. She was a lens into her relations with men. has amassed an impressive collecAs jewels expanded past the lines of tion of costume jewelry. Scattered royalty and entered both the upper haphazardly atop her dresser is a and middle classes, the amount of kaleidoscope of dangling earrings jewels a wife owned equalled the and large gemstone rings. Many of ou stop, mesmerized by amount of success the man in her her earrings seem to be missing their constellations dancing in the life had—or, at the very least, seemed mate.

“I have a jewelry box filled with reflection of a mysterious stranger’s to have. Jewelry given to the wife nice Tiffany jewelry that I’ve been lapis lazuli ring. Her long, bone- served to increase the status of the given.

I told my mom not to give it white pearl necklace loops gently husband because it was an obvious to me until my late twenties because once around her neck and hangs at way to express one’s wealth.

I lose everything.

You can’t get me the waist. Diamond earrings show Even diamond engagement rings anything nice,” says Knight. flashes of violet and blue when they fall into this category. In 1938, the In a Harvard Square costume jewcatch the light. prominent jewelry store and dia- elry shop, Knight gravitates toward a She wears her easy sophistication mond-mining company De Beers pair of gold chandelier earrings with like a piece of jewelry, but everything engineered a genius marketing cam- a floral outline. The pair has a sapis not as it appears. Her ring is actual- paign targeted at men by creating phire-like stone in the middle. She ly titanium with a painted blue stone, the myth that an engagement ring checks the price, $3, and explains her necklace is simply composed of should cost three months’ salary. how these would look great on her white, shining beads, and her earrings The same company also created the roommate. are cubic zirconia. All of the pieces tradition that a diamond ring symThe store itself does not have worn by this enigmatic stranger are bolized eternal love. an available inch of wall space.

An costume jewelry. entire section is devoted to short Jewelry icon Iris Apfel, now and long necklaces with animal "Costume jewelry is no longer 95 years old, has been enchantsilhouettes.

Chokers of every ing spectators with her unique width––some with beads, some tacky; using cheap to describe style since a 2005 exhibit at entirely made of lace, some jewelry has more to do with price the Metropolitan Museum of velvet––line a large wooden table. rather than just quality. " Art in New York City. Apfel, the Knight is not a very subtle subject of a 2014 documentary, person, and part of how she expresses how style is a physical As time evolved, and as wealth expresses this trait is through manifestation of individuality; it’s was redistributed, the accessibility her jewelry––big earrings speabout showing some tangible piece of jewelry changed. Now there are cifically. “Jewelry is more about of yourself to the world. To Apfel, the seemingly endless options at every self-expression. I know people who price of jewelry is inconsequential. price. With more options available, will adamantly not wear jewelry beShe said, “I never had a fondness for however, the meaning of jewelry has cause they don’t want to be seen as gems or the extravagance of Harry changed. Jewelry does not solely someone who wears jewelry. You Winston or Van Cleef & Arpels. I’ve indicate status and wealth, but it can tell what type of person somealways liked the more flamboyant, has become a form of self-expres- one is by what jewelry they wear, imaginative things. I lusted after sion. Costume jewelry is no longer and how they personalize it,” she costume jewelry.” tacky; describing jewelry as “cheap” says. “I really like big earrings. I think Accessorizing wasn’t always about now has more to do with price than it goes with my image—I have this individuality. Once, to be dripping quality. sort of scarves, gypsy image going on in jewels was the highest indicator The process of curating jewelry and big earrings go with that.” of wealth and rank—something re- from flea markets, boutiques, secJewelry has become an outlet for served for the rich. Whether a string ond-hand shops and gift shops is self expression—one that can adapt of pearls, ruby earrings, opal rings, or entirely personal. Jewelry doesn’t and grow depending on the wearan amethyst crown, ornamentation have to be eternal—it can change er's personality. As Apfel said, “I think was a pastime for royalty. The more with your style. Like Apfel said: “I’m jewelry can change an outfit more jewels owned, let alone worn, the a hopeless romantic. I buy things than anything else. Transformation, higher the status of the individual. because I fall in love with them. I punch, individuality: One or all of Historically, “affordable” and “jew- never buy anything just because it’s the above are why you should wear elry” were two words that did not valuable.” jewelry.” belong together.

Chloe Knight, BFA acting ’17,

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28

Cubic Zirconia is Forever

Andri Raine Aren Kabarajian Courtney Major

In the past, jewelry on a woman agrees with Apfel’s state of mind. She was a lens into her relations with men. has amassed an impressive collecAs jewels expanded past the lines of tion of costume jewelry. Scattered royalty and entered both the upper haphazardly atop her dresser is a and middle classes, the amount of kaleidoscope of dangling earrings jewels a wife owned equalled the and large gemstone rings. Many of ou stop, mesmerized by amount of success the man in her her earrings seem to be missing their constellations dancing in the life had—or, at the very least, seemed mate.

“I have a jewelry box filled with reflection of a mysterious stranger’s to have. Jewelry given to the wife nice Tiffany jewelry that I’ve been lapis lazuli ring. Her long, bone- served to increase the status of the given.

I told my mom not to give it white pearl necklace loops gently husband because it was an obvious to me until my late twenties because once around her neck and hangs at way to express one’s wealth.

I lose everything.

You can’t get me the waist. Diamond earrings show Even diamond engagement rings anything nice,” says Knight. flashes of violet and blue when they fall into this category. In 1938, the In a Harvard Square costume jewcatch the light. prominent jewelry store and dia- elry shop, Knight gravitates toward a She wears her easy sophistication mond-mining company De Beers pair of gold chandelier earrings with like a piece of jewelry, but everything engineered a genius marketing cam- a floral outline. The pair has a sapis not as it appears. Her ring is actual- paign targeted at men by creating phire-like stone in the middle. She ly titanium with a painted blue stone, the myth that an engagement ring checks the price, $3, and explains her necklace is simply composed of should cost three months’ salary. how these would look great on her white, shining beads, and her earrings The same company also created the roommate. are cubic zirconia. All of the pieces tradition that a diamond ring symThe store itself does not have worn by this enigmatic stranger are bolized eternal love. an available inch of wall space.

An costume jewelry. entire section is devoted to short Jewelry icon Iris Apfel, now and long necklaces with animal "Costume jewelry is no longer 95 years old, has been enchantsilhouettes.

Chokers of every ing spectators with her unique width––some with beads, some tacky; using cheap to describe style since a 2005 exhibit at entirely made of lace, some jewelry has more to do with price the Metropolitan Museum of velvet––line a large wooden table. rather than just quality. " Art in New York City. Apfel, the Knight is not a very subtle subject of a 2014 documentary, person, and part of how she expresses how style is a physical As time evolved, and as wealth expresses this trait is through manifestation of individuality; it’s was redistributed, the accessibility her jewelry––big earrings speabout showing some tangible piece of jewelry changed. Now there are cifically. “Jewelry is more about of yourself to the world. To Apfel, the seemingly endless options at every self-expression. I know people who price of jewelry is inconsequential. price. With more options available, will adamantly not wear jewelry beShe said, “I never had a fondness for however, the meaning of jewelry has cause they don’t want to be seen as gems or the extravagance of Harry changed. Jewelry does not solely someone who wears jewelry. You Winston or Van Cleef & Arpels. I’ve indicate status and wealth, but it can tell what type of person somealways liked the more flamboyant, has become a form of self-expres- one is by what jewelry they wear, imaginative things. I lusted after sion. Costume jewelry is no longer and how they personalize it,” she costume jewelry.” tacky; describing jewelry as “cheap” says. “I really like big earrings. I think Accessorizing wasn’t always about now has more to do with price than it goes with my image—I have this individuality. Once, to be dripping quality. sort of scarves, gypsy image going on in jewels was the highest indicator The process of curating jewelry and big earrings go with that.” of wealth and rank—something re- from flea markets, boutiques, secJewelry has become an outlet for served for the rich. Whether a string ond-hand shops and gift shops is self expression—one that can adapt of pearls, ruby earrings, opal rings, or entirely personal. Jewelry doesn’t and grow depending on the wearan amethyst crown, ornamentation have to be eternal—it can change er's personality. As Apfel said, “I think was a pastime for royalty. The more with your style. Like Apfel said: “I’m jewelry can change an outfit more jewels owned, let alone worn, the a hopeless romantic. I buy things than anything else. Transformation, higher the status of the individual. because I fall in love with them. I punch, individuality: One or all of Historically, “affordable” and “jew- never buy anything just because it’s the above are why you should wear elry” were two words that did not valuable.” jewelry.” belong together.

Chloe Knight, BFA acting ’17,

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TUESDAY Carina Allen

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Zoe Cronin, Katya Katsnelson, Fodé Busia, Indigo Asim, Evan Carson

Styled by Katya Katsnelson — Fodé: Shirt; Connie Roberson. Zoe: Dollar Sweater; Richard Grand, Shoes; Chanel. Katya: Blouse; Jean Paul Gaultier, Blouse; Sacai. Indigo: Jacket; Hache. Evan: Shirt; Marni.

TUESDAY Carina Allen

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Zoe Cronin, Katya Katsnelson, Fodé Busia, Indigo Asim, Evan Carson

Styled by Katya Katsnelson — Fodé: Shirt; Connie Roberson. Zoe: Dollar Sweater; Richard Grand, Shoes; Chanel. Katya: Blouse; Jean Paul Gaultier, Blouse; Sacai. Indigo: Jacket; Hache. Evan: Shirt; Marni.

Good Designers Copy, Great Designers Steal.

and sexuality is created. It is now a Riccardo Tisci original that uses the designs of others to tell his own story.

But what happens when the remake overshadows the original? Who, then, has a right to the designs? Supreme is a company known for their references and use of outside media, which they are generally very good at. But in 2013, Supreme sued a woman named Leah McSweeney for using the words “Supreme Bitch” in the same font and style of the brand.

The lawsuit was ironic, considering Supreme’s classic box logo is taken from the work of 1960s New York artist Barbara Kruger. Supreme’s founder, James Jebbia, has acknowledged that Kruger’s work inspired their logo, but they still claim the right to the design.

The logo might have originally been used as an homage to Kruger’s career, but this lawsuit throws that all away. By claiming the design as their own, Supreme has removed Kruger from her own images and dubbed themselves the original artist. Although Kruger inspired the iconic logo, Supreme now believes they have more of a right to her own work than she does.

Stealing will never leave the art world, so artists must take it upon themselves to participate in appropriation respectfully. To ethically steal from another artist, one must first acknowledge the original work and then reimagine the art in a unique way. When designers ignore the people they're stealing from, it's not an homage – it’s copyright infringement. Rehashing another's idea is not acceptable. It's one thing to be inspired by someone, but it's another to make millions off of their art. A great artist steals designs and remixes the original so well that people forget who actually made it, but a respected artist acknowledges where it came from.

Casey Denton

they did not do anything to change the classics – they were just high-quality knockoffs trying to pass as original designs.

Taking designs from another brand is one thing, but stealing from other art mediums is often done without giving respect to the original artists. In 2013, Moschino and Jeremy Scott were sued by Santa Cruz Skateboards for using the company’s iconic art without permission. While Scott is known for his pop cultural references, his use of Santa Cruz’s graphics were copied straight from the decks onto a sweater. He did nothing to change the designs and the original artist was never acknowledged.

Scott’s use of the designs was for aesthetic purposes only, providing no form of commentary whatsoever.

When done right, incorporating outside designs should improve the quality of the new piece. Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci was able to accomplish this with his Bambi and Female Form Print Sweater.

What makes the black sweater stand out is the front graphic, which features half of a cutout of Disney’s Bambi juxtapozed against an oil painting of a female nude.

The two halves meet in the middle, with the faces of bambi and the woman lining up to create one new image.

Tisci’s use of Bambi was not just for looks – he reimagined the character for his own message. On his own, Bambi is an innocent animated deer, but when paired with a nude woman, a new image of both innocence

Daniel Kam

If you look hard enough, you’ll find that most of the artists you love stole everything that made them famous from somebody you’ve never heard of. Led Zeppelin, Steve Jobs, Shakespeare – they’re all thieves who stole ideas for profit. Picasso is attributed with saying “good artists copy, great artists steal,” but he actually stole that quote from someone else. No artist of any medium is safe from having their designs stolen.

This is especially true in the fashion world.

Fashion designs are in a weird gray area of copyright where individuals cannot own the rights to specific designs – only their logos and images fully belong to them.

The fashion world is like the Wild West right now, as garments are constantly being stolen from the runway and sent to mass production. Large and small brands alike are finding exact copies of their staple designs in fast-fashion retailers all across the world.

Design theft is now so widely accepted as a part of the industry that even the highend designers are stealing from each other.

Yves Saint Laurent is becoming known for stolen shoe designs, with recent collections mirroring the iconic silhouettes of Vans, Air Jordan, and Christian Louboutin.

It is perfectly acceptable for a company to take in elements from inspiring designs, but they must expand upon them. To make the garment their own, a designer has to improve the piece as best as they see fit. YSL received backlash on their shoes because

21

20

Good Designers Copy, Great Designers Steal.

and sexuality is created. It is now a Riccardo Tisci original that uses the designs of others to tell his own story.

But what happens when the remake overshadows the original? Who, then, has a right to the designs? Supreme is a company known for their references and use of outside media, which they are generally very good at. But in 2013, Supreme sued a woman named Leah McSweeney for using the words “Supreme Bitch” in the same font and style of the brand.

The lawsuit was ironic, considering Supreme’s classic box logo is taken from the work of 1960s New York artist Barbara Kruger. Supreme’s founder, James Jebbia, has acknowledged that Kruger’s work inspired their logo, but they still claim the right to the design.

The logo might have originally been used as an homage to Kruger’s career, but this lawsuit throws that all away. By claiming the design as their own, Supreme has removed Kruger from her own images and dubbed themselves the original artist. Although Kruger inspired the iconic logo, Supreme now believes they have more of a right to her own work than she does.

Stealing will never leave the art world, so artists must take it upon themselves to participate in appropriation respectfully. To ethically steal from another artist, one must first acknowledge the original work and then reimagine the art in a unique way. When designers ignore the people they're stealing from, it's not an homage – it’s copyright infringement. Rehashing another's idea is not acceptable. It's one thing to be inspired by someone, but it's another to make millions off of their art. A great artist steals designs and remixes the original so well that people forget who actually made it, but a respected artist acknowledges where it came from.

Casey Denton

they did not do anything to change the classics – they were just high-quality knockoffs trying to pass as original designs.

Taking designs from another brand is one thing, but stealing from other art mediums is often done without giving respect to the original artists. In 2013, Moschino and Jeremy Scott were sued by Santa Cruz Skateboards for using the company’s iconic art without permission. While Scott is known for his pop cultural references, his use of Santa Cruz’s graphics were copied straight from the decks onto a sweater. He did nothing to change the designs and the original artist was never acknowledged.

Scott’s use of the designs was for aesthetic purposes only, providing no form of commentary whatsoever.

When done right, incorporating outside designs should improve the quality of the new piece. Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci was able to accomplish this with his Bambi and Female Form Print Sweater.

What makes the black sweater stand out is the front graphic, which features half of a cutout of Disney’s Bambi juxtapozed against an oil painting of a female nude.

The two halves meet in the middle, with the faces of bambi and the woman lining up to create one new image.

Tisci’s use of Bambi was not just for looks – he reimagined the character for his own message. On his own, Bambi is an innocent animated deer, but when paired with a nude woman, a new image of both innocence

Daniel Kam

If you look hard enough, you’ll find that most of the artists you love stole everything that made them famous from somebody you’ve never heard of. Led Zeppelin, Steve Jobs, Shakespeare – they’re all thieves who stole ideas for profit. Picasso is attributed with saying “good artists copy, great artists steal,” but he actually stole that quote from someone else. No artist of any medium is safe from having their designs stolen.

This is especially true in the fashion world.

Fashion designs are in a weird gray area of copyright where individuals cannot own the rights to specific designs – only their logos and images fully belong to them.

The fashion world is like the Wild West right now, as garments are constantly being stolen from the runway and sent to mass production. Large and small brands alike are finding exact copies of their staple designs in fast-fashion retailers all across the world.

Design theft is now so widely accepted as a part of the industry that even the highend designers are stealing from each other.

Yves Saint Laurent is becoming known for stolen shoe designs, with recent collections mirroring the iconic silhouettes of Vans, Air Jordan, and Christian Louboutin.

It is perfectly acceptable for a company to take in elements from inspiring designs, but they must expand upon them. To make the garment their own, a designer has to improve the piece as best as they see fit. YSL received backlash on their shoes because

21

20

P

Arden Jurskis and the Birth of Hyper-Referential Cynical Absurdism

Sara Nagie Margeaux Sippell

erhaps you’ve never spoken to him in person, but your Jurskis’ antics do not end there.

Months before the social media feed has undoubtedly crossed paths with his Iowa Caucus debacle, he composed a tweet that raised in the swirling vortex of Emerson’s social archive. a knowing chuckle from millennial fans of Full House.

If not attached to his physical body, his face is otherAccompanied by a picture of a grinning, messy-haired wise seen emblazoned on a laptop sticker, an ironic smile Jurskis giving a thumbs-up with one hand and holding swimming in front of the neon laser background used as a signed photo of Bob Saget in the other, he notably a gag in high school yearbook photos. Stylized in Comic tweeted, “I’m giving this 100% real autographed photo Sans is the purposefully grammatically flawed phrase, “It of @bobsaget to the girl who takes my virginity.” Saget me Arden Jurskis, the cutest boy at Emerson College.” couldn’t resist the bait, replying, “Dude try dinner and a We sit down in the neon-painted chairs of the college’s movie first then spring the picture on her. Works for me… dining hall. Snaggle-toothed and fidgety, Arden Jurskis Strong closer.” reacts to my first question as if it were a starting gun: he’s The Saget shenanigan solidified Jurskis’ firm devotion hot to trot, like a blazing stallion hopped up on caffeine. to his own personal brand of comedy, one he cheekily His hands fiddle restlessly with his Red Bull can, bringing dubbed “Hyper-Referential Cynical Absurdism.” On first it to his lips and back down again without taking a sip. read, the phrase requires some unpacking.

Like all great things, becoming the unofficial Meme The term “hyper-referential” points to modern meme King of Emerson College was something that Jurskis “just culture’s tendency to draw on minutia of specific refsort of fell into,” he says. erences that can usually only be understood by other “I’m not going to say Millennials. “Absurdism,” I’ve created a cult of while not a word found "Snaggle-toothed and fidgety, Arden personality,” he says bashin the dictionary, refers to fully, claiming to be nothing Jurskis reacts to my first question as if it Jurskis’ willingness to take more than “that guy that his jokes further than most were a starting gun: he's hot to trot, like does comedy on campus would comfortably take sometimes.” Though his a blazing stallion hopped up on caffeine. them.

In the case of the laugh contains a twinge aforementioned Twitter His hands fiddle restlessly with his Red of nervous energy, do not exchange, publically be fooled—there are more Bull can, bringing it to his lips and back broadcasting his own virtricks up his sleeve than he gin-status does not scare down again without taking a sip." lets on. him—neither does publicalAs a twenty-year-old ly trolling a popular GOP Visual and Media Arts major, Jurskis has undoubtedly candidate or facing the shitstorm of responses from the succeeded in establishing himself in a bombastic amount media that followed. of local comedy outlets. Catch his sarcastic screenplays Jurskis explains the “cynical” aspect of Hyperon campus—his latest TV special, “It’s Cool to Be a Yule,” Referential Cynical Absurdism as a byproduct of his will be available to watch online this summer. By ripping childhood. As a kid, Jurskis was addicted to the high of on Adam Sandler, flexing “sick photoshop skillz” and rat- making people laugh, though he says, “I didn’t really have tling off 140-character gags on Twitter, he has become a any friends growing up. I never hung out with people my dorm-room name within the inner sanctum of Emerson’s own age until I went to college.” In the world of artists, social media–charged world. this admission actually lends him credibility. Jurskis reHis greatest hits, however, exist outside of the screen. grets nothing of hanging out with his grandparents while While attending the 2016 Iowa Caucus with Emerson’s others partook in high school horseplay. He spent his free Communication Studies program, he fake-proposed to time making things and sharpening his photoshop and fellow Emersonian Kenzy Peach in front of Republican video-editing skills.

Presidential candidate Ted Cruz. The “engagement” was Looking back on his childhood, the early motivations written about in both The Washington Post and The Boston of future storytelling rise to the forefront. A fondness for Globe. Though The Post’s headline read, “That engagement Count Olaf from A Series of Unfortunate Events coupled at a Ted Cruz rally was really a fake couple’s anti-Cruz with frequent visits to Disney World cultivated his love performance art,” The Globe explained in more detail the for villains, and in turn, a proclivity for dark comedy. The true intention of the stunt: to draw attention to Cruz’s son of a minister and a high school literature teacher, his gung-ho support of two teenagers tying the knot, while first introduction to drama came from acting in church simultaneously opposing same-sex marriage. plays. “I was the kid who asked to be the mayor who

didn’t believe in Jesus,” he recalls, still grumbling to himself over having lost half his lines to a kid named Trent.

From a young age, he learned to rebel quietly against prescribed beliefs. Even as a child at Disney World, he refused to buy that the dude in the Mickey Mouse costume was the real deal. While his parents urged him not to “ruin the magic” by calling out fake Mickey as an imposter, Jurskis resigned to keep his cynical disbelief to himself… for the time being. Today, that part of him runs rampant across his every artistic endeavor. If anyone knows how to walk the fine line between reality and make-believe, it’s Jurskis.

In high school, he found an outlet in amateur filmmaking, but after a brief freshman-year foray into the reality of spending hours on film sets, he quickly realized that his place is behind the writer’s desk rather than the camera.

“I’m more of a playwright instinctively,” he says. “I like to make things fast. It either works or it doesn’t. That’s why I like TV and comedy—I don’t like being tied down to things.”

As a meme artist and real-life troll, he is one of the few who have found success straying from the pack. Art students are constantly saddled with age-old expectations.

The pressure to create “high art” lurks around every corner.

For nose-in-the-air intellectuals, it’s easy to pass off Jurskis and others like him as not “real” artists because they don’t conform to society’s definition of art. Realizing that most

of what he makes is geared toward entertainment value rather than sophistication, he rejects the demand for museum-level refinery.

“Not everyone’s supposed to leave this school and become Jean Luc Godard or Stan Brakhage,” he says frankly. “I think my space in all of this is just to do things that make people happy, and work in that respect.”

In keeping with his artistic aspirations, there is nary a moment when Jurskis is not occupied with his latest creation. “The only thing I know how to do when I’m alone with myself is to be making something,” he tells me, idly twisting his earbud wires into knots. “I’m constantly working on ideas because if I don’t get them out, I’m doomed.”

He describes his need to create as being equivalent to his need to survive. “I’m a really shy person,” he says, surprisingly. “Doing this gives me a venue to connect with other people.”

As for the next steps in his career as an artist, Jurskis can only hope for the best. He’s got plans to embark on Emerson’s Los Angeles program next spring. “I’m terrified, man,” he tells me, looking off into the distance. Still, with a healthy dose of fear comes humility and perspective.

After toiling away for three and a half years on the windy cross streets of Tremont and Boylston, he’ll be good and ready to brace himself against the endless possibilities and head out west into the great beyond.

15

14

P

Arden Jurskis and the Birth of Hyper-Referential Cynical Absurdism

Sara Nagie Margeaux Sippell

erhaps you’ve never spoken to him in person, but your Jurskis’ antics do not end there.

Months before the social media feed has undoubtedly crossed paths with his Iowa Caucus debacle, he composed a tweet that raised in the swirling vortex of Emerson’s social archive. a knowing chuckle from millennial fans of Full House.

If not attached to his physical body, his face is otherAccompanied by a picture of a grinning, messy-haired wise seen emblazoned on a laptop sticker, an ironic smile Jurskis giving a thumbs-up with one hand and holding swimming in front of the neon laser background used as a signed photo of Bob Saget in the other, he notably a gag in high school yearbook photos. Stylized in Comic tweeted, “I’m giving this 100% real autographed photo Sans is the purposefully grammatically flawed phrase, “It of @bobsaget to the girl who takes my virginity.” Saget me Arden Jurskis, the cutest boy at Emerson College.” couldn’t resist the bait, replying, “Dude try dinner and a We sit down in the neon-painted chairs of the college’s movie first then spring the picture on her. Works for me… dining hall. Snaggle-toothed and fidgety, Arden Jurskis Strong closer.” reacts to my first question as if it were a starting gun: he’s The Saget shenanigan solidified Jurskis’ firm devotion hot to trot, like a blazing stallion hopped up on caffeine. to his own personal brand of comedy, one he cheekily His hands fiddle restlessly with his Red Bull can, bringing dubbed “Hyper-Referential Cynical Absurdism.” On first it to his lips and back down again without taking a sip. read, the phrase requires some unpacking.

Like all great things, becoming the unofficial Meme The term “hyper-referential” points to modern meme King of Emerson College was something that Jurskis “just culture’s tendency to draw on minutia of specific refsort of fell into,” he says. erences that can usually only be understood by other “I’m not going to say Millennials. “Absurdism,” I’ve created a cult of while not a word found "Snaggle-toothed and fidgety, Arden personality,” he says bashin the dictionary, refers to fully, claiming to be nothing Jurskis reacts to my first question as if it Jurskis’ willingness to take more than “that guy that his jokes further than most were a starting gun: he's hot to trot, like does comedy on campus would comfortably take sometimes.” Though his a blazing stallion hopped up on caffeine. them.

In the case of the laugh contains a twinge aforementioned Twitter His hands fiddle restlessly with his Red of nervous energy, do not exchange, publically be fooled—there are more Bull can, bringing it to his lips and back broadcasting his own virtricks up his sleeve than he gin-status does not scare down again without taking a sip." lets on. him—neither does publicalAs a twenty-year-old ly trolling a popular GOP Visual and Media Arts major, Jurskis has undoubtedly candidate or facing the shitstorm of responses from the succeeded in establishing himself in a bombastic amount media that followed. of local comedy outlets. Catch his sarcastic screenplays Jurskis explains the “cynical” aspect of Hyperon campus—his latest TV special, “It’s Cool to Be a Yule,” Referential Cynical Absurdism as a byproduct of his will be available to watch online this summer. By ripping childhood. As a kid, Jurskis was addicted to the high of on Adam Sandler, flexing “sick photoshop skillz” and rat- making people laugh, though he says, “I didn’t really have tling off 140-character gags on Twitter, he has become a any friends growing up. I never hung out with people my dorm-room name within the inner sanctum of Emerson’s own age until I went to college.” In the world of artists, social media–charged world. this admission actually lends him credibility. Jurskis reHis greatest hits, however, exist outside of the screen. grets nothing of hanging out with his grandparents while While attending the 2016 Iowa Caucus with Emerson’s others partook in high school horseplay. He spent his free Communication Studies program, he fake-proposed to time making things and sharpening his photoshop and fellow Emersonian Kenzy Peach in front of Republican video-editing skills.

Presidential candidate Ted Cruz. The “engagement” was Looking back on his childhood, the early motivations written about in both The Washington Post and The Boston of future storytelling rise to the forefront. A fondness for Globe. Though The Post’s headline read, “That engagement Count Olaf from A Series of Unfortunate Events coupled at a Ted Cruz rally was really a fake couple’s anti-Cruz with frequent visits to Disney World cultivated his love performance art,” The Globe explained in more detail the for villains, and in turn, a proclivity for dark comedy. The true intention of the stunt: to draw attention to Cruz’s son of a minister and a high school literature teacher, his gung-ho support of two teenagers tying the knot, while first introduction to drama came from acting in church simultaneously opposing same-sex marriage. plays. “I was the kid who asked to be the mayor who

didn’t believe in Jesus,” he recalls, still grumbling to himself over having lost half his lines to a kid named Trent.

From a young age, he learned to rebel quietly against prescribed beliefs. Even as a child at Disney World, he refused to buy that the dude in the Mickey Mouse costume was the real deal. While his parents urged him not to “ruin the magic” by calling out fake Mickey as an imposter, Jurskis resigned to keep his cynical disbelief to himself… for the time being. Today, that part of him runs rampant across his every artistic endeavor. If anyone knows how to walk the fine line between reality and make-believe, it’s Jurskis.

In high school, he found an outlet in amateur filmmaking, but after a brief freshman-year foray into the reality of spending hours on film sets, he quickly realized that his place is behind the writer’s desk rather than the camera.

“I’m more of a playwright instinctively,” he says. “I like to make things fast. It either works or it doesn’t. That’s why I like TV and comedy—I don’t like being tied down to things.”

As a meme artist and real-life troll, he is one of the few who have found success straying from the pack. Art students are constantly saddled with age-old expectations.

The pressure to create “high art” lurks around every corner.

For nose-in-the-air intellectuals, it’s easy to pass off Jurskis and others like him as not “real” artists because they don’t conform to society’s definition of art. Realizing that most

of what he makes is geared toward entertainment value rather than sophistication, he rejects the demand for museum-level refinery.

“Not everyone’s supposed to leave this school and become Jean Luc Godard or Stan Brakhage,” he says frankly. “I think my space in all of this is just to do things that make people happy, and work in that respect.”

In keeping with his artistic aspirations, there is nary a moment when Jurskis is not occupied with his latest creation. “The only thing I know how to do when I’m alone with myself is to be making something,” he tells me, idly twisting his earbud wires into knots. “I’m constantly working on ideas because if I don’t get them out, I’m doomed.”

He describes his need to create as being equivalent to his need to survive. “I’m a really shy person,” he says, surprisingly. “Doing this gives me a venue to connect with other people.”

As for the next steps in his career as an artist, Jurskis can only hope for the best. He’s got plans to embark on Emerson’s Los Angeles program next spring. “I’m terrified, man,” he tells me, looking off into the distance. Still, with a healthy dose of fear comes humility and perspective.

After toiling away for three and a half years on the windy cross streets of Tremont and Boylston, he’ll be good and ready to brace himself against the endless possibilities and head out west into the great beyond.

15

14

a sort of whimsical garden, where peace signs sprouting from their arms like flowers and everything was free and equal. Activists created Free Stores, community members constructed free clinics, musicians played free concerts, and everyone was participating in free love. They ate homemade Digger Bread (distributed in old coffee cans and “made with love”) and practiced yoga and Zen Buddhism in parks or cramped apartments. The hippies were hitching themselves to the idea of a better world, planting seeds for future Earth Days beginning in 1970.

With a final wave goodbye to capitalist society, they packed their flutes and beads and moved to rural states like Vermont and Maine, playing The Doors records in the woods and eating home-grown vegetables under the stars. They did exactly what set out to do: moved back to nature.

Modern day youth culture seems to be laced with the essence of this hippie creed, their trends and motivations curling around our lifestyles and practices like retrospective vines. The crystals littering our rooms, the smell of sage clinging to the air, and the hiking photos on our Instagrams all hint towards a movement reminiscent of the last time America turned to the Earth for answers.

The Nature Principle, a concept formed by author and journalist Richard Louv, suggests that the ability for the

human race to thrive depends on a nature-balanced existence. Traditional back-to-nature enthusiasts have made an important distinction: “This movement isn’t about going back to nature, but forward to it.” It’s not an escape, but rather a search for something better — something purer, something integral to the human experience.

The back-to-nature philosophy has always been focused on the restoration of the true human spirit: even before the hippies, transcendentalists like Henry David Thoreau ditched big city success in exchange for a literal breath of fresh air. However, even though Thoreau set up camp at Walden Pond in the name of civil disobedience, and the hippies scurried to the crisp wilderness of Vermont to declare peace and love, the current back-tonature clan is burdened with modern political issues that fuel their protests. Al Gore brought it to our attention, and Leonardo DiCaprio won’t let us forget about it: climate change is the 21st century’s oppressive villain, threatening to dry up our flower power and pollute the streets of our protests. This modern twist to the nature movement is pulsing with a new urgency, growing out of gatherings of recyclers and battery-electric car rallies.

We are not embracing the natural out of choice and protest, but out of necessity — out of fear for the future of the Earth, or the possible lack thereof. Contemporary

products not only promise spiritual healing, while boasting natural ingredients, but also strive towards conservation. Milk Makeup, a brand admired for its focus on the natural, boasts natural ingredients like coconut, orange peel, and grape seed oils as well as “packaging that allows for minimal to no preservatives.” And while our fashion doesn’t mimic nature in the same way the hippies’ flower crowns did, it is working with the Earth to create ethical beauty. H&M’s Conscious, the retail giant’s sustainable and “environmentally friendly” collection, actively echoes past desires to be open and in touch with

the external world.

The hippies have returned in the form of our modern day, witchy, environmentally-conscious youth. With all-natural chakra candles lining the sills of solar-paneled windows, vegan juice bottles laying in recycle bins, and a crystal salt massage stones sitting in reusable bags, our message is clear: we’re enjoying the environment and saving it simultaneously, helping nature while helping ourselves.

19

18

a sort of whimsical garden, where peace signs sprouting from their arms like flowers and everything was free and equal. Activists created Free Stores, community members constructed free clinics, musicians played free concerts, and everyone was participating in free love. They ate homemade Digger Bread (distributed in old coffee cans and “made with love”) and practiced yoga and Zen Buddhism in parks or cramped apartments. The hippies were hitching themselves to the idea of a better world, planting seeds for future Earth Days beginning in 1970.

With a final wave goodbye to capitalist society, they packed their flutes and beads and moved to rural states like Vermont and Maine, playing The Doors records in the woods and eating home-grown vegetables under the stars. They did exactly what set out to do: moved back to nature.

Modern day youth culture seems to be laced with the essence of this hippie creed, their trends and motivations curling around our lifestyles and practices like retrospective vines. The crystals littering our rooms, the smell of sage clinging to the air, and the hiking photos on our Instagrams all hint towards a movement reminiscent of the last time America turned to the Earth for answers.

The Nature Principle, a concept formed by author and journalist Richard Louv, suggests that the ability for the

human race to thrive depends on a nature-balanced existence. Traditional back-to-nature enthusiasts have made an important distinction: “This movement isn’t about going back to nature, but forward to it.” It’s not an escape, but rather a search for something better — something purer, something integral to the human experience.

The back-to-nature philosophy has always been focused on the restoration of the true human spirit: even before the hippies, transcendentalists like Henry David Thoreau ditched big city success in exchange for a literal breath of fresh air. However, even though Thoreau set up camp at Walden Pond in the name of civil disobedience, and the hippies scurried to the crisp wilderness of Vermont to declare peace and love, the current back-tonature clan is burdened with modern political issues that fuel their protests. Al Gore brought it to our attention, and Leonardo DiCaprio won’t let us forget about it: climate change is the 21st century’s oppressive villain, threatening to dry up our flower power and pollute the streets of our protests. This modern twist to the nature movement is pulsing with a new urgency, growing out of gatherings of recyclers and battery-electric car rallies.

We are not embracing the natural out of choice and protest, but out of necessity — out of fear for the future of the Earth, or the possible lack thereof. Contemporary

products not only promise spiritual healing, while boasting natural ingredients, but also strive towards conservation. Milk Makeup, a brand admired for its focus on the natural, boasts natural ingredients like coconut, orange peel, and grape seed oils as well as “packaging that allows for minimal to no preservatives.” And while our fashion doesn’t mimic nature in the same way the hippies’ flower crowns did, it is working with the Earth to create ethical beauty. H&M’s Conscious, the retail giant’s sustainable and “environmentally friendly” collection, actively echoes past desires to be open and in touch with

the external world.

The hippies have returned in the form of our modern day, witchy, environmentally-conscious youth. With all-natural chakra candles lining the sills of solar-paneled windows, vegan juice bottles laying in recycle bins, and a crystal salt massage stones sitting in reusable bags, our message is clear: we’re enjoying the environment and saving it simultaneously, helping nature while helping ourselves.

19

18

Earth in Retrograde

Hannah McKennett

high fashion. The recent rise in popularity of the feminist movement inspires a push towards a certain “sisterly divination,” which manifests itself in a fascination with all things witchy. This trend is inherently dependent on the natural world, and with it comes a love for astrology, crystals, covens, and healing.

Opening a lifestyle magazine without seeing a spread dedicated to Mercury Retrograde has become a rarity; Likewise stepping into a clothing store without being inspired to stock up on crystal jewelry is more unique than the luminous offerings. There are entire brands and lines of beauty products that are dependent on witch hazel, crystal infusion, moon and planet phases, and purifying energies — Aquarian Soul’s line of bath soaks, House of Intuition’s holy waters, Cosmos’ oils and toners, and Little Moons’ mists.

Despite the fact that these natural ideas are becoming increasingly commercialized, this obsession still has significant undertones, and at at its roots, a nature-based lifestyle

Lauren Goldstein

Crystals and ribbons dripping off of tree branches set the scene for earthtoned tulle skirts, rich with tarot and astrological symbols, butterflyadorned chests bare of everything except a sheer overlay of material and flowers stemming off of floor-length gowns and budding out of curled hair. This is the naturalistic setting that made Spring 2017’s Haute Couture fashion shows brim with life. Labels like Dior and Valentino celebrated the organic form, their garments fluttering with whimsy on runways that seemed to surge with life. Maria Grazia Chiuri, a new designer for Dior, covered the runway in lush moss and turned the seating into overgrown hedges. With this choice, she was following the romantic and powerful back-to-nature imagery that continues to dominate American culture, suggesting a celebration of the organic form in every aspect of our lifestyle.

This naturalistic ideology is trickling its way into various facets of everyday life, especially in the form of trends in media, even in shows dedicated to

is about empowerment. Witchcraft works within the realm of mysticism to concoct self-actualizing magic, as it utilizes herbs and meditation practices to channel intrinsic powers. It also works against conformity – the traditional and the stifling – to celebrate individuality – the organic and the natural – in order to foster a community of acceptance.

This popularity of natural accoutrements is not foreign to American history. There was a resurgence of witchcraft in the 1960s and 1970s which coincided with second-wave feminism and sexual liberation, as well as massive political and social reform, all of which are key characteristics of witchy ideology.

This modern day “Witch Renaissance” acts as a nod to the hippie movement, a counter-culture revolution centered around the idea of peace. The hippies were the young, long-haired, psychedelic-rock-obsessed embodiments of love and acceptance. They were like tie-dyed flowers blooming out of the stifling structure of the ‘50s — a new youth conditioned to expect conformity and worship the traditional. Following these restrictive childhoods was a coming of age defined by social and political turmoil; society as everyone knew it was being challenged by the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, and a shift towards active and free thinking. Embracing the sexual revolution, the celebration of individualism, and activism on college campuses, America’s youth flowered into a nature-loving, government-rejecting counter-culture.

They came together under clouds of marijuana smoke, worshipping Jimi Hendrix and throwing up peace signs against “The Establishment.” Pulsing with a newfound life based in unique

17

16

practices and grounded beliefs, this community of teens carried the weight of a revolution.

With flowers budding in their hair and songs like Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin” in their mouths, the hippies navigated their new lives by forming communities in openly accepting places like Greenwich Village and San Francisco. The force that initially brought them together was music. The new sounds erupting out of bands like the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane was celebrated by an audience eager as a soundtrack for their revolution. The music rippled and

echoed during their Human Be-Ins, “a gathering of the tribes” where they danced and talked with long peasant blouses falling from their bodies and braids decorating their heads. This is how they did everything: carefree and united, with love almost visibly dripping their fringed jackets.

When California prohibited the possession of LSD, they came together for the Love Pageant Rally, declaring independence from “the fear-produced legislation against the expansion of consciousness.” They communed for a Summer of Love, “dropping out” of mainstream American culture and into

Earth in Retrograde

Hannah McKennett

high fashion. The recent rise in popularity of the feminist movement inspires a push towards a certain “sisterly divination,” which manifests itself in a fascination with all things witchy. This trend is inherently dependent on the natural world, and with it comes a love for astrology, crystals, covens, and healing.

Opening a lifestyle magazine without seeing a spread dedicated to Mercury Retrograde has become a rarity; Likewise stepping into a clothing store without being inspired to stock up on crystal jewelry is more unique than the luminous offerings. There are entire brands and lines of beauty products that are dependent on witch hazel, crystal infusion, moon and planet phases, and purifying energies — Aquarian Soul’s line of bath soaks, House of Intuition’s holy waters, Cosmos’ oils and toners, and Little Moons’ mists.

Despite the fact that these natural ideas are becoming increasingly commercialized, this obsession still has significant undertones, and at at its roots, a nature-based lifestyle

Lauren Goldstein

Crystals and ribbons dripping off of tree branches set the scene for earthtoned tulle skirts, rich with tarot and astrological symbols, butterflyadorned chests bare of everything except a sheer overlay of material and flowers stemming off of floor-length gowns and budding out of curled hair. This is the naturalistic setting that made Spring 2017’s Haute Couture fashion shows brim with life. Labels like Dior and Valentino celebrated the organic form, their garments fluttering with whimsy on runways that seemed to surge with life. Maria Grazia Chiuri, a new designer for Dior, covered the runway in lush moss and turned the seating into overgrown hedges. With this choice, she was following the romantic and powerful back-to-nature imagery that continues to dominate American culture, suggesting a celebration of the organic form in every aspect of our lifestyle.

This naturalistic ideology is trickling its way into various facets of everyday life, especially in the form of trends in media, even in shows dedicated to

is about empowerment. Witchcraft works within the realm of mysticism to concoct self-actualizing magic, as it utilizes herbs and meditation practices to channel intrinsic powers. It also works against conformity – the traditional and the stifling – to celebrate individuality – the organic and the natural – in order to foster a community of acceptance.

This popularity of natural accoutrements is not foreign to American history. There was a resurgence of witchcraft in the 1960s and 1970s which coincided with second-wave feminism and sexual liberation, as well as massive political and social reform, all of which are key characteristics of witchy ideology.

This modern day “Witch Renaissance” acts as a nod to the hippie movement, a counter-culture revolution centered around the idea of peace. The hippies were the young, long-haired, psychedelic-rock-obsessed embodiments of love and acceptance. They were like tie-dyed flowers blooming out of the stifling structure of the ‘50s — a new youth conditioned to expect conformity and worship the traditional. Following these restrictive childhoods was a coming of age defined by social and political turmoil; society as everyone knew it was being challenged by the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, and a shift towards active and free thinking. Embracing the sexual revolution, the celebration of individualism, and activism on college campuses, America’s youth flowered into a nature-loving, government-rejecting counter-culture.

They came together under clouds of marijuana smoke, worshipping Jimi Hendrix and throwing up peace signs against “The Establishment.” Pulsing with a newfound life based in unique

17

16

practices and grounded beliefs, this community of teens carried the weight of a revolution.

With flowers budding in their hair and songs like Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin” in their mouths, the hippies navigated their new lives by forming communities in openly accepting places like Greenwich Village and San Francisco. The force that initially brought them together was music. The new sounds erupting out of bands like the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane was celebrated by an audience eager as a soundtrack for their revolution. The music rippled and

echoed during their Human Be-Ins, “a gathering of the tribes” where they danced and talked with long peasant blouses falling from their bodies and braids decorating their heads. This is how they did everything: carefree and united, with love almost visibly dripping their fringed jackets.

When California prohibited the possession of LSD, they came together for the Love Pageant Rally, declaring independence from “the fear-produced legislation against the expansion of consciousness.” They communed for a Summer of Love, “dropping out” of mainstream American culture and into

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12

11

10

11

10

Surrey Houlker

Dakotah Malisoff

9

8

Carina Allen

Courtney Kaner

Surrey Houlker

Dakotah Malisoff

9

8

Carina Allen

Courtney Kaner

7

6

DAY LIFE in the

7

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DAY LIFE in the

letter from the editor ell, it’s been a ride. em Mag won me over initially when I was touring Emerson as a high-schooler. Now, four years and eight issues later, I sit back content after my final e-board meeting, which felt a bit more like a celebration and less like the standard “last-chance-to-pull-it-together” cram. It’s extremely hard to put into words what I’ve gotten out of this experience. This magazine has at once been the bane of my existence and also undoubtedly the most rewarding thing I’ve done at Emerson. I’ve worked with so many ambitious, creative students who are surely ready to do amazing things, if they aren’t already out in the world doing them, and I can say that I’ve truly gained something from my interactions with all of them.

For my last issue of em, I wanted to do something different. We’re living in a very odd time in the world right now. Coming back to school in January after the chaos that was the 2016 election really put me in a weird state, questioning where the place of art and publishing was amid this whole mess.

I concluded (if not out of logic, maybe out of hope) that if there’s a need for anything right now, it’s for art. Magazines are the ideal outlet for activism. Combining strong ideas with compelling visuals in a tangible medium is a perfect way to get a message across and make it stick. Many may argue that we are grasping on to a dying industry, but on the contrary, I believe that publishing is about to experience a rebirth of its own. Even within Emerson, there are more fashion, literary, and independent publications on campus than ever before. It lights me up to know that there are other people who are just as passionate as me about poignant words and striking images printed on nice paper. I see no immediate end to publishing as I see no immediate end to growing technology, experimental art, and creative activism.

Today’s reality is challenging us all to be smart, innovative, and revolutionary in how we act and spread our ideas. We’ve realized that our voices can make an impact, and even if at times we feel minuscule, the only way to get our message out there is to persuade more people to speak out even louder with us. While I see this as the beginning of a rocky few years or even decades, I have faith that whatever movement or momentum is picking up right now is going to be spearheaded with love, art, and expression. While many entered 2017 with their shields up, ready for a war, I think that we are not the generation to fight our battles with violence. Rather, I challenge everyone to dig into what they’re passionate about, what’s not sitting right with them in the world right now, what’s calling to them, and create something positive out of it. I’m ready for a revolution, I’m ready for a renaissance, and I hope after reading this issue, you might be too.

Lastly, I cannot sign off without giving the biggest shoutout to everyone that I’ve ever worked with on this staff. To every person who has contributed to this issue and to our website, every person that has offered their talents and time up to us, thank you. To everyone on my e-board, you guys literally make my world go round, because my world is basically em and now that this is over, I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do. Thank you Marisa, Margeaux, and Jill for establishing and keeping up the voice of em and inspiring me with your dedication and diligence. Thank you Allison, Noah, and Katya for being my visual dream team and for being ready for anything and everything at all times. Thank you Courtney for keeping everyone looking fabulous and for always being around even when you could’ve dipped. Thank you Ashley for jumping on board with us this semester and planning us an awesome launch event. Thank you Daniel for literally keeping me sane and for doing all of em’s dirty work. We didn’t know how badly we needed you until you made everything a million times easier.

Finally, thank you Carly for being my ultimate right-hand woman, for bringing all my wild visions to life, and for being the ultimate example of why you totally should work with your friends. Big-ups to our beloved Adam, currently abroad, who will be filling my spot next fall, and to my zine queen Julianna who will follow in Carly’s steps as our new Design Director. You guys have an amazing team waiting for you, and I can’t wait to see what you do.

5

4

I love you all, Carina

letter from the editor ell, it’s been a ride. em Mag won me over initially when I was touring Emerson as a high-schooler. Now, four years and eight issues later, I sit back content after my final e-board meeting, which felt a bit more like a celebration and less like the standard “last-chance-to-pull-it-together” cram. It’s extremely hard to put into words what I’ve gotten out of this experience. This magazine has at once been the bane of my existence and also undoubtedly the most rewarding thing I’ve done at Emerson. I’ve worked with so many ambitious, creative students who are surely ready to do amazing things, if they aren’t already out in the world doing them, and I can say that I’ve truly gained something from my interactions with all of them.

For my last issue of em, I wanted to do something different. We’re living in a very odd time in the world right now. Coming back to school in January after the chaos that was the 2016 election really put me in a weird state, questioning where the place of art and publishing was amid this whole mess.

I concluded (if not out of logic, maybe out of hope) that if there’s a need for anything right now, it’s for art. Magazines are the ideal outlet for activism. Combining strong ideas with compelling visuals in a tangible medium is a perfect way to get a message across and make it stick. Many may argue that we are grasping on to a dying industry, but on the contrary, I believe that publishing is about to experience a rebirth of its own. Even within Emerson, there are more fashion, literary, and independent publications on campus than ever before. It lights me up to know that there are other people who are just as passionate as me about poignant words and striking images printed on nice paper. I see no immediate end to publishing as I see no immediate end to growing technology, experimental art, and creative activism.

Today’s reality is challenging us all to be smart, innovative, and revolutionary in how we act and spread our ideas. We’ve realized that our voices can make an impact, and even if at times we feel minuscule, the only way to get our message out there is to persuade more people to speak out even louder with us. While I see this as the beginning of a rocky few years or even decades, I have faith that whatever movement or momentum is picking up right now is going to be spearheaded with love, art, and expression. While many entered 2017 with their shields up, ready for a war, I think that we are not the generation to fight our battles with violence. Rather, I challenge everyone to dig into what they’re passionate about, what’s not sitting right with them in the world right now, what’s calling to them, and create something positive out of it. I’m ready for a revolution, I’m ready for a renaissance, and I hope after reading this issue, you might be too.

Lastly, I cannot sign off without giving the biggest shoutout to everyone that I’ve ever worked with on this staff. To every person who has contributed to this issue and to our website, every person that has offered their talents and time up to us, thank you. To everyone on my e-board, you guys literally make my world go round, because my world is basically em and now that this is over, I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do. Thank you Marisa, Margeaux, and Jill for establishing and keeping up the voice of em and inspiring me with your dedication and diligence. Thank you Allison, Noah, and Katya for being my visual dream team and for being ready for anything and everything at all times. Thank you Courtney for keeping everyone looking fabulous and for always being around even when you could’ve dipped. Thank you Ashley for jumping on board with us this semester and planning us an awesome launch event. Thank you Daniel for literally keeping me sane and for doing all of em’s dirty work. We didn’t know how badly we needed you until you made everything a million times easier.

Finally, thank you Carly for being my ultimate right-hand woman, for bringing all my wild visions to life, and for being the ultimate example of why you totally should work with your friends. Big-ups to our beloved Adam, currently abroad, who will be filling my spot next fall, and to my zine queen Julianna who will follow in Carly’s steps as our new Design Director. You guys have an amazing team waiting for you, and I can’t wait to see what you do.

5

4

I love you all, Carina

contents

34 44 50 52 54 62 64 66 70 80

revolution nude or NSFW? rise up distortion the new new wires and bridges weaponized femininity brace yourself child's play familiar and foreign: a duality insecurity

4 6 14 16 20 22 28 30

renaissance letter from the editor day in the life arden jurskis and the birth of hyper-referential cynical absurdism earth in retrograde good designers copy, great designers steal tuesday cubic zirconia is forever halcyon

contents

34 44 50 52 54 62 64 66 70 80

revolution nude or NSFW? rise up distortion the new new wires and bridges weaponized femininity brace yourself child's play familiar and foreign: a duality insecurity

4 6 14 16 20 22 28 30

renaissance letter from the editor day in the life arden jurskis and the birth of hyper-referential cynical absurdism earth in retrograde good designers copy, great designers steal tuesday cubic zirconia is forever halcyon

Volume 23 S/S 2017 Renaissance/Revolution Editor-In-Chief Carina Allen Photo Director Allison Nguyen Assistant Photo Director Noah Chiet Editorial Director Marisa Dellatto Assistant Editorial Director Margeaux Sippell Digital Editor Jillian Meehan Design Director Carly Miller Marketing Director Ashley Hoffman Beauty Director Courtney Kaner Fashion Director Katya Katsnelson Production Coordinator Daniel Kam Marketing Julianna Sy Alex Sieklicki Writers Caroline Long Courtney Major Jenny Griffin Isabel Crabtree Joseph Boudreau Delia Curtis Hannah McKennett Abigail Baldwin Maggie McNulty

Stylists Jake Nelson Beauty Amaia Rioseco Designers & Illustrators Casey Denton Julianna Sy Aren Kabarajian Lauren Goldstein Katrina Chaput Morgan Wright Copyeditors Katherine Hildebrandt Christina Sargent Sara Nagie Lilly Milman Photographers Andri Raine Adam Ward Austin Quitana Sara Nagie Goldmond Fong Dakotah Malisoff Lighting Designer Brian Tolep On the Cover Surrey Houlker & Kai Grayson

Revolution Renaissance