Digital glamour
The Rise of AI in Beauty
By: Mia Barth
If you’re anything like me, you’ve likely fallen victim to various online flters. These flters are created using artifcial intelligence, and are shaping the beauty industry through AI-powered virtual try-ons, flters, and product recommendations. But are they really all glitz and glamour?
Illustrator: Elaine Linehan
Photographer: Niamh Cogley
Models: Mia Barth, Stefanie Yuen
Stylist: Niamh Cogley
Layout: Caroline Abella
AI entered the beauty industry with L’Oréal’s “Makeup Genius” tool in 2014, allowing customers to try on makeup before purchasing. Brands like Sephora now use AI to analyze skin tone, undertones, and concerns to make personalized recommendations at the click of a button. Skincare companies also implement AI for image analysis and are trained on diverse skin types to enhance accuracy. These advancements make beauty
shopping more accessible in our fast-paced world. However, AI also plays a role in perpetuating harmful beauty standards. AI flters modify videos and images by mapping facial features and enhancing them to ft Eurocentric beauty standards. They send out a message that people should be “fawless” to be considered “beautiful”. The Bold Glamour flter on TikTok, for example, alters users’ faces to appear slimmer, with smaller noses and even different eye shapes. These flters promote an unattainable standard of beauty on social media, when in reality, social media should be a place to celebrate diversity. Becoming reliant on AI-altered images can also fuel insecurity, leading to increased anxiety, body dysmorphia, and a constant need for validation on social media. The fact that these flters have become so undetectable has made it easier for people’s ideas of beauty to become distorted. As AI continues to leave its mark on the beauty industry, it’s crucial for brands and developers to create more inclusive beauty technology that celebrates diversity. Beauty should be empowering, not a place where people are constantly comparing themselves to others and fltering their images to promote unrealistic beauty standards.
IRed lipstick has been a symbol of resistance and empowerment throughout history. A red lip rst became synonymous with status and power in Ancient Egypt and Sumer by the female royalty of the time. ousands of years later, in the 1920s, salon owner Elizabeth Arden passed out tubes of red lipstick to marching su ragettes. e makeup look soon became a symbol of support to the movement that eventually earned white women the right to vote, although, notably le out women of color. Not long a er, a red lip became a statement of anti-fascism during World War II, as the look was famously hated by Hitler himself. Today, a red lip continues to hold powerful imagery. We’ve seen it in the news, as a red kiss-print le by a Macedonian woman on a riot shield, on the faces of protesters in Chile as they condemn sexual violence. We see it on our own Congress oor, on the lips of AOC advocating for the rights of Americans.
MODE MODE MODE
CONGRATS TO OUR SENIORS
CIARA SHORE
JOSHUA AUSKALNIS JULIA LEEDOM
JULIA MALING
KATHRYN LABAGH
KELLY CIMAGLIA
MOLLY CHAMBERLAIN LAUREN LARSEN LIZ LEMIEUX
Class
MORGAN JONES
RACHEL ERICKSON
ZOE GILSON
AMELIA FERGUSON
WESLEY SCOTT
JENNA VANSTON
Industreality
As technology continues to seep into human life and industry shapes the world around us, who’s to say it isn’t also affecting the clothes we wear? We end up outfitting ourselves in atypical silhouettes. Skirts overtop pants, exaggerated shoulders accompanied by a microscopic waist, and sunglasses the size of baseball caps are commonplace in an aesthetic centered around social commentary, an “ indusreality,” if you will.
As nations change leaders, wars begin and end, and the world around us continues to transform, we change, too, affecting our style. As we’ve embraced an industreality over the past decade, we integrate new influences that mirror today’s increasingly globalized atmosphere.
These influences draw upon the body to convey industreality’s transformations in our constantly expanding world, but it is not the first aesthetic to do so. As long as fashion and people have existed, we have embraced change, using fashion to document and express this transformation. For instance, people wear different clothes based on class, occupation, and activity, and we wouldn’t dream of wearing the same clothes from five years ago, let alone a century ago! People wore hoop skirts and loincloths to echo their own era, just as we choose pants with the right amount of bagginess to reflect ours.
In this indusreality we have created for ourselves, it’s as if we have produced another time capsule. It cements us in the present and reflects the factors impacting us every day. While some people may live more industrially than others, we all wake up to the same reality!
Written by Maeve McCurdy
Modeled by Maeve McCurdy, Nicole Castaneda, Joshua Auskalnis
Styled by Margaret Mihalick
Makeup by Kimberly Lazzara
Layout by Caroline Abella
Photography by Kayra Turkmen
Steampunk
Written,
styled, and modeled by
Melanie Ballard
The Iron Horse of Fashion
Is steampunk, the coupling rod between industrial imagery and Victorian clothing, due for a revival? Conducted by the intersection of science fiction novels and video games, the oddball designs layer spikes, gears, clocks, and goggles over cream ruffles, corsets, brown leather holster harnesses, and knee-high lace-up boots could not be more different from the clean silhouettes of modern taste. Yet, modern fashion is on a track heading toward a junction, where a comeback for the unique style is just a lever pull away.
The term steampunk, coined by novelist K.W. Jeter in 1987, provided the kindling for the firebox that sparked the most vintage of vintage aesthetics. While period fashion continues to thrive, hardly any antique aficionados sport bustles and petticoats embellished with feathered hats and pinstripe tights. But as modern fashion increasingly becomes an amalgamation of bygone elements, supercentenarians may join Audrey Hepburn, Farrah Fawcett, and Kate Moss as style icons of their eras.
While the Age of Steam has long ended, its locomotive of influence has not run out of coal.
John Galliano seems to have used H.G. Well’s time machine to gather inspiration for the Fall 2010 Christian Dior show. The fedoras, canes, and three-piece suits of Alexander McQueen’s Fall 2009 Menswear collection would fit right into Queen Victoria’s court. Although the late-Victorian industrial fervor that inspired steampunk seems outdated, contemporary technological advancements may precipitate a similar trend. Steam engines and gas lamps may have been replaced by AI and electric cars, but the soot lining the chimney of progress remains laced with fashion, with aesthetics like steampunk forming the smokestack.
Photogrpahed by Kayra Turkmen
Layout by Kate Dowd
afrocentric and alternative the mix of the afropunk:
author: kennedy pounder
Chain mail, Bantu knots, and Combat boots—what do these things have in common? They’re all a part of the bold aesthetic known as Afropunk. Often overlooked in both the alternative and Afrocentric culture, this aesthetic has a deeper, more grounded history than many realize.
The origins of Afropunk trace back to the 1970s and early 80s. During this time, punk rock emerged and became more mainstream. However, even though the punk scene was meant to embrace individuality and welcome the inclusion of other races, sizes, and genders, Black individuals who wanted to embrace this style were often ostracized from the community. This led to the rise of Afropunk, as it was a space in which people could express themselves freely.
The Afropunk space welcomes everyone but is especially rooted in Black identity and culture. As a result, Afrocentrism is a key element of its aesthetic, particularly in hairstyles and fashion. Locs, shaved heads, colorful braids, and the embrace of natural hairstyles are staples of the look.
Artists like FKA Twigs, Baby Tate, and Teezo Touchdown incorporate Afropunk influences into their style and music, helping to bring the movement further into the mainstream. However, Afropunk’s impact and history extend far beyond fashion, hairstyles, and popular artists. It has cultivated a community that merges punk with African influences, creating a visual representation of marginalized voices in spaces and aesthetics while fostering a sense of empowerment and belonging.
photographer: elaine linehan models: morgan jones, whitney egbe, kenya edwards stylist: kennedy pounder make up artist: brielle henderson layout: cindy liu
Metallic Futurism
Written by Andrew Meeker
Silver, first mined over 5,000 years ago in Anatolia and thought of by Middle Kingdom Egyptians as a lunar metal more valuable than gold, is experiencing a stylistic renaissance. SoHo-based jeweler Robert Lee Morris, who rode maximalist silver jewelry’s first wave of popularity in the 1980s, attributes a renewed desire for big silver cuffs and pendants to our era’s profound melancholy. When worldly possessions seem so ephemeral, large, empowering jewelry can feel like a shield from the stressors and dangers of this hurting world.
Compared to gold, silver’s low price makes it a more practical choice for large jewelry, offering greater creative freedom to both designers and everyday wearers. Due to its neutral hue, it can pair nicely with a diverse range of clothing, despite fitting most sleekly with black. Also, silver can be attractive to those who want to wear a polished statement piece yet find such an excess of gold to be gaudy.
At the 2025 Grammys, rapper JT (Jatavia Shakara Johnson) wore a custom silver breastplate by Grace Ling, an up-and-coming New York designer. Ling’s Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear collection “Neanderthal” featured a similar look modeled by Vogue’s 2024 Model of the Year, Alex Consani. In both looks, Ling complements the contours of the female body with chrome constructions that create the illusion of flowing metal. A recipient of the
CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, Ling represents the future of sustainable fashion, using 3D printing and CGI to calculate the exact amount of metal she needs to use in her pieces. In a rapidly deteriorating environment, however, should we be using more metal to satisfy our sartorial demands? Hard rock mining releases copious amounts of greenhouse gases—most alarmingly, mercury vapors—into the atmosphere, and silver is no exception. Silver is often collected as a byproduct of gold mining, which produces proportionally more hazardous waste due to its relative scarcity. Unfortunately, in an industrialized world that relies on devices made with precious metals, the mining industry has little incentive to downsize.
Electronic recycling, however, can reduce the amount of new precious metals that need to be excavated. Many electronics are not disposed of properly because collection opportunities are infrequent and inconvenient for the average New Yorker, but if you annually recycle your defunct electronics, you could decrease the environmental impact of your next jewelry purchase.
Despite its carbon footprint, silver is instrumental in the conversion of the Sun’s energy into electricity. The thriving production of jewelry is important to fostering joy and wonder in our culture, and silver is a medium that can continue to serve this purpose with a lower net environmental harm than gold.
photography by Andrew meeker modeled by Caroline Kuhlman and Zoe Ennis
makeup by kimberly lazzara styled by Ciara Shore layout by caroline abella
Written by Riley Good
Dark Times Ahead?
How our Current Fashion Choices Mimic our Political Anxieties
It’s no secret that fashion brands aim to send a message with their work. What kind of message it conveys is the question. Throughout the years, fashion has served as a statement of protest, propaganda, or a way to express national interests and concerns. With the rise of brutalist fashion, what does this reveal about our current anxieties?
Sharp silhouettes, industrial elements, and utilitarian influence constitute modern brutalist style. Think Mugler’s Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear collection. When analyzing this aesthetic, I tend to associate it with a sense of uncomfortability and fear of the unknown. With growing polarization, the sharp angular style of brutalism could signify sharp divides and feelings of disconnect in our nation. The dark, monochromatic looks that dominate this aesthetic suggest a loss of hope around social change. The survivalist and utilitarian designs of brutalism are influenced by workwear and uniforms. In an era of rising protests and state control, are brands trying to reject traditional power structures? As the divide deepens, it is unclear the direction our country is heading.
Additionally, the minimalist and dystopian aesthetic of the trend could be a commentary on our current climate crisis. It fights back against consumerism and fast fashion, a direct contrast to the traditional flashiness of luxury fashion. Brutalism embraces raw materials and durable garments, perhaps reflecting the depletion of natural resources. With the fashion industry being one of the largest polluters in the world, it’s no stretch to say that brutalist fashion is a critique on wastefulness.
Fashion is inherently political, and this trend is no exception. While it is by no means a fix to our issues, brutalism is simply a reflection of the chaos in today’s world.
Layout & llustration by Elizabeth Sadler