On The Edge: Haute Magazine's Fall 2021 Issue

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LETTER FROM THE

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Our Fall 2021 issue captures so much more than punk-rock flair. “On the Edge” celebrates imperfections, individuality, and disruption. This magazine will inspire you to go against the grain and seek what makes you different. Get ready, because this issue packs a punch.

“On the Edge” marks the fifth issue I’ve worked on with Haute Magazine, and with its release comes a flood of memories. Freshman year, when I was welcomed as Visual Design Director by our visionary co-founders, Diana Fonte and Jason Cerin, I was inexperienced to say the least. I hadn’t designed a spread before, wasn’t sure how to go about running a team, nor how to teach people how to use design software. You could say I was on the edge of my comfort zone. However, with the love and support of each person at Haute, I gained the confidence to complete the 400 page Fall 2019 issue. From there, the team grew and our work flow steadied. Next came “Future Shock,” which embraced an entirely new aesthetic, and after came “Remember This,” which embraced the trauma of 2020 with resilience and grace. By this time, I was comfortable in my role, so, with the publication of “Dream State,” I welcomed the challenge of becoming Creative Director. Coordinating so much creativity will live on as one of the most inspiring opportunities I’ll ever have. The exposure to so many perspectives and talents — on and off campus — has forever heightened my approach to design and how shared personal expression can impact our community. Once USC came back in-person, I knew our Fall 2021 issue had to make an impact. “On the Edge’’ is an ode to the strength, power, and grit of Haute Magazine. It’s bittersweet to leave with so many lessons learned, friendships forged, and over 1.5k pages designed. There’s no doubt in my mind that the future of the magazine is bright.

This issue of Haute Magazine may look dark and grungy on the outside, but on the inside lies so much heart. Thank you to our writers who wrote with purpose; each piece made me think about the theme in an entirely new light. Thank you to our photographers and videographers, who captured so many mind-blowing moments that balanced the edge of chaos with breathtaking sophistication. Thank you to our visual designers who managed to beautifully amplify each photo and writing piece with the infusion of their own creativity. Finally, thank you to our marketing team who hit the ground running this semester. Not only did they reach out to over 500 different organizations to spread the word about Haute Magazine, they also hosted a sticker sale coffee shop, a pop-up thrift store event, a wine and paint social, and a packed, high-energy rock concert featuring musicians from USC. Last but not least, thank you to our tireless E-Board. I am forever indebted to you for pulling us through rough patches, coordinating once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for our members (I’m still in shock that we were able to attend LA Fashion Week), and having faith in the success of everyone on the team. Congratulations to our next Creative Directors, Ally Wei and Shreya Gopala, and our new Editor in Chief, Alice Han. I can’t wait to see you take this magazine to the next level. Without a doubt, the team at Haute Magazine never ceases to amaze me. Hopefully, as you flip through these pages, you’ll feel their hard work and heart as I do.

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CREDITS Creative Director Sydney Loew Editor in Chief Awo Jama Director of Writing Alice Han Director of Photography Ally Wei Director of Visual Design Shreya Gopala Director of Outreach David Sirota Director of Content Perianne Caron Director of Multimedia Abbey Martichenko Director of Copy Hala Khalifeh Director of Events Shanaya Khubchandani Director of Diversity and Inclusion A.O. Haddad Director of Fashion Izzy Lux

WRITING STAFF A.O. Haddad Ava Lifton Bryan A’Hearn Connor Fife Hayley Chung-Heng Kaitlyn Huamani Kayla Nickfardjam

VISUAL DESIGN STAFF Michael Pincus Paul Liu Rachael Hudak Rebecca Feng Robert Rallo Serena Ngin Vivian Li

Anoushka Buch Arya Tandon Borja Schettini Drake Velasco Eric Chen Grace Toyonaga Miao Lan Zhang

Perianne Caron Ry Hermann Sadhana Sarma Sarah Chan Sarah Kim Tina Shi Yoojin Heo

MARKETING STAFF

PHOTO + VIDEO STAFF

Aiden Le Allison Ha Allison Nakajima Anahit Hamzoian Angela Wang Anrusi Mittal Aubrey Kim Cindy Nguyen Claire Veith Katya Attamimi

Alex Lam Alysha Wang Clark Miyamoto Emi Yoshino Gabrielle Broome Gigi Zanqueta Jace Smolansky Jacob Yeh Jesse Walk Josh Lin

Lauren Oh Leslie Moreno Mia Fong Naomi Gau Natalie Lancaster Reina Tse Reshma Ramesh Sachie Ariga Sophia Watson Victoria Martzloff

Katherine Han Kayla Adams Kellie Chen Marissa Ding Natalie Serratos Nick Tang Prim Boonyachai Quan Pham Selin Duek Xyla Abella

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Shot in the Dark David Arnoff IN BETWEEN PRACTICE Kayla Adams The Female Pop Star’s Stereotypes – And the Women Who Shatter Them Kaitlyn Huamani + Xyla Abella Pale Waves Niall Lea EYES ON ME! Ally Wei Don’t Try to Reinvent the Wheel. Just Make it Spin Faster. Connor Fife + Jacob Yeh The Archive of Derrick Freske Derrick Freske PunkX Nick Tang Street Art: An Agent of Change Hayley Chung-Heng Shape Shift Piper Ferguson Spineless Movement Natalie Serratos The Revelations of Sundae School Bryan A’Hearn + Clark Miyamoto Watch Your Step Prim Boonyachai Tyler Matthew Oyer Mitchell Zaic Spunky Spotlight Emi Yoshino An Antidote to Greenwashing Vivian Li + Quan Pham Gleam Jacob Yeh Chase Atlantic Jordan Knight Monster House on 36th Street Michael Pincus Tiffany Day Alice Han + Ally Wei The Art of Asian Americanism Paul Liu + Sarah Kim Ebbs and Flows Quan Pham Victor Ye’s Belief in Tomorrow Serena Ngin + Emi Yoshino Satine Gigi Zanqueta Pip Pip Mixed Elements Xyla Abella Boston Alex Lam Anti Eden: Fashion for the Femme Fatale Kayla Nickfardjam + Sabra Binder Andrew Rudy Kiera Smith Social Media Social Change Ava Lifton + Grace Toyonaga Illuminated Kellie Chen Katherine Ho is More Than Just Her Hit “Yellow” Rebecca Feng + Ally Wei Finally Free Marissa Ding The Evolution of Grunge A.O. Haddad + Alex Lam Joan Jett Brad Elterman Raw Japanese Punk Josh Lin Changing Dreams: A Look into the Elusive Archive Page Bobby Rallo + Ry Hermann Haute Takes Los Angeles Fashion Week Ally Wei

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Models Debbie Harry from Blondie Joey Ramone from The Ramones

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DAVID ARRNOFF

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Model Lydia Lunch

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SHOT IN THE DARK

David Arnoff shows off the music scene of sunny SoCal through a darker lens. He is best known for his documentation of the local rock scene and has made strides during the punk era with his instantly recognizable black-and-white images. Some of his most notable shots feature stars like Lydia Lunch and Nick Cave and rock bands like The Damned, Dream Syndicate and The Dead Boys, among many others.

Models The Misfits

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DAVID ARNOFF

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SHOT IN THE DARK

Models Siouxsie Sioux from Siouxsie and the Banshees Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor from Motörhead

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Models Kiera Smith Nora Miller Muriel Clarke Tai Campbell

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Photography by

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KAITLYN HUAMANI + / XYLA XYLA ABELLA ABELLA

y Kaitlyn Huamani & Xyla Abel-

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THE FEMALE POP STAR’S

STEREOTYPES AND THE WOMEN WHO SHATTER THEM In a now infamous moment in 2007 involving an umbrella, paparazzi, and a newly bald Britney Spears, she cemented a shift in her image from America’s favorite pop star to America’s favorite hot mess. From then on, any low moment in a person’s life could be lightheartedly referred to as their “2007 Britney moment” and receive a chuckle.

But why did this happen? Why are female pop stars forced to squeeze into impossibly restricting boxes that dictate how they can behave, dress, sound, talk and be?

Kristin Lieb, a marketing communication scholar who focuses on the intersection of branding, the music industry, and gender and sexuality studies, knows exactly why this happens.

The primary factor in a female pop star’s success is not her music, according to Lieb’s research. It is her body and the way she presents herself to the world.

Lieb argues that female pop stars are often pressured into aligning with very restricting and controlled stereotypes in order to achieve success. The models of these stereotypes have been working for so long that there doesn’t seem to be much objection to the tried and true method of molding a public identity around a stereotype. Lieb outlines some of these stereotypes in her work, and diving into each of them proves to be telling of their weight in the music industry.

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The Diva.

You know her. You love to hate her. She’s difficult, bratty, and cold. She’s impossible to please, she makes a scene without remorse and she doesn’t smile for the paparazzi. She’s a diva, through and through.

If her male counterpart behaved in the same way, he wouldn’t be labeled a dramatic diva. He’d be a man with high-standards, and rightly so. He’s not difficult; he’s particular. But she does the same things and she is branded as a bitch.

Think Mariah Carey.

The Girl-Next-Door.

This female musician is relatable, sweet and just the right amount of “quirky.”

She is familiar, kind and someone you know your parents would adore. She is

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KAITLYN HUAMANI + / XYLA XYLA ABELLA ABELLA

the idealized American girl.

Her music is typically about young love and/or heartbreak because everyone loves love songs. But she needs to be careful that she doesn’t just focus on romance through her music, otherwise she’s deemed boy-crazy and needs to become her own person.

Think early Taylor Swift.

The Temptress.

She is the one who is known for her looks. She’s sexy, she’s cool, she’s seductive, and she’s fun. She’s a cool girl. Every guy you know follows her on Instagram. It’s pretty well known and accepted that she is perhaps not the most exceptionally talented, but she is definitely hot.

Think Britney Spears in her “Toxic” days.

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The Hot Mess.

If you see her picture plastered on tabloid covers regularly, that’s a sure way of knowing that she has been placed into this category. She’s probably enduring pregnancy rumors, divorce scares, fallouts with friends, and whispers of her excessive drinking or drug use – all within about a month or so. She’s simply “out of control.”

Or she might not be any of those things. She might just be different.

Think Amy Winehouse.

The Comeback.

She is likely a former hot mess. She might have gone through a messy divorce, troubles with drugs or drinking, or any other upsetting experience (especially when it occurs on the public’s watch). But now she has returned to superstardom with songs about fighting through hard times. She is now praised for being “strong” and “brave,” but conversations about her struggles are often carried out in a way that implies that she should feel shame about her past.

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Think Demi Lovato.

In recent years, there has been a significant and noteworthy departure from these stereotypes. That is not to say that up-and-coming female pop stars are more interesting or dynamic or revolutionary than their predecessors. They simply refuse to accept labels, being put into boxes and letting the media dictate their image any longer. They are acting on years of frustration and hurt and humiliation that built up for decades in the generations of female stars before them.

This wave of radical young female artists includes stars like Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo, who both rose to global fame in their early teen years. These stars have played with an experimental style in their music, their fashion, and their brand with huge payoffs.

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Eilish’s fashion choices are of particular interest through this lens. In her earlier years of fame, she opted for baggy streetwear-inspired looks and neon green hair. Her looks were playful, youthful, and perfectly representative of Gen Z’s eclectic, mix-andmatch, throwback style.

Much of the conversation about Eilish’s looks, namely for red-carpet events, surrounded her choice to remain modest and not show much of her body. Her personal choice about her body, whether she intended it to, exposed the culture of misogyny and sexism in the industry.

She was a teenager, yet her refrain from baring her skin and wearing form-fitting clothing raised eyebrows. Eilish explained in an interview with British Vogue that her clothing represented control over her own body in her mind. Her style choices reflected her fierce individuality, and more importantly, her autonomy.

When Eilish ditched the neon green hair and sweats, she opted for platinum locks and a corset in the retro-inspired look for her cover of British Vogue. This cover shoot was her graceful (and shocking to some) transition into her next fashion phase. She emphasized in her interview that her style motto is to wear (and do) whatever she wants, as long as it makes her feel good.

“Showing your body and showing your skin – or not – should not take away any respect from you,” Eilish told Vogue.

Although the concept of wearing whatever makes you feel good seems rather simple,

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KAITLYN HUAMANI /+XYLA XYLAABELLA ABELLA

TITLE OF ARTICLE it is quite revolutionary when the context of the fashion of female pop stars of the past is considered. How many past female stars were forced to wear clothing that they did not want to wear by managers, agents, and anyone with a vested interest in their success? Were their fashion choices of their own doing or were they a part of a plan to get more exposure – literally and figuratively?

Eilish set the stage for female pop stars of the future to have the freedom of choice when it comes to their clothing.

Olivia Rodrigo is making similar strides, but her game-changing choices are in her music. Rodrigo has released plenty of singles that topped the charts, but what’s perhaps more exciting than the records she broke is that each of her big hits all seemed to fall into different genres.

“Driver’s License,” her debut single, is a dreamy pop ballad that shot her into the public eye - and heart – practically overnight. “Deja Vu” followed with a more alternative sound. “Good 4 U,” the rock anthem that captures the feelings of most people who have been dumped before, came next. Rodrigo’s musical style can’t necessarily be pinned down to one specific genre. She’s more of a pop, pop-rock, punk-rock, alternative-pop, indie-pop and whatever-the-hell-she-wants-to-do kind of star.

Her punk-rock inspired sound has clear influences from the stars of the early 2000s – namely Hayley Williams of the band Paramore. “Good 4 U” was com-

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pared to Paramore’s “Misery Business” so much that Williams was even granted a credit for the song. Rodrigo has been compared to Williams when she’s making punk-rock music, Taylor Swift when she’s making pop music, and countless other female artists when she’s doing anything else.

The talk about Rodrigo and the female pop stars that may have influenced her proves how often female artists are compared to each other, and even pit against each other. Can’t a female pop star simply be their own person and artist without being compared to others? Can’t female pop stars occupy a niche without fear of being branded as the “new” version of someone else?

While it is a shame that Rodrigo is constantly looked at through the lens of those who came before her, it is certainly not inhibiting her success. And she continues to rebel against the idea that an artist must stay in their lane, which widens the very narrow spaces female artists had been expected to fit into for so many years.

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THE FEMALE POP STAR’S STEREOTYPES TITLE OF ARTICLE

The phenomenal thing about both Rodrigo and Eilish is that their dynamic choices make them incredibly hard to pigeonhole into one of the aforementioned stereotypes.

It’s also refreshing that they are getting to make these choices at all. Choice means that they are not subscribing to a PR machine’s readymade public persona. They are given the freedom to construct their own image, to pave their own path, and to be who they really want to be and do what they really want to do.

Not only does this show that the female pop model has been revolutionized, but it points to a revolution within the industry – a revolution that gives women independence and the power and tools to rebel against norms.

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TITLE OF ARTICLE Kaitlyn Huamani is student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Journalism.

Xyla Abella is a 19 year-old photographer from Houston, Texas majoring in BFA Fine Arts with a concentration in photography and video at the University of Southern California. She loves to tell stories and portray aesthetics through her camera.

Models Camille Pavlik Nicole Chen

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Pale Waves is an indie rock band from Manchester, England. The band is composed of lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Heather Baron-Gracie, drummer Ciara Doran, guitarist Hugo Silvani, and bassist Charlie Wood. With the ultimate emo setlist and black eyeliner, they’ve toured the world with The 1975 and won several awards from music publications including NME, DIY, and MTV UK. Niall Lea is a photographer and videographer from the North West of England. He has always found photography and videography to be a fascinating art form: capturing the essence of something, or a moment in time. That is what has and continues to inspire his work. Among many clients, Lea works with Dirty Hit, a record label that signed The 1975, beabadoobee, Wolf Alice, and The Japanese House.

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A sophisticated take on a punk-esque editorial shoot. Models ranging in age and career join together to emphasize Asian American empowerment and beauty. Asian talent in the creative field is often overlooked or diminished in value, so this spread is an ode to the power that Asian Americans truly hold.

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Models Hair & Makeup Caden Chung Dani Shishoian Eric Chen Malia Dollaga Annika Lin Judy Song Selah-Joy Nakamura Keila Asaoka

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Ally Wei is a Los Angeles-based photographer who specializes in editorial and fashion photography. She aims to promote empathy and confidence through dreamy, elegant work. Ally studies Media Arts and Practice at the School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California.

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Art wasn’t supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you

FEEL SOMETHING Rainbow Rowell Eleanor & Park

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CONNOR FIFE + JACOB YEH

Throughout my childhood, music did not play a significant role in my life. While I had many commitments growing up, I had not yet found my niche. I was going to be Inspector Gadget for all I knew. It wasn’t until one night in middle school my brother Elliott gave me a ride home after baseball practice.​​Driving not so cautiously, he plugged in his new FM transmitter into the cigarette lighter socket. With this device we could listen to anything other than the usual Chicago KISS FM pop tracks. He connected his IPhone 5s through the bluetooth and played a song that I had never heard before. The strikingly different guitar and bass riffs seamlessly formed one cohesive sound, carrying along a powerful social commentary. The lyricist poetically examined the themes of indulgence and overproduction within Hollywood. This sense of awareness and criticism was unusual for me to hear, especially compared to what there was on the radio. Structurally, it was new to my ears as well. It avoided all the cliches of typical pop music. It was over five minutes long and included an extended guitar solo in the middle of the song. Elliott told me that it was “Californication” by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Later that night, I Googled the band and saw that they have shockingly been around for the past four decades. I was amazed and inspired by the idea that one could make a lifelong career out of expressing his or her own beliefs and emotions through music.​B ​ y the next day, I was already saving enough money up to buy a guitar.

Although the song itself was influential to me, I think I was most impacted by the musical and artistic approach of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea. After watching a handful of his interviews, I learned that he only took a few lessons. Instead of affecting his playing in a negative way, he utilizes his ignorance of music theory and technique to create more unique music. For example, he instructs a bass lesson video where he explains how he “slaps the bass” – a term to describe a percussive approach towards playing the instrument, usually used in funk music. He openly admits that he fails to do it like a technical bassist would. Despite this, he uses this technique on many RHCP tracks and is a style that he has become well-known for.

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I went down the rabbit hole of 1990s alternative rock and landed upon many other bands, such as Nirvana and Oasis, who didn’t bother with music instructors or being proficient musicians. One of the more interesting cases of this was Foo Fighters, led by legendary former drummer of Nirvana Dave Grohl. Similarly with Flea, I watched an interview with Dave where he explained when he went to his first drum lesson as a kid, the instructor kept telling him all the things he was doing wrong: like the way he held the drumsticks or how he was hitting too hard. He quit lessons and decided to teach himself on a homemade drum kit, consisting of buckets and pillows in his room, while playing to records of The Beatles. He also taught himself how to play guitar – he claimed he approached it like a drum set; the high strings being the high-hats and cymbals while the low strings being the snare, toms, and kick drum. From this technique, he wrote many great songs, including “Everlong.” Without Grohl’s resistance to technical musicianship, Foo Fighters would have been a completely different band.

This idea of doing things your own way really stuck with me. I realized I didn’t need to spend money for lessons and study all the rules and concepts of theory to create music that myself and maybe even others could enjoy. Additionally, if these super successful artists did it their own way, then why couldn’t I do the same? As a result, I have spent the past six years teaching myself not only guitar, but also bass, drums, piano, and mandolin. I am no musical prodigy with perfect pitch who one day in kindergarten just sat in front of a keyboard and started playing Beethoven. However, I do learn best by sitting down and playing records, forcing myself to use and strengthen my ear. I also take advantage of Youtube to watch and mimic the hand positions and movements of my favorite musicians.

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MAKE IT SPIN FASTER

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CONNOR FIFE + JACOB YEH

To take this philosophy a step further, I thought, “why not do everything else my own way too?” Therefore, I write all of my songs myself – not worrying about whether they are chart-toppers, but instead focusing on creating something that I like and is true to myself. And similarly to the lyricism of “Californication,” I write about things that actually are around me and affect me. My lyrics are heavily inspired by my hometown – East Chicago, Indiana – and the many stories and relationships this small, industrial, impoverished city has provided me with. There are themes of nostalgia, heartbreak, adolescence, and most importantly just being a typical teenage boy in the midwest who likes to play guitar, sing, write poetry, drink tea, overthink, stay up late, sleep in, go to parties, drive around, constantly whistle, take hot showers, and eat Frosted Flakes for breakfast. When I started getting really serious about music, Elliott gave me the best advice that I have ever heard. He said, “Don’t try to reinvent the wheel, Connor. Just make it spin faster until it falls off the axel.” So that is what I do. I write and sing about what I know and feel.

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Additionally, I play all of the instruments and sing all of the vocals. I record all of my material. I just use the Voice Memos app on my phone to prevent myself from trying to polish up the tracks. I release and promote it all through different outlets and media. I even go so far as to burn my music on CD’s to pass out. I also create all of the artwork.

I strictly follow a very minimalist style – only using black on white and simple shapes – in order to emphasize the simplicity and rawness of my music and keep the attention on it as well, instead of on the artwork or any other external factors.

Now I am not claiming these tasks are extremely difficult to do, especially during this modern age of digital recording software and outlets like SoundCloud (you can find my music under “Connor Fife” on there) and the fact that my music is pretty “within the box” in terms of others trying “think outside it.” I am no Radiohead. I am instead stating that there is a certain appreciation for the craft you get when you have the mindset and drive to do all of the work yourself. It makes it all that much more special and personal.

The extension between your thoughts and the sounds you create is pure when there are no outside factors in between. Now, this is not to say that I plan on being stubborn and refusing collaboration and help from others for the rest of my musical career; but at least for the moment, I receive even more satisfaction in my art knowing that I am doing it exactly how I want to do it.

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Connor Fife is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Creative Writing and Music Industry.

Jacob Yeh is a Pasadena-born and Los Angeles-based photographer who specializes in portraiture and abstract photography. He enjoys cinema, music, and most recently, cooking. He studies Communications and minors in Cinematic Arts and Media Studies at the University of Southern California.

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Model Heir of Atticus @heir.of.atticus

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QUAN PHAM DERRICK FRESKE

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Model Vinnie Hacker @vinniehacker

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Model Andrew Beasley @_andrewroyce_

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DERRICK FRESKE

Derrick Freske is a portrait

Model Cameron Porras @itscamsworld

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photographer and director based in Los Angeles, California.

Most known for his colorful imagery & neon hues, Derrick’s distinct style of photography has captivated many across various social media platforms. His Instagram alone, @dfreske, has gathered a following of over 300,000+ individuals.

Derrick is available for photography work worldwide. His clients include Aéropostale, Apple, Gap, Skullcandy, and Under Armour.

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Models Carly Gibert @carlygibert

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Nick Tang is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Business Administration. Nick captures the essence of anarchy without recognition of authority through film photography.

Models Tobi Ogunyankin Grace Whitman Nick Tang

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STREET ART: AN AGENT OF CHANGE Writing by Hayley Chung-Heng

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Notorious traffic jams, an industrial skyline, and a dynamic art world. To many, the city of Los Angeles is a center for street art. From Chinatown to the Downtown Arts District, graffiti alleys and scattered murals transform yrban spaces into outdoor exhibitions.

In my hometown of Laguna Beach, there are over 100 pieces of public artwork. By the rocky seaside, you might find charming ceramic sculptures or seating embossed with marine life. When I arrived in L.A. as a college freshman, I was struck by the profound coexistence of art and industry. The bleak walls and former factories of historic areas are now painted over with colorful messages encouraging social change.

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The COVID-19 pandemic is beginning to subside in the States, but racially motivated hate crimes that were facilitated by the turmoil continute to persist. Muralists like Lauren YS not only magnify the voices of the #StopAsianHate movement, but help uplift various communities through their work.

“Representation as a societal endeavor is amplified tenfold in a large-scale mural,” says Lauren.

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“What defines ___ as art?” is a frequently asked question. Like many contemporary art forms (e.g. assemblage and immersion), critics and the general public possess differeng opinions. Though they are strikingly different, both calligriffiti and outdoor murals are considered under the umbrella of street art. Graffiti, unlike murals, carry a widely negative connotation - one that is shaped by L.A.’s grim history of urbanization. Nevertheless, it may be argued that the two are inextricably intertwined.

On the other hand, “what defines art as vandalism?” is easier to agree upon. Vandalism, as it is commonly defined, is any artwork or message installed without the consent of the property owner. In early September of 2021, the L.A. City Council invested 1.65 million into graffiti and waste removal. In light of beautification efforts, does street art become an agent of change or is it something that prevents the city from progress?

Some may assume a strong stance towards the former question, but hardly anything is entirely positive or negative. Art in particular does not commence at its creation or removal. When a piece has

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been installed, an artist’s purpose may have only just begun.

Murals are not as exclusive as painting or sculptures that require a reservation to a musem located halfway across the country. Rather, this art form has a permeating effect on lone commuters or families cruising absentmindedly through a neighborhood. It may be more accurate to say that murals are everywhere; thus, it becomes even more important to ask, “who is creating them?”

There is no one way of comprehending the extensive and ironically unseen role that street art plays in a larger society. Even so, it’s valuable to learn about artists’ intensions and how their work can shape a community.

Lauren YS is an Los Angeles-based artist who specializes in murals and fine art. Their work, which is marked by dreamscapes, queer worlds, and femme characters, seeks to amplify the beauty of queerness and ethnicity. In a written interview, Lauren discusses with us the power of muralism, the relationship between street art and urban spaces, and their first monograph called Dream Logic.

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As seen with your “Stop Asian Hate Crimes” and “We Built the Tracks We Travel On” murals, you tend to create art where its history is most rooted. Some may consider L.A. as a nexus of the Asian-American experience, but do you think there is enough AAPI representation in the art community?

There could always be more representation; as there could always be more push for representation packed into the curatorial effort. I would really love to see more murals painted by Asian Americans in Little Tokyo, Chinatown, KTown, and Thai Town, for example. The work I did in Chinatown was entirely self-funded and self-directed, so it’s not as if it came from a concerted effort to source and spotlight Asian American work. Part of the issue with working as underrepresented persons is that we constantly have to advocate for ourselves while those who already take up space continue to lift each other up, rather than put energy into giving space to those less visible. I think it is part of the responsibility of building owners and wall-wranglers who curate in communities with specific cultural histories to reflect that memory in their curation because it means so much to both the artist and the viewer to feel as though these histories carry holistic intention and meaning. It means so much more to everyone when a Korean artist is given space to paint in KTown over a famous white guy, even though they may be young or less experienced, for example.

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Identities overlap and being Asian American/queer myself, I find that these groups are often at odds.

How and to what extent do your heritage and experiences with the QTBIPOC community shape your art?

I find that the pride and energy I draw from being Asian and queer are so strong that it’s hard not to let that bleed into my work, even when I’m not trying specifically to say something with it. But it has been a really nice shift to let myself lean into these things in the past years, and to unabashedly rep these worlds. Street art/muralism isn’t really a scene where queer/Asian energy is particularly common, so I’m excited about bringing that kind of those dynamics further into the light. It’s also amazing to learn about the existence of more people who identify within these realms (like you!), and have this powerful way of creating threads of community like invisible webs of electricity that can bind us across cities and time. It’s so important for us to be seen and see each other, especially in times when it’s easy to feel alone.

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As an artist-activist, do you think that street art plays a role in facilitating social change? If so, could removal projects reflect efforts to dampen activism?

Art — especially large scale, public art — is so powerful because it has the ability to take up space physically the way that we as underrepresented people are so often challenged to do ourselves individually. It also has longevity and a static presence that can capture a story or a history in ways that are very difficult to communicate in our everyday lives, which imbues it with a very special kind of visual rhetoric that can affect the viewer long after it is created. What I mean by that is that representation as a societal endeavor is amplified tenfold in a large-scale mural: the reason we clamor to see people of color, queer people, people of different abilities and body types in the media and ad spaces is because when we see ourselves reflected in visual spaces, we feel valid. We are tired of seeing whitewashed, unattainable and vapid archetypes. And this feeling is ever amplified when society so often pushes us not to feel real as queer people, as people whose differences aren’t always immediately visible. So, to paint a mural amplifying the beauty of queerness and ethnicity; to paint from experience as a mode to reach out to others like oneself — especially in an industry (borne from graffiti) that is so historically rife with machismo and straight-white-cismale energy — is also a gesture

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to physically create space for us. I try to tell visual stories that are super-dynamic, saturated, and pleasing to the eye, as a way of making those who see it fall in love. In that way, I hope to spread messages of queer love and empowerment, but also the strangeness of the queer experience, the strangeness of the mind — to everyone: to those who may identify, and to others: in hopes that they will also open their minds to us.

Lots of people fail to appreciate the storytelling within street art. Others may consider it to be plain vandalism — an issue that DTLA does struggle with, especially with hate-motivated graffiti. Do you think that street art is in any way an obstacle to LA’s vandalism/waste removal efforts?

Murals and street art are the best way to integrate the worlds of painting and graffiti into an urban space. Graff respects good murals; soliciting a muralist to approach a space is a much, much more powerful way of creating something beautiful than buffing graffiti. Urban spaces belong to those who live in them, and the mural world owes so much to the framework that graffiti built, the two are symbiotic in many ways.

Your work is breathtaking and I adore their psychedelic and mythological influences. I’m sure many individuals share the same sentiments, but have you ever received backlash for your art? If so, why? And in what ways does this affect you?

There have been times when I was painting in more rural areas when there were perceived misunderstandings about what I was painting. Because I often paint multiple femme characters, there have been times when onlookers assumed I was painting lesbians – which I definitely sometimes AM — but ironically enough, these times have occurred when I was actively not painting lesbians. I suppose the gayness just comes through the paint? For example, when I was sketching up a mural in Antelope Valley – an image of a two-headed character situated horizontally in a bottle – and apparently a city council member came by and complained to the council that I was painting lesbians on a bed. Regardless of whether I was or wasn’t (that is definitely within my repertoire, but not necessarily for a mural), the festival organizers defended my creative freedom. I felt vindicated especially when someone wearing a MAGA hat came by to watch me paint. I think it’s important to paint things that make people feel uncomfortable (enlightenment can often create discomfort) when they might not otherwise have to think about it day today.

As an artist, it’s important to stick to your guns and not feel emotionally tied to what the public thinks, as long as your intentions are in the right place in spreading messages of tolerance, love, and diversity, and painting truths from a place of experience.

Huge congrats on Dream Logic! What are some ways that people can support your work?

Thanks so much! Yeah, it’s really cool to finally have my work in book format, and I’m hoping to get the next one up and running soon. You can find Dream Logic (my first monograph) through Vonzos, or at LandofZos.com, along with a lot of other great art stuff from some really amazing artists.

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As an artist-activist, do you think that street art plays a role in facilitating social change? If so, could removal projects reflect efforts to dampen activism?

Art ­— especially large scale, public art — is so powerful because it has the ability to take up space physically the way that we as underrepresented people are so often challenged to do ourselves individually. It also has longevity and a static presence that can capture a story or a history in ways that are very difficult to communicate in our everyday lives, which imbues it with a very special kind of visual rhetoric that can affect the viewer long after it is created. What I mean by that is that representation as a societal endeavor is amplified tenfold in a large-scale mural: the reason we clamor to see people of color, queer people, people of different abilities and body types in the media and ad spaces is because when we see ourselves reflected in visual spaces, we feel valid. We are tired of seeing whitewashed, unattainable and vapid archetypes. And this feeling is ever amplified when society so often pushes us not to feel real as queer people, as people whose differences aren’t always immediately visible. So, to paint a mural amplifying the beauty of queerness and ethnicity; to paint from experience as a mode to reach out to others like oneself — especially in an industry (borne from graffiti) that is so historically rife with machismo and straight-white-cismale energy ­— is also a gesture to physically create space for us. I try to tell visual stories that are super-dynamic, saturated, and pleasing to the eye, as a way of making those who see it fall in love. In that way, I hope to spread messages of queer love and empowerment, but also the strangeness of the queer experience, the strangeness of the mind — to everyone: to those who may identify, and to others: in hopes that they will also open their minds to us.

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Lots of people fail to appreciate the storytelling within street art. Others may consider it to be plain vandalism — an issue that DTLA does struggle with, especially with hate-motivated graffiti. Do you think that street art is in any way an obstacle to LA’s vandalism/waste removal efforts?

Murals and street art are the be of painting and graffiti into an good murals; soliciting a mur a much, much more powerfu beautiful than buffing graffiti. U who live in them, and the m the framework that graffiti bu many ways.

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Hayley Chung-Heng is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Creative Writing.

est way to integrate the worlds n urban space. Graff respects ralist to approach a space is ul way of creating something Urban spaces belong to those mural world owes so much to uilt, the two are symbiotic in

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A H S

Coldplay 2002 Cover of Filter Magazine at the Chateau Marmont in LA

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hy by p a r g Photo

E P A

uson g r e F iper

P

T F I SH

The following photos are from Piper Ferguson’s upcoming photography book: “Shape Shift.”

Coming soon.

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As L.A. photographer and director, Piper Ferguson’s work is defined by an electric relationship between high style and pure spontaneity. Whether she’s shooting a musician or politician, she views the world through a rock ‘n’ roll lens, producing images that are compelling, bold, timeless and of-the-moment. It’s hard to imagine another photographer who could capture dynamic shots like Coldplay’s Chris Martin jumping three feet in midair at the Chateau Marmont or feminist lawyer Gloria Allred standing proudly on top of her conference table, while also giving gravitas and dignity to portraits of music icons like David Crosby and Kenny Rogers. It takes a special gift to be able to read a mood and tap into a subject’s true essence, and this is what Piper consistently brings to the table.

Amy Winehouse in 2007 at Coachella

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The Strokes at The Troubadour in Los Angeles 2001 for Rolling Stone

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LUCIUS Los Angeles, 2015

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@Coldplay - 2002 Cover of Filter Magazine At the Chateau

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Billy Idol Los Angeles, Shepard Fairey’s

Bobby Gillespie Singer of Primal Scream 2012

Matty Healy for Interscope on set of the 1975’s music video - SEX

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Robert Levon Been Singer Multi Instrumentalist for BRMC (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club)

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Wakelin

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Christine and the Queens OUT Magazine

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SPINE MOVE Photography by

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Natalie Serratos is a Los Angeles-based photographer and videographer most known for her utilization of eccentric lighting, production design, fashion, and styling. Her goal is to craft experimental work that brings light to new perspectives, engenders confidence, and paves the way for social change Natalie is a Mexican American first-generation college student studying Film & TV Production at the School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California. She can speak both English and Spanish fluently.

Model Lauren Lucas

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THE REVEL

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Before punk was a subculture bound by a polarizing non-conformist and anticorporate ethos, it was a person — typically an insolent one. Punks were young and delinquent; they denoted disrespecting authority and, in turn, being no stranger to petty mischief. During the early-seventies, the derogatory term for juvenile thugs evolved into a separate subculture as a continuation and response to the Bohemianism-style counterculture of the 1960s.

Much like their predecessors (i.e., hippies), punks embraced post-war youth ideologies, echoing the sentiments of anti-authoritarianism and informality. The newfound punk culture heavily expanded its tenet ethos of tearing down tradition through anti-establishment and non-conformist ideologies and arts — namely punk rock music — where the “do-it-yourself” ethic produced a grimy rock ‘n’ roll aesthetic, characterized by its fast, aggressive pace and crude-edged melodies.

Beyond the beautiful ugliness that is the punk genre, there was one quality ubiquitous throughout its scene, atypical to the bleeding black eyeliner and saturated gel-spiked manes: punk’s predominance among white communities. Look no further than the subculture’s sonic pantheon — take, for instance, The Clash, Ramones, and Sex Pistols, whose image all brandished angsty white youth. The exclusion of minority

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figures in “mainstream” punk was far from unapparent and, with the movement’s attitude rooted in countercultural identity, it is unsurprising that punkheads’ values tend to gravitate toward the extremes, especially regarding the topic of race.

Early-wave punks, chiefly among the British scene, adopted swastikas as a part of their provocative aesthetic, with figureheads like Sid Vicious of the aforementioned Sex Pistols often garbing a tee shirt emblazoned with Nazi insignia. The punk scene’s embellishment of swastikas as emblematic political incorrectness budded a relationship with neo-Nazism, where racist skinheads found a heavy presence in. Abhorred by the development of the scene, the San Francisco band Dead Kennedys released “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” (1981), condemning the hateful subculture punk bred.

With the subculture representing a multifaceted front, what denotes something as “punk” is not so wholly agreed upon. Amidst the music genre’s growing popularity in 1977, Iggy Pop, frontman of the proto-punk band The Stooges, detested punk rock as a “term that’s based on contempt . . . fashion, style, elitism, satanism, and everything that’s rotten about rock ‘n roll.” Pop, loathed by the label, embodied the every ethos of punk — after all, the most punk thing to do is to hate punk itself.

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This nonconformity is, perhaps, the most enduring tenet of the punk spirit. Whether it be through the brash riffing of garage-band instrumentals or critiquing the qualms of complacency toward late-stage capitalism, punk has continued itself the past halfcentury as a force that strictly thrives on deviating from the orthodox. You give a punk a microphone, and they will have thousands of grievances with society and its misplaced values.

Modernly, punk music — in its typical stylistic edginess — has been coopted by 21st century rappers, evoking the spirit of punk’s pantheon in a new aural direction to reach broader audiences. Disrupting the once predominantly white scene, rappers like Barrington Hendricks — better known by his stage name JPEGMAFIA — weaponized punk’s ethos by embracing ugly, chaotic beats and anti-establishment rhetoric. On his 2018 track “Germs,” Hendrick raps, “Kill Trump, do ‘em like Floyd did Gatti,” invoking the same radically anti-nationalist attitude Sex Pistols carried in their 1977 single, “God Save the Queen”— a song that received national attention for attacking the English monarchy.

Other rappers, such as the likes of Denzel Curry, Rico Nasty, and Ski Mask the Slump God take hulking influence from punk rock, creating thrashing music to mosh and headbang to. Off his 2018 punk-inspired rap

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album TA13OO, Curry performs with the wailing vitality of the 1970s punk scene, screaming cynical blows toward society throughout his songs “VENGEANCE” and “THE BLACKEST BALLOON,” weaponizing anti-establishment rap to criticize the innate corruptness of law enforcement.

However, in an age of mass communication with the advent of social media platforms, where people can vocalize their cynicisms anywhere, anytime — whether it be grievances with systemic issues or scornful, political qualms — the digital age is a cacophony of diatribe, drowning out the once far-reaching chaoticness of antiestablishment music. This radical accessibility to the opinions of others makes the punk ethos — especially through the medium of music—hard to pierce the veil of a broader audience.

But what if, instead of a microphone, you gave punks needle and thread (and weed) to tailor their countercultural revolution instead of vocalizing it. And rather than embellishing the ethos in typical grunge fashion, they redefined the modern punk zeitgeist with a zany, down-to-Earth personality — this is what Sundae School is. Ditching the typical stylistic grit and grunge that the punk subculture spearheaded and opting for a more grounded, draped aesthetic while sharing the same tenets of

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non-conformity and anti-establishment, Sundae School shifts the punk paradigm. In contrast to the other punk-act campaigns that opt for vulgarity and extremism, Sundae School sticks out for its gentleness.

“Our ideals are not ‘fuck the system, fuck everything the system is doing.’ But rather, it’s more of a ‘Hey, this is what we believe in. And we believe in world peace. And we believe the world will be a more peaceful place with cannabis.’ Our mission is to remove the stigma around [cannabis] and recontextualize it. Whether it’s through clothing, through cannabis products, through our campaigns, that’s what we hope to accomplish,” Lim explains.

Sundae School, in their pursuit to destigmatize cannabis, invokes a punk spirit of their own, echoing bizarre, non-conformist sentiments akin to the aforementioned Iggy Pop. Refusing to be labeled by conventional business school bucketing terms, Sundae School envisions their products as manifestations of an alternate universe — a “world where God is Korean and smokes weed everyday and creates the universe,” according to Dae Lim, the principal — or CEO in layman’s terms — of Sundae School.

It was only because of their limited resources that Sundae School strictly launched as a smokewear fashion brand in 2017, printing graphical interpretations onto t-shirts and hoodies as a conduit for the wildly imaginative, red-eyed God universe. Two years later in 2019, they expanded into the vast realm of craft cannabis, producing a lineup of their own flower products — such as their Tiny but Mighty prerolls and Lychee Dragon Mochi Gummies — across the California community, from MedMen to Eaze to Sweet Flower.

Under Gia Kim — the new, current Head of Fashion at Sundae School — the brand hones in on the Korean-American experience, boasting

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button-ups doodled with dancheong hues and eccentric, neon-colored hoodies with minhwa graphics. Paired with Sundae School’s signature joint pockets, the smokewear design studio and craft cannabis brand is focused on bridging the cultural chasm between cannabis and Korea, both as a fashion brand and a social campaign.

Sundae School, along with its contemporary punk-rap acts, are case studies of how the punk subculture has been weaponized and, in turn, evolved by minority groups — who were originally excluded from the 1980s punk scene — throughout the 21st century to vocalize their criticisms.

Sundae School infuses the antithetic cultural pair of Korean tradition and cannabis to weaponize the punk ethos as a countercultural tirade toward Asian conservatism which, more often than not, demonizes drug use.

“As a child growing up in Seoul, Korea, cannabis is — you know — the devil’s lettuce,” Lim remarks.

“A huge chunk of the population in Korea is Christian. I was also Christian. And with that, it was so shameful when even talking about cannabis or Googling images and researching about it.” It was only when coming to America for high school and university, he explains, that he began to open himself to the idea of recreational cannabis. “I was like ‘Oh shit, it’s not this thing.’ I literally thought it was heroin growing up.”

Sundae School’s revolution toward the globalization of cannabis believes that cannabis is a catalyst of self-discovery. Lim, like many others at the brand, credits his journey with cannabis to helping him learn self love and understanding when it came to his personal tribulations. “It was such a constructive element in putting my life into perspective,” he added. To Lim, cannabis is not just an important plant in his life, it is intertwined with his experience, his life. And, in the end, those are the revelations that Sundae School wants to communicate — the collective narrative that is your journey with cannabis counterculture.

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“Our mission is world peace. And our mission is world peace by globalizing cannabis. That’s our mission,” Lim asserts. “And we’re not following a marketing playbook, we’re not following a product launch playbook. We’re doing shit that we believe in. And we’re doing stuff that our community believes in, and that our team members believe in. And I think that is what truly makes us Sundae School. Because we are a community first and foremost, that is evolving through cannabis.”

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Born and raised in Hawai’i, Clark Shoji Miyamoto is a photographer studying undergraduate Physics at the University of Southern California.

Models Selah Joy Nakamura Shaquille Zheng Allison Ye

Bryan A’Hearn is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Journalism

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Prim Boonyachai is a photographer who is currently studying Fine Arts at the University of Southern California. As a burgeoning artist, Prim strives to further expand the possibilities of her creative sphere by exploring the medium of photography through being a photographer of Haute Magazine.

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This shoot portrays the blend of modernized Asian clothing, which is depicted through modernized Hanboks here, and the return of combat boots for this fall season as Gen Z is now taking over the fashion scene through social media.

Most importantly, tying in traditional Asian roots and emphasizing how fashion is continuing to evolve over time through trends and designers allow young individuals to express their identity through personal style.

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Mitchell Zaic is an Los Angeles-based photographer and creator at Ourros.

Tyler Matthew Oyer is an internationally-acclaimed visual and music artist known for their theatrical, campy, and goth-pop performances.

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Emi Yoshino is a Los Angeles/Orange County-based photographer who specializes in portrait and production photography. With her experience in Stage Managing and Photographing, she has gained a passion for storytelling and entertainment. Emi is currently pursuing a BFA in Stage Management with a minor in Business Leadership and Management at the University of Southern California.

Models Julianne Pham Reena Ye

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AN ANTIDOTE TO GREENWASHING

Writing by Vivian Li Photography by Quan Pham 165

Understanding fabrics can help us fight greenwashing Any brand can say they’re sustainable. It’s easy to bluff. In recent years, greenwashing — providing misleading claims about environmental impact — has grown prolifically to match skyrocketing consumer demand for sustainable products. It’s illegal, unethical, and it breaches the trust between consumers and brands. Greenwashing isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but we as consumers can regain control of how dodgy, sketchy marketing scams affect us. Specifically, by delving into the various textiles behind sustainable clothing, we strip the power from companies to decide whether a product is environmentally friendly on our behalf.

Textiles: good and bad McSherry explains that textiles play a key role in the industry, both upfront during production and later on in its afterlife. “About 98% of textiles end up in a landfill,” McSherry says. “What is it going to do? Are the dyes going to impact the soil? Is it a petroleum-based product going into the landfill?”

Her key questions prompt deeper thought about what happens to our clothing once it’s tossed out of sight.

The top offenders are petroleum-based fabrics, including polyester and nylon. “They’re basically plastic,” McSherry says. “Every time you wash, Fast fashion brands stand at the center of many microplastics are released into the ocean because consistent greenwashing scandals. As an indus- our washing machines don’t have the capability to try responsible for 10% of global carbon emis- filter out teeny-tiny microfibers.” Once they reach sions, the need for pushing back is clear. Megan the landfill, polyester and nylon take hundreds McSherry, a sustainability educator and USC of years to decompose — the same predicament 2020 alumna, cites H&M as a perfect example behind general plastic waste. of greenwashing. “They have their conscious collection with green tags on the clothing,” she says. While some companies use recycled PET plastic “But is the business as a whole sustainable? No. Is (rPET) to make leggings and swimwear a more that conscious line sustainable? No, because they sustainable alternative, McSherry points out that create millions of garments just for that small line it’s still plastic. Moreover, rPET has given companies ways to greenwash. In instances where every year.” demand for rPET has increased significantly, With regard to educating Gen Z about tackling companies accommodate by buying brand-new, fast fashion as an individual consumer, McSher- never-used plastic to make rPET. “Brands are ry is working at the forefront. Under the internet getting sneaky,” McSherry says. “It’s important to name ACTEEVISM, she creates content for over look for post-consumer recycled rPET instead of 100 thousand followers across TikTok, Insta- just recycled plastic.” gram, and Youtube. She’s a firm believer that greenwashing persists because people aren’t educa- Lindsey Troop, the Regional Manager at FABtionally equipped to catch it. “It’s so easy to say SCRAP, also warns against end-of-life dilemmas that you’re doing something sustainable, because with spandex. FABSCRAP is a nonprofit organizathe general population doesn’t have enough tion dedicated to coordinating textile reuse and knowledge about environmental science to know recycling. 60% of the fabric they receive is directly reused and made available to the public, while when they’re telling the truth,” McSherry says.

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another 40% is shredded and turned into shoddy for insulation. “We have to sort out anything that has even 1% of spandex because it will actually melt in the high-heat system and gum up the machinery,” she says.

Companies like Lenzing are also developing innovative fibers with a lower ecological footprint.

Erica Redd is the Business Development Manager for the New York office of Lenzing, the company behind innovative fibers ECOVERO, TENCEL Lyocell, and TENCEL Modal. Redd notes that these Volunteers and employees at FABSCRAP instead three fibers all source their wood from natural forsort out the spandex scrap and sell it by the pound ests or sustainable forestry plantations with the as scrap packs. They also work with boxing gyms highest environmental standards. In fact, tracing to fill punching bags and with animal shelters to the source of ECOVERO, Lenzing’s brand of visstuff dog pillows. “You have to get really creative cose, is crucial to its sustainability. “There’s dirty with the reuse aspect, and it’s definitely not a viscose out there that people talk about, speciflong-term solution,” Troop says. ically because you don’t know where it’s coming from,” she says. “Our viscose is traceable, so we On the other side of the spectrum, organic cot- have around 50% lower emissions and water imton might seem like the go-to sustainable fabric. pact when compared to a generic viscose.”

After all, it’s organic, isn’t it? Yet McSherry mentions that organic cotton can use more land and TENCEL Modal utilizes the entirety of the wood, water than conventional cotton and other crops. recovering around 40% as cellulose and using the Instead, she cites regenerative cotton practic- remaining 60% to power the plant and help with es as a cleaner alternative. “Regenerative cotton production. During the process, they also recover practices grow cotton in a way that nourishes the sodium sulfate and other chemicals that are sold soil instead of soaking every ounce of nutrients off into the food industry. from the ground,” McSherry says. Among other natural fibers, hemp is another up-and-coming With TENCEL Lyocell, Lenzing is able to recovsustainable option that serves versatile purposes er over 99% of the solvent, losing only 0.6% to and limits water usage during its cultivation. steam. “We don’t have to sell it off or anything,”

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Redd says. “It’s just fully recovered and fully re- “You can just put it into your compost and it will used every time.” TENCEL Lyocell both biode- biodegrade, which is really cool.” grades and composts, actually adding positive value back into the environment.

Moving forward, Redd says being carbon neutral by 2050 is one of Lenzing’s top goals. They’ve Beyond fibers, Lenzing is also developing sustain- started the process by offering carbon-zero fiber able process innovations such as their REFIBRA for TENCEL Modal, Lyocell, and REFIBRA by purtechnology and Eco Color Technology. REFIBRA chasing carbon credits and offering certification technology is designed to give post-consumer for brands. “Creating more sustainable products cotton scraps another life, chemically recycling and reinvesting in our fibers is really the future,” them along with virgin TENCEL Lyocell to pre- Redd says. serve the fiber’s strength. Redd asserts that REFIBRA is a great example of Lenzing’s commitment When assessing the materials on the clothing to improvement. “When we started REFIBRA, we tag, McSherry provides a general rule of thumb. were only at a 15% mix of pre-consumer cotton “Cotton, linen, TENCEL, bamboo lyocell — all waste,” she says. “Now, we’ve increased it to 30% of those are natural materials, and a lot of them of pre- and post-consumer cotton waste.” grow fairly quickly or are less resource-intensive,” she says. “The best fabrics are really just Lenzing’s Eco Color technology provides a more well thought out.” environmentally-friendly method to dye fibers.

When the TENCEL Modal is a honey-like consistency during the production process, they add the dye and spin out pre-colored fiber. Eco Colors mitigate the water and dye waste that comes with dyeing the fiber later on. In Austria, if you buy a bag of oranges, it actually comes in a bag that’s made out of our Modal Eco Colors,” Redd says.

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support their mission. They work with non-profit organizations and experts to spearhead reforSo, what is the antidote to greenwashing? How do estation initiatives in devastated areas, often sitwe catch companies in the act and make informed ting on the board to verify their efforts. decisions? Beyond checking the clothing label for specific materials, McSherry urges people to as- Customers can register their trees and track sess brands as a whole by looking into the sus- their impact. On their blog, tentree details differtainable claims they find. “Don’t just assume that ent tree species, planting sites, and community what brands are saying is true,” she says. planters. Director of Product Commercialization Ludovic Duran notes that tentree is working on TENCEL ensures that brands using their fibers are new initiatives to increase transparency with the telling the truth, by adding their fiber identifica- tree-planting process. “Recently, we have gone tion during the production process. “Say you’re into developing new technology to support those in Madewell and you’re looking at a product that companies in tracking, mapping, and reporting says it’s made out of TENCEL,” Redd says. “That what’s going on on the ground,” Duran says. fabric has actually been tested in our lab, and we have given it a certification that it is our fiber.”

Tentree prioritizes sustaining their planting projects long-term. Their non-profit partners educate Redd recommends companies’ sustainability and collaborate with locals to train them on how reports as a useful resource to assess. Brands to maintain their nurseries and forests. “We were creating genuine positive impact will be sure to planting with a partner in Senegal to support lopromote their work — Reformation publishes cal communities not just in reforesting and bringquarterly reports of their progress across prior- ing biodiversity back, but also to support them ities such as social responsibility, resource effi- in achieving independence from food sources,” ciency, and product traceability. “Make sure they Duran says. release data,” Redd says. “That’s the most important thing — whether they’re releasing numbers.” Since joining the Climate Neutral Certification Program last year, tentree has developed a life Tentree is an “Earth-First” apparel brand that cycle assessment of the company’s total emisexemplifies the importance of transparency in sions. Duran clarifies that tentree accounts for establishing trust with consumers. Beyond using their carbon footprint by using gold standard car98% preferred materials in their apparel — TEN- bon offset. Their tree-planting initiative is an adCEL, recycled polyester, organic cotton, and ditional step that tentree takes to support their hemp — tentree has a unique initiative to plant values. “It’s not just about limiting our impact or ten trees with every purchase. Alone, this claim being aware of our impact,” Duran says. “We remeans little, but tentree takes additional steps to ally want to bring a positive impact.”

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Fashion also is one of the only industries that isn’t regulated at all on a federal level in terms of the environmental impact just because it’s such Sustainability extends beyond the numbers of how a global industry. “We have emission-reduction eco-friendly an item is. We as consumers also goals for cars, fossil fuels, and all of these other need to consider how brands treat their work- industries, but there’s nothing being done about ers and their surrounding communities. With fast fashion currently,” McSherry says. fashion, garment worker conditions are a particularly dire concern. “Fashion is one of the only Although greenwashing creates a minefield for industries that really can’t automate very much,” sustainable consumerism, the tools to fight back McSherry says. “Every single garment is sewn are widespread and accessible. A great first by somebody.” step is to slow down your purchasing process.

McSherry provides a specific tip about giving Before Los Angeles passed S.B. 62, a bill ensuring items a cool-down period before buying them. minimum wage, garment workers made roughly “Don’t shop through Instagram,” she says. “If you $5 an hour sewing hundreds of garments, work- see something that you like, text yourself the link ing 60 to 80 hours a week. “That’s not okay,” and look at it on your computer.” By reassessMcSherry says. “In a state that has a $15 an hour ing the item later, we are more mindful and avoid minimum wage, some people are making as low impulsive purchases. as $2 an hour sewing the clothes that we wear once and then throw away — it’s horrible.”

While many sustainable solutions are economically inaccessible, sustainable consumerism lies in a McSherry points out that dirt-cheap prices from mindset that we can apply beyond the brand, even H&M and Forever 21 simply can’t exist without at Urban Outfitters, Zara, or H&M. McSherry and exploiting workers. Instead, billionaire executives Troop both emphasize that prioritizing longevity take advantage of garment workers to sell the and end-life of items is crucial. “There is a sustainclothes for as little as they can while still making a able mindset that you can adopt without changing huge profit. “The founder of H&M should not be too much about where you consume, and that’s in the top 10 richest people if their garment work- my hope for the future,” McSherry says. Invest in ers aren’t making enough to live,” McSherry says. timeless colors and styles while avoiding trends.

Nuances in the broader picture of sustainable fashion

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Troop had a background in fashion styling and merchandising, and her experience at FABSCRAP prompted her to think about the waste they created at the retail level. “When someone returned something that was slightly damaged, we would just toss it aside,” she says. “After I had this introduction to textile waste I was like, ‘Wait, what are you doing with it? Wait, where does that end up?’” After the purchase, care for clothing in a way that extends its lifespan.

We should also work actively to keep brands accountable. When we find lapses in transparency, we need to be vocal. Accounts like @remakeourworld on Instagram encourage us to find community in advocacy. They call out fast fashion brands for greenwashing and covering up claims of unethical labor. Anyone with a social media account can leave comments under brands’ Instagram pages, whether it be exposing inconsistencies or asking for cleaner practices. “That’s one of my favorite accessible ways to advocate for change,” McSherry says.

Ultimately, enjoying fashion sustainably comes from an intentional paradigm to make the most out of the resources that we have available. As Troop summarizes, “if you feel a certain responsibility for what happens to your products after you use them, then I think you’re on the right track.”

Vivian Li is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Arts, Technology, and the Business of Innovation in the Iovine and Young Academy.

Quan Pham is a photographer who gravitates towards lifestyle, landscape and architectural photography. Through his work, he integrates the beautiful grandeur of nature with the intimacy of life. Quan is currently at the University of Southern California studying Media Arts and Practice.

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“I wanted to explore the concept of balance between the natural and unnatural. Whether it be utilizing artificial light in environmental settings, or using polaroids as a main artistic medium, ‘On the Edge’ entails a theme of challenging creative norms, and I believe this shoot does just that.”

Jacob Yeh

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Jacob Yeh is a Pasadena-born and Los Angeles-based photographer who specializes in portraiture and abstract photography. He enjoys cinema, music, and most recently, cooking. He studies Communications and minors in Cinematic Arts and Media Studies at the University of Southern California.

Models Keila Asaoka Macy Asaoka

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Photography by Jordan Knight

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Jordan Knight is a 27-year-old photographer from Atlanta, Georgia. She has worked with clients including Chase Atlantic, Herizen, and the Vans’ Warped Tour.

Through her photography, she “want(s) you to feel deep emotion and feel you know the people or have been to the places I’ve captured.”

Chase Atlantic is an Australian alternative R&B band composed of lead singer Mitchel Cave, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Christian Anthony, and lead guitarist, vocalist, and saxophonist Clinton Cave. With three albums out and counting, the band has garnered millions of fans across the world.

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MONSTER

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HOUSE

ON 36th STREET

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Nestled on the residential 36th St., amid the sounds of kids playing and chickens clucking, sits a timeworn home built in 1903.

“It looks like Monster House,” Narrative Studies junior Tyler Sinness said, referring to Gil Kenan’s 2006 computer-animated supernatural comedy horror film. “That scared the shit out of me as a kid. It’s this big old creepy house. The house we live in has the same kind of look.”

And thus, South Los Angeles’s very own Monster House was born.

“The house has a very extensive history,” Narrative Studies and International Relations junior Durga Arjun said. “When we came and toured it for the first time, we were all thinking, ‘Oh, yeah, someone has definitely died here.’ The name came to us pretty much right after we saw it.”

Sinness and Arjun moved into the home with some friends in August of 2020 and have stayed since, with eight total people currently living there. But Monster House is not just a place of residence for these students (and perhaps a few ghosts). It has become a venue for themed parties and independent band gigs, and, more distinctively, a hub for creatives.

“It started as just parties. It started as a place for us just to bring our friends together and dance to the music we like,” Sinness said. “But we soon figured out that a lot of people enjoyed our parties, just for the people that they got to meet. I feel like we’ve been able to foster an atmosphere of community.”

The students living in Monster House did not start throwing parties until vaccines had become accessible to the general public, citing concerns about large gatherings amid the pandemic. Once they finally felt it was safe, the fun began.

“Humans have been getting together forever,” Sinness said. “I think it’s a fundamental part of our nature to want to have these social experiences with each other. And that was really something that we missed out on with COVID, and something that a lot of the artist community

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suffered from. We didn’t get to have that space where we can connect and network and collaborate on things.”

Past party themes at Monster House have included a post-apocalyptic “Wastedland,” a throwback “Emo Nite” fundraiser, and an elegant Victorian “Midsummer Night’s Rave.” Guests wearing costumes adhering to the themes have been admitted for $5, while those in “normie wear” have had to pay $7-$10 on a sliding scale throughout the evening. Sinness, who handles the finances, estimated that they “get around 150 to almost 300 people throughout the night.”

“We do discounted rates for people who come in costume because we wanted to curate an environment where people feel fully free to be themselves and fully free to let go of any hang-ups that they may have with their dress or their expression,” Arjun said.

Sinness, Arjun, and the rest of the Monster House team also aim to foster a space for queer people, BIPOC, and other marginalized students seeking an accepting environment.

“You see a lot of queer and POC communities in more underground spaces because they don’t have those community spaces to cater to them in the more broad culture,” Sinness said. “That applies to USC as well. You know, there’s frat row, and there’s these parties all around, but they don’t cater to the crowds that we do.”

Arjun attributes the success of Monster House parties to the fact that their team “is almost all queer, almost all people of color,” furthering that they “know what this type of audience likes, what a more alternative audience likes.”

“Our house is full of characters who all have reaches in different niches at USC,” Arjun said. “Because all of us have our toes in different pools, it creates a really nice network of people who we are able to reach out to and tap for collaboration.”

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Both Sinness and Arjun expressed that Monster House is committed to making the USC party scene more accessible, and thus, the group avoids sticking to one designated aesthetic. This is another reason for the themed parties — each is an opportunity to draw in a new, unexpected crowd. Yet, at its core, Monster House exists for its residents and their friends, who just wanted a space to be themselves.

“We’re creative people,” Sinness said. “Everyone in the house is an artist, and we’re all trying to further our own craft and our own creativity. I don’t really think of an underground scene. I don’t think of a subculture or something like that. I just think of my friends and the people who come to my parties who know my friends and stuff like that, you know?”

Live music is another factor that attracts Monster House’s crowds. Theatre sophomore Cameron Morris, who lives in the house, has performed at some of the parties with his band, Frameways.

“As soon as I saw the backyard of the house I knew I wanted to host shows at our place,” Morris said. “I joined [the band] because the lead guitarist, Christian, actually lives right behind Monster House, right over the fence, and I heard them practicing one day. We started writing music together, and our own in-house parties were the perfect place to try out new ideas and figure out our sound.”

Morris described that at other parties around campus, creatives like him “don’t really feel at home.” He is using his live performances at Monster House to try to create the environment that he had been longing for.

“We really just wanted to make something where whoever you bump into, you could have a conversation about the music you’re making or the clothes you’re designing or the photos you’ve been taking,” Morris said. “Just in lieu of who the housemates are friends with, attracting all those people into the same space makes a really exciting environment to be a part of.”

Plus, with recent controversies surrounding sexual assault and rape culture at Greek events, students were searching for a different party scene

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— one that felt safer, with accountability at the forefront. Morris hopes to continuously improve security efforts at Monster House parties.

“Overall I think the parties just need to be safer,” Morris said. “We’re sure to keep Narcan around in the event of disaster — if someone gets sold something dangerous. We’re not afraid to kick out people who are making our other friends uncomfortable. We’ve seen with the recent controversy around frat row that there are dangerous, entitled people who aren’t being held accountable. We want to make sure we’re doing everything in our power to create a space that doesn’t abide that kind of behavior.”

With several successful parties behind them, the residents of Monster House have recently turned their attention to a new passion project: Silent Planet, a magazine and arts collective “for emerging creatives.”

Silent Planet functions as an arts editorial “for creatives working in any medium,” including visual arts, film, photography, writing, and music.

“The entire idea was born out of a 3 a.m. porch session, just chatting, shooting the shit,” Arjun said. “[The name] ‘Silent Planet’ originally comes from a book that Tyler read, called ‘Into the Silent Planet.’ We thought it fit the mission really perfectly in terms of there being this whole planet, this whole world of creatives and artists who aren’t being featured right now and aren’t being talked about. [We are] giving them a platform and a voice.”

Looking forward, the residents of Monster House hope to continue throwing themed parties and curating creative spaces, especially for marginalized artists. After Silent Planet’s successful Oct. 29 launch party, the team is looking forward to publishing the magazine’s first issue.

The deadline to submit a completed piece or a pitch for a creative project is Dec. 17.

“We’re giving all of these people a way to reach out into the community and to promote themselves on a very public platform,” Arjun said.

“Which is something that they don’t really get the opportunity to do as often as they should.”

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Michael Pincus is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Journalism.

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Writing by Alice Han Photography by Ally Wei

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“me singing in a well in italy” was a significant proponent to Tiffany Day’s internet fame – the 21-year-old artist uploaded her rendition of “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen, a video of her singing into a well with an amazing reverb in Italy (as the title suggests) which quickly gained notice on YouTube in 2017, reaching over 7.5 million views; and today, she celebrates working on her fourth EP. Day started as a cover artist recording in the corner of her bedroom and now has gone on to garner over 1 million subscribers on YouTube and nearly 300K monthly listeners on Spotify.

Born in Toronto and raised in Kansas, pop phenom Day now lives in Los Angeles to pursue music as an up-and-coming singer-songwriter-producer. After gaining momentum on media platforms from covering different artists to solo “sing-offs” against herself, she moved to Los Angeles where she now studies communications at Loyola Marymount University while also taking time to focus on her artistic craft. As a bright, bouncing youthful personality, Day is cutting her teeth into the indie-pop scene.

Day actually got her start in music thanks to her mom: “​​My mother put me in classical training. When I was younger, I kind of grew up just playing piano and violin; those were like, the two instruments that I had lessons for,” recalled Day. “And it was fun for a while. But at the same time, it was also like a thing that was forced upon me — in a sense, you

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know, Asian kid, Asian family, it happens. But I think that’s where my introduction to music began.”

But upon entering high school, Day made a choice to leave behind classical music in the past, quitting both instruments and instead pivoting towards her newfound interest in guitar. Going against her mother’s wishes, she taught the instrument to herself via YouTube, which “opened up the world to songwriting, and that’s how everything kind of got started.”

“I’m a musician; I make music. I’ve been doing it for a long time. But I’ve just recently started being very serious with it in the past four years. And I think I consider myself more of a writer than anything else. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do as a kid; I guess it’s just one of those dreams that never left me. And I’m still chasing it, which is very fun. But it can also be kind of tough.”

It was particularly tough for Day due to the lack of Asian American representation in media. Asian American artists have traditionally been heavily underrepresented in the music and entertainment landscape.

“The main reason as to why I wanted it so badly growing up [was because] there wasn’t a lot of representation of people [who] look like me in the entertainment industry. I grew up in Kansas, surrounded by a lot of white people, which is not a bad thing. But there was not a lot of diversity for me, which was not super fun, and I often was very critical of the way that I looked. I compared myself to everyone around me or the people that I saw in media that had blue eyes, and blonde hair, or nice cheekbones or whatever. And I don’t know, for a while it was really rough. I want to be somebody who can be on somebody else’s screen, and who can kind of inspire them to love themselves and understand that it’s okay to look different than the majority, because we’re all really beautiful.

“In turn, it kind of translated to me feeling like I couldn’t do certain things because of the way that I looked or the background or my back-

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ground or where I came from, or whatnot. But I think one of the biggest reasons I do music is because I want to be able to inspire people that look like me, or that feel like they’ve been left out into feeling more confident and feeling more like themselves. And just not being afraid of putting themselves out there. I think that’s really important. So that’s one of the biggest reasons that I do this. I also do it just because it’s really fun. And it’s one of the only things that’s ever made me continuously happy growing up, and even now, and so it’s kind of, it’s like my safe haven at the same time, it feels good knowing that I can use my outreach to kind of help other people feel the same way.”

And this is what Day strives to dismantle. She pushes to help Asian American creatives, to help them see people who look like them behind the screens of media to spark their confidence. Day hopes to be the inspiration for the next young generation of creatives, especially motivating them to innovate, to challenge themselves and against the norm; she seeks to inspire everyone “to be the most confident and bold and chaotic version of themselves.”

“I just love the idea of being bold, and also inspiring that in other people, like, that’s one of my biggest goals; when I’m on stage, I try and just imagine that I’m in my bedroom, and that there’s no one in the crowd.

And then I’m just like, dancing around and singing with my hairbrush as my microphone. And I’m just looking at myself in the mirror and going

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so crazy and hard. And it’s like, even if my dance moves may not be the coolest, it’s fun. And it’s like, I think when people see that and see that not everything has to look, like, picture perfect. It inspires them to feel the same way of like, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s [just] a regular girl. Like I could do that too.’”

Honestly, it’s hard to find one word that specifically defines Day’s world — her music is laced with a unique airy, indie, bedroom pop, but Day lets herself indulge in different styles; she blends diverse genres and doesn’t confine herself to a single facet in music. Day’s discography boasts her wide-spanning range and incredible ability to digest a multitude of breadths: like her first released single, soft guitar-stringy “BUBBLE,” slow blend of jazz-infused R&B tunes in “COMMITMENT ISSUES,” anti-pop and soul-esque “Barbie Doll,” dreamy, indie-pop hits “IF I DON’T TEXT YOU FIRST” and “TWFNO,” and hyperpop/electro-trap beats and distorted 808s in her latest single “SPOILED BITCH.” “I’ve always really enjoyed electronic hyperpop, I guess, more of a dark type of style,” said Day. “However, it’s been hard because I also really like sunny, bright, cute things as well. And it’s hard sometimes to make a switch from one to the other. And especially being an artist, they always tell you that you should have an image, like a brand, like people have to look at you and think of one thing; and it kind of annoyed me for the longest time because I was like, what if I just want to switch it up and one day be cute and sunny? And then the next day, be like dark and grungy and, I don’t know, I just felt like it was time to kind of not listen to that standard anymore of just [having] to be one thing as an artist. I just want to explore every single side that I enjoy and just have fun doing it. And so I was like, fuck it. I’m just gonna embrace it and go for it. And so that’s what I did.”

Much like her own productions, Day takes inspiration from many multifarious aspects around her — not a singular person, experience, place, or thing, but rather an amalgamation of such. She writes about pretty much anything in life; and not just her own, but others’ experiences as well.

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And to all aspiring creatives, Day has a word to say: “[My advice would be to] probably just embrace what you like, and what you have fun doing; because I feel like a lot of times people will try and fit some sort of image that they probably know that they aren’t. But they’ll do it in order to appease their crowd or their audience, but it never works out because I feel that people can see through it and see that you’re not actually being genuine about your craft. And I just think it’s so much easier to embrace who you already are than try and pretend to be somebody that you’re not. Also, I think to like, just being bold, and [understand] that not everyone’s looking at you. I think that’s something that a lot of people can’t get over because they’re scared that like, you know, I’m gonna release this music and everyone’s gonna judge me or if I start dancing on stage a certain way, everyone’s gonna judge me. And I went through all of that to the point where I was like, why did I choose to be an artist then? You know, that’s the point; you’re supposed to express

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yourself, you’re supposed to express your creativity and not be afraid, because at the end of the day, not everyone’s gonna like you. And that’s just something you have to accept, you can’t please the entire world.

And so like, what’s a better way than to just like, be you by like, doing what you love and not worrying about, like people who may judge you or you know, may not so just like being confident in like, what you’ve got, and like, just going for it? Yeah.”

This is only the beginning for Day’s career. She is set to release four EPs in 2021, each EP reflecting upon each of her four years of university — “like the people [she’s] run into, the things [she’s] seen and like, the ways [she’s] felt and all that stuff” — starting with “THE RECOVERY PROJECT,” then “THE DEPENDENCY PROJECT” as her sophomore year EP, the third coming out soon encapsulating her junior year named “THE RENEWAL PROJECT,” and with the fourth in the works.

“It’s kind of like my bad bitch project, so it’ll be really fun.”

Cheers to watching Day’s booming fame to come.

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Creative Direction Sydney Loew Styling Izzy Lux BTS Alysha Wang Clark Miyamoto Jace Smolansky Katherine Han Alice Han is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Computer Science and Business Administration. She serves as the Director of Writing for Haute Magazine.

Ally Wei is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Media Arts and Practice.

She serves as the Director of Photography for Haute Magazine.

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THE ART OF ASIAN

AMERICANISM Asian American. A robust term for so many beautiful faces, for an eagerness to unify, to be part of a group. But we have lived with it, alongside it, inside of it, and we have grown to know it like an old road. It is the road we all live on, the road we walk down each day to get home. And when a friend asks us where we live, we do not just say the name of the road, we give them our house number, we tell them how to get there, what the house looks like. We live in different houses along the Asian American road. There are many houses, all different colors and sizes, with different furnishings and gardens. You can hear chatter in the houses, along the road; it is so vibrant, so full of life and motion — this Asian American road.

The tension between individual and group is in parallel to the suspension of the Asian American identity. The Asian in America walks the tightrope between multiple cultural cliff faces.

The suspension is both terrifying and exhilarating — it makes bare the apparent lack of historical authenticity that haunts the Asian American. But that same suspended period is the foundation of an exploding potential. The diaspora becomes a teacher — challenging us to trailblaze, to say: I am witness to my own history.

But Asian American is no longer a useful term as a cultural identifier. And, really, it was never

intended to be one. The Asian in America might be better represented by the space between Asian and American than the whole of the term. It is the balancing act that is the reality — the dangling between complex, and relevant cultural backgrounds. How can such a diverse set of cultural heritages be reduced into a single, compound term? It cannot be and it must not be. We choose specificity over convenience as a matter of respect and honesty. For instance, we use terms like Taiwanese-American or Filipino-American to preserve the dignity of a cultural body and history. Even so, surely the idea of unity in Asianness must mean something. It must be that the idea of the Asian American can be repurposed and redirected into a useful and fortifying idea.

It is in art that we find the answer. It is art that can transform the umbrella term into an idea that explores nuance instead of glossing over it. Through art, Asian Americaness becomes a different term altogether. It evolves into a thematic genre that places emphasis on experiences in America — a depiction that allows for a far more empathetic connection to the ethnically diverse Asians living in America. This does not serve to diminish the individuality of any work — any artistic expression is simultaneously a work of independent expression as well as a cultural expression.

The Pan-African movement reminds us of what is possible: that within such a large-scale diaspora, there exists an intense desperation for solidarity and intimacy among the different ethnic groups. But this union is a complex idea. It goes beyond mutual understanding or physical proximity. It is concerned with art — an intimacy that is found in knowledge but

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also found beyond knowledge.

What response does art demand?

You might put your critiques down in words that describe your emotions: this work makes you feel: happy, sad, confused, anxious, angry. You might even spend weeks and months writing and thinking about an artwork, eventually coming up with pages and pages on what the piece did to you, what the artist told you through their vessel. But you miss something. You miss the sublime, the unspeakable, unapproachable poetry. That same poetry that you carry but never hold. How its weight anchors you and sets you free — it is the undercurrent of immediacy that you miss.

It makes you leap like words off the page — I must do something, this must be consequential beyond the margins of a canvas.

This artist is born of a wanting that overcomes waiting — tired, impatient, saying: I exist, therefore I must exist. The art comes freely because it has to — it is like a baby’s crying, or a toddler’s waddling — all motions of necessity. To borrow cultures that are not your own is to have no culture at all; you know it well, you feel it when you go home and hardly know the language, or when you return to your other home and long for family, for kinship.

The desire for individuality cannot be repressed by sardonicism any longer. It comes rushing forth all at once. This is the genesis of the artist, the Asian American artist.

This artist is constantly wary of paralysis. It is the enemy of every individual — not a creative block, but something deeper, a jagged feeling in the gut that screams at some dysfunction on the fundamental level. This artist has to put on an armor against self-doubt, for every step is into a deeper darkness, it is the burden of a person that goes first, as a budding movement, and even more so as an artist — a visionary, a banner-bearer. Can you do it?

Can you say: this is the definition of the decade? You must. We must continue on — this pathless journey, this brilliant improvisation. We can be everything and we must be. Or else it is for naught.

And eventually, we find our affinity with the deep, velvety darkness. It no longer terrifies us to go forward without seeing — no, we are seeing, we are seeing the darkness which is portraiture of so much potential. We are not blind and we are not without our senses. We feel our way through the

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strange landscape — we find crevices that become havens for our feet and hands. Pathfinding becomes a game, with general tactics sprouting out from the soil fertilized by our steps. We begin to see where self-definition thrives and where it withers as feet carve the path, going steady, forward.

Everything is about oscillation. Metaxis was a term first used by Plato to describe spirituality as between the human and divine realms. The term has evolved into derivative ideas such as the quality of belonging to two different, perhaps polar, spheres in simultaneity or a reference to the numerous polarities we are faced with in our lives. This is the same meta that is used in the term 'metamodern.' And we are thrust into the midst of metaxis in the modern world more than ever: the virtual world and the real world, the individual and the group, romance and alienation.

And perhaps this idea can be applied to cultural studies. The same exploration of how the meta quality of modernity affects our perception, values, and navigation of the world can be reflected in the study of how an individual balances between and Asian identity and an American one. The interrogation of how interpersonal relationships, especially, are pertinent to our understanding of how meta-ness has defined the modern human.

The modern conception of romance exists within realms of irony and the ideal Romantic ideas. The ability for modern romance to exist at all is strange — it is submerged in paradox — yet it does not implode. Instead, it has adapted and evolved into a strange but familiar amalgamation. Its metamorphosis is not idle. Romance is an idea so fundamental to the human experience that it would be unthinkable to live without it — this is the same force that drives the survival of modern romance. What does this mean for the Asian American artist, then? It is the same perfect and real paradox of existing between seemingly contradictory and powerful influences that the artist is faced with. Are we up to the task? We must be. For it is the only thing we can do.

Paul Liu is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Creative Writing.

Sarah Kim is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Communication.

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ebbs and flows Photography by Quan Pham

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A colorful, soft, intimate exchange sits by the coast.

With styling inspired by punk and grunge themes, the spread captures poignant, sharp intimacy that seemingly clashes with the aesthetic landscapes.

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East Coast native turned West Coast lover — Quan Pham is a photographer who gravitates towards lifestyle, landscape and architectural photography.

Through his work, he integrates the beautiful grandeur of nature with the intimacy of life. Quan is currently at the University of Southern California studying Media Arts and Practice.

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While leaves may change color, Victor Ye stays rooted in who he is as a voice for current and future generations.

VICTOR YE'S BELIEF IN TOMOROW Writing by Serena Ngin Photography by Emi Yoshino

Few people can say that they’ve managed to achieve what they have in the short amount of time Victor Ye has — even fewer can say that these achievements stem from a genuine passion to not just grow as an individual, but as a means to impact the world.

At 19, Ye has planted himself in such a way that distinguishes him from the trees of other individuals. Gaining recognition from the likes of Tessy Ojo of the Princess Diana Award and Jackie Bezos of the Bezos Family Foundation for his dedication to social impact, and being featured as a guest speaker at the Teen Vogue and the UNICEF Annual Summit, Ye has proven that age is just a number when it comes to getting things done.

Ye arrived at the steps of Doheny library, acai bowl in hand after running over from a mentorship event. He greeted me with an easy-going confidence that quickly made me understand how he’s able to connect with so many people — he exudes an easy-going aura.

Ye asked for permission to eat while we talk — multitasking in a way that’s not only fitting for a University of Southern California (USC) student during midterm season, but as a person who’s accustomed to having a jam-packed schedule. For the 19-yearold, he states, “You want to maximize your day in the best way possible.” For being a freshman in college, he speaks with wisdom beyond his years.

Thus, it’s only fair that I ask him about his beginnings and how that’s gotten him to where he is today.

At the age of 14, most people are struggling to discover who they are. Yet, Ye found a spark within the United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goals (UNSDG) that set him apart from his peers. Intrigued by the charter in 2015, he found the seeds for his passion for social impact.

As Ye began to see more of the world and plant his roots, his ardency for the subject led him to the realization that his history classes were falling short.

“I didn’t see myself being represented in many of the particular classroom discussions or topics. Moreover, much of what we learn inside of classrooms is not only boxed into a couple of topics, but at the same time are only mere regurgitations or memorization of topics and facts that doesn’t lead to any specific application to the way that we’re actually going to make a change in the world.”

While such frustrations may have been limiting to some individuals, Ye saw the po-

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tential to create something more from the barren environment he had found himself in.

Throughout his high school career, Ye dedicated ample time to finding the right resources that would help accomplish his vision for a better future. But, it wasn’t an easy path.

Facing harsh winds, Ye recalls that it was difficult to be taken seriously. There would be individuals in positions of power that entertained him as someone only with words to say and no concrete plans of actions to back it up.

He was dogged on his path to create a lush atmosphere capable of flourishing. Ye mentions that throughout his high school career, he was gone more often than not.

He states, “There were a lot of times where I was gone Monday and Tuesday, back on Wednesday, and then gone again on Thursday.”

Yet when discussing the obstacles and sacrifices he’s faced, Ye’s quick to point out that his time out of school that led him to accomplish what he has and discover what his “passion projects” are.

Even though Ye was juggling a lot on his plate, he states that “When you’re so passionate about something, it’s just another particular focus of an interest that you explore.

You’ll learn a lot in the process of getting to communicate with various individuals of all particular backgrounds. There’s so many different ways for you to start to think about your own particular aspirations, and that allows you a kind of drive to explore a little bit more about how you’re going to go through one chapter of your life to the next.”

It was the lessons he took away from those very obstacles that enabled him to have

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the resilience and tenacity that he’s carried with him to this today — indicative of just how much he’s grown.

Being no stranger to the storms that life can bring, Ye credits his family for being an essential support system. More specifically, he cites his mother as being a particularly influential role and mentor when it came to developing his passions.

Something that his mother told him that Ye carries with him to this day is that “when you’re giving back, you think a lot about those who look like you and those that do not look like you, those that are being affected and those that are not being affected.

You always look at the conjunction between how we can always address both or all communities to ensure you’re being inclusive of the possible solution.”

Ye also credits his brothers for influencing him to be ambitious and to be open to the crucial understanding regarding intersectionality and how social issues are to be both approached and implemented.

Thus, having such strong familial roots is what motivates Ye to constantly overcome his adversities and develop himself.

Once Ye was grounded enough in the self-work he had done and the resources he had accumulated, he set about bringing his dream of a better world to life.

Much like how Ye had nurtured a seed that was born out of his intrigue with history and the UNSDG, Ye went about finding ways to inspire others to plant their own.

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Creating the non-profit organization, InnovaYouth, he explains that “Essentially the whole entire mission is to help young people start their own social impact projects. You can create a curriculum where InnovaYouth helps provide the right resources, the right framing, the right storytelling, and more than not, the passion and inner spark to really move forward.”

And the impact that has stemmed from Ye’s work in InnovaYouth is certainly worth mentioning. Directly impacting over 10 thousand students in 15 states and 14 countries, the nonprofit organization gained attention from the Dubai Youth Hub, the Tehran City Government, and — last but not least — the UNSDG campaign, itself.

Talk about a full circle moment at its finest.

In the span of five years, Ye’s brought to life his dream of creating a woodland, dense with individuals from all over the world who are united in improving the planet.

As Ye continued to discover more parts of himself and of the world, he made it a point to mention his involvement in the RoundGlass Wellbeing Summit in India in March of 2020.

At the conference, the ministers of education across the globe congregated to discuss what the future of K-12 education would look like.

However, what Ye noticed was that “there were a lot of artistic drawings and diagrams that would allow entire populations to be represented. But by the end, none of them were really enacted. It was just a scheme for everyone to come together and just talk without any particular field of action. I learned a lot about really pushing our own agenda.”

With the pandemic hitting later that month, the world saw shut downs like never before.

However, for many, hardships evolved into opportunities for self-growth and development. Ye was no exception.

Continuing to grow the various branches of his identity, Ye took a gap year off before coming to study at USC. Travelling to Morocco to learn Arabic, he added to his already impressive arsenal of languages — making that his fifth amongst English, Spanish, French, and Chinese.

When asked why these specific languages, Ye reveals that he made it a personal goal to learn all of the UN’s official languages. With Russian being the last language that he has yet to conquer, what he has managed to take away from the process of being multilingual is one that undoubtedly speaks to his character — as an Asian American, as a young adult, and as an activist.

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“You can talk to people through their heart instead of through their mind,” Ye says earnestly. “It’s the easiest way I’ve found to connect to people of all types, no matter where I am in the world. It gives me a real advantage to not only work on social issues, but at the same time understanding other people’s perspectives, so that I can put them into my own shoes. I can connect with people on a very, very deep rooted front.”

It’s this idea of connection that also drove Victor to really step back and evaluate his progress during the pandemic. Turning back towards his initial spark of past frustrations

with history classes and the lack of representation, Ye launched his podcast: UnTextbooked: Our History Revisited. With the mission to highlight “crucial voices and unnoticed events in history,” what Ye manages to do is something that he’s constantly striving to do — make an impact.

Like the limbs on a tree, not only did Ye manage to cultivate new skills and expand into new areas of his life, but he also was able to help the people around him.

Not only did Ye manage to cultivate new skills and expand into new areas of his life, but he also was able to help the people around him.

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There’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic was isolating. But for teens and young adults in the United States specifically — the 2020 Presidential Election was just another wrench being thrown in the gears. Thus, in a time where the country had been polarized like never before, Ye used his podcast as a means to educate young people and foster a strength within the country’s idiosyncratic democracy — to help them define who they were amidst all the chaos.

What Ye shines a light on is that just as important as it is to be an activist for others, it’s

equally important to be an activist for yourself.

Being constantly on the go since he was 14, Ye admits that quarantine allowed him to really take a step back and reevaluate his lifestyle. Stating that it wasn’t very sustainable, Ye recalls how he would be up at 5 a.m. to make calls only to find himself doing the same thing nearly 12 hours later.

However, he states that it was the realization that “helped me take ownership of how I want to live on an everyday basis and cultivate a boundary.” With self-care being at the

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forefront of his mind, Ye’s allowed himself to realize that he, himself, has to be strong in order to support all various individuals and activities in his life.

Coming back to the present, Ye notes that it was because of these myriad of experiences that shaped Ye to be such a strong advocate for social change. “What is, I think, really connected to activism is the understanding that it doesn’t require someone else for you to start work. The only person that you start with is yourself to really see through the lies of the problem and realize that there’s something to address.”

Especially now that he’s attending classes in session at USC and juggling his academic and extracurricular duties in addition to his passions, what he learns is truly taking it one day at a time. “We take advantage of our own time and resources to make the best decisions from where we are at this moment in time, with the understanding that things will push forward and change based on our own notions on an everyday basis. It’s the realization that you are making the best decisions at that moment in time. Each day is an opportunity.”

When asked about his goals for himself as of right now, Ye answers with an open mindedness that demonstrates just how much his past experiences have cultivated who he is today. “My interests now — and it may change in a few years or so — I think is always going to revolve around creating communities, resonating messages with audiences, and also building a platform that allows for people to express their own particular expressions or thoughts in the world.”

Thus, for Victor Ye, “achievement” is more than just the accolades. It’s the ability to hold strong to his roots and pursue a journey of growth that prioritizes not just a lifelong awareness of himself, but of the world.

Like the rings of a tree, it’s the record of his past that has, and will continue to bolster Ye’s beliefs and his identity — fostering in the process a dense forest around him that will undoubtedly withstand the hardships of every season.

Serena Ngin is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in English.

Emi Yoshino is a Los Angeles/Orange County-based photographer who specializes in portrait and production photography. With her experience in Stage Managing and Photographing, she has gained a passion for storytelling and entertainment.

Emi is currently pursuing a BFA in Stage Management with a minor in Business Leadership and Management at the University of Southern California.

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Gigi Zanqueta is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Design.

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Model Anya Taylor-Joy Pip is a self-taught photographer and director from Northern England specialising in portraiture, fashion and fine art. Based in London and working internationally, Pip continually strives to bring his vision to wider audiences through high-end commissions, personal projects and moving image. Pip’s past clients include Louis Vuitton, Billboard Magazine, British GQ, and Vanity Fair Italia.

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Through the mixture of elegant and moody elements, the main body of work aims to portray how personality can exist in many different ways in many different spaces. The folds of the cloth with the graceful lines of anatomy and the somber tone of black and white reinforce the idea that there is no fine line that needs to be tread when one is expressing oneself.

The following photos are from Piper Ferguson’s upcoming photography book: “Shape Shift.” Coming soon.

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A 19 year old photographer from Houston, Texas, Xyla Abella is pursuing a BFA at USC. She best tells stories and conveys messages through her photographs and hopes one day to be in a gallery.

The following photos are from Piper Ferguson’s upcoming photography book: “Shape Shift.” Coming soon.

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The following photos are from Piper Ferguson’s upcoming photography book: “Shape Shift.” Coming soon.

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The following photos are from Piper Ferguson’s upcoming photography book: “Shape Shift.” Coming soon.

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Alex Lam is a Los Angeles-based photographer who specializes in editorial and fashion photography. Her work focuses on the adolescent experience and emphasizes color and light. Alex studies Economics at the University of Southern California.

Models Karen Chen Caitlin Lam

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Kayla Nickfardjam is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Journalism Sabra Binder is a Los Angeles-based photographer and Creative Director of Anti Eden.

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A few months ago, the tea trudged through the steep H and proceeded to pose and tak subversive yet effervescent spirit

This unconventional shoot was the b Kachmann who were given the opportun they launched Anti Eden, an Los Angeles-b

The inspiration behind Anti Eden was largely d mary influences include the feeling of freedom to their educational background as film students at Ind seductive woman who torments men, was cited as a m thirsty women. But also, we’re in love with you,” Binder s you still have this very soft side of you who can be very nur that sense, and not expected to be this caregiver constantly, w more traditional, Western religious themes.”

The many religious references were chosen as a base to represent a pecially traditional gender norms. The namesake of the brand is no exc negative aspect of things, but ‘Eden’ is a place of perfection,” Binder ad of perfection that has also been historically associated with and expected of evokes images of Eve, who although often deemed as an unflattering portra feminine complexity Anti Eden seeks to embrace.

This motif of religious rebellion carries over into the campaign images. In one sho Kachmann partially obstructs the cross in the background to take a selfie of herself. “W how it kind of goes against this traditional gender norm for women to indulge in themselve that that message is especially strong,” Kachmann says. Instead of succumbing to female g seek to minimize and hide women, Anti Eden empowers their customers to indulge in themse selves on display.

Their slogan “playing a prank on the male gaze” captures the feeling of freedom they seek among women to dress however they want despite the external judgment. “We say playing a the male gaze is sort of like self-empowerment,” Kachmann says. “You’re wearing these cloth they’re not for anybody else. They’re not for men. They’re not for the male gaze.” Thus, Anti

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am behind clothing label Anti Eden embarked on a pilgrimage of their own. They Hollywood Hills lugging bags of equipment, beheld the colossal Hollywood cross, ke selfies in front of it half-naked. The resulting campaign images encapsulate the of the brand.

brainchild of young creatives Sabra Binder, Jack Shadday, and Shiloh nity to build a brand from the ground up in July 2021. On Halloween, based, women-run label with an unabashedly feminist mission.

derived from their lived experiences as young women. Their prio dress how they wanted after leaving their hometowns and diana University. The femme fatale, a film trope describing a major jumping-off point. “[We’re] really inspired by bloodsays. “I think you can be a very powerful woman . . . but rturing and caring, but also not taken advantage of in which I think is another aspect of where we see some

a provocative rebellion against tradition, esception. “‘Anti’ obviously encapsulates the dds. The brand thus protests the notion f femininity. They also hope the name ayal of women, embodies the dark

ot photographed by Binder, We were kind of discussing es, especially and I think gender norms, which elves and put them-

k to promote a prank on hes, but Eden

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seeks to subvert the idea that women only dress provocatively for their own satisfaction. “We hope to erase that entitleme just because of how they dress,” Kachmann adds.

The word “anybody” is key. In an age where the gende trying to do is empower people, anybody,” says K because again, we’re referring to something that clothing. We don’t want to say, ‘clothing for wo it. But we also want to be cognizant of the f and people have been oppressed or not t

In the same vein, they seek to challe of dress is the only way to be take spected in more traditionally fe that their first eight-piece coll feminine elements such as same time, the muted c what the duo describe attitude. “It’s reinve many women mi or judgment, t destigmatize revered re

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for male attention and not ent to like anybody’s person

er binary is beginning to blur, “We’re Kachmann. “We say feminine dressers t’s been historically considered feminine omen,’ because we think anyone can wear fact that this is traditionally feminine clothing taken as seriously in it.”

enge the conception that emulating masculine styles en seriously. In their eyes, people should be equally reeminine or provocative styles of dress. It is for this reason lection includes silhouettes, featuring both provocative and s corsetry, puffy skirts, and underwear as outerwear. At the color palette consisting primarily of black, white, and grey adds es as a “dark edge,” “untouchableness,” and a “don’t fuck with me” enting the idea of traditional femininity,” Kachmann says. And while ight refrain from dressing how they truly desire due to fear of danger they are optimistic that if more people begin to dress proactively, it will e such expressions and foster a society where women can feel protected and egardless of how they present themselves.

pite the quick turnaround for their first collection, the team has no intention of slowg down anytime soon. They are currently curating two other collections: one for the fall/winter season and one for the spring. Staying true to their artistic roots, they are also working on producing and screening a short film, which showcases their clothing. At the same time, there’s a limit to the brand’s aforementioned emphasis on self-indulgence.

“Giving a platform to other creatives as well is definitely a goal,” Binder says. “And with everyone that we work with on a set, we want to give them a platform as well.”

The initial pilgrimage may be over, but Anti Eden continues to tackle multiple uphill battles: running a small business, destigmatizing punk, provocative dress, and playing the ultimate prank on the male gaze.

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Photography/ Creative Direction Sabra Binder Creative Assist Shiloh Kachmann Head Merchandi sin Jac Shadday Assistants Calibey Craig Makeup Hannah Jaclyn

Hair Jinju Bae Styling Jacqueline Victo ria Models Ren Leslie Shiloh Kachmann Sabra Binder Other Photograph ers Piper H. Olivas Shiloh Kachmann

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Andrew Rudy is studying Music Industry in the USC Thornton School of Music. Andrew’s music tackles more than just the concepts of love and heartbreak, but also the full spectrum of human emotion in an avant garde way. His latest single, “Rebellion in the Streets,” is coming to all streaming platforms this coming year.

Kiera Smith is a Los Angeles-based portrait photographer. She is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Arts, Technology, and the Business of Innovation in the Iovine and Young Academy.

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SOCIAL MEDIA & social change Ava Lifton is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in International Relations.

Grace Toyonaga is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Design.

Activism is often equated with protests or concrete policy change. However, in our current media-driven world, activism exists primarily on social media. While social media has long had a negative connotation, it’s important to learn how to maximize our usage, while simultaneously remaining cognizant of its inherent drawbacks, so we can use it as a tool for social change.

Although social media is the bedrock of Gen Z, there are virtually no classes — particularly at the high school level — that teach students how to contend with social media in the realm of activism. However, if we are to make any strides in better utilizing social media as a means for creating tangible change, we must educate ourselves. To kickstart this learning process, I interviewed USC Professor Daniela Baroffio. As Clinical Professor of Communication and Director of the Digital Social Media program, Professor Baroffio brings to the table her expertise and passion for activism within media.

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Graphics by Grace Toyonaga Instagram accounts often post infographics that help boil down a social justice issue into succinct bullet points. Do you believe these infographics help or hinder users from understanding complex issues? Should users wholly avoid infographics?

That’s a really interesting question. If you asked me this 10 years ago, and granted the media system landscape was different 10 years ago, I’d say: no, let’s work harder at getting information and wanting to find the information in the right way because a lot of this is about if you have that interest and curiosity. But today with very fast paced messaging systems like Twitter or even just texting, I think whatever we can use that inspires or raises awareness, or causes users to want to pursue more information, is inherently positive. People can build on these different ideas and assumptions and so, if it’s used along with a critical mind, then infographics can be helpful. It’s funny because we are programmed to want to see the tip of the iceberg.

I think it is not a matter of media responsibility or a question of media’s effects but instead, it’s really about individuals. We are blaming the media for everything all the time, and what about us? When it comes to media, we tend to want to simplify it.

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How can teenagers use their platform to effectively create social change?

Is there a way to garner support for an issue if you don’t have a large following?

I think we need to disrupt this investment in followers because the number of followers does not actually necessarily translate into market value.

By market value, I also mean policy potential and commodification of it.

The question is whether it creates talk. It’s talk that we want to invest in.

So if you don’t have that many followers, use multiple platforms, don’t just take to Instagram, for instance. It’s also important to talk about it, and I think this is one thing that we were losing in your generation, more so than mine. It’s the conversational aspect. We don’t often take the time to sit down and actually hash out issues. And that, I think, is something that 100 years from now we’ll look back on and we’ll know why; and it’s probably because of the short attention span, and it’s probably because there’s information overload and people are really burning out. It could be for a million different reasons. Now the bigger issue that I have with social media is that it has changed the way we relate to each other and this is where conversation specifically comes into play. Social media platforms rely on algorithms that are intentionally designed to keep us divided. The conversations that we have rests on platforms that are intentionally designed to keep one person on the right, and someone else on the left, and there is no way to bridge the gap.

Should influencers speak on pertinent social justice issues if they don’t have expertise on the subject matter?

No. I realized it is important to really stop and think about this. That platform needs to be used, but it can only be done so with substantial knowledge and background. I also think one way that we can ensure that this is the case, is by trusting the fact that if you don’t know what you’re talking about, it’s going to, one way or another, come out. And then, that influencer is gone. It goes back to the power that users have. If we are going to be cognizant of who we are following, let’s see if they actually walk the walk.

How should social media users evaluate which sources are reliable?

The number one red flag is if something creates an emotional reaction in you. The moment that happens, you need to stop and you need to go find more research because too much of social media is intentionally designed to get an emotional reaction but social change and activism are

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intentionally emotional. And so, how do you distinguish between the two? Relying exclusively on social media is just not going to be sufficient. Also, double-check what these sources are to see if they are reliable.

How can social media be used to create social change?

I was very impressed last summer by this one campaign called #ShareTheMicNow, and this was where white female celebrities invited brown and Latina female celebrities onto their platforms. Sharing that space is so important. The fact that social media can cross age, class, race, and sexual boundaries is fantastic. At the same time, we’re also so incredibly nuzzled into our own segments that it’s really a question of sharing the mic. Whatever you do online, say to TikTok or Instagram, make sure that you spread it across different platforms and make sure that you expose it to different audiences. Social media is a fantastic tool but it’s a means for change and cannot be the answer.

What’s the most effective means of spreading information about a social issue?

I don’t think any behavior will ever change unless you are exposed to a message consistently. If you want a change to occur, you need to be relentless and it can even be the repetition of a three-second video. Social social media is a means, but it’s not an end and it has to start on the ground, it has to start with information sessions, and it has to start with education.

It’s crucial that users understand social media is simply a means and not an end. It’s simply the tip of the iceberg. Moreover, it’s incumbent on users to decipher any erroneous information, take the effort to corroborate their findings, and go beyond any news articles or posts that they find on their feed.

Social media is therefore a starting point for people to garner information, and subsequently, to learn more or discuss it with their contemporaries. Once people better understand that social media cannot exist in a vacuum, they can then create concrete change.

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A glazed visual of luminated darkness. This photoshoot revolved around the bold, reflective gloves and enhanced lighting, exploring concepts of self-expression and hidden personalities.

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Kellie Chen is a photographer and designer who specializes in portrait and editorial photography. She strives to create dreamy, airy, and transformative work. Kellie is a student majoring in Communication and minoring in Communication Design and Marketing at the University of Southern California.

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Recalling the final scene from the movie “Crazy Rich Asians”, it’s hard to not get reminded of the sweet melodies sung by a gentle voice with a pleasant timbre. In 2018, Katherine Ho was offered an opportunity to sing the Mandarin cover of Coldplay’s “Yellow,” which soon became her number one hit song. In a Zoom interview, singer-songwriter Katherine Ho discusses with me her early musical inspirations, changes in her creative processes, and her struggle with showcasing all aspects of her identity as an Asian American musician. Since the movie went viral, she began to contemplate how she should present herself as a young artist. She shares with us her experience with finding the balance between showcasing an overly Chinese version of herself, or strictly following the rules of established American music, with a level of hesitation to be creative with her own approach. As Ho grappled with the question, “Would anyone resonate with an Asian girl singing White country pop music?”, she gradually finds a stronger voice in conveying her personal insecurities and cultural identity through her own narrative and style of music.

At what age did you begin song-writing? Have your works gone through any transformations?

I think the first song I wrote was in middle school.

It was about my guinea pig that I had at the time.

Not gonna lie, it’s actually a pretty good song! I think my songwriting has stayed consistent in the fact that I’ll usually start with piano or guitar, because I’m more of an acoustic artist, so it still very much has the pop-country elements. In terms of how it changed, I think I’ve started to become a lot more specific with my songwriting, placing more emphasis on the lyrics. I’ve really fallen in love with songs that have very small details that might symbolize a bigger message.

Could you tell me a bit about your cultural background and where you grew up?

I’m Chinese American, and I was born in Thousand Oaks, California. My parents are from Beijing and Tianjin in China, and they came to the U.S. for graduate school. Growing up, I would always visit China: before Covid, I would try to visit one or twice every year, because my grandparents and How would you describe your style of music as an most of my extended family are in China. In terms artist? Has it gone through any transformations? of my cultural upbringing, I was pretty lucky that in Southern California, there is a pretty vibrant I grew up listening to a lot of Taylor Swift, and Asian American community; but there wasn’t so singer-songwriters such as Gracey Abrams. I much diversity where I lived, for there was only loved female artists who showcased their softer one pretty tight-knit group of Asians I stuck with side through pop-country vibe music, and they a lot during middle school and high school, and are one of my biggest influences. I’m also trying I definitely felt underrepresented in mostly white to infuse more of my Chinese culture into the suburbs. That’s why coming to USC has been remusic. I’ve done a lot of music projects where ally cool — it was the first time in my life where I sing in Mandarin too. So I think down the line, people around me were proud to be Asian. Growit would be really cool to either release my own ing up, I wasn’t super proud of my identity; I knew originals in Mandarin, or work with other manda- I was different from everyone and I felt kinda unrin song-writers to sing their songs as well. It’s al- comfortable with it. I think in college I really startways a fusion of East and West for me. ed to embrace my Asian American identity, and this feeling got stronger when I joined Trogons, USC’s East Asian Acapella group. So I feel like it’s just been one ongoing journey of celebrating both my American side and Chinese side.

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Having been a part of the East Asian Acapella group Trogons here at USC, how did it feel to have a community made of people with shared cultural backgrounds and love for music? What did you value the most from that experience?

Although I really only got to be in Trogons for one and a half semesters before COVID, I felt that there was such a cool sense of community: we were all Asian, but we each had such a different experience being Asian. There was a level of diversity that I had never experienced before, especially when we sing music from such a variety of Asian cultures. At Trogons, I first got introduced to Asian American groups like 88rising.

The first song we did when I first joined was “Midsummer Madness,” and I actually hadn’t heard

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of this group before. It was the first time I discovered a contemporary Asian American group that does what they do. Learning that song made me begin looking into Asian American artists, because I’d always known that there were big K-pop and C-pop artists, but nothing really in the Asian American sphere. Since then, I started to discover a ton of Asian American artists through TikTok and YouTube. I think it was a big light-bulb moment for me. Before I always thought that either I had to sing in Chinese or English — I wasn’t sure I could combine that aspect of my cultural identity to the music I grew up listening to (the Top 40 stuff like Taylor Swift and Sara Bareilles). So 88rising was the perfect combination that made me realize, yes, you can sing pop music with an Asian face too! I thought that was a cool moment.

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How does your Asian American identity and struggle that I had with mental health in high upbringing influence your songwriting and school and how I overcame that. music taste?

From your experience, how does the genre of muI feel like it wasn’t until recently that I started sic you perform influence the emotions and mesthinking about incorporating my Asian American sages you hope to deliver as a singer? Is there a identity into my music. Because growing up, I particular genre that you feel most intimate with? didn’t really listen to a lot of Asian American artists, or even if I have heard of them, they weren’t I’m still trying to figure out exactly what my artistic really backed by the radio or media, which makes direction is. I’m actually working on my first origthem harder to be discovered. That’s why genres inal EP right now. It’s been an interesting process like pop and country are very much heavily built trying to hone down what I want to put out on that into my music now. But recently I’ve been think- first project, and how I want to present myself. In ing about ways to incorporate part of my Asian general, a theme is definitely pop music, which American heritage in my music, so I’m planning on will always be my main genre. I love certain elereleasing some of my music in Mandarin. Some of ments of country music too, how it’s vulnerable the things I write about are stemming from insecu- but also has clever lyrics that are very specific. rities I had being a minority, and insecurities that A lot of times, I tend to write from an outcast’s might not be explicit or made aware by myself perspective. Growing up, I had a lot of social anxwhen thinking about my Asian American experi- iety and the feeling that I didn’t belong. So I hope ence. But I definitely feel like a big theme about that through my music, I can talk about insecurimy music is being vulnerable and being comfort- ties that I’ve had and hopefully make people feel able with my insecurities. A lot of uncertainties less alone, just like how when I listen to my faI had growing up is that I felt odd and different vorite artists I realize that certain experiences I when I tried to pursue music when I was younger, thought only belonged to me, but someone else and I never really had friends that were in these is going through it too. I know it sounds cheesy, activities with me who were Asian American. but comfort and embracing your insecurities are always messages that make me feel intimate with Reflecting on your participation in Crazy Rich my music.

Asians, what are your personal interpretations on the song “Yellow”? What new mean- It’s so amazing that you were able to perform ings do you think the Chinese lyrics grant to your own original song on the Netflix Series Bling the song itself?

Empire! Can you describe the creative process and the inspirations behind your music and writI thought it was a super powerful song. I think ten lyrics for the song? the original Yellow is very much like a romantic love song. At the time, I saw the song as not nec- Oh, I actually haven’t released that song yet! I essarily about a romantic interest but just being called it “Less Than Half.” The song was set in about chasing your dreams, and taking a leap a romantic context, where this person I always of faith into the unknown. There was something had feelings for liked someone else, and I just therapeutic about the way the arrangement was. found myself constantly comparing myself to the The lyrics in Chinese placed more emphasis on other person. I feel like that’s something that’s taking a risk, being happy that it worked out, and inevitable in a lot of situations, so I just wrote watching it pay off. Actually, when I was record- that song about my mental process while going ing it in the studio, I was thinking about a personal through that.

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I also saw that you recently sang the lead vocals for the award-winning short film “Let’s Eat.” During a time when Asian creative voices are being recognized and celebrated more than ever before, what role do you see yourself taking up as a Chinese American musician?

“Let’s Eat” is a story about an immigrant mom and daughter, and their relationship through food. I really related to the movie because growing up, my mom would always send me fruit bowls if I was stressed or having a bad day. Maybe not so much now, but while growing up, I feel like Asian parents always had the stereotype of the “tiger mom,” especially because they don’t show their love similarly to the way that Western parents show their love. So I thought it was a great exploration to showcase how love is shared in Chinese culture. It was very special for me to be a part of that film and I hope I can continue to sing for different audio-visual projects that involve telling Asian American stories. I think it’s really powerful when music can accompany TV or film to convey powerful messages.

Entertainment, in general, has historically been a difficult space for the Asian community to break into. As Hollywood moves toward diverse storytelling, do you see a movement in the music industry as well?

Yeah, I definitely feel like the music space has gotten more diverse. As the same with film, however, there’s still work to be done. Especially with social media and TikTok, I think it’s become much more accessible for creators to put their ideas out there.

And that sort of democratization of virality makes it so much more accessible for anyone to share their ideas. I think that will automatically increase the diversity in the entertainment world, specifically in music. I do feel like, though, that there is a much wider gap in the music industry. In Hollywood and in film, there’s more and more Asian representation. Music is definitely heading in that direction and catching up, but I do hope to see more big Asian American pop artists make their names heard. One thing that has been really cool is seeing the rise of K-pop in the United States, which makes me feel super proud to be Asian. It makes me feel seen even though I’m not Korean.

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What would you say are some challenges you have faced as a young Asian woman in the music industry?

I think that a lot of the obstacles have been an internal thing. Growing up listening to pop country, in my mind I always thought that I couldn’t make that type of music because it wouldn’t look believable or authentic for White people music to be sung by an Asian person. I felt a lot of confusion, and started asking myself the question “how Asian should I be?”. Especially after Crazy Rich Asians came out, I suddenly became branded as “oh, she the girl who sang the Mandarin version of ‘Yellow.’” I kind of struggled for a while wondering whether I should just do completely mandarin songs, or continue to pursue what I’ve set out to do. It’s come to a point where I realized that I really do still want to make the pop-country music that speaks to me, and infuse my culture where it’s appropriate. This was something that I have talked to my producer about, and he’s supporting me in releasing my debut EP in English language.

I’m always open to infusing mandarin down the line. It’s still an ongoing process, and I’m definitely starting to get more comfortable with it.

What is the boldest move you’ve taken as a form of self-expression?

Recently I got to write a song and sing for the video game Tetris. A collaborator of mine reached out to me and asked if I wanted to try writing over a beat that he had. That was a really big challenge for me because I had never really written an original song for another project, especially in Mandarin. I first wrote it in English and I worked with a translator, and I eventually performed and recorded it in Mandarin. That process was a big leap of faith from what I usually do which is like covers or original music that I write for myself. I’m also starting to film covers for the Chinese social media platform DouYin (TikTok). I’m working with the social media manager on the socials in China, and expanding what I’m doing on popular Chinese platforms.

Rebecca Feng is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Communications.

Ally Wei is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Media Arts and Practice. She serves as the Director of Photography for Haute Magazine.

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Exploring the intersection of masculinity and femininity within the backdrop of Asian societal norms. A dynamic, transient take on self-expression.

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Marissa Ding is an Asian American portrait and editorial photographer based in Los Angeles and Minnesota.

She is currently studying Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the University of Southern California.

Anish Lahorani is a student at the University of Southern California.

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THE EVOLUTION OF

GRUNGE What comes to your mind when you hear the word grunge? Do you think of Kurt Cobain shredding a distorted guitar while wearing a floral dress and Courtney Love’s signature smudged black eyeliner? Or do you think of ripped skeleton tights and blue-tinted photos of brooding teenage boys smoking cigarettes? If any one of these images entered your mind, you’re at least partly correct — the word “grunge” has pretty much come to be associated with all of them. But how does a word that originally referred to a very niche music and social movement of the early 1990s come to be associated with such a different movement — if you can even call it that — of the mid-late 2010s? In the ‘90s, grunge was a movement centered around anti-conformity but it has since become a cultural phenomena of the online Tumblr age. Nirvana has been replaced with Arctic Monkeys, unwashed oversized tees have been replaced with $40 band shirts, and fuzz pedals have been replaced with loose cigarettes and running mascara. The modern aesthetic that many now associate with the word “grunge” may share a name with the movement of the ‘90s, but there is not much else that connects the two. In its evolution, the “grunge” movement has not only lost touch with its origins but also with the core values that made it a movement to begin with.

Grunge first emerged as a musical genre in Seattle in the late 1980s, with the word itself meaning “dirt” or “grime.” Led by bands such as The Melvins, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains, the genre was characterized by high levels of distortion and feedback, fuzz pedals, emotional vocals, and angst-ridden lyrics. Themes of grunge music and culture generally centered around rebellion against society, government, and capitalism. Known for its DIY feel, the grunge scene of the northwest was interested in individuality rather than conformity and stood adamantly against consumerism, materialism, and the idea of “working for the man.” In September of 1991, both grunge and popular music as a whole would be forever changed when Nirvana released their second album “Nevermind.” Featuring the single “Smells Like Teens Spirit,” a staple record that perfectly encapsulates the disillusioned mindsets of early 1990s youth, the album successfully propelled grunge as both a musical genre and social movement into the mainstream.

Soon bands from all over the country, not just the northwest scene, were becoming influenced by the movement and fashion trends were not far behind.

The clothing associated with the ‘90s grunge movement did not initially begin as a fashion trend. As the grunge move-

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ment centered itself around anti-capitalism and anti-consumerism, participants of the movement dressed the way they did out of necessity rather than an interest in aestheticism or making a statement. This meant clothing items were almost always thrifted, handed down, or worn multiple times without being washed. The result was torn jeans, ripped up flannels, oversized shirts, and worn out combat boots — all considered to be fashion staples of the grunge movement today. Participants of the grunge movement also frequently experimented with gender nonconformity; women often wore unisex t-shirts and wide-leg “boyfriend” jeans, challenging societal pressures to reveal their frame, whereas men wore dresses and kept their hair long. Makeup was kept natural and smudged, and hair was kept messy and unwashed. If members of the movement were looking to make a statement with their appearance, that statement was simply “I don’t care how I look — and I am not obligated to look good for a society that doesn’t care about me.”

The passion that participants of the grunge movement felt towards the music and its core values were strong, but they ultimately were not enough to keep the movement alive in the mainstream. Some would say that grunge “died,” when it lost both Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley. After all, how does a movement recover from the loss of not one but two of its most prominent figures -— especially when the remaining musicians are unable to pick up the pieces? The remaining bands, such as soundgarden, either broke up or didn’t end up ever making their big break. This resulted

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in a streak of disappointing record sales causing labels to change their direction.

Another factor to consider was the emergence of new genres, notably Britpop, that bore little to no resemblance to grunge musically or spiritually. Where grunge had distortion pedals, britpop had acoustic guitars combined with synths. The sounds that held the mainstream’s attention were inevitably shifting. The final nail in the coffin, however, was most likely the reemergence of consumerism. The thing that grunge had taken the greatest stand against in the early ‘90s was now becoming celebrated in the mainstream culture of the 2000s. Audiences worshipped wealthy socialites, such as Paris Hilton and the Kardashians, highend designer clothing brands, and music that embraced materialism rather than rejected it. The celebration of consumerism not only rid the original grunge movement from the mainstream, but it would also ensure that the resurrection of the movement would never possess the same values as the original.

Around 2014, in a remote corner of Tumblr.com, the almost forgotten word “grunge” appeared in a hashtag below a gifset of wet pavement, chain link fences, and Skins UK’s Kaya Scodelario blowing cigarette smoke at the camera while her mascara ran down her cheeks. If you clicked on the hashtag, you would be taken down an online rabbit hole filled with pictures of black Doc Martens, bruised knuckles, ripped fishnet tights, Arctic Monkeys album art, and usually a pale, white, and notably thin girl at the center. This was the world of “modern” grunge. It bore little to no resemblance to the original grunge

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movement in either the music that it associated itself with or the values that it stood for. Where ‘90s grunge was a musical movement centered around disillusionment with society, modern grunge was an aesthetic.

Beyond the occasional ripped jean or unwashed band tee, the modern era of the grunge aesthetic practically lives in an entirely separate world from its offline predecessor. Notable musical acts associated with the aesthetic include Arctic Monkeys, The 1975, Lorde, and Lana Del Rey — none of which bear a musical resemblance to the original grunge sound.

Similarly, the fashion trends of modern grunge have drifted from the intentionally unpolished and unkempt nature of the ‘90s into a style more in line with goth and e-girl fashion. Noteworthy staples include plaid skirts, skull jewelry, ripped fishnet tights, coloured hair, fitted transparent or printed shirts, leather jackets, chokers, and crosses. Certain staples of the original movement, such as flannels, ripped jeans, and band shirts have returned — the only difference is that they are now marketed for at least three times their original price.

Chain retail stores like Hot Topic and Urban Outfitters, as well as high fashion designer brands like YSL and Marc Jacobs, have begun to pick up on the trends as well. The shift reveals that an interest in grunge has indeed returned, but it has become an interest to be marketed off of.

Because grunge “died” out in the wake of consumerism becoming glorified and popularized throughout mainstream pop cul-

ture in the early 2000s, any return of the movement ultimately would not be able to exist without it. Though the modern take on grunge seems to be a nod to the original movement, which largely stood against consumerism and materialism, it seems to have lost any trace of the original movement’s sociopolitical values in exchange for mere aestheticism and material gain.

Either, we are seeing the core themes of the ‘90s movement be upcycled with new aesthetics and fashion trends, or we are seeing the original movement become appropriated and its core values eradicated in the process. Either way, it’s important to know your history.

A.O. Haddad is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Creative Writing.

Alex Lam is a Los Angeles-based photographer. She loves experimenting with color and light. Her inspirations include Petra Collins and Lauren Tepfer.

Models Helen Hu Grace Zhang Nikita Kholay

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Photography by Brad Elterman

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Joan Jett is a world-renowned rockstar, famuos for being the lead singer of her band, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Known as the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” she was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, released platinum albums, and has earned her spot on the Billboard Top 100 charts several times. This photoshoot (styled by Joan herself) was shot in WeHo in 1977.

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Brad Elterman is a famous photographer who has captured the world’s most famous rock legends. He has captured rockstars of yesterday — including Joan Jett, the Ramones, David Bowie, and John Lennon — as well as today’s rising musicians - including Matty Healy, Machine Gun Kelly, and Mac DeMarco.

Few photographers in recent memory can truly lay claim to the title of pop culture historian; Brad Elterman is one.

Always there, camera and flash slung around his neck like a skeleton key, he unlocks doors to the green rooms of public imagination.

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NESE PUNK

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A shoot embracing the raw energy of Japan’s punk scene and attempting to raise awareness for Japanese punk culture. If you want to learn more, check out fashion brands such as Undercover Lab (@ undercover_lab), Bounty Hunter (@bxh_ official), Number Nine, and Beauty:Beast, as well as accounts such as @fruits_ magazine_archives, @tokyo.sexpistols, and @bitterlakerecordings.

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Josh Lin is a Los Angeles-based photographer who specializes in editorial and fashion photography.

He is a student at the University of Southern California pursuing a major in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance and a minor in Product Design.

Model Vivian Chang

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A LOOK INTO THE ELUSIVE ARCHIVE PAGE

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The apposphere has officially taken over our lives. Everything is dominated by social media and the internet; so much so that it now is the main driver of Gen Z culture.

Print magazines are relegated to the hands of people with special interest and no longer dictate the culture at large: at least, not directly. Instead, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more bombard our eyes 24/7 with information and keep us constantly plugged into the lives of celebrities and our friends.

Archive pages are increasingly becoming more common in this social media age, with many people not knowing that many of the pages they follow are archive pages.

There is no central authority or set definition, but in general they act as online museums, with each page typically having a central theme or specifically curated aesthetic. There are archive pages for movies, ‘90s culture, rap, and their namesake, archive fashion. These pages are, in many ways, our generation’s coffee table books, serving as a way for people to flip through a collection of images and photos surrounding our favorite topics. It is a very effective tool for us to see how youth culture has evolved and taken inspiration from the past, how we design and manufacture tools or create art, and overall view of society. You can get a glimpse of the way people viewed anything from fast-food chains, office buildings, or metropolitan areas, to the way people dressed on the red carpet in the ’90s or early 2000s. In a holistic sense, it allows us to gain a better understanding of what humanity has done or created, and in a lot of ways that we may sometimes not even realize, and how it influences our interests and hobbies. This could include how we create art, how we make our music, how we hang our chandelier or art on the wall, what sort of clothing we like and how we would like to picture our wardrobe.

As the namesake of archive pages, archive fashion is one of the most popular youth movements today. Eternally anti-trendy and anti-establishment designer pieces from as long as 30 years ago are still highly coveted today—what used to be forward-thinking has officially been caught up. It is fitting that the center of Gen Z archive culture comes in large part from the eponymous “archive pages.” Collating

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CHASING DREAMS

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literal decades of niche fashion magazines, runway shows, and various other media would be a daunting task to most people. The exclusive nature of high fashion makes it difficult to get in-depth knowledge on individual garments, much less collections as a whole or the design philosophy behind it. However, some purveyors of archive fashion have taken that task onto themselves and have created extremely popular pages which serve as the masses’ way of being involved into the scene, and even potentially breaking into the industry.

Opting against the common anonymity of most other archive pages, Héctor Patricio Quintanilla’s Instagram page @archived.dreams is slowly outgrowing the social media world. Then-high school student Quintanilla founded his page @archived.dreams a few years ago, and has since used his large online presence to jumpstart his own clothing line. Quintanilla’s page consists of shots of rare designer clothes from the early 2000s along with other avant-garde curios such as furniture, magazine clippings, and excerpts from music videos. Currently hovering around 160,000 followers and over 6,000 posts, @archived.dreams is a major player in the game.

On the other end of the spectrum, some pages decide to remain totally online and anonymous. The anonymous creator of @90s.violet also expressed her experience creating a page from the ground up. @90s. violet chooses to focus her page more on historic photos and videos of everything ‘90s from the fashion to the music to the celebrities in a way that’s very fitting to today’s culture. ‘90s punk has come back in a huge way; nearly every major trend can be traced back to ‘90s or Y2K culture, and in some ways people deliberately try to emulate this style to a point.

Quintanilla phones in from New York, New York, at the site of his first pop-up archive clothing store on the Lower West side. @90s.violet anonymously responded through Instagram’s direct messaging platform.

Robert. When did you start the page, and what was your initial goal/audience?

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Quintanilla. I started the page almost three years ago now, New Year’s Eve 2018. I did have one initial goal. I was in high school at the time, and I wanted to start my own brand. For the longest time, I kept on going with the page with that goal, [but I had] pretty much forgotten about it. I think I evolved to the point where I was just trying to grow the page, not start [a brand], but I think I’m at the point now where I can do that. And so that’s what I’m doing now. But I don’t think I had much of an audience in mind at the start. But after I started growing the page, I realized my target customer was pretty much people that have a much more of an appreciation for the detail in garments. Like the average Grailed customer.

Violet. I initially started my page in 2015, when I was 14! I find it crazy to look back at the beginning of my page because it was a time when Instagram was so different to how it is now —no stories, not really the emergence of influencers yet. It began as a Nirv ana fan account, I had a heavy Tumblr/Nirvana era and my page was exactly how you’d expect it to be for a 14 year old Nirvana fan! So cringe. But over time my love for Nirvana evolved into a general love of the 1990s fashion, style, movies and music. From the offset I honestly had no goals really — it was just an outlet for me to post Nirvana stuff and connect with other fans.

R. How did your page grow over time? Did you expect it to be this big?

Q. Yes, but not at all like what it is now. I think it has reached the point where it’s beyond my wildest dreams, but I’m so grateful for the support people have shown for the page. You know, for the longest time my post count was way higher than my follower count. And I say pretty much it was the consistency, posting every single day several times a day, that got me to where I am now.

V. Not at all! It was definitely a long journey, I think it started growing significantly around 2017/2018 and I started putting more thought and effort into what I posted around that time. I never ever expected it to get this big and I feel so lucky and appreciative that people have enjoyed and engaged in what I post. It’s so exciting and special to talk to people who are interested in the same things as you.

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R. Do you think you have a lot of influence? How? Q. To be honest, I don’t know how much influence I have. I do think I have a certain amount of influence in a very certain niche of fashion. I don’t think I’m influencing fashion as a whole because it’s so broad. But I also think that because a lot of people will direct message me saying, you know, “thank you for all your posts, they inspire me,” or a lot of people will be telling me how much they’ve been inspired by the account. So I think in a way I’m a source of inspiration for a lot of people through this medium.

V. I never thought of myself as having a large influence, but especially in the last year or two I realised how important it was for me to use my platform to raise awareness of important issues.

Having a large platform, I do feel it is my duty to use it for the good and it would feel redundant not to do so.

R. What goes into your thought process choosing what to post?

Q. Each post is really on a whim. It’s really in the moment, whatever I feel like posting, so it really depends. If there’s some external factor in my life that reminds me of a certain thing, or I find about something new, and I decide I want to share it, or I stumbled across a cool rare image of, you know, a collection or whatever, I’ll end up going into like this rabbit hole searching for more images and really, when I go and search for more images is when I get the most inspiration of what the post should look like.

And then I just go ahead and upload it.

V. I like to draw on present pop culture especially. I’ve really enjoyed seeing how ‘90s and 2000s trends have re-emerged, and it’s so fascinating to find pictures of celebrities from 20 years ago wearing outfits you see everywhere nowadays. I also try to combine ‘90s pop culture with pictures of ordinary life back then — some of my favourite pictures to post are photography projects depicting normal people just iving life. I often feel like seeing pictures of normal people in the ‘90s reveals more about the time than pictures from red carpets, and that’s why I love them so much.

R. Where do you get your content from?

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Q. This question is probably the question I get most — And it’s the one I have the most trouble answering because I get it from all over the internet; basically anywhere. I’ve gone from Google images, just like searching the work of different designers, [going] through rabbit holes looking for images. And then I also search anywhere from, you know, Pinterest, Tumblr or even Instagram. At the very end of my posts I’ll put, “via...” and then add an account. Normally when I do that the case is that I got the content from Instagram.

V. Normally just Google! Pinterest has a lot of really good content too. Often, I go into articles and online archives to find more specific collections, and I always have to do a bit of digging to find information for captions but I love searching for new content! I feel like I’ve learnt so much myself just trying to find posts.

R. Do you plan to expand your brand and image, and if so how?

Q. I think so far I want to continue doing what I have been doing and continue growing. I think just releasing more products,

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designing more things I think will help expand my brand but also reaching more people, being able to get the clothing out, you know, my customers and different people in the industry. I think that’s how I think that’s how you grow organically. You know, through being able to not only like designing the product but get those products to be used in people’s everyday lives and affecting people’s lives. I think that’s how you grow a brand. organically and I’ve grown this page organically. I haven’t ever paid for ads. So I think continuing to do that is very authentic to the brand.

V. I would love to! It’s absolutely my dream to expand. I’m a full-time student at the moment so it’s on the back burner for now but watch this space!

R. Why do you keep your page anonymous?

CHASING DREAMS

V. I’m not sure, really. I’ve posted pictures of myself when it was a smaller page, but I guess it feels a little daunting now! I’m not set on it being anonymous forever, just for now. My close friends follow me and are all so supportive which is so lovely. It’s so exciting to have someone in real life to talk about my account with, like when a celebrity follows me I have people to freak out with!

Bobby Rallo is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Business Administration.

Ry Hermann is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Arts, Technology, and the Business of Innovation at the Iovine and Young Academy.

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This Fall, Haute Magazine was invited to attend Los Angeles Fashion Week by an organization called Art Hearts Fashion. Art Hearts Fashion is the leading platform dedicated to bringing innovative designers and artists to the forefront of fashion week.

Their events bring together both renowned designers and high-profile celebrity guests, including Britney Spears, Oscar Winner Adrien Brody, Nick Cannon, CeeLo Green, Drew Barrymore, and more. They host runway events in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and beyond. Haute Magazine staff members helped style models backstage, set up seats by the catwalk, usher guests, and take photos in the press booth. This photo collection features moments on the runway captured by our Director of Photography, Ally Wei.

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Ally Wei is a student at the University of Southern California currently pursuing a degree in Media Arts and Practice. She is the Director of Photography at Haute Magazine.

Fashion Designers Adam Saaks Asta Razma Eni Buiron Mister Triplex House of Skye

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