Editor’s Letter
Letter
from the Editor
S
ome people look upon Hoot as a novelty. Something superfluous for Columbia students to “waste” time on. Something frivolous for an Ivy League school. “Do you feel bad that you go to Columbia and you’re not trying to save the world?” someone recently asked me. Additionally, on the blog, IvyGate (ivygateblog.com), Daniel D’Addario (CC ’10) wrote, “We support student enterprise broadly, but, um… why do we need another fashion magazine, least of all one produced by students as poor as we are?” D’Addario didn’t exactly make clear whom he was asking (presumably the readers of IvyGate), but I would like to try my hand at answering his question. Columbia is not a fashion-oriented school. We do not pretend to compete with Parsons or FIT or Pratt or any of our other notably stylish brethren in New York. Yet, we have a small but passionate group of students, faculty members, and alumni who are contributing great things to the fashion industry. We spoke with Professor Caroline Weber of Barnard College, who not only teaches French, but also writes for Vogue and authors extensively researched books about costume history. Our very own accessories director, Anna Cooperberg (CC ’12), can be found in the pages of Seventeen, where she serves as a member of the Style Council. Jane Keltner de Valle, Teen Vogue fashion news director, shares her memories as a fashion-savvy Barnard student on the first page of this issue. And of course, our cover star, Tinsley Mortimer (CC ’99), is not only a socialite, but also a handbag designer. These four individuals are just a small fraction of Columbia’s fashion community—which in itself is a small fraction of Columbia’s community—but they are changing and contributing to a multibillion-dollar industry. And then there are the new staff members of Hoot this year. The first-years who wanted to get involved even before they arrived on campus. The sophomores, juniors, and seniors who have started to contribute to Hoot even though it is a fairly new publication. The staff members from last year, who decided to take a chance on a student fashion magazine in spite of the words of skeptics like D’Addario. Hoot brought us all together. We just want to celebrate fashion at Columbia University and in Morningside Heights, simple as that. Hoot is necessary because of the void we fulfill. Just as I’m writing this letter, a couple students from Yale University emailed me about starting a fashion magazine at their school, modeled after Hoot. Turns out, we’re not the only Ivy League school with a love for fashion. Of course, Hoot could not have been made possible without your contributions. We would especially like to thank Kirby Bullard, Nicole Chiang, Jeff Chou, Charles Cooperberg, Maricela Cooperberg, Jinfan Duan, Antonia Gonzalez, Sergio Gonzalez, Justin Iso, Bianca Jolly, John Kim, Martin I. Klein, Livia Lee, Ron Lee, Katie Lee, Yun Lim, Dale Mercer, Huoy Ung, Jamie Wong, and Jinying Zhang for their generous donations to our Kickstarter (kickstarter.com) campaign. Also, we offer our deepest appreciation to CUarts once again for the support and contributions.
Getting a few precious moments with fashion designer Vivienne Tam while backstage at her show in Lincoln Center!
With much gratitude,
Noel Duan Editor in Chief
HOOT www.hootmag.org
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