modmuze October 2022

modmuze

6

Belonging with Barbie

How the modern Barbie is redefining femininity and what it means to wear hot pink.

Between Heaven and Earth

Sometimes, on the move is the best place to be.

Transcending Men’s Fashion

How Harry Styles is redefining men’s fashion.

Romanticization of the Simple Life

An Ode to the Suburban Experience

A Deep Dive Into Your Mother’s Closet

A nostalgic way to thrift in your own home.

Why We Do Our Nails

Doing the most

feel the best.

These Boots Were Made For Walking

The Spirit of the American Cowboy Makes its Way Into Fashion

editors’s

It’s such an honor to be taking over as modmuze’s newest editor in chief. This will be my fourth year apart from this program and with each year brings so much change and growth to the mag azine. When I applied for this role I could’ve never imagined what this job would entail, but I could not be more thankful for the amazing team, directors and my fantastic advisor, Dr. Cosette Martinez, who continues to make this the program that it is.

Throughout the creation of this issue the creative director and myself were so inspired by “post pandemic fash ion” and the idea that it’s finally time to express ourselves through fash ion after being shut down and mini malist for so long. Embracing maxi malism isn’t limited to fashion. These stories inspire pushing the limits in design, attitudes and lifestyle choices.

This issue is filled with so many stories that inspire us to push the limits with fashion. Whether that’s inspiring men and women to wear whatever makes them confident, embracing the new wave of Barbie, where everyone belongs, or to embrace vintage fashion in a fresh way.

Gen Z is such a transformative gen eration with such bold ideas and nev er scared to shatter the glass ceil ing. The stories featured in this issue highlight those ideas including “Tran scending Mens Fashion” which dis cusses Harry Styles’ role in breaking gender norms in fashion. Along with breaking stereotypes, “Belonging With Barbie” focuses on embracing femi ninity no matter size, race or gender.

For our vintage enthusiasts, “A Deep Dive into Your Mother’s Closet” is a guide to using our parents’ old ward robe and making it our own. “The 1976 Collect” and “The Mania of Dai sies” encourage readers to embrace old attitudes into their lifestyles.

After finalizing this issue I was filled with so many emotions. I felt refreshed and ready to break out the items I have been avoiding because it may not “fit the standards” of current fashion trends, be cause well, how else would trends start.

Thank you to the entire modmuze team who allowed this issue to happen, to embrace me and allow for such an inclu sive and creative environment at OSU. Readers, I hope you feel just as inspired as we do here at modmuze after reading this issue and always remember to dress for yourself, embrace the now and don’t be afraid of your most maximalist state.

Cheers,

Belonging withBARBIE BARBIE

By: Jillian Eckert

With the release of Valentino’s hot pink winter collection and Greta Ger wig’s Barbie movie on the horizon, it’s safe to say that Barbie-inspired fash ion is back and better than ever. The bright color pallets speak to our col lective willingness to make ourselves seen after the past couple of years of isolation, making Barbie the perfect muse for post-pandemic fashion. It’s loud, it’s bold, and it’s all about be ing comfortable in your own skin.

Pink is probably the first color peo ple think of when they think of Barbie. Like the iconic doll, pink is commonly associated with girlhood and feminin ity. This also means that pink can be associated with innocence, obedience, hypersexuality, cluelessness, and other negative stereotypes about what wom en are or should be. In contrast, the recent resurgence in hot pink’s popularity uses feminine connotations as a powerful display of confidence. Wom

en and men alike are using hot pink to draw attention to themselves, taking pride in their femininity and bringing a different meaning to the color pink. We’re learning to embrace femi ninity instead of shying away from or denying it altogether. Barbie’s under lying message has had a similar evolution—in a way, wearing hot pink in itself is an homage to Barbie. It’s near ly impossible not to associate the two. However, we shouldn’t brush aside Barbie’s rocky history. Since the toy’s de but in 1959, Barbie dolls have been a target of controversy. The original doll was modeled after a risque men’s gag gift, which is not the best origin story for a children’s toy. On top of that, the original Barbie doll was so thin that in 1994 a group of researchers announced that Barbie would not have enough body fat to menstruate if she were a real woman. For decades, Barbie was a harmful role model for young girls, rep-

resenting unhealthy and hypersexual ized standards for women. The doll was a paragon of negative stereotypes and expectations, but the modern Barbie is taking steps to change that reputation.

Over the past few years, Barbie has un dergone quite a transformation. While Barbie used to be the face of unattainable, unrealistic, and Eurocentric beau ty standards, the line of dolls has ex panded to include a broader range of body types, skin tones, and physical features. We now have Barbies with disabilities, vitiligo, and curvy body types—the list goes on. While there is still a long way to go in dismantling the preconceived notions surrounding the

doll, the new wave of diverse Barbies is certainly a step in the right direction. Barbie is no longer one definitive “ideal” woman but a collective of women that are at once beautiful and individual. The modern Barbie is nothing like the Barbie of 1959; along with that, we’ve reimagined and reclaimed what it means to be feminine and wear hot pink. It’s all about taking pride in your femininity and refusing to accept what others think you should or shouldn’t be. Now, being a “Barbie Girl’’ doesn’t mean living up to unrealistic, harmful beauty standards—it means being wholly and unapologetically yourself.

Photographer & Stlist: Morgan Burnett Models: Rachel Minick, Beau Henna

Between Heaven and Earth Between Heaven and Earth

Sometimes, on the move is the best place to be Sometimes, on the move is the best place to be

There is a place where the bottom of the bus door is meant to meet the floor. Here there are some inches–because the door has been shaken in its frame or because the floor has sunk–there are some inches where the door does not, in fact, come all the way down to the floor. The result is a small opening that allows the rider of the bus to see the pavement they are riding on, albeit only in a blur of gray or black. At particularly bright times of day, this opening is instead filled with the triumphant gold tissue of the sun. At these lucky times, the door seems less like a barrier between the inside and outside of a bus and more like one between heaven and earth.

Scenes like this carry my love for the bus and all of the many other forms of pub lic transportation. But particularly the bus. The bus’s interior is a place entire ly separate from everywhere and every

thing else. It is a waiting room, a green room and an oasis in the desert. To the unlucky rider, it is an office or emergen cy room. To the tired rider, it is a cradle. But no matter what, it is moving and taking you away. If the bus is taking you away from something like a catastrophe, then that surely is a good thing on its own, right? If it is taking you away from a shiny and joyful setting, then it is a place for you to bask in your new memory. When you are weary and just want to be home instead of on public transit, then at least the bus is taking you there.

But the point is not where the bus is or is not because it’s not really anywhere (it’s somewhere in between and some where transcendent, again a space be tween heaven and earth). What makes the bus so beautiful is how it treats its passengers. It treats its passengers with the brusque but also tender care of a

father who doesn’t often vocalize his love but whose child never ques tions if it is there. Because it so clearly is there. Or the bus is like a boss who tells his employees to work, but only because he has to. And he will be the first to rise to their defense because of that work. Public transportation may do its job begrudg ingly at times, but it does it depend ably too. It will be there when your car breaks down. It will be there when the weather is too hot or too cold, and it will be ready to counter act the wrong tem perature as soon as you step on board.

There may be other people on the bus. If you are silently mourning, you can imagine them mourning with you, and the same goes for celebration. You may speak to the people, but you probably won’t, and they probably won’t speak to you. So you can just lis

ten to music or your own thoughts. You can take any posture you like. You can hide your head in your hands and bounce your knee. You can straighten yourself to sit very tall against the back of your seat. You can lean back, rest your head on the window, be jostled and feel the engine’s rum ble in your chest. You can be anything and the bus will not care. And it will not care what anyone else does either, provided they do not raise their hand against another.

Public transpor tation loves you and welcomes you in its own way. It will defend you against all manner of calamities, the abstract and the physical alike. This affection may take strange forms, but it is so much great er than the bus’s habit of taking you where you need to go. And even that habit is often over looked. So please do not let it go away.

Photographer and Stylist: Emily West (Guest)

Models: Grace Fehan, Brighton Roggow and Zoe May

Transcending Men's Fashion

How Harry Styles is redefining mens fashion

By: Hailey Juen

Harry Styles is changing the standards of men’s fashion worldwide. From the first time he wore a dress on the cov er of Vogue to the sparkling jumpsuits he wears on stage now, Styles has never followed the status quo.

He first began stepping out of the box of gender norms in his later One Direction years with billowy, vibrant but ton-downs and suits, but the controver sy about his style kicked into motion in 2020 after the new issue of Vogue was released. Styles was the very first man to grace the cover of Vogue with a solo shoot, and he did it in no other than a ruffled Gucci gown. The dress was a bold choice and a message to the world about stereotypical gender boundaries. Many people viewed this as his chance to make a stand against the societal norms surrounding men’s clothing.

Since then, his outfits have only become more wild and bold, encourag

ing everyday individuals to step out of their box and other celebrities. The red carpet has become much more than plain black suits in the past couple of years, with designers expanding their creativity as celebrities feel more com fortable in their own skin. For exam ple, Timothee Chalamet recently rolled out on the red carpet in a bright red pantsuit with an open back and halter neck topped off with heeled boots de signed by Haider Ackerman. The his tory of men’s fashion on the red car pet is more vibrant now than ever.

Fashion is developing into a movement of free expression. As one of the most famous celebrities of our generation, Styles can change the entire course of the fashion industry. So much of the eccentric, neon, bright patterned style taking the world by storm can be highly accredited to Harry Styles’s influence. Fans idolize Harry Styles for his carefree spirit regarding fashion despite

StylesHarry

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Tenley Bogle & Tatum Johnston (Guest)

what others have to say about it. He hasn’t let the hate change what he’s doing but rather let it spur him on to dress bigger. This style has been seen at his concerts for the Love on Tour show.

His concerts have become a red carpet event of their own. His fans spend months and months sewing outfits, bedazzling jackets and shopping for the wildest one-of-a-kind pieces just to attend the show in correct ‘Harry’ style. Not only is he redefining what men’s fashion is but also encouraging people of all gen der identities to embrace themselves and express that through their clothing.

Many criticize how Styles dresses, but that never stops him from wearing ex actly what he wants. There’s a lot to be said about what makes a man a man these days. But what truly defines being manly? Why can’t we accept that there is more than one type of personality? More than one way to express yourself? Harry Styles seems to say, I don’t care, I’m a man, and I’m going to wear what ever I want. He went from pushing the limits to throwing them out the win dow. Being such a public figure, wear ing what he does, and acting as he does is changing the definition of a mascu line man. He challenges the idea of a man that society has accepted for years.

Harry Styles has given a voice to men who can now feel more confident expressing themselves through their outward appearance. The evolution of gender ste reotypes in fashion is happening right before our eyes. Wear what you want to. Paint your nails pink. Wear a smiley face ring. Mix and match patterns. Wear a dress. Regardless of gender, you are who

you are, and you should feel comfort able in your own skin. You deserve the freedom to wear what you want to wear.

Romanticization of the

I struggle to define privilege. I live in a nice house. I don’t usu ally want many things. My room is neat ly decorated, and my family of five has an adorable cattle dog named Durango. But my whole life hasn’t been this way. Neither of my parents had a plan when they got married. They didn’t settle into a perfect corporate job right after col lege; as a matter of fact, my father didn’t even go to college. They started their life poor. Not to fish for pity for them, but they weren’t born into what the world may define as privilege or wealth. They both worked incredibly hard from the bottom. They had nearly nothing but worked to create a very comfortable life.

You may call this privilege. And you might be right. The world indeed does paint this sort of life as privileged. It’s comfortable. It’s unbothered. But what makes it that way? You may believe that the greater power you believe in ran domized who would get to live such a simple life. A life with a 9-5 father who loves his family, a stay-at-home mother who participates in all the school activi ties; a family unit. Or maybe you believe

it’s race that allows this. Or sexual orienta tion. Or education. But there’s a take that lives lost in the past century.

A simple life is the collection of gen erations before who have worked hard to provide such a thing. It’s the sum of honorable decisions, long, hard worked days, and choosing family and mar riage. These things sound blissful, but I assure you they are hardly the easier choice than their opposites. You can call my opinion outdated, but there is romance in this way of life. Romance in people having so much hope for your future that they would continual ly make choices to provide for you. Of ten I’ve found myself with shame for having never suffered. Soon enough, in my young life, I reached college appli cations and paused when it asked me to describe a hardship I endured, and I struggled to write 200 words. This is not accidental. My parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and those before them chose that moment for me before I existed. They made sacrifices, strug

An Ode to the Suburban Experience

By: Haley Simpson

gled with work, opted for less income to have a mother at home, budgeted, prayed and chose the narrow way for me to struggle to write about a hardship.

Don’t mistake my words. There are ex ceptions to the rule. Bad things hap pen to people. Accidents and things out of human control may prevent this for some of us, and I don’t want to discredit that. But I mean to talk directly to those with a similar experience as me. There is so much to be said for a simple life.

I find myself in a state of gratitude as I reflect on the 22 years of my life. As I venture into my adult life, I consider my own children. I contemplate the sort of spouse I’ll partner with to create a simple life. I chose a job that will allow me to provide for my soon-to-be fami ly, save for a home to protect them, and

educate myself to raise them to do the same. This opened my eyes to just how early my parents began to do this for me. They didn’t know who I’d be in their early twenties, but they had started to prepare for me. And so did their par ents. And their parents’ parents. It is a legacy of bliss created through choices.

Indeed there are alternate choices in life. I am in a place to decide the rest of my future. I have begun to see the romance in continuing a suburban leg acy. I see the romance in preparing a way for my children to succeed and feel loved. I see romance in enjoying small moments with a spouse and working to do the world well. It may look like privilege, but that is only its disguise. A simple suburban life is lovely, and I hope to see the day my children strug gle to write about their hardships too.

A DEEP DIVE INTO YOUR MOTHER’S CLOSET

A nostalgic way to thrift in your own home

By: Leah Brainerd

Love thrift shopping? Well, have you ever thought of looking a little closer to home? The best vintage clothes may be just under your nose. Your moth er’s old cheer sweater is lying around somewhere along with some of your dad’s flannels. Maybe in their closet or maybe deep in storage. Your dad’s flannels that he doesn’t wear anymore, or perhaps he does, are ripe for the taking and at no cost. There is always treasure in places you least expect to find it. Look for something your mom hasn’t worn in years and make it yours because it’s probably back in style.

Last year I went into my parent’s closet and looked for things they didn’t wear or wouldn’t miss. I took my dad’s old clothes that my mom would rather just throw away. I picked up a red flannel from my dad that he had worn for years that my mother was more than hap py to get rid of and a different flannel from my mom. My mother’s flannel is much more colorful and was a great vin tage brand that had been passed down through many family members before it reached my closet. I also snagged two college sweatshirts from my dad, one from UCLA and another from Notre Dame, that make great fall outfits and are sentimental. The sweatshirts have cracked screen print paint, making them perfectly old and vintage and perfect for today’s styles. Lastly, I snuck out a high school soccer sweatshirt with old school records on it and a Pom sweater from my mom with her name embroidered. Now you may think to yourself, my mom doesn’t have any cool clothes, or I’m

not the same size as my parents, but let me assure you, I am not the same size as either of my parents, nor did I think their clothes would be suitable for my lifestyle. However, oversized clothes are in, and I am taking full advantage. Now, if you think your parents’ closets have nothing to offer you, let me tell you, you haven’t looked. There are years of un-donated clothes dying to be taken out for a spin and given a new lease on life.

Sweatshirts and flannels are great ba sics and an easy place to start when looking for secondhand clothing be cause they do not have to fit perfectly or look brand new. A great second place to look would be in jeans or fun old tops. Jeans are an excellent second-hand item because they last forever and can be cinched up, painted, or reworked com pletely (think Sisterhood of the Travel ing Pants vibe). Jeans are always in style and are perfect for all occasions as they can be dressed up or down, made into shorts, or lined for different seasons. Old tops are a great way to add style or personality to a basic outfit and, along with jeans, don’t have to fit perfectly to be cute. They can be cropped or put over a tank or turtleneck for different seasons or events. You can later them to make an entirely new piece for your wardrobe that is great for any season.

As they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. And let me tell you, your mother has a clos et full of well-lived-in clothing that is dying to be your new treasure.

Photographer: Madelyn Lindsey Stlylist & Model: Anabelle Lind sey

By: Emily McCaslin

WHY WE DO OUR NAILS

WHY WE DO OUR NAILS

POV: You just walked out of the nail sa lon. You sit in your car and look down at your hands. Your nails are freshly painted with a new design. How do you feel?

We get our nails done for job interviews, school dances, weddings, and birthdays. There’s a reason we do this. It makes us feel put together. It makes us feel pow erful, like we can take on the world. We can accomplish all our obligations when there’s polish on our nails. When we don’t have them done, it makes us feel plain.

When I asked my friend, Reagan, a nail extraordinaire, how getting her nails done makes her feel, she respond ed with, “superior.” Honestly, after I thought about it, she was right. Noth ing makes someone feel better than having a fresh set of nails. After that, you feel like a baddie who can do any

thing, despite what anyone says.

One of my favorite things to do when I was little was to paint my nails. I loved the sparkly, hot pink glitter nails. So why did we love painting our nails when we were younger? We loved the feeling of being creative with your own body and experimenting and having fun with different designs. It was our first form of self-ex pression. It made us feel pretty and el egant. It made us feel like “grown-ups.”

We all know what happened in 2020. When Covid struck, it forced nail salons to shut down. This obstacle caused people to have to stop getting their nails done. But, on the positive side, people could create their ideal nails right at home. Some of our best work comes from be ing forced to be creative; sometimes, we just need something to push us towards

our best po tential. To day, nail salons are back open, but people are still choos ing to do their own nails.

In today’s society, we tend to lean toward maximalism in nails. We love experiment ing with big, “out-there” nail designs that make us stand out. More is more. You can play around with different designs, patterns, colors, and jewels; you name it. It’s how we show people our personality, likes, and passions. Nails are a big conversation starter too. It is so easy to compliment a to tal stranger on their nails. You can connect with so many people over how their nails represent the person they are.

Why do we fol low and create trends? We want to make that con nection between our peers and us. It’s fun to get to share our nails with people and why we chose the ones we have. We see it on social media. We follow trends from celebrities we look up to because we want to share something with them. Overall, getting our nails done is the perfect way to make us feel elegant and productive. So whenever you don’t feel good, get yourself a fresh set of nails and know that you are beautiful and worthy and you can ac complish big things.

Doing the most to feel the best

Doing the most to feel the best

THESE BOOTS WERE

By: Haley Simpson

The Spirit of the American Cowboy Makes its Way into Fashion.

T MADE FOR WALKIN’

he American cowboy is inspiration al. What makes the cowboy inspi rational is the wild dream it stirs that a small part of us wishes we were him. We fantasize about ultimate free dom from society, a strong spirit, open land, and the thrill it allows. There’s something romantic about that way of life. Something simple. We can picture ourselves in a vast empty desert sleeping under the stars. It’s so con trasting to daily life that it allures us. The cowboy symbolizes the American spirit, strong, wild, unique, and free.

The influence of western fashion em bodies this dream. Cowboy hats, col orful boots, sturdy pieces of denim, romantic tops, and minimal makeup bring the cowboy spirit into the homes of fashion lovers everywhere. The geo graphical boundaries that once held cowboy fashion to the west and southwest no longer exist. Walking down the street in any major city, you are absolutely sure to see a pair of leather Luccheses passing you. It is no longer confined to the functionality and utility intended for western wear but takes a new meaning. It spreads the American spirit to ev eryone through fashion. It pro motes freedom, carelessness, and no ties to where you stay. Slipping on boots and a hat gives us the confidence we of ten see in western cowboys. We walk with intention; whether a night out, a first date, a concert, or work,

we plan to do something specific.

Truly the cowboy spirit isn’t a sum of fashion or occupation. It’s represented in each of us by something differ ent. It’s the wish to succeed, to prove ourselves, to run freely and conquer. Slipping on boots and a hat gives us the confidence we often see in western cowboys. We walk with intention; whether a night out, a first date, a con cert, or work, we plan to do something specific. Fashion is also a means of reflection. If we cannot actually live out the cowboy lifestyle, we can at least adopt its values in our life and express them through the means of fashion. It’s a chance to align ourselves.

Photographer: Tenley Bogle (Guest)

Faith Bollom

Models: Selvey Russell, Tatum John ston

going on

The 1976 Collect

From being a little kid wishing you were older so you could wear make up and high heels to anticipating your 16th birthday so you could finally drive yourself to school. Finally, turning 21 and feeling like a real adult because you can order a drink at the bar. For most of us, it’s always been about looking for ward, but then the forward comes, and all we want is to go back to times that seemed easier with no responsibilities and the endless possibilities ahead.

Look at the classic 2004 movie 13 Go ing on 30, starring Jennifer Gardener. All she wanted was to be “thirty, flirty and thriving.” She had everything she ever thought she wanted with a wish on a birthday candle. Once in that place, she realized all the things she over looked and underappreciated while

they were happening in the moment.

We, too, are always wishing for anoth er birthday candle to blow out to hand us all the things we want out of life, but we forget to live in the moment we are in. We memorialize these different times in our lives and represent them in our minds as a collection of the best moments, but that’s not a reality. It’s an ideal. College is one of those times we love to look back on or look forward to, and yearbooks are the physical, liv ing memory of those times, but they sit collecting dust on our coffee tables.

Thus, presenting Modmuze’s class of 1976 in the 1976 collect. A memori al to college life at Oklahoma State - the years never to be forgotten.

Wishing that theyears never end

Valedictorian

President-1976

Photographer & Stylist: Emily West (Guest) Models: Cayden Copeland, Claire Hosterman, Trudie Taylor, Clancy Fallwell, Hayden Holland

Senior Cheer Captain

By: Cooper Carr

The Mania of

Daisies

Movie With

Going

Věra Chyitlová’s 1966 stroke of genius, “Daisies,” is a difficult film to pin down. A landmark of the Czech New Wave, the film was made nearly 60 years ago, yet stylistical ly feels like it is from the distant future and thematically seems to be made for right now. At its core, it is an embrace of impulse and forgetting conse quences. It cel ebrates lack of meaning and throws away tradition. There are a few par allels between the movie’s events and the realities of today. These are about the conditions of our current world, the weights it has placed on our shoulders, and the ways we can throw them off.

The opening scene of the mov ie goes something like this. Two young women talk and decide that the world has gone bad. They conclude that they should go bad too. For the rest of the run time, they show no reverence

for the customs of the modern world, going wherever their whims take them.

Daisies is a movie for right now because, once again, it seems the world is go ing bad. I needn’t go into why people disagree on current positive and neg ative events, but a sense of doom pervades. To quote gen Z’s it boy, Timo thée Chalamet, “societal collapse is in the air.” Timmy might be being a bit dramatic, he’s an actor, after all, but deep down, there is a com mon feeling that things are getting worse. So this is your excuse to dive deep into the mania of Daisies.

The girls (it bears mentioning now that they are both named Marie) be gin in their bedroom, where there is a sense of listlessness. This is a scenario that I feel I have found myself in too many times over the last couple of years. When I

was sent home from school in the spring of 2020 to continue classes online, my world was shrunk to a few rooms and a comput er screen. When I caught COVID-19 in the fall of 2021, I saw hardly anyone and spoke only a few sentences a day for the duration of my quarantine. To sum it up dramat ically, I’ve been ready to leave my room for two years. Maybe you have too. We have survived a global pandemic and itch to go out into the world and again make our marks on it. The concrete is almost dry, but there is still time to press in your hand print. The girls in our story are ready to do the same. “Where to?” asks Marie. ”Someplace where something’s going on.” answers Marie. So the adventure begins.

It is an adventure that finds them reveling in the things the world has to offer, from simple pleasures to existential revelations. They have a feast that evolves into a food fight. They disturb the peace. When men call to confess their love to them, they ig nore it, preferring to remain unburdened by the powers that be. Over and over, the message is that there is ultimate freedom to be had by those who dare to be themselves.

Daisies’ absurd, speeding story is complemented by an experimental filmmak ing style that had not been done before and has not been replicated since. Chy itlová and her team cycle through zany color filters, double exposures that look like acid trips, and jump cuts that keep you off balance. All these choices inject joy into the experience. Just as the girls found freedom in letting go of society’s expectations, so may you find freedom in letting go of your expectations for the film. Let it do its thing, and then do yours.

Photographer: Eliza Sowle

Eliza Sowle

Models: Bailey Sisk, Claire Shuster, Hadley Dejarnette, Nora Kauffman

Girlhood

Photographer: Kylie Nelson Model: Megan Fillo

Playing dressup, talking in bed for hours, silly photoshoots, pages and pages of magazines: the joys of female friendship. This shoot is brought to you to share the wonderful world of girlhood.