Rena Magazine Issue 1

Rena Issue. One

RE NA

R There exists a need to be recognized.

By society, by friends, by one.

We want to be seen, to be heard, to be felt- to be.

We need to be. To exist.

We need for our existence to be praised, valued. The very minimum, to be acknowledged.

Pushed by desire, we find ourselves drawn in by similarity.

They are like me, so they’ll know.

Do as they do, you’ll be seen then.

Be them so you can be seen.

And while there is beauty in finding those who are similar, many end up drowning in the world they were drawn to for recognition.

Labels that once were validating are now a trap.

Leonardo DaVinci, Michaelangelo, Galileo: Masters in art, and in science, and in philosophy, and in music, and the list goes on.

Their discoveries and creations would leave such lasting marks, it is nearly impossible to go through life without pondering them at least once.

Coined as Renaissance men, these individuals bring up an idea that deserves our attention.

Maybe tying oneself to a field isn’t the only way to be seen.

In ditching the specialization of one discipline, no label is satisfactory to describe anymore except one: Excellent The Renaissance men have long left us, but the impact of who they were remains.

The idea of a polymath has left this small group of Italian men and taken form inside individuals of all types.

And from this idea, gifted to us by the renaissance men, birthed Rena. A place where individuals come to create something excellent, regardless of whatever labels they’ve had, held, or look to pursue. A place made for trailblazers, those born to transcend, those looking to blossom and shatter any boundaries in their way.

Welcome to Rena.

First Rung These Boots Are Made For Climbing

Climbing to Success Author: Audrey Franza When I started the climb, I envisioned the top; an all-encompassing view of everything I ever dreamed.

When I started the climb, I didn’t foresee the change.

I didn’t see how my ears would evolve. They would learn discipline from discouragement and soak up all they could.

I didn’t see how my eyes would change. A mere glance sees so much more than a long gaze used to catch.

I didn’t see how my lips would shift. No longer emitting mere frequencies carried in the atmosphere, but wavelengths that strike

a heart and inspire it to start climbing too.

This climb is tiring. Some rungs seem to place themselves under my feet; others evade every step I attempt to take.

Time doesn’t stop, but there are times I must. As I pause and look to see all the change that took place, reaching out my hand to grab the next rung isn’t as daunting.

When I started the climb, I envisioned the top but I couldn’t see it.

And while the top of the ladder continues to evade my sight, there is one change that will drive me to the end.

I can no longer see the bottom.

Model: Aminatou Diallo Visual Media Center

No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back.

No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back.

No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back.

No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back.

No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back.

No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back.

No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back. No Going Back.

Endicott Johnson Sh0e Factory Author: Mallory Fowler

Blood, Sweat, & Tears

Professionalism, for me as a woman in today’s environment, is: chic, fast moving, and incredibly innovative. From leather suits, to casual sweaters paired with colorful dress pants and a pair of bold heels - nothing is too daring to wear to work (for the most part…). Fashion in the workplace has increasingly become fluid, taking inspiration from recent trends and classic business attire: most notably, suits. That’s what our focus will be on today, the history of the suit and the part women had in putting on the pants- even when they were told not to.

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Women's fashion in the workplace hasn’t historically opened its arms to embrace fluidity of fashion, rather, it enforced the separation of men and women through clothing standards. Some of the first instances of women publicly wearing suits were in the late 1800’s, an actor (by the name Sarah Bernhardt) who played a male part in Hamlet would wear her ‘boy clothes’ out. This was considered very scandalous in 1899 (which is mild compared to our 21st century scandals, I’m sure it would blow their minds), but that didn’t stop Ms. Bernhardt from pushing the gender stereotypes placed on her.

Even though her slice of reality still placed her in a box, she realized the power clothing had over her image. Her ‘boy clothes’ were considered sordid because women were not supposed to show the shape of their body; most women would wear many layers of uncomfortable skirts to hide their lower bodies. Sounds a lot like “cover your shoulders so you don’t distract the boys”, so I’d like to say we’ve moved on from this mindset in history- but we’re still trying to get here. From this point on, women continued to push their male set boundaries.

By the 1910’s women’s suffrage was in full movement.

Less restrictive clothing was worn by women who rallied and marched, long traditional skirts were too uncomfortable for these activities. This was coined as the ‘suffragette suit’: a suit jacket and a narrow skirt similar to a popular skirt trend at that time called the ‘hobble skirt’.

Civil disobedience required more than just standing up for their beliefs- it also required a shorter skirt.

Coco Chanel, personally my favorite designer, was inspired by the ‘suffragette suit’ and the progressive women of this era. She began making womens suits- closer

Walk with purpose in... to those we see today. Chanel gained popularity during WW1 by abstaining from using corsets for tailoring (corsets are very popular now, but historically have been very dangerous and uncomfortable for women) and creating the women's suit that still had the glamor and chicness of femininity.

Leisure trousers became activity wear for women in the jazz age, with many women wearing them for sports such as tennis, cycling, and equestrian. Even then, with the rise in women wearing pants, girls who wore ‘trousers’ were considered cross-dressers and were criminalized. Am I allowed to say ‘that was fucked up’ in this article? I don’t know, but that was fucked up.

t i u S er

w o P y M

Model - Maylin Vititow

Up until this point many instances of women wearing pants were put in the shadows, pushed out of an international eye. Yet, in 1933, our girl Eleanor Roosevelt was the first, First Lady to wear trousers at an official function. She had been out riding beforehand and didn’t have time to changeeven though it was accidental, many photos were taken of her embracing the ‘unconventional attire’.

In 1939 Vogue published its first spread of women wearing trousers, and by the 1940s actresses and widespread use of the black and white television helped solidify pants and suits as a piece of women's apparel, and in the closets of most women in-the-know.

By the 60’s 40% of women had joined the workforce (which was more than ever before in the USA), this was a decade of change embracing the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and a Presidential act Banning Discrimination based on Gender in 1967. More on topic though, in 1966 Yves Saint Laurent

solidified his icon status with the release of the women’s “Le Smoking '' tuxedo. Many restaurants and hotels actually wouldn’t let women inside wearing this tuxedo, as it was extremely ahead of its time and still seen as scandalous; but the world was mesmerized by “Le Smoking '' when Bianca Jagger wore it to her wedding, putting the tuxedo in its deserved place in bridal attire history.

By the 1980’s the women in the workforce grew to 50% and the ‘Power suit’ became iconic, as well as pant suits. God, I love a good pantsuit. Androgynous shoulder pads and oversized jacket silhouettes were popularized by Georgio Aermani- and thus the birth of the modern business look for women.

With every step forward for women’s fashion we are sadly reminded of the transgressions of the past. In 1993 Senators Barabara Mikulshi and Carol Moseley-Braun sought to overturn the ban on women wearing trousers in the Senate. A little over 25 years ago a Congress woman could get expelled

from Congress for wearing pants. That’s extremely disappointing, but eventually it was overturned.

Since then, with the rise of second wave feminism, bold and bourdary-breaking fashions continue to rise in womens fashion. Movements such as “#MeToo” have empowered women to speak out against misogynistic actions and outlooks dominated by our society. For me, this is a call to action to be unapologetic in my expression of self, opinion, and most importantly: wearing what I want. My favorite suit is a staple of my wardrobe, but it’s also a reminder to me of what decades of women before me have done. All the women spoken about in this article and even more unspoken pushed past their barriers, and they did it while looking great. For that, I take every chance I can to walk with purpose in my power suit.

Continue to be the change you want to see…

Author: Ian Franza

Unapoligetic

Sometimes, the volume of life can feel deafening.

Voices shout from every direction, filling your mind with the values of a people that perhaps never truly valued themselves.

“Be intelligent, but not enough to be called calculated.”

“Be bold, but not enough to make everyone uncomfortable.”

“Be beautiful, but not enough to gather too much attention.”

“Be talented, but not enough to make others jealous.”

“Be ‘different’, but not enough to foster change.”

Model - Akunna Njoku Binghamton Bartle Library

“our elasticity is limited for a reason” In the hustle and bustle of growing up, we get caught up in the notion of “what to be” instead of finding development in the comfort of what “just is”. For me, I have always felt that there exists a set body of unwritten rules on how to exist.

How to be unique enough to make a name for yourself. How to make people proud of you without making them envy or hate you first. How to reach the top of the mountain without being slain along the way.

The list is inexhaustible. Always adding to itself, always altering, always finding ways to capture everyone in its web.

I, for one, have never liked using lists.

I find it interesting how we have books that claim to put the “tools for success” in your hands, podcasts that whisper the “key to winning” into your ears, and speakers who preach the promise of affluence everywhere we go, and yet, we’ve still never truly defined success itself. We bend ourselves forwards and backwards, finding any way to stretch ourselves thin enough to be anything and everything, but we never consider that our elasticity is limited for a reason.

My perspective on success continues to waver, but as I age, I realize the beauty of being firm in the things we love. If we all yearned for the same thing, we would slowly become copies of one another, blueprints of modern technology within rhythmic beating hearts and fast-pumping blood. That is not what I want to be. I want to be human— imperfectly but reassuringly certain of my own respective legacy.

I no longer entertain the lists, books, podcasts, speakers, and choruses of screaming “what to-do’s”. I know who I am and what is mine, and my version of success can and will never belong to you.

“ I want to be human— imperfectly but reassuringly certain of my own respective legacy”

Rena Face Expirimenting with makeup and design

Stardust and Statues Author: Cameron Wallace When you look at sculptures, do you ever wonder how many details are exaggerated? Or how many features Michelangelo and Donatello altered to achieve these embodiments of anatomical perfection?

Because I sit here, staring in the mirror counting the imperfections.

One, two, three, four - the list is bountiful.

fear the statue will collapse on itself. Who would have thought Michelangelo’s greatest feat was imperfect?

I am not a statue. My features are not carved out of precious marble that glistens as the sun kisses my curvatures. My youthfulness is not frozen in time, and the shape of my body is not suspiciously symmetrical. I am no David.

Then you realize that perfection is subjective - same as beauty - and that my imperfections are what make me intrinsically me. Because unlike David, we are the great descendants of stars, and we walk with stardust in our lungs. At our very core, we scintillate with the power of astral deities, and no one could ever possibly capture that beauty. And no one could ever possibly take that away from me, and no one could ever take that away from You.

Yet, even he is faced with the reality that is. The weight of the statue is too much for the ankles to support alone, so much so, experts

So I sit here, staring in the mirror counting the imperfections. One, two, three, four - the list is beautiful.

Model Change Author: Audrey Franza Glamour magazine released a series of videos, all grouped in a playlist appropriately titled “Evolution”, about how different elements of fashion have changed over the past 100 years. Boys’ clothing, hair accessories, women’s shoes, patterns, shapewear, and the list goes on. It offers the unique opportunity to see side by side just how much fashion has changed over the last century.

Besides the clothing that has changed so vastly, the people who are chosen to model such clothing are changing as well. Models of different skin colors, different hair textures, height, and weight are being given more and more opportunities to model. Winnie Harlow gained fame on America’s Next Top Model and has since then been an advocate for people with vitiligo. Madeline Stuart is one of the world's most famous models with Down syndrome. She has been featured in Vogue, Cosmopolitan, People’s Magazine and has gained

Fashion Legacy

a notably large following on social media. Georgia May Jagger, known for her “Get the London Look'' commercial, went viral for her tooth gap, something typically not highlighted in beauty. Ashley Graham, arguably one of the most famous plus-size models, is known for promoting body positivity and trying to bring change to the modeling industry alongside other plus-size models such as Precious Lee- the first black, plus-size woman to appear in Vogue- or Crystal Renn, a model who went on to author a memoir about body image.

The struggle to reach this point of diversity has been long and painful, but change is being seen. The narrative of “they are beautiful despite this feature” is being challenged more and more and shifted into “they make this feature beautiful”. The industry will continue to change and be more representative of the diverse beauty we have all been sculpted to showcase. Maybe in 100 years, someone will make a video to appreciate how far we’ve come.

Office Elegance

Binghamton University Union

Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.

The Cubicle Cage Author: Justin Wang When you open your closet you are welcomed in a shrine of your self expression. Clothes don’t define who you are but they provide a medium to express the emotions you hold within you. However, in current corporate culture the dress code is a heavily debated topic with many companies holding different standards for appearance.

Many tech firms such as Google, Facebook, and more have an integrated casual dress code. Dressing casually for work has increased employee performance and morale. After a long day, a casually dressed employee can transition from work to home life with ease by sparing the time of undressing out of nice black shoes and pants just to go out. Some companies argued against formal wear, referring to a 1999 survey that shows: “Companies that embraced casual business attire enjoyed a 40 % increase in productivity” (Kiddie, 2009, p. 352). The downsides of casual workplace attire were soon realized. Damaged first impressions may be a result of

dressing too casually at work, as unexpected meetings with clients and upper-management often arise. Additionally, a casually dressed employee may be perceived as unprofessional, incompetent, under-qualified, or uncommitted (Maysonave, 2001). Harry Beckwith, author of the book Selling the Invisible, says, “People do not simply form impressions, they become anchored to them. Busy people are apt to make snap judgments and then base all their later decisions on them” (Maysonave, 2001, p. 46). On the other hand, other companies practice business casual standards. Business casual attire has allowed employees freedom from the costs associated with formal business attire, as well as giving them the ability to feel more relaxed while at work. Although, a drawback of business casual dress is the lack of authority the image portrays.

As a result of this perception, individuals may have a harder time progressing up the corporate ladder (Chaney & Lyden, 1999; Black

“Dressing Casually has Increased Performance and Morale.” & DiNardo, 1994). Perceptions of the individual by clients may also be negatively affected, as a lack of authority is usually related to a diminished sense of trustworthiness. As human beings, we are always communicating on the nonverbal level, even when we are speaking. Apparel choices are a huge part of that communication and self expression. Clothing impacts an individual’s image so should it be dictated by a company standard?

Melissa Norman

Ashley Doherty

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Rawm White

Shoot 2:

Model - Aminatou Diallo

Shoot 3:

Model - Maylin Vititow

Shoot 4:

Special Thanks to: Binghamton University Studio Arts Department Visual Media Center

Model - Akunna Njoku

Shoot 5:

Models - Melissa Norman (white eyeliner), Ashley Doherty (red triangle), Madison Stolarski (tan nails), Kendal Gibbons (the other one lol)

Shoot 6:

Writers: Audrey Franza Cameron Wallace Mallory Fowler Justin Wang Ian Franza

Models - Rawm White (male), Melissa Norman (green suit), Ashley Doherty (black blazer)

Executive Board of Rena Creative Director: Editor-in-Chief: Fashion Director: Publishing and Layout Director: Head of Brand Partners & Marketing: Treasurer: Secretary:

Cameron Wallace Audrey Franza Maylin Vititow Grace Moon Madeline Schalk Justin Wang Mariya Ivanova

Thank You. Audrey and I embarked on a journey to create a place where students could gather to celebrate the art of fashion. We felt the need to create a safe haven for creatives to explore how their talents could reflect in the fashion world, regardless of background. This has been a challenging feat, but it has been our greatest joy and honor to work on this.

To our executive board, thank you so much for willingly signing up to join our crazy mission and help our dream come true. You have been the greatest blessing and none of this could have been possible without the support of this amazing team. We are so honored to serve as co-founders alongside our first ever executive board. You will go down in history.

To our general body, thank you for your patience, enthusiasm, and dedication. You are our greatest strength, you remind us every day why we set out on this journey. You are our muses, our inspiration, and our strongest supporters. This magazine is just as much yours as it ours. We are beyond grateful to share this experience with you, and cannot wait to see what you all done with Rena, and watch as you help us take it to its greatest heights.

To the community, it is our greatest pleasure and honor to introduce you all to Rena.

We hope this magazine inspires you, or, at the very least, reminds you to celebrate your individuality. We are all masters of our crafts in our own ways - capitalize on that. Live unapologetically and revel in your authenticity. Be bold, be daring, take risks, chase dreams, exceed expectations, live freely, but most importantly, be you.

We hope you enjoy the first ever issue of Rena Magazine. Thank you for coming along for the ride, we can’t wait to show you what we have up our sleeve next!

With love, Rena Co-Founders: Cameron Wallace and Audrey Franza