RESPIRE
the divine feminine
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RESP RESPIRE
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PIRE.
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Respire: inhale for the purpose of maintaining life; to breathe.
“Fashion is part of the daily air and it changes all the time, with all the events. You can even see the approaching of a revolution in clothes. You can see and feel everything in clothes.” -Diana Vreeland
Table of Contents 8
Taylor Swift
20
Rico Nasty
32
Solange
44
Princess Nokia
56
Grimes
68
Maggie Rogers
Letter from the Editor The past year has brought an exhausting, seemingly redundant amount of introspection. While driving down a winding road in Pacific, with George Harrison softly playing through the sound of the warm wind, Bridget and I had a cathartic conversation. In an elderly Honda Odyssey, we finally verbalized and acknowledged the impact that girlhood had on forming our identities. This dialogue was deeper than reminiscing on Lip Smackers and Limited Too. Frankly, it was the most agonizing conversation we have shared together in our friendship. When you spend your whole life believing that you unconditionally support the women around you, challenging the rhetoric and mindsets that you hold (ones that directly harm and separate you from other women) is a disheartening task. When your whole identity through high school was built off Savers mom jeans, Grateful Dead bumper stickers, and platform Doc Martens, it is inevitable that there will be plenty of harm and plenty of foul involved. How can you be the president of the feminist club but talk shit on the girls in your class for wearing Lululemon? The harsh reality of it is, from a young age, those of us who identify as women are living as the character of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book. Your fashion, music, interests, skills… These are all things you must choose and identify with wholeheartedly by 8th grade graduation. And it quickly becomes the name tag you wear through adolescence. The girl next to you in class is not your friend, she is the competition. She is your opponent in the game of validation, of self assurance, of confidence. Only one of you can enjoy these feelings, and yours comes at the expense of hers. In a tan minivan, Bridget and I realized that we have been fighting a losing battle for far too long. In seeing the women around us as “other” we are keeping ourselves from the beauty that can result from shared experiences. We are full of a complex, infinite feminine energy. It can never be taken from us. It is divine, groundbreaking, invincible, precious, and gentle. When brainstorming the concept for this issue, I knew that it needed to highlight this divine feminine energy. Women in music provide a beautiful and deep rooted presentation of the many sides of femininity. In focusing on a few icons in the music industry, we are able to highlight the range and power that we hold. While reading this issue, never forget our oneness. You are one with Solange. You are one with the teen girl who made your iced latte today. You are one with the old lady that signs you in at the dentist office. We are one in the same, and we are wholly divine. The sooner we absorb this, the sooner we ascend together.
Wth Love, Kylie Hull
7
TAY L O R S W I F T To strip oneself down and return to the raw, vulnerable state that is represented in our inner child is one of the most terrifying and cold endeavors that one could embark on. The expression of our deepest emotions, free of the pretty facades and performance, slowly leaves the realm of what we deem acceptable as we age. With time, authentic feelings are swapped for either theatrics to make our pain pretty, or a sort of dilution to water down oneself for the sake of convenience. It is very rare to hit the sweet spot in the middle, but it seems that we have been shown a glimmer of this magic. When listening to the newest albums from Taylor Swift, it feels as though we are being welcomed back to our innocent youth. Between folklore and evermore, Swift takes the hand of her listeners, and leads them to a mystical land of pure acceptance of expression. Pain and joy and nostalgia and confusion are all hailed as beautiful cogs in the moving machine of humanity. With every passing song, the listeners are allowed to feel, no matter what emotion, to the fullest. It seems as though it is a beckoning to venture back to our most rudimentary days, while still holding the pain and experiences that can only be felt in the harsh reality of growing old. There is a certain genius in bringing the two selves together: a wise, developed being standing hand in hand with an unruly, inexperienced child. It feels like a sort of sorcery, founded in the extraordinary nature of being purely human.
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Model: Maya Patel Photography: Bridget McGinn Styling and Writing: Kylie Hull
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Picture me in the weeds, Before I learned civility. I used to scream ferociously, Any time I wanted.
Are there still beautiful things? Taylor Swift, seven
19
RICO NASTY One of the greatest weapons used against the full expression of femininity is the box in which we place women throughout youth into adulthood. In almost every facet of life, women are confined into corners of society, and the act of even stepping a toe out of line is a defiant venture. From fashion to humor to sexuality, we are expected to choose an aesthetic during our teenage years, and this identity is used to compare and contrast women against one another. We stumble into a rattrap of, “She must be girly, and I must be edgy, and they must be artsy, and she must be sporty.” This cycle forces women to become conveniently one sided, and thus muted in terms of our expression and interaction with the world around us. By limiting the full extent of our authenticity, we are placed neatly into little containers in the compartment of femininity. When it comes to these little containers, Rico Nasty is smashing them with a sledgehammer. Every expectation that she is held to is a crumb on the ground of her existence. To embody her energy is to pretend that you are the only person in the room, with no action being too excessive nor any statement too loud. She is girly, edgy, artsy, sporty, kind and loud- at the same time-- and she dares us all to do the same. Through her music, she gifts us the perfect soundtrack to obliterate our self imposed limitations, and she throws us into a future of unapologetic and unconditional self actualization.
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Model: Morgan Kovis Photography: Bridget McGinn Styling and Writing: Kylie Hull
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I live everyday like I’ll die by the night time, It took me so long getting back to my right mind.
Rico Nasty, Time Flies
31
S O L A N G E To sit speechless in the face of magnificent art is one of the strongest human experiences. A teenage girl staring at a movie screen, tears quietly leaking from her eyes as the coming-of-age movie in front of her evokes a nostalgia for her present life. A cluster of people surrounding a highly anticipated painting in an art museum. A crowd gazing upward with starry eyes, reaching a united vibrational energy as a guitarist loses themselves in the strings. These moments in life are rare to experience, and even rarer to create. Despite the golden rarity of these works, Solange gives life to a never ending collection of breathtaking pieces of art. While her work stems from her music, she translates her genius into endless art forms. Her music is eclectic, meditative and mesmerizing all at once, and these qualities are channeled through her choreography, cinematography, and aesthetics. Every shot of every music video is meticulous and artistic, and it is impossible to view her work without feeling the sheer brilliance of her creative energy. The beauty in her art reflects not only the beauty in her mind, but also her experiences as a black woman in America, which are prominent in her work. It is unforgettable to witness a human with such a unique and stunning eye for artistry, and her natural ability to hit the mark in every sense is one that we are blessed to experience in our lifetime. A three minute music video that can bring a viewer to tears, smiles, and pure awe in its short span is no doubt the work of a true master.
32
Model: Kennedy Morganfield Photography: Bridget McGinn Styling and Writing: Kylie Hull Clothing Pieces from May’s Place
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I can’t be a singular expression of myself, there’s too many parts, too many spaces, too many manifestations, too many lines, too many curves, too many troubles, too many journeys, too many mountains, too many rivers, so many
Solange, Can I Hold the Mic
43
PRINCESS NOKIA Being draped with a cloak of quiet femininity as a young girl is the innate defense mechanism against a male dominated world. When the elementary dodgeball court is inhabited by vicious preteen boys, you learn from a young age to be as shy as possible to avoid getting pummeled, and this mindset translates through all eras of life. As we accumulate years and wisdom, it becomes clear that every safe space is one way or another tainted by men. The feminine intuition and expression is equally impenetrable and assertive as the masculine. Further, to assume that a young girl lacks both energies at the same time is a disservice to the range of humanity. A young girl is powerful when she is gentle and empathetic, and she is powerful when she is determined and assured. Princess Nokia makes music for any person who feels that assertiveness and kindness can’t share a space within them. Taking up space as a boisterous force or as a reserved observer are both powerful, and can be embodied interchangeably. Their album 1992 Deluxe is the perfect soundtrack for angrily skating down a pebble covered city street, admiring your belly in your floor length mirror, or beating your face before a night out. Sometimes getting really aggressive is the quickest way to feel like a hot bitch, and she was in on this truth before the rest of us. Basketball shorts are sexy and so is a mini skirt. Wear one on Monday, and one on Tuesday. Pro tip: when you are walking down campus in either outfit, turn on “Kitana” by Princess Nokia. You are powerful in all of your expressions.
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Model: Maya Arnott Photography: Bridget McGinn Styling and Writing: Kylie Hull
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Intelligent, adaptable, agile, communicative, Informative, creative, and everybody hates it. Imagination colorful and I just entertain it. A poet and a dreamer, I’ma seize the world and take it.
Princess Nokia, Excellent
55
G R I M E S In current culture, it seems that we are on the very brink of a Renaissance. A generation is rising that values radical art, politics, relationships, and values above all else. With every passing day, the boundaries of what we can imagine as a society are being pushed beyond our wildest dreams. Our fashion teeters the fine line between functionality and pure art, our music sounds like an otherworldly creation to the ears of our grandparents, and our beliefs challenge all the previously accepted limits that generations before have set. A new world is on the horizon, and the music of Grimes is one product, or catalyst, of this rapid cultural movement. Grimes has consistently surged herself, the industry around her, and the society that receives her forward in a trek toward an ever changing sense of self identity. Not for once has she settled into who she is, and is set in the notion that her art should reflect this flowing state. Her work is shocking, resonating, and vulnerable. Her words cut deep in addressing the suffering that comes with self actualizing. The music that accompanies her words reflects a melting pot of influences. Her distinct fashion is an outward projection of her eclectic and uninhibited nature. As a whole entity, she is unpredictable in every sense of the word; and that is why she is so loved. In a new world where restlessness and avoidance of tradition are almost suffocating, Grimes’ dynamic progression and upheaval of the self is not only invigorating, but essential in acknowledging the future that lies ahead.
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Model: Ange Long Photography: Bridget McGinn Stylist and Writer: Kylie Hull
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Why you looking for a harmony? There is harmony in everything. It’s a butterfly whose wings span the world
Grimes, Butterfly
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MAGGIE ROGERS Pulling grass strand by strand as you sit criss-cross-applesauce on a lawn. Finger-dancing with the wind outside an open car window, your hand gliding up and down like the track of your favorite wooden roller coaster. Jogging bashfully to the dining hall door as the stranger ahead holds it open, as if the single second spared saved them the time or effort. There are a bundle of things in life that feel so natural that it feels anti-gravitative to go against them. When something so instinctual and candid reaches the surface, it is exhausting to deny it. This undeniable and innate drive is the root of Maggie Rogers and the spirit she embodies in her work. Her rise to fame was accidental, but no doubt an organic and well deserved entrance into the music world. The nonchalant energy that appears on the surface stems from an emphasis on immaterial success. She holds the unwavering trust that the act of creating and the art itself is whole without capital praise. Holding the knowledge that your music is a natural extension of your mind is the key to creating a masterpiece. Unbound by a tie to external recognition, she combines all elements of influence, with a background of uplifting pop music matched with raw folk-like vocals. If the Mumford-and-Suns-moving-out-West era met the Charli-XCX-dancing-in-my-underwear era at a bar one night and they gave birth to the fourth Haim sister, that child would be Maggie Rogers... and God bless that child.
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Model: Tara Willey Photography: Bridget McGinn Styling and Writing: Kylie Hull
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Now that the light is fading Silver and purple at twilight Scenes of the day remain with us Bright as the fire is burning bright Blue as the sky above the lake And blue the water flowing White birch drooping on the shore Her leaves of emerald glowing The night is robed in spangled black And soon we shall be sleeping Beyond the moon that rides on high The radiant dawn is creeping, creeping Down through the leaves, the sunlight Came in shafts of gold Now by the dying embers We watch the day grow old
Maggie Rogers, Color Song
79
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Respire 2021