CHICSHA ISSUE 1
STYLE FILES Meghan Reza
a e z r h c c i n a I v m a S
LOVETHAE MGAGAAZIINNE
Snapped on Campus Mackenzie Thompson
Almost famous
Yilan Wang
Peter Fritz | Madhuvanthi Senthilkumar Rachel Baran | MKR Photography Projects
CHICSHA & THIS FIRST ISSUE IS DEDICATED TO JYO SINHA An inspirational 24-year-old and an unbeatable brother. Happy Birthday, Bhai!
To my wonderful, amazing Jyo - happy 24th birthday! I cannot believe it’s been five years since we met. I am so excited to get to be in the same city as you for your birthday, and not just any city but New York City!! I will never forget the ‘phro’ of Freshman year or when we went to Cedar Point. I look forward to creating many, many more memories this year. More picnics with chicken tikka masala with canteens of OJ, more BBC show marathons, more exploration of places with Yelp and hopefully more time in the same place at the same time. Hope you have a fantastic birthday! Love, Alla Beta, Wish you many happy and healthy years. So soon my little Parth has become a young man. Wish you all the joy and tons of love. - Mom That he lives a healthy and happy life realizing his fullest potential - building in the process a tight-knit family bond with all his near and dear family members. - papa
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A H S C I H Hello CHICSTERS, CHICSHA-Love Again was launched on Febuary 14th with a lot of love and anticpation. CHICSHA originated from the frustration of having one too many stylish clothes in my closet that I was tired of wearing and not having enough dollars in my wallet to buy more. My closet was a financial investment with plenty of treasure that others could enjoy. This wasn’t just my dilemma - thousands of university girls had the same problem. CHICSHA was a way for those clothes to be loved again. We want CHICSHALOVE.com to be the one-stop for all things fashion and creativity for university students. I am so excited to bring CHICSHA-THE MAGAZINE finally to life. Nobody can deny our love for flipping through glossy pages to discover unique fashion or interesting stories. CHICSHA-THE MAGAZINE is just that! As college students, we have so many interesting facets to our lives. We want every interesting style choice, talent, and experience to be recognized and noticed by as many people. CHICSHA has just started and we have a looong way to go. We love fashion and college students. We, as college students, have incredible power to influence the world and be the next crusaders. We are the next Brandon Stanton, Mike Kreiger, Rochelle Behrens, or Hayley Barna. CHICSHA focuses on university students with an interesting style and thought process. So, WELCOME! Welcome to CHICSHA - LOVE AGAIN & CHICSHA-THE MAGAZINE. A special thank you to all the contributors of this special first issue. Thank you Madhu, Mira, Katie, Peter, Meghan, Yilan, Rachel, and Sam! You all are awesome! This would not have been possible without your hardwork and support! Enjoy our first issue! ,
sh
PS: Happy Birthday, bhai!
li Be Sty Shona
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S F
What are you 3 favorite pieces in your closet? 1) I have a pair of black pointy-toed booties I found at Urban Outfitters for $15.. I wear them with everything! 2) I recently bought a dark tan shearling wool coat from Pitaya and I’ve been obsessed with it ever since! 3) A pair of dark, high waisted, stonewash jeans. I found them at a consignment store in California and they fit me like a glove! Obsessed. What brands are you obsessed with? I absolutely love Urban Outfitters, H&M, Nasty Gal, and Zara. Who is your fashion guru? Who’s style are you obsessed with? I’m obsessed with Rachel Zoe’s style, and other celebs like Vanessa Hudgens and Blake Lively! What trend are you loving at the moment? I love mixing bold prints together, it adds something so fresh and fun to a look!
St yle Files wit h
meghan reza
Describe your style in 3 words All over the place! I get bored if I stick to one kind of style for too long, so I always like to mix it up. Whats your favorite quote at the moment? “Shopping is cheaper than a Psychiatrist”
Twitter Instagram
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What are you 3 favorite pieces in your closet? SO DIFF ICULT! 1) Skull Utility Jacket 2) “Burberry” look alike trench coat 3) Skinny leg overalls from Paris What brands are you obsessed with? I really admire Aritzia, All Saints, Nasty Gal. But I usually shop the most at Akira, Francesca’s, and Aldo. Who is your fashion guru? Who’s style are you obsessed with? I am obsessed with Gwen Stefani and Blake Lively style! What trend are you loving at the moment? The wintery combat boots, oversize sweater, infinity scarf, and *forest green military jacket* look
St yle Files wit h
Sam
Ivancichreza
Describe your style in 3 words I would describe my style as being a mix of Classy, Edgy, & Feminine Whats your favorite quote at the moment? “Life is beautiful, dress accordingly”
Twitter Instagram
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Forever 21
ASOS Pull & Bear Pull & Bear
River Island
Zara
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l i Y a W
Zara Top Shop
n a l g n a
ASOS Zara
Calvin Klein
Zara
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M K R
PHOTOGRAPY PROJECTS What do you love about photography? Katie: It gives me the chance to be creative and work with people to create an image that makes people want to stop and look. Mira: I see beauty in the faces of people and the way that they interact with each other. I really like being able to capture those fleeting moments. Is there a muse you turn to for inspiration? M: My favorite color is black. That is all. What is your favorite kind of project to do? K: Anything that forces me to be creative with lighting. How did you get started in photography? M: It’s actually so random. Freshman year I was home for break and I found a kick-ass Nikon DSLR brand new and still in the box at the back of a closet no one went into. My photography obsession started there! This past year I mentioned it to my mom and she told me the story behind it: The camera was actually delivered to our house by mistake but the post office said to keep it since no one reported it! It was a pretty fateful event. Is there a MOST important thing to remember when taking a photo?
K: Don’t cut off the feet! M: She has a huge thing about that. K: Don’t do it! Art is constantly evolving and artists are constantly improving on their own work and style. What is a big improvement you have made? K: It took us awhile but we finally got a black backdrop and lights…. lighting makes a huge difference. Tell us about the launch of M K R Photography Projects, a new branch off from the original Mara & Mira photography page. M: Katie and I became a team pretty recently. Her mom is an interior designer and her dad is an architect so she knows all the minute adjustments that make a huge difference. Like the “rule of threes.” Also, Mara & Mira is still a very active page. Unlike M&M, M K R is a for-profit venture designed for benefit of the clients. CHICSHA is fashion, so we have to ask: Who is your fashion icon? K: I don’t have one. Wait, Buzzfeed says Kate Moss. M: Wait, you took that quiz? I got Kate Moss too! [Excerpt from Buzzfeed quiz results: Hey there, badass! You love mixing girly stuff with tougher pieces like leather jackets or biker boots. But no matter how hard your edge, there’s always something super sexy in everything you do.] b
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KATIE RAE
MORGAN MIRA AND KATIE RAE ARE JUNIORS AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY WHO TEAM UP ON PHOTOGRAPHY COMMISSIONS. THOUGH THEY ARE BOTH INDEPENDENTLY EXPERIENCED, ONE OF THEIR FIRST COMMISSIONS TOGETHER WAS THE ORIGINAL CHICSHA CAMPAIGN. IT WAS SO EXCITING TO BE A PART OF SOMETHING HIGH ENERGY WITH SO MUCH POTENTIAL. SO CHICSHA - THE MAGAZINE, INVITED THE DUO FOR AN INTERVIEW TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHAT INSPIRES THEM!
MORGAN MIRA
FACEBOOK.COM/ MKRPHOTOGRAPHYPROJECTS
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e h T te n i W i a l F
The Black Affair
Mackenzie Thompson
Sophomore b Journalism and Marketing
er irs
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SHADOWS
UNFRAMED MADHUVANTHI SENTHILKUMAR FROM A STUDENT OF FASHION
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old and not yet gold. travel photography,old
delhi aligned
wait.
travel
photography,bombay
to
ho
feetin'
at
yesterday's
I
arab.
rooted. travel photography,calcutta
travel
shadows.
photography,singapore
travel
photography,bombay
don’t remember if it was because of that one day when I was four or five, when my appa announced on a Sunday afternoon that he’s going to take my sister and me to this “painting competition for children” in the neighbourhood or if it was the first book that I read when I was six (a story about a hen) or if the first time I saw a polaroid camera and the magic of it, or if it was the countless times my amma would take me fabric shopping with her for her saree blouses that my journey with art began. The beauty of being able to express in so many more ways
than one fascinated me and slowly, photographs, fabrics and words became my friends. The idea that people are never going to stop wearing clothes helped me realise how powerful and indispensable fashion is to mankind. But having always needed multiple platforms to express, innovate, and create, I took to writing and photography as well. And thus came the idea of fashion photojournalism, and since then there’s been no looking back. Conceptual shoots, portraiture for friends, travelogues with family - these were albums that started going up in my Mac. But to cut that long story of ambiguity and indecisiveness (like any other confused de-
signer) short, I landed up in NAFA, Singapore to pursue my undergrad in Fashion Designing. And that’s when my reality check happened. Nobody tells you how design school functions, how fashion is actually about looking not so stylish yourself and sewing all day through with the measuring tape as your accessory. But three years into this, and currently working on my final graduation collection, Shadows Unframed, I can well assure myself that THIS is what I can do, even with infinite hours in a given day. Fashion, to me, empowers and enables. Creates and recreates. Constant yet changing. b
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New York
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Spring
Miami
Break 2014
Panama City
Los Angeles
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Steps to start a boutique in your own room via CHICSHALOVE.com?
! W O H s i e r
He
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Run to your closet! Seperate your belonging in 2 piles
DONA TE
KEEP
SELL
Look through these piles again & transfer to sell if you can
hang them! Or wear them!
Snap a picture!
Fill the form
Upload! That’s IT! START SELLING NOW! ISSUE 1 | CHICSHA - THE MAGAZINE | 23
NO
BACKWARD
NOTION RACHEL BARAN PHOTOGRAPHY
THE MAGIC OF
Conceptual Photography P
by RACHEL BARAN
hotography has always been a massive part of my life, whether I noticed or not. For me, all the family trips taken in our crotchety old RV and all my birthday parties and even just simple days with friends were punctuated by clicks of disposable camera shutters,in an attempt to capture every
last moment on film. I suppose that growing up with a dad that never missed one moment of my childhood on video definitely had a big influence; like father like daughter we’re extreme hoarders of memories. Artistic or ‘conceptual’ photography wasn’t something I realized a person could actually do until I was about sixteen.
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I would look through all these amazingly surreal self portraits on Flickr by the likes of Brooke Shaden and Rosie Hardy and yearn to make the same kind of magic they did. So I began teaching myself all I could and the rest is history, as they say. When I look back at all my photos from a few years ago I definitely cringe--hell, when I look
at photos from a few months ago I still cringe. And then I feel a strong desire to mass-delete everything I’ve done until recently, but I always stop myself. Accepting the fact that nobody begins perfect (or ever really becomes ‘perfect’) at what they do is probably the most freeing feeling, and something I think one has to do if they’re
ever going to improve at all. You might feel embarrassed about what you once thought was amazing, but everything you make is a stepping stone to where you want to be-there is no backward motion. When I would get frustrated about a drawing when I was a kid my mom would always tell me “Don’t be afraid to make mis-
takes--there are no mistakes in art, only divergences from the usual.” For me, being an artist means having the will to sacrifice popularity in order to make things that you love and make you proud, and if others love it too it’s like a cherry on top. b
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HEAR A MAN’S VOICE BY PATRICK GORNY As men, we like to have control of things. I love fashion and styling clothing because its one of the real tangible aspects in my life that I have control of. I consider myself a “late-bloomer” in terms of understanding fashion trends and dressing the part. Up until my sophomore year of college I was all about the routine Ralph Lauren polo and Abercrombie shorts. A 6-month study abroad program in Cambridge, England had the most enormous impact on my life so much so that I became obsessed with the
culture and the way men were so consistently dapper. It was not until I came back to the States and changed my major to Fashion Merchandising at IU that I knew retail was the industry I wanted to be in for the rest of my life. I have a strong belief that the clothing a person wears and how they carry themself represents their personality. You see, we judge people in the first 7 seconds of seeing them anyway, everyone does this whether you like it or not, so I think appearances are important.
It is very interesting that in both men’s and women’s fashion today, especially at universities across the United States it is almost a negative to be well dressed for classes. Websites like Collegefashionista.com and now CHICSHALOVE.com are helping to form communities of college students interested in fashion. As a male, my biggest fashion influence comes from Nick Wooster (pictured above). Nick Wooster is an idol of mine because of his impeccable taste and business savvy. He is the master
of layering clothing so much so that both men and women can learn a valuable lesson from the way he puts himself together. A classic piece brought to life by bright color exemplifies subtle brilliance and fashion forward thinking. Life is short and your going to be judged in the first 7 seconds anyways, you might as well be remembered by standing out from the crowd. My menswear blog, operated via Instagram began last year when Ibegan taking pictures of my daily outfits. b
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INSTAGRAM: @PETERFRITZ_ | PETERFRITZ-FASHION.TUMBLR.COM
PETER FRITZ
COMING UP forCHICSHA
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Magazine launch
CHIC-SWEEP Week
Spring break photo contest
Launch of Look-Shop
Launch of love-plus
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Wanna
CONTRIBUTE?
If you have a crazy or awesome idea, experience, hobby, product, style, or photography skills that you just have to show-off or bring attention to, shoot us an email at hello. chicsha@gmail.com and we will work together to get your word out there!
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Wanna
get in touch? www.facebook.com/chicshalove @chicshalove @chicshalove www.chicshalove.tumblr.com www.pinterest.com/chicshalove ISSUE 1 | CHICSHA - THE MAGAZINE | 33
CHICSHA - LOVE AGAIN THE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 1 www.chicshalove.com