Spark Magazine No. 11: Elicit

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SPARK / Spark Magazine is a student-run fashion publication at The University of Texas at Austin that aims to cultivate a creative space for individuals to develop as young professionals and to engage the community in an ongoing dialogue about the role of fashion in everyday life.

issue no. 11

ELICIT evoke or draw forth something that is latent or potential into existence.

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table of contents EMERGENCE 8 INTO THE MATRIX 16 SPOTTED RELEASE 26 INTO THE PSYCH 34 PAPER AND PLEATS 42 THE GLORY OF TACKY 50 DANDY 58 BELLBOTTOMS 66 TRANSCENDANT 74 FASHION FORWARD 82 NOIR 90 CLOSING PIECES 100 POWERPUFFED 106 COLLABORATION 114 DISEMBODY 122

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130 FEMININITY 138 COLORPOP 146 SOUTHERN BELLE 154 ‘TIL DEATH 160 FRIDA KAHLO 168 OVERDRESSING 174 REEL TO RUNWAY 180 TALES OF AESTHETIC 186 BURNING GOLD 194 OUTFIT OR OTTOMAN 202 LADIES OF THE STAGE 210 LA REGIAL 218 FASHION’S FALSITIES 226 DISTORTION 234 PUNCH-DRUNK 246 DISTANCE

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spark magazine AIDEN PARK Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor CAROLINE OTTO

Art Director MAYA HAWS-SHADDOCK Assistant Art Director MINGYO LEE Assistant Art Director REBECCA WONG Business Director SHERIDAN SCHOLTZ Financial Director MELANIE SHAW Marketing Director HARRISON XUE Assistant Marketing Director CHRISTIE HAN Event Planning Director NAKHIM SENG Event Planning Director JILLIAN WESTPHAL Communications Director JOANNE XU Social Media Director KAYLON HICKS Web Director AYU SOFYAN Web Creative Director MADDY MURRAY Online Copy Editor IDA KAMALI Online Copy Editor DANIELA PEREZ Community Outreach Director JULIA FERRARA

Creative Director CARLIE ROBERSON Assistant Creative Director NIKITA KALYANA Hair and Makeup Director AMANDA MACFARLANE Assistant Hair and Makeup Director REBEKAH HEIDEL Assistant Hair and Makeup Director SARAH STILES Model Director GABBY TAN Assistant Model Director JACQUELINE PORTENY Assistant Model Director RIJA SEENIVASAN Photographer Director ANNA DRODDY Stylist Director MEGAN SCHUETZ Assistant Stylist Director MEGAN ARIMANDA

Writing Director JADE FABELLO Writing Director ABIGAIL ROSENTHAL Assistant Writing Director CHLOE BERTRAND

STAFF Mariam Abdul-Rashid Lynette Adkins Miles Agee Lauren Aguirre Hassan Syed Ahmad Enrique Alarcon Mariam Ali Yasmeen Amro Louise Amsili Heejung An Tosin Anjorin Ami Artiz Madeleine Badinger Vivian Baier Julienne Bajusz Monica Balderas JJ Barrett Monika Barton Emme Baysden Caroline Beagles Daniel Beam Victoria Bennett Carson Blair Nicole Bolar Glenn Bozant Amber Bray Daniela Briones Sydney Bui Loeva Cagle Analisa Camacho Jenna Campbell Jackie Carter

David Carvajal Nicole Gausman Kendall Casinger Mai Geller Allyson Castillo Haoqing Geng Fernanda Castro Andrea Gomez Ernest Chan Phyllis Gong Angela Chastain Laura Gonima Ao Chen William Gonzales Alice Cheung Brandon Gorrie Rachel Cook Mattison Gotcher Cassidy Crawford Ben Graham Marley Crawford Emma Gray Sarah Culpepper Maya Halabi Amber Deaver Tiffany Hammond Christina DeConcini Ashlyn Hartfiel Maggie Deleonardis Shanell Henry Ariana Diaz Jeanette Hoelscher Austin Downey Kaylee Holland Wendy Du Natasha Hsu Ellie Dunn Joseph Hunt Rebekah Edwards Marcus Ibarra Lindsey Ehlers Victoria Jameson Rohma Ejaz Madi Janysek Kiyanna Elliott Kamryn Jefferson Jennifer Ellis Jennifer Jimenez Ivanna Sofia English Hannah Nöelle Johnson Wis Escher Alora Jones Mara Evanich Kelsey Jones Courtney Fay Urvi Joshi Gabi Feltner Zoe Judilla Hank Freeman William Kachi Lindsay Gallagher Grant Kanak Alessandra Garcia-Fuentes Isa Kauffman Isaiah Garcia Cameron Kelly Julie Garcia Christian Kenoly

Hyo Chul Kim Joann Kim Tiffany Lam Aimee Lara Keith Laue Laura Laughead Chantha Le Dalena Natalie Lee Amy Lim Chie-Hsi Jasmy Liu Alisa Lu Niti Majethia Ty Marsh Naomi Martinez Leonor Martins Ethan Masucol Alison McLean Isabella McWhorter Ajà Miller Genevieve Miller Paige Miller Meghan Mollicone Estefania Monarrez Cierra Morrisey Kate Mulligan Kaci Nguyen Shayla Nguyen Sarah O’Malley Graham Daniel Oddsson Ellen Okamura Allison Olmedo Della Orr-Harter Prerna Pamar Charlotte Pan

Elianna Panakis Sabrina Peña Melina Perez Katherine Perks Elena Petropoulos Cameron Polonet Harrison Porter Gareen Puglia Shroothi Ramesh Bianca Ramirez Cruz Rendon Adriana Rezal Tatiana Roberts Caitlin Rounds Jamie Roy Malvika Saklani Helena Sampayo Adrianna San Roman Sophia Santos Madeline Schell Tanvi Sehgal Susy Seo Ana Sierra Noelle Simon Justin Smith Lauren Smith Taylor Stiff Kaitlin Street Anna Strother Alison Stutzmann Myah Taylor Alejandra Terrones Tiffany Tong Adriana Torres

Viviana Torres Sandra Tsang Patricia Valderrama Isaiah Valle Quiñones Alexandra Varkarotas Benjamin Vega Aanchal Vohra Sam Waguespack Samantha Walker Esther Wang Izellah Wang Kristine Wang Sidi Wang Susanna Wang Kenneth Wei Madeline Wells Ella Whitaker Kalissa White Lily Wickstrom Cat Wilson Kayleigh Wilson Tiana Woodard Mijolae Wright Andrea Xie Karen Xie Jessie Yin Cameron Young Travis Young Zac Young Alma Zamora Jessie Zaruma David Zulli

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letter from the editor While my tenure as Spark Magazine’s editor-in-chief draws to a close, I often find myself reflecting on the seven semesters I have been a part of this publication. Although I first joined Spark because of the unique creative outlet it provided, I have come to realize what sustains my passion for Spark is this organization’s unrivaled ability to educate students on topics not readily available in the classroom. Whether it be modeling, hair and makeup design, layout art or even social media, members gain an extraordinary level of insight into the fashion publication industry that has so enchanted our collective consciousness.

As evidenced through Spark’s 11 departments, this magazine fills a niche in the University of Texas and Austin community that few other publications can. As we like to say, there’s a position in Spark for nearly everybody who’s even remotely interested in fashion. Each semester, writers pitch a topic they wish to pursue.

From there, a creative team consisting of hair and makeup artists, models, photographers and stylists adapt the writer’s pitch into a photoshoot. Upon the completion of the shoot, each photo is sent to a team of layout artists who then construct the physical magazine.

Concurrently, our ever-expanding communication and business departments work to ensure Spark’s voice is made apparent throughout the Austin community. Our team of online contributors continually produce content for our web platform, Spark Online. These contributors collaborate with our digital graphics team to create visuals that accompany each online article. Then, our team of social media staffers work to promote both our online and physical publication. At the same time, our marketing staffers partner with local businesses on sponsorships. Lastly, our event coordinating team plans and executes socials and Spark’s bi-annual Release Party so that we may aptly celebrate the fruits of everyone’s labor.

Spark Magazine is an extensive operation. I want to thank all 230 members of this organization for your endless hard work and overwhelming genius. This is truly a collective effort, and I am honored to have been a part of this project. Issue No. 11’s improvement from the last is demonstrative of the continually increasing talent Spark cultivates. I am excited to see what this magazine does next, and I will continue to champion the student work that transcends expectations each and every new semester.

Enjoy dear readers,

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EMERGENCE 8

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Writer Jessie Yin, Stylists Rebekah Heidel, Megan Schuetz, Photographer David Zulli, Models Amber Deaver, Phyllis Gong, Jacqueline Porteny, HMUA Rebekah Heidel, Amanda MacFarlane, Layout Rebecca Wong

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the wind lifts veils from storm-born eyes. the sunrise caught on her left side. what can she be if not a light? i call her love and say goodbye.

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INTO INTO

THE THE

MATRIX MATRIX the future has never looked so real, yet so familiar Writer Cruz Rendon, Stylist Megan Arimanda, Photographer Marcus Ibarra, Models Glenn Bozant, Lindsey Ehlers, HMUA Cameron Polonet, Layout Mingyo Lee

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G

eneration Z is finally reaching adulthood.

These digital natives grew up with access to the internet and have lived through rapid technological innovation.

The rise of social media has allowed for this generation to find comfort and fear through the matrix of their online profiles.

The late ‘90s and early 2000s marked another period of advanced technology. Maybe too advanced for humans to handle. People depended on computers in their everyday lives. The Millennium Bug had some thinking that the world would end at midnight as we reached the turn of the century. The bug would cause computers to malfunction, energy would cease to exist, and it would be the end of the world as we knew it.

By Dec. 31, 1999, The U.S. and Russia had joined forces to explore space. It was this same day that Vladimir Putin was elected president of Russia sparking continuous conflict with President Bill Clinton and later President George W. Bush over nuclear weapons, missile policies and involvement in the Middle East.

At the time, media exaggerated the use of

technology. Movies such as “The Matrix,” “Men in Black” and “The Fifth Element” explored futuristic themes involving technology.

“Men in Black” featured advanced technology used to combat aliens from outer space.

“The Fifth Element” mentioned the end of the world while showcasing flying cars and humans coexisting with aliens. “The Matrix” had people living in a simulated world filled with cybercriminals. The stylized cinematography paired with the characters’ outfits made “The Matrix” iconic. The characters wear black trench coats, tiny black sunglasses and a lot of latex, similar to what we see today. Art was imitating life.

Another example was ‘90s boy bands and girl groups. These musical acts fed into the futuristic, y2k aesthetics.

The future was inescapable.

Blaque released the music video for “Bring It All to Me” in 1999 featuring JC Chasez from *nsync. It featured the girls in metallic blue eye makeup, powered with blue energy and sucked into a simulated world resembling a Pandora’s Box. The *nsync boys soon followed into the simulation. All of their outfits were made of reflective material and paired with platform shoes and boots. ►

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SPICE

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That same year, TLC’s “No Scrubs” video was set in a clinical environment resembling a spaceship. It included animated cameras and robotic choreography. One of their outfits was metallic and resembled an astronaut suit made of aluminum. Another was all black, robotic and had red lights attached.

The makeup in the video included bold eye colors and metallic, glossy lips, and the girls wore platform and thick-soled shoes.

In 1997, the Spice Girls released a music video for their song “Say You’ll Be There.”

The girls are wearing latex and platform shoes. They are wearing metallic eye makeup and possess otherworldly superpowers. That same year, the Spice Girls released a “Blade Runner”-inspired music video for “Spice Up Your Life.” The video shows a dystopian world dominated by the Spice Girls. The girls fly into Times Square on a spaceship and explore a dark New York City on hoverboards.

The Spice Girls are known for their eccentric style. Their feminist power anthems reflect current movements. In the age of #MeToo and a new age of sexual liberation, women are at the forefront.

The Spice Girls popularized athleisure.

Nowadays, athleisure has joined couture on the runway. Fila’s collaboration with Fendi is an example. The Spice Girls wore platform shoes. Platform shoes have become a statement piece. Nike has collaborated with Comme des Garçons to produce a platform Nike Cortez sneaker. Balenciaga has made platform Crocs. Buffalo London shoes were a staple piece of the Spice Girls that have made a comeback through their collaboration with Opening Ceremony.

Before Balenciaga released their chunky shoes, Sporty Spice made the dad shoes her go-to sneakers.

Today, social media is running us. We have become living advertisements for products popularized in the ‘90s. We live in a simulated world through our Instagram profiles.

Technology continues to develop at a rapid rate. An example is virtual and augmented reality. We are one step closer to creating an actual simulation. ►

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The internet and social media have made it easier for us to share our ideas and opinions.

We have become more social yet isolated.

Newsworthy information has become more accessible with the average person spending over five years of their life on social media. It is easy to find news articles on our timeline while scrolling. We see news that eerily reminisces the late ‘90s.

There’s turmoil in our political climate. The polls prior to the election of 2016 called for our first female president. Many were surprised to find that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote to Donald Trump.

Shortly after the election, headlines emerged of possible election hacking from Russia. Russians were using social media to sway Americans to take sides. Republicans have become more conservative and Democrats liberal. A nation is divided. While Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin, America was threatened to be attacked by North Korean missiles. And we continue to try and escape our reality.

Memes have become a coping mechanism for those that cannot express their fears. Memes are a revival of the Dada art form that was popular in the 1920s as an anti-war, anticapitalist movement that rejected the modern age. It was popular during a time of great economic success right before The Great Depression. The early 2000s and George W. Bush’s presidency ended in a recession. History repeated itself. Memes have become nonsensical humor that, like Dadaism, are rejecting the embrace of serious matters. An example

was the Ted Cruz Zodiac Killer memes that filled the internet while the election was coming around. This is happening while two-thirds of U.S. business economists believe that another recession will begin before 2021 if trade policies are not straightened out through our international relations.

Art continues to imitate life. The current season of “American Horror Story” is centered around an apocalypse due to a missile attack.

“The Purge” represents a dystopian America.

“Black Mirror” describes a future where a rating defines our social status through an app or our dna is uploaded into a simulation. We continue to fear technology and the future.

We have lost the Nokia phone, but everyone is sucked into their iPhones. 23andMe has already collected our dna. Platform shoes have re-emerged along with tiny sunglasses seen in The Matrix. Cybergoths have taken up latex like the Spice Girls. Space goths wear holographic and reflective clothing.

Oxford philosopher and futurologist Nick Bostrom has stated that if humans ever reach the technological advancement of creating a simulated world, it is more likely that we are currently living in a simulation than not.

Fashion is reflecting current events. The 90s have made a comeback and have gone viral through social media. Animated Instagram models, like Lil Miquela, are the future. How much longer until we become cgis ourselves?

We have entered the matrix. ■

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SPOTTED 草間 RELEASE 彌生 の芸術

Writer Adriana Rezal, Stylists Susy Seo, Rebecca Wong, Photographer Nicole Bolar, Models Hyo Chul Kim, Gabby Tan, HMUA Tiffany Tong, Layout Rebecca Wong

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A

black canvas towering at over 6 feet explodes with what looks like millions of tiny white circles. Large, goofy-looking ceramic pumpkins adorned with red and white spots spread themselves sporadically on the gallery floor. An abstract film plays in the background, while an old Japanese woman in a bright red wig recites ominous phrases directly into the camera.

I experienced these strange yet compelling art pieces in artist Yayoi Kusama’s “Life is the Heart of a Rainbow” exhibit in the Singapore National Gallery last year. Known for her explosions of polka dots, playful colors and surprisingly existential themes, Kusama’s art is recognized around the world. For the artist herself, creating art is a coping mechanism that frees her from the psychological constraints of mental illness.

Through repetitive patterns and intricate displays, Kusama’s art allows the viewers to experience a form of that liberation by enticing heightened senses for those who step into her art.

Born to a farming family in rural Matsumoto, Japan, Kusama’s early affinity for art was not supported at home. Despite this, the young artist learned to use her art as a way to cope with early signs of neurosis.

Kusama began to experience vivid hallucinations at age 7 and turned to art to help cope with the experience. Hallucinations of talking pumpkins and a world covered in spots caused Kusama to use art as a mechanism to cope.

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“Whenever (hallucinations) like this happened, I would hurry back home and draw what I had just seen in my sketchbook,” Kusama said. “Recording them helped to ease the shock and fear of the episodes. That is the origin of my pictures.”

The artist eventually escaped this environment in the 1960s when she fled her home country to pursue her dream of becoming a famous artist in New York City.

Once she arrived, Kusama’s struggle to gain notoriety created an extremely stressful environment that worsened symptoms of neurosis. She dedicated all of her energy, resources and money to art, causing extreme psychological and emotional stress. In New York, Kusama lived in poverty, sleeping on a door for a bed and eating meals foraged from dumpsters.

During this time, Kusama’s fierce dedication to her art resulted in her first iconic pattern, the Infinity Nets. Often times immense works -- sometimes over 30 feet of canvas -- Kusama painted small, connecting strokes that created tiny empty holes, akin to a fishnet. The sheer immensity and scale of these works finally garnered the attention Kusama yearned for in her art. Soon after arriving to the United States in 1959, Kusama produced “No. F,” a well-known piece from her Infinity Net series.

Oil on canvas, the work demonstrated large scales of repetition in the form of small, repetitive strokes that created a net-like image. For Kusama, the methodical strokes provided release from psychological strain she was experiencing, but also allowed the viewer to immerse herself in a peaceful, monotonous pattern that almost pulsated on the canvas. ►

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自 分 を 忘 れ て 。 永 遠 に 一 つ に な り な さ い 。 あ な た の 環 境 の 一 部 に な れ ま す。

Kusama’s love for patterns and repetition would turn out to be a constant theme in later works, such as her obsession with polka dots. In Kusama’s 1967 creative film titled “Kusama’s Self-Obliteration,” clips of the artist show her wearing polka dotted, one-piece costumes and painting spots on canvases, trees and nude bodies. For the selfproclaimed “High Priestess of Polka Dots,” the small round markings serve to “obliterate” confines of space, social restrictions and psychological obstacles.

“I paint polka dots on the bodies of people, and with those polka dots, the people will self-obliterate and return to the nature of the universe,” Kusama said.

Kusama also experimented with other mediums such as sculpture, photography and even fashion. In 1965, Kusama showcased “Phalli’s Field,” an installation that consisted of cloth-made, phallic-shaped soft sculptures painted with red dots. Placed in a mirrored room that created infinite reflections, the installation gave the illusion of an endless field of the spotted shapes. Kusama also participated in social discussions through staged public demonstrations that promoted antiwar messages and other social issues. In her 1969 “Grand Orgy to Awaken the Dead,” Kusama painted dots on performers’ nude bodies and photographed them in the New York Museum of Modern Art. In her later years, Kusama also collaborated with world renowned fashion icons like Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton.

Kusama has been described as being impeccably able to manage her mental illness through her art. A history of neurosis, schizophrenic tendencies and acute anxieties caused Kusama to check herself into a mental institution in Tokyo four years after returning to Japan in 1973. Since then, the now 89-year-old Kusama commutes to a studio every day and creates art on a strict 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. work schedule. Even in her old age, Kusama relies on the creation of art and rigid repetition as a form of therapy and a necessary means of survival.

“I fight pain, anxiety and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieves my illness is to keep creating art,” Kusama said in her autobiography.

In today’s information age, Kusama’s art perpetuates an infinite nature as her legacy is immortalized on the internet. People’s desire to share on social media allows for Kusama’s eye-catching work to spread easily. Although some might not know her by name, many can recognize Kusama’s iconic polka dots or pumpkins just from internet exposure. Celebrities like Katy Perry and Adele have already shared Kusama’s art on their own social medias. Despite being older and in a mental institution, Kusama’s dedication to creating art will cause her to remain relevant even after she is gone. Kusama’s ability to create sublime works that surround the viewer in a liberating experience will continue to attract audiences for generations to come. ■

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Writer Andrea Gomez, Stylist Isaiah Garcia, Photographer Marcus Ibarra, Model Carlie Roberson, HMUA Rachel Cook, Layout Adrianna San Roman

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T

he year is 1969, and hypnotized eyes are flooded with an array of colors. Eardrums gently float to an exotic background rhythm brought forth from distant synthesizers and theremins. Present is irrevocable synaesthesia that brings awe and wonder to those who listen and dance to the sound of psychedelia. Yet, it was not their aura alone that informed the passerby of their state of trance, but rather a combination of deep emotion and vibrant fabrics that clothed their senses of self.

Nearly 50 years later, the influence of music on our expressions of identity persists through fashion. Moreover, the very music that birthed the consciousness of the mind, spirit and their respective roles in an environment in flux has reemerged into the scene creating a new wave of psychedelic culture that exceeds the confines of a festival, such as Woodstock, and settles itself in the inner core of our being, and consequently, in our style.

One of the most popular renditions of the 1970s surreal psychedelic music lies in the workings of the psychedelic shaman himself, Kevin Parker,

lead singer, instrumentalist and composer of the hallucinatory images and sounds evoked by his band, Tame Impala. Formed in 2007, Tame Impala embodies the multi-dimensional currents first presented in the age of Woodstock, that which drew in a mass of thousands. This mass, however, was anything but irregular. Rather, it was a timeless movement characterized by a uniform awareness of the self, hunger for freedom, and a desire to express these values.

The crowds had long ditched the fit waistlines prominent just 10 years earlier and gradually moved towards the flare fit and alternation between earthy tones and primary colors embodied in the psychedelic age. What’s most striking of the flowy trends is their reflection of the emotions shared by those who connected to the music. The bell-shaped sleeves and the wide-legged pants allowed for easy going movement that mimicked the wind and its boundless liberty, a theme present among listeners. Similarly, the cultural sensation at the time, lsd, and its hallucinogenic properties inspired the provocative patterns of the wardrobe as a result of people seeking to enlighten their minds. ►

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These eccentric masses, though promptly shut down after the three days of love and music by protestors who firmly disapproved of the psychedelic drug culture, still remain a point of interest for the fashion and music industries alike as they begun to reemerge in new forms, especially in artists like Tame Impala.

Tame Impala extended the psychedelic culture and challenged the idea that clothing is the only manifestation of fashion. Parker, the mastermind behind the group, arranges their concerts as a strong medium to convey the psychedelic motifs by utilizing light shows as an extension of their music. This allowed them to bring to life the hallucinogenic images that used to only be created through taking lsd as a stimulant. These conscious-expanding projections of color then arose the ability to illuminate the band’s typical dark clothing and reflect the original psychedelic image common in the seventies. In this creative manner, Tame Impala presented psychedelic fashion in a new light — both figuratively and literally.

In an interview with New Music Express in 2015, Parker describes his desire to represent psychedelia for what it truly is.

“Psychedelia is a sensation,” he said. “It’s when you transport people; where you feel like you’re outside your own skin.”

Through Tame Impala, Parker did just that. Using his instrumentals and light shows as a facilitator to convey the emotions of existentialism, he and his band created a kaleidoscopic presentation of psychedelic art that extends through their albums and style.

Tame Impala has not only reshaped the way psychedelia manifests itself through music, but also the flexibility in which it can be portrayed as a style. This new phenomena of psychedelia has not only surfaced in the music industry. Designers like Johnson Hartig aim to convey the themes of psychedelia in the runways, such as in Hartig’s spring collection presented at New York Fashion Week 2018, where the vibrant colors and psychomimetic images of psychedelia are uniquely presented. Psychedelia as a movement has demonstrated to be malleable and infinitely expansive, from music to fashion, yet it still remains true to its core. In itself, it is a fabric which manifests itself in a multiplicity of colors to evoke the timeless values of freedom and individuality beyond the realm of reality. ■

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PAPER AND PLEATS Writer Alexandra Varkarotas, Stylists Lauren Aguirre, Monika Barton, Photographer Vivian Baier, Models Lynette Adkins, Kamryn Jefferson, Susanna Wang, HMUA Rebekah Heidel, Ella Whitaker, Layout Jennifer Jimenez

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DRESSES BY MEGAN PINTO

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ORIGAMI AND PAPER HAVE PERMEATED THE FASHION WORLD, INSPIRING MANY DESIGNERS TO USE INTRICATE FOLDS AND GEOMETRIC SHAPES IN THEIR CREATIONS.

T

he year is 1966, and your go-go boots reflect in retreating rain puddles on the streets of Manhattan as you walk toward your favorite magazine stand to pick up the latest issue of Life. The morning fog begins to dissipate as the last of the April showers ends. And thank goodness, because you just flipped to the page showcasing a brunette model wearing a blackand-white optical art paper dress designed by the Scott Paper Company, and you most certainly want one.

Known for manufacturing toilet paper, napkins and paper towels, the Scott Paper Company strategically decided to create paper dresses and sell them to consumers as a way to promote the addition of colored paper goods to the company’s assortment of products. Made out of cellulose fiber reinforced with rayon, these Space Age dresses showed the fashion world the possibility of using paper as a medium. Around the same time, Lillian Oppenheimer, a New York homemaker, introduced Americans to their newest obsession: origami. The art of paper folding, said to have originated in Japan in the sixth century when Buddhist monks introduced paper from China, saw its emergence in religious and ceremonial settings. Used to symbolize purity in religious ceremonies and to garnish sake bottles at weddings, origami soon became a worldwide recreational activity.

Classified by modular silhouettes, geometric shapes and both simple and intricate folds,

origami has become a key inspiration point for several brands and designers.

Paris Fashion Week 2011 witnessed a truly stunning moment when Issey Miyake showed the attendees how origami pieces made out of paper could be transformed into wearable fabric ensembles. As five models dressed in black walked on the runway, origami creators stood up and adorned these models with paper outfits, including a paper jacket and a skirt. This homage to origami was followed by another group of five models wearing designs that explored draping and folds, creating geometric shapes that resembled the paper structures placed on the previous five models. The grey color palette of the second set of models alluded to the white paper and black fabric seen at the beginning of the show. The runway show proved to the world that origami and paper in fashion can provide for intriguing shapes and silhouettes.

Local fashion designer Megan Pinto agrees.

Four years ago, she started constructing paper outfits after realizing that paper makes for unique fashionable creations. Describing the process of crafting her paper mâché dresses as a “form of art,” Pinto discusses how her designs are inspired by nature, much like origami. She emphasizes that paper can be folded and molded into any desirable form, such as flower petals, making the process of creating paper dresses fun and limitless. Differing from other paper ►

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fashion designers, Pinto uses old book pages as her preferred type of paper due to their innate thickness, which makes her structural creations sturdy enough to retain their shapes as models wear them down the runway.

High fashion isn’t the only realm where paper folding has contributed to the design and form of outfits. Origami-inspired fashion permeated pop cultured back in 2008, when Lady Gaga’s career started to take off. The Haus of Gaga, Mother Monster’s creative team that specializes in creating her costumes, fabricated one of the most iconic Gaga looks: the crystal dress. Throughout the year, she debuted several crystal dresses, adorned with headpieces representing crystal stalagmites.

The simple silhouette of the dress allowed for the attached geometric crystal structures, which were undeniably inspired by origami, to stand out.

Beyond the runway and pop culture, everyday wear oozes with inspiration from origami.

Just take a look at pleated pieces of clothing.

The pleated skirt, a staple in many teenage girls’ closets, mirror the crisp folds found in many origami structures. Where a fold is the basic step in traditional origami, the pleat is the basic building block upon which skirts and tops alike have evolved. The pleat has been around for ages, but recently Petit Pli, a

London-based company, folded the pleat into the 21st century. Understanding the consequences of fast fashion, founder Ryan Mario Yasin designs pleated outfits that grow with children in the first two years of their lives.

The thought of constantly purchasing new clothes for growing children is daunting but is eased by Petit Pli’s offerings. This origamiinspired clothing line may just be the spark needed to propel consumers to think about their purchasing behaviors and to help reduce fast fashion waste.

The year is now 2018, and your pleated mini-skirt reminiscent of the ‘90s bounces as your high-tops clash with the blacktop of Austin’s eclectic streets, the neon lights of South Congress mixing with the blue light emanating from your iPhone screen as you scroll through Instagram consuming the latest fashion trends. You come upon a video on German fashion designer Jule Waibel’s account that shows her sculpting paper into one of her signature geometric dresses, a more complex design than those paper dresses of the 1960s. It’s fascinating to watch how the paper is manipulated into a wearable piece of art that evokes Space Age memories, and how she can create the same looks with fabric.

One paper pleat in, and you know that you are simultaneously watching the past and the future of fashion unfold. ■

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HIGH AND LOW FASHION ARE MEETING IN THE MIDDLE TO CREATE A NEW WAVE OF TACKY STYLE.

Writer Sarah Culpepper, Stylist Rebecca Wong, Photographer Maggie Deleonardis, Models Madi Janysek, Christian Kenoly, HMUA Rebekah Heidel, Layout Ellen Okamura

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I

mitations of granddads stroll down the streets of Austin, yet wearing these reincarnated wardrobes are shockingly fresh-faced youth. Outside of the common sphere of apparel, the bold, clashing, daring patterns of high fashion are emerging, presenting an atypical intrigue of style.

The definition of “beauty” is clearly ever-evolving. Picturesque, objectively pleasing and delicate pieces no longer are enough to appease the critical editorial eye. In this convergence of high and low fashion seems to be a new definition of beauty, and the ugly-pretty, tacky style is reigning in full glory.

The idea of unusual beauty playing a central role to fashion is not new. Each year, we expect to see something avant garde, exciting and adventurous from each designer. What we crave from style is exhilarating and curious. The models walking down the runway are not the typical “American sweetheart” — they are much more diverse in their beauty. The clothes they are

showcasing are representative of that ugly-pretty aesthetic as well. We want what we do not know or do not understand. We want to see plaid dress coats with boho sequin skirts and leopard print boots, as seen by Ralph Lauren this year at New York Fashion Week.

Ralph Lauren, the defining designer of my grandma’s closet, is no longer complacently traditional. The days of put-together, comfortable and convenient will no longer suffice. This year, there is a strong mixture of contradicting elements. Boxy, square materials are matched with flowy, delicate pieces.

Sparkle is added to demure. Instead of deciding on one streamlined look, designers are smashing beauty together into looks erupting with intrigue, creating a fantastic style of elegance merging from clunkiness.

And now we arrive at what it means to be tacky. For women, this has long meant being loud, obnoxious or obscene. The ideal is much more soft and simple without taking any risks. ►

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There is a constraint, a withholding from daring. Imagining an oversized leopard print coat with neon heels and a sparkly dress just seems like too much. But who decides? To me, the horror of tackiness is being replaced instead with acceptance.

Let us be gaudy and grungy, and let us do it at the same time. We can be loud and everything all at once in our style.

Following this trend, young adults are putting together outfits that closely resemble the inside of an old man’s closet. What once was not style has become the ideal.

Oversized golf polos, white supportive tennis shoes, wire rimmed glasses and white tube socks seemingly plague the streets.

This could be resulting from the supply available to them. Young people are shopping more and more at thrift stores, choosing fiscal responsibility over name brands.

And yet, there is a certain creativity emerging from that limited variety. This generation has created a new statement with the old and discarded. There is a certain

nostalgic beauty of wearing an outfit that has not been attempted since the ‘80s.

There is a strange elevated comfort of exchanging a T-shirt for a polo. But what really is at the center of this is the desire to break from the status quo. The normal fashion standards of beauty are over. Why shouldn’t we decide for ourselves what is cute? The tackiness of clothing is descriptive of the theme of independence, yet quirkiness. Bold, but with ease. The fanny pack that has gone from convenient to stylish screams a relaxed confidence.

Put-together perfect is over, and casual, unusual style is here.

In this blend of old and new, high and low fashion, raw and refined, tackiness is in the spotlight. Authentic, nostalgic and futuristic all collide. The mixture of every style all at once on the runway exemplifies itself in the everyday life of disregard for typical standards. Tackiness is a comfortability, a second glance, whatever you want it to be, bold and free. ■

THE DAYS OF PUT-TOGETHER, COMFORTABLE AND CONVENIENT WILL NO LONGER SUFFICE.

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Dandy.

Writer Rebekah Edwards, Stylists Nikita Kalyana, Travis Young, Photographer Harrison Xue, Models Jade Fabello, Hyo Chul Kim, Justin Smith, HMUA Alessandra Garcia-Fuentes, Tiffany Tong, Layout Ami Artiz

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The dandy – suit-wearing, aloof, irresistable – began with Oscar Wilde, but the likes of David Beckham have brought the Victorian fashion into the modern era.

D

avid Beckham walking a red carpet is impossible to ignore. Between his sharp attire, his immaculate grooming and his piercing gaze, Beckham oozes a cool charisma. A single word encompasses every characteristic that makes Beckham such an irresistible presence: “dandy.” As Beckham proves, a dandy is more than just a man wearing a bespoke suit with a perfectly tied tie, a polished cane or a colorful boutonnière. While what the dandy wears is vital, how he wears it is even more important. Anyone can wear a suit. But to be a dandy, one must exude so much confidence that the suit becomes like a second skin. He must look good, but he cannot appear as if he is trying too hard. Simultaneously aloof and alluring, he transforms from just a man in nice clothes into a true elegant gentleman.

Dandyism first appeared in 19th century France and Britain and, according to poet and dandy Charles Baudelaire, it represented a new type of aristocracy comprised of the rich and idle.

In other words, dandies appeared aristocratic without actually being aristocrats. During this time, men who were classified as dandies had the means to do nothing else in life except dress well and circulate within high society.

Undoubtedly, the most famous and recognizable dandy from this era was poet and playwright Oscar Wilde. Known for his bold fashion choices and his witticisms just as much as for his literary and theatrical works, Wilde strategically used dandyism to further his own fame. As he paired velvet suit jackets and green boutonnières with his sparkling conversational talent, Wilde’s aesthetic display of luxury and charismatic persona allowed him to embody the dandy ideal. His 1882 photoshoot with American photographer Napoleon Sarony is his ultimate dandiacal moment. In one photograph, he wears silk stockings and breeches with slippers while lounging on a carpet-covered divan, languidly resting his head on his hand. In another, he matches a fur-trimmed cape with a cane and a statement ring as he stares penetratingly at the camera. His fashion choices bolstered his image as a man-about-town and continue to captivate centuries later.

Wilde has had a noticeable and lasting impact on the various manifestations of dandyism that followed. The appeal of a magnetic personality donning an immaculate suit with an individualized edge persisted throughout the Golden Age of Hollywood. Film stars like Cary Grant and ►

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Frank Sinatra borrowed from historical dandies like Wilde in order to establish their own positions as models of class and sophistication. More recently, the so-called “metrosexual” fashion movement, beginning in the mid1990s, has propelled dandyism in the modern era. As the global popularity of expertly tailored, European menswear skyrocketed, a group of men emerged within the fashion world defined by their vested interest in style, urbanity and taste.

With the prevalence of fashionable figures in media today, it might seem as if a dandy is present every time a man in a suit walks the red carpet. However, some men in particular exemplify the traits that Wilde initially made famous. David Beckham is a prime example. As a retired British footballer, Beckham currently models, acts as a spokesman for a variety of different companies and is married to singer-turned-designer Victoria Beckham. In other words, his primary job now is to look good and charm the masses, tasks at which he indelibly succeeds. Take, for instance, his appearance at the 2014 Met Gala, where he wore a perfectly fitted, white Ralph Lauren suit jacket with a black bow tie and pants. A printed pocket handkerchief, slicked-back hair, a smirk and a slightly raised eyebrow completed his dandiacal ensemble. Not only did he look the part, he exuded the coolness and confident unapproachability that defines the dandy.

No one epitomizes suaveness more than James Bond, whose alluring indifference triggers an overwhelming obsession in every onlooker he meets. Of all the James Bonds who have graced the silver screen over the last half-century, Daniel Craig’s portrayal exhibits this phenomenon the best. His quintessential black suit, bow tie and expensive watch are the tell-tale

signs of the elegant gentleman, but Craig’s aloof, remote, and still irresistibly attractive exterior is really what qualifies him as a dandy above any other filmic iteration of James Bond.

Another man who typifies the dandy is Jude Law. Mainly known for his professional talent, his charming personality, and his good looks, Law has also been a fashion icon throughout his career. Adopting a classic, streamlined style, Law frequently adds interest to his outfits with double-breasted waistcoats, which he wore to the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and to the premiere of the film “Anna Karenina” in the same year. Both instances recall Wilde’s era when waistcoats were an integral part of a Victorian man’s wardrobe, marking the wearer as a true arbiter of fashion. Law’s Victorian-modern hybrid aesthetic was on full display as Dr. Watson in Guy Ritchie’s 2009 stylized adaptation of “Sherlock Holmes.” His clothing ensemble consisted of the obligatory full suit paired with an artfully lopsided top hat, shiny leather gloves and a sleek cane. His calm and slightly arrogant demeanor, apparent from his elevated eyebrow and haughty gaze seen on the film’s poster, transformed Watson from simply Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick into a handsome dandy.

David Beckham, Daniel Craig and Jude Law are only a few of the many modern men who have used dandiacal traits to enhance their own style. Dashing suits, ties and bold pocket squares are not merely tools to just look good; they communicate a dandy’s dedication to a lifestyle of elegance, culture and finesse. In the world of men’s fashion, Oscar Wilde’s legacy is clearly alive and well in the 21st century. The archetype of the elegant gentleman has never faded, showing that the appeal of the dandy is truly timeless. ■

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Writer Laura Laughead, Stylists Heejung An, Susy Seo, Photographer Paige Miller, Models Victoria Jameson, Cameron Polonet, Kristine Wang, HMUA Shanell Henry, Alison McLean, Layout Kaci Nguyen

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Richard Linklater’s “Dazed and Confused” is the quintessential coming-of-age comedy. From bell bottoms to bongs and macrame to Matthew McConaughey, fashion plays a surprisingly large role in this “alright, alright, alright” cult classic.

M

atthew McConaughey, wielding a half-empty beer, a pornstache and a grin, stares at a freshman girl that walks by him. He’s leaning his weight on his right leg against a technicolor wall in a casual contrapposto that would make Michelangelo do a double take. He’s wearing salmon-shaded pants so snug they must have been vacuum-sealed. As his eyes follow the freshman off screen, he announces the wisdom that epitomizes his character’s mentality:

“That’s what I love about these high school girls, man.

I keep getting older, they stay the same age.”

This is the iconic image of Richard Linklater’s 1993 comedy “Dazed and Confused” set in the 1970s. From memes to Halloween costumes to his universal “Alright, Alright, Alright” catchphrase, this lovably lecherous character named David Wooderson launched McConaughey’s career and helped make this coming-of-age film a generationally transcendent classic. It’s probably the first vision that jumps into the minds of anyone post Generation X when thinking of the 70s.

Closely cut crop tops, mood rings, macrame — and unsettlingly styled facial hair — these trends are all emblems of the decade, and no film better showcases the impact this fashion era had on American youth and generations to come. It’s the

most put-together pot comedy of all time. Stoner never looked so good.

The warring teenage tribes at the helm of this high school film are defined by what they wear.

With tight, high-waisted jeans, peasant blouses, leather vests and tube tops, each of the female characters could be the muse of the classic rock bands whose songs score the soundtrack. Linklater actually stole the movie title from the Led Zeppelin song of the same name.

The “geeks” of the movie don big hair and big glasses to match their self-proclaimed bigger than life intellects. They provide the only voice of reason (and criticism) in this seemingly too good to be true teenage utopia bathed in a vapor cloud.

However, their quest to be different just makes them all the more similar. Their fashion choices belie their motives as they subtly emulate their higher ups on the food chain. The fitted jeans, the plaid and the bright colored stripes are just status quo enough to make one wonder whether their intellectual disdain isn’t really just envy. They’ll play bystander and throw around “Neo-McCarthyism” all they want, but they still just want “to dance” and drink at the party.

The “cool” kids, including the aforementioned McConaughey, sport the most realistic looks.

They’re comfortable yet casual in their layers and skinny jeans and fitted T-shirts and long, unkempt hair. It’s “stoner chic ” and effortlessly iconic — but that would be the case no matter what they wore. ►

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DENIM SKIRT | Monkies Vintage & Thrift

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Our hero, Randall or “Pink” Floyd, a cross between a pseudo rebel and a jock, dresses in the most complex fashion of the film. He transcends cliques, and his wardrobe reflects his flexibility. Pink wears jeans and ratty T-shirts, but he also wears deep V-necks and flared pastel shirts crowned by a puka shell necklace. Unlike his stoner peers, he can’t decide which aesthetic to sport just as he can’t decide to sign his football coach’s pledge to stay sober for the summer. He’s the textbook high school chameleon. He’s sloppy, preppy, sporty and sad all at once. And he lives in that awkward middle ground between teen idol and sex symbol. He’s not quite the boy next door.

He’s more like the boy down the street who cleans up well for dinner with your parents but will smoke with you in the bed of his pickup afterwards.

The film lacks a driving plot as our hero and his friends spend a majority of their night cruising in cars. As weed wafts between dialogue, the characters exhibit a shocking sense of self-awareness.

They know they’re the middle children of history, still in the throes of the ‘60s revolutions but not yet in the “radical” ‘80s. They narrowly escaped ‘Nam and just missed their movement but still clamor for their bigger struggle in the heat of the summer. They’re desperately in search of “some good ol’ worthwhile visceral experience.” As one character puts it, the ‘70s “obviously suck.”

Linklater who based the film on the dog days of his own high school summers took painstaking detail in grounding the dialogue and fashion in his real life. His characters are not caricatures, and they are all unified by their goal to have their last

hurrah at the end of year party. He portrayed teenagers in an unusual way: how they actually are. They’re immature kids in mature bodies who in their desperation to playact as adults, look all the more infantile. But that’s real teenage life.

The ‘70s proved to be the perfect decade to capture adolescence — not just because Linklater’s own formative years took place then but also because the decade’s uncertainty underscores the uncertainty and insecurity of adolescence. Seventies kids were emerging from the scourge of a cultural revolution, and it was up to them to further it or reverse it. Social upheaval was always on America’s mind, and its future was in the hands of kids like these, though they were just too “dazed and confused” to realize it yet.

In high school, everything is the end of the world.

Everything means infinitely more to you. In just 24 hours, your whole life could change, and a Ted Nugent T-shirt could be critical to that change.

Linklater knew that, and the whole film takes place in just one day.

As “Slow Ride” blasts from a 1970 Chevy, McConaughey unwraps his lips from a blunt and hands it to Pink in the passenger seat. They nod their heads to the bass track as they laugh and look out the window. They’re on their way to get Aerosmith tickets in Houston. School is over, their lives have begun, and they can’t wait to start living, “l-i-v-i-n,” still sucked into those same bell-bottom jeans and fitted band shirts. They might be dazed and confused, but at the end of the day, they know they’re going to be “alright, alright, alright.” ■

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YELLOW PLAID PANTS | Monkies Vintage & Thrift

“It’d be a lot cooler if you did.”

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MULTICOLORED PLAID PANTS | Monkies Vintage & Thrift BLUE BELT | Monkies Vintage & Thrift

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transcendent Writer Karen Xie, Stylists Adrianna San Roman, Isaiah Valle QuiĂąones, Photographer Carson Blair, Models Ivanna Sofia English, Urvi Joshi, HMUA Tiffany Lam, Amanda MacFarlane, Layout Sandra Tsang

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RED DRESS | Blue Elephant BRACELET | Blue Elephant GOLD NECKLACE | Blue Elephant

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mother nature: the original inspiration lives on.

I

s it a wonder that, in olden times, the sky would be looked to in times of strife?

That the origin of the constellation was to find order in this boundless world? Or that ancient civilizations would worship deities based in nature, believing in the kindred spirit of the natural world? Every tree had a life force; every breeze had a story to tell…

In looking back, we see a human civilization saturated with these influences: Ancient Egypt was watered to life by the great Nile River, and Ancient Greece’s famous epic, Homer’s “The Odyssey,” explores a recurring theme of man versus nature, in which the hero continuously battles massive storms or oceanic disasters. Even on the micro level, nature flourished: makeup used by the Egyptians came from malachite and galena, minerals of the purest form, and laurel wreaths, the symbol of victory and honor in Greece, were made of branches and leaves plucked straight from an evergreen tree, the bay laurel. From literature to architecture to fashion, nature was all there ever was.

And today? At first glance, we see a grey, industrial world, built on red plastics and the haze from smoke-

stacks. Even our fashion industry, it seems, has not been lucky enough to escape. We are quick to see fast fashion in the form of h&m or Forever 21, and cheap cosmetics produced in laboratories... all rudimentary, machine copies of this seemingly evanescent natural world. At first glance, we are but drowning in pixels and metal, chemicals and factories.

Oh, but look closer. Lean in. Do not lose hope yet. There! There it is: nature as the wisp in the willows, fluttering about; it is that little voice in the back of your mind, the whisper of a breeze on a warm summer night. It seems that nature, a transcendent force, has always been and will always remain an influence.

Shall I point it out? See it there — brilliantly highlighted in the likes of Elie Saab’s idyllic Spring 2014 Collection or Valentino’s mesmerizing Pre-Fall 2015 Collection, where blacks and swirling sparkle imitate the velvety night sky. We see it in haute couture that mimic rolling grass fields or the golden swatches of a sunset; turquoise pools, reflected in ripples and gathers of elegant silk, whisk down the runway. Just this year, we saw Rodarte stage his much-awaited return at New York ►

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GREEN SWEATER | Blue Elephant WHITE DRESS | Blue Elephant BRACELET | Blue Elephant

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Fashion Week, regaling viewers in the rain with fairytale-esque tulle and magnificent floral headpieces.

This showstopper unwittingly became the embodiment of nature’s importance, evolution, and permanence. Look closely, and we realize there is an intense admiration for a beauty that comes naturally, and so, on what seems to be the contrary end of high fashion, we also see a movement towards minimalism.

Recently, there has been a cry for transparency that boils makeup lines down to a few, recognizable ingredients or holds clothing lines accountable to sustainable practices. Brands such as Glossier or Milk boast cruelty-free products and marketing teams that thrive off of simplicity. These types of companies extol lists of ingredients that are plant-based (see Milk’s vegan Kush Brow — based on cannabis oil) or few enough to count on one’s fingers (see Mario Badescu’s Drying Lotion — 10 ingredients). In the fashion industry, there has been an emergence of sustainable fashion, exemplified by brands such as Reformation, which makes its clothing on-site and reports its own carbon footprint, and even a movement in brands such as the aforementioned

fast-fashion h&m in committing to more sustainable practices. They have launched the line: h&m Conscious, which utilizes organic textiles and recycled materials in the manufacturing of new products.

Thus, much like the idealist and philosophical movement of the nineteenth century, coined transcendentalism, where its leaders urged that each person find, in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s words, “an original relation to the universe”...there has been a return to the basics in which mass consumers seem to revel.

Here lies this odd convergent contrast revealed for all facets that nature can stand for: whether struck by the bold lights of the catwalk or gleaned through simplicity in companies, there seems to be some ethereal beauty that is so fascinating, nature must be continually embraced… and so what is next? The complete upheaval of the industrial fashion world? Organically derived products only? Or is it more of an oscillation, a wave of trends in which time is the only deciding factor? Whatever it may be, one thing we know for certain — nature will last, transcend, and forever remain essential in our ever-growing world. ■

It seems that nature, a transcendant force, has always and will always remain an influence.

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Writer Noelle Simon, Stylist Jessie Zaruma, Photographer Esther Wang, Models Keith Laue, Chantha Dalena Le, HMUA Shanell Henry, Layout Mara Evanich

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BLAZER | St. Vincent De Paul De Paul

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T

he fashion industry has always been a space of creativity, experimentation and exploration of the avant-garde. The industry’s most seasoned creators are those who push their art past what is known to be both sane or comfortable. With the human body as both the subject and vessel for these varied works, the fashion industry elicits an unparalleled level of fluidity and mobility in its art. One day creating trends, another day recycling old ones, the industry is always progressing forward towards the unexplored and unimaginable. Yet even though this unique industry thrives off the mobility of its art, the art being wearable, livable installations, high fashion pieces and wardrobes seem to carry an unwavering, culturally connotated air of impossibility for those who live busy, or active lives.

The muddled line between high fashion and its presumed functionality has been a highly experimented theme within our modern fashion world. With the advent of high-fashion streetwear, the re-popularization of sneakers and their current pervasiveness on high-end runways and a multitude of collaborations between high-end fashion houses and popular activewear brands, high fashion seems to be shining a light on its more functional and mobile side. Take luxury fashion label Off-White and their SS 2019 Paris Fashion Week show for example. Head designer

Virgil Abloh modeled his runway show around a track collaboration with the activewear brand Nike. Abloh employed professional athletes, alongside well known supermodels, to strut his designs around a track and field style runway, proving the high-function/ high-fashion duality of his new line.

Not only do modern designers exemplify a pushback against fashion’s wrongfully accused non-functionality, but entire countries do as well. When talking about fashion and its functionality, it’s impossible to ignore the biking utopia of Denmark, where nine out of 10 people own bikes. Bikes were introduced into the Danish lifestyle around 1880, and since then, the “bike has become a Dane’s best friend.” Bikes account for a quarter of all personal transportation in Denmark, and Danes will brave any weather condition to bike to work, shops or any social event they are attending.

Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital city and fashion hub, is listed by multiple sources to be the most bike-friendly city in the entire world. It would not be unusual to see a citizen of Copenhagen cycling around town in high heeled boots or a dress, solely because they have created and maintained a culture of functionality surrounding high fashion.

In fact, high functionality within design is not a new concept to any Dane. Denmark ►

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RETRO DRESS | Revival Vintage

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other Scandinavian countries have always been at the forefront of modernized functionality within design, mainly home furnishings and architecture. Famous Danish home furnishing designers modernized the world of furniture in the mid to late 20th century with an increased emphasis on “organic functionality” within their pieces. Pieces like the egg chair or “Y” chair both hark Danish origins, and played an integral role in the conceptualization of modern furniture design aesthetics internationally.

Understanding the importance of high function design to the Danish heritage is paramount, especially when discussing high functionality within the Danish wardrobe. Ditte Reffstrup, creative director for the Danish brand Ganni, says that “as Danes we were taught to appreciate beautiful aesthetics simply by being brought up surrounded by quality design,” and it shows in Copenhagen’s culture. This biking community has peddled into existence an emerging, niche fashion world which tests the preconceived notions of functionality within high fashion, now known as “cycle-chic.”

While the niche fashion world of “cyclechic” may seem like a new concept to most, it has been at play in Copenhagen for decades, proving why its citizens see no qualm in re-defining their functional limits on high fashion. Danish urban mobility expert and ceo of Copenhagenize Design Company Mikael Colville-Andersen coined term “cycle-chic” in 2007 after a photo he posted of a Danish woman biking in a skirt received widespread global attention. Andersen officially created the term with a corresponding photo blog as a means to “describe the art of riding bicycles in fashionable clothes, specifically (pertaining to) how Copenhageners have demystified the bicycle and use it without any form of bicycle “gear.” Just as the bicycle was meant to be ridden when invented.”

It is “a modern phrase to describe what has been normal for 125 years,” Andersen says. His photo blog takes inspiration from the citizens of Copenhagen on a daily basis, showing street-style photos of these like-minded individuals doing what they do best, biking. And whether it be through inclement weather or on a hot sunny day during a traffic jam, they always look fashionable and put together. ►

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Although Copenhagen’s’ “cycle-chic” perspective has been documented by a few major fashion media outlets like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, it was really Andersen’s original photo, now widely referred to as “the photo that launched a million bicycles,” which pushed this previously undiscovered biking mecca to be a global model for city sustainability.

Take Austin for example: In 2007 the Austin City Council stated that it wanted to “make Austin the leading city in the nation in the effort to reduce and reverse the negative impacts of global warming.” This statement was quoted in an Austin Chronicle article entitled “Climate, Meet Mobility,” which cites the green haven of Copenhagen as the main example and model in prominent City Council members hopes of constructing a more green Austin.

The “cycle chic” city of Copenhagen has many things to teach us about high

fashion and its functionality. Like Andersen describes his term, “a modern phrase to describe what has been normal for 125 years,” so too do we need to break down our invisible mental limitations towards the perceived non-functionality of high fashion, and instead normalize its unlimited possibilities. The busy and active citizens of Denmark don’t see their bicycles as limitations to their collective personal styles, but rather a normalized means to get from place to place in whatever they decide to wear, much like we see our cars, Ubers, etc. The conceived functional impossibility associated with high fashion is a culturally coded myth which tells us that we must limit either our stylistic, or transportive possibilities.

If we keep an open mind towards both functional transportation, and functional high fashion, using the everyday citizens of Copenhagen as our example, we too can work towards a more sustainable and fashionable future. ■

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NOIR Uncover the mysteries to one of film’s most iconic genres and discover what long lasting influences film noir has left on the medium of cinema.

Writer Zachary Young, Stylist Megan Arimanda, Photographer Emme Baysden, Models Ami Artiz, Madeline Wells, HMUA Lauren Smith, Layout Sydney Bui

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BLACK BLOUSE | Ermine Vintage

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R

ain hits the roof of a car speeding down a Los Angeles highway. The state of the driver is unknown as he swerves across lanes and runs a red light, almost crashing into a large truck. Eventually the car pulls up to an imposing city building and a tall gentleman wearing a trench coat emerges from the vehicle. The man stumbles into the entrance and makes his way to a private office, once there he removes his coat to reveal a gunshot wound to his left shoulder. He pulls a pack of cigarettes from the desk drawer and turns to a tape recorder nearby, prepared to tell his story. A large city filled with shady business dealings, cunning women and most importantly a never-ending stream of crime and criminals, are the key ingredients in one of Hollywood’s most iconic styles: film noir. This cinematic genre rose to prominence in the early ‘40s and has become a staple in popular culture ever since.

What is film noir exactly? It is a term used to describe Hollywood crime dramas which often involve themes such as cynicism, greed, lust and deceit. They make the audience uncomfortable and drag them down into dark places. Most stories in film noir revolve around anti-heroes and deal in situations where the only black and white outcome is the monochrome scenery of the film itself. These are

not movies with a soundly resolved conflicts of good versus evil and the viewer won’t leave the theatre with a smile on their face.

The general plot of most film noir involves a morally ambiguous man who gets caught up in solving a murder or tracking down a missing person. Eventually he develops a love interest with a beautiful woman associated with the case and is usually betrayed in some way.

The movie may end with the death of the protagonist, or in some instances the ending is left intentionally ambiguous. This allows the minds of the audience to fill in the holes by wandering into those dark places.

Besides an established formula when it comes to plot there are several other style elements which are present throughout the history of film noir. One iconic feature of the genre is brusque tongue-in-cheek dialogue. Not only is the writing impressive itself, but the delivery of the actors make every sentence feel like a verbal bullet. No punches are pulled when characters interact with each other, making every scene entertaining and quotable. But the most easily recognizable aspect of film noir is the cinematography. Most films are shot in high contrast on black and white film and use specific lighting to play with shadows and silhouettes on the walls of buildings and the faces of characters. ►

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DRESS | Revival Vintage

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While most film noir movies contain some, if not all, of the aforementioned stylistic elements, there are specific films that excel in particular areas. From the creation of iconic character archetypes, classic plot twists and unique storytelling structure, different films have left their own unique mark on film noir and have become timeless additions to the genre.

Many movies in film noir feature plots that make several twists and turns on their way down the rabbit hole and John Huston’s 1941 film “The Maltese Falcon” is no exception. The movie follows private investigator Sam Spade who is approached by a mysterious woman named Brigid O’Shaughnessy, inquiring if they can track down and follow a man who she suspects has taken her younger sister. On the surface this seems like a simple task for Spade and his partner Miles Archer, but the case quickly complicates itself when Archer and the man they’re tasked to trail ends up dead. O’Shaughnessy, along with the man she wrequested Spade and Archer follow, is discovered to be a former agent of a crime boss who is searching for a jeweled falcon figurine of untold value.

The original objective of most film noir protagonists changes drastically throughout the course of a single movie. In “The Maltese Falcon” O’Shaughnessy presents the case as a straightforward endeavor, but the ulterior motives of herself and her accomplices quickly come to light and the primary mystery of the

film is revealed to the audience. Plot twists aren’t the only way film noir keeps the viewer on their toes — double identities and aliases are commonplace, being used primarily to heighten the feeling of mystery surrounding certain characters.

Such is the case in the popular 1946 film, “The Killers” directed by Robert Siodmak, which follows insurance investigator Jim Reardon who attempts to find the people responsible for the murder of a mysterious loner named “The Swede.” After Reardon discovers The Swede’s real name, Ole Anderson, he uncovers the troubling story of an ex pro-boxer turned bank robber. Suffering a broken hand in the ring, Anderson is forced to turn into a criminal and catches wind of a heist being planned by crime boss “Big Jim.” Along with accomplices “Dum-Dum” and “Blinky”, Anderson successfully steals $250,000 but is double crossed, narrowly escaping with the money and his life.

Having character names shrouded in mystery from not only the protagonist, but the audience as well, creates an unpredictable and dangerous world within the film. Speaking of unpredictable and dangerous, no movie in the film noir genre is complete without some form of the femme fatale. Each film has its own version of this iconic character archetype, with different actresses injecting their own personality into the role. This kept the part from devolving into a simple caricature in the genre’s decade long life-span. ►

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One example of the femme fatale being Joan Bennett’s portrayal as a poor swindler named Kitty March in the 1945 film, “Scarlet Street.”

What sets her depiction of the archetype apart from other actresses is that she doesn’t actively try and hide her manipulative tendencies. Despite her obvious lack of finesse, she still manages to seduce and control older cashier and hobby artist, Chris Cross, forcing him to paint her toenails, pay the rent on her new apartment, and even permits his artwork be sold under her name. Despite her pushy attitude, Chris is too enamored with her physical beauty to say no and begins stealing money at his job to keep up with the increasingly expensive demands.

Kitty’s bold nature however, ends up being her downfall as she is caught by Chris embracing her boyfriend Johnny, whom she had kept hidden from him. Infuriated, Chris repeatedly stabs Kitty with an icepick and Johnny is arrested for the murder.

Despite femme fatales meeting a less than pleasant end in most classic film noir movies, the influence of the archetype and the genre as a whole has permeated popular culture throughout all mediums. Characters like Catwoman, Cersei Lannister and The Bride from “Kill Bill” all borrow elements from film noir’s femme fatale archetype and have become forever immortalized in western pop culture. Although specific

elements of the genre have enjoyed long lasting success, pure film noir has not. The genre hasn’t completely disappeared, but has instead evolved into neo-noir, with films like “Sin City,” with its hyper-stylized black and white visuals, and “Drive,” creating morally ambiguous protagonists caught up in organized crime. It is unlikely the general public will ever witness the creation of a new classic film noir movie.

Although this classic film genre only lasted a decade, the style, story and character elements which it brought to the table have influenced creative culture long past its short lifespan. If one watches closely, pieces of film noir can be glimpsed in everything from the more obvious crime drama on TV to the multi-million dollar blockbuster superhero movie. With critics and audiences responding positively to neo-noir films like “Sin City,” “Seven” and “Nightcrawler,” the odds of seeing more of these movies are only getting better.

The tape recorder finishes with the man’s confession. Several bodies lie in his past, but the Mexican border is his only escape for a future.

Staggering towards the door, he manages to open it before collapsing in the empty doorway.

Defeated and breathing heavily the man pulls a cigarette from his breast pocket and lights it while police sirens slowly grow louder. ■

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PURSE CHAIN NECKLACE | Ermine Vintage CHUNKY SQUARE NECKLACE | Ermine Vintage

Writer Charlotte Pan, Stylist Ellie Dunn, Photographer Allison Olmedo, Models Shanell Henry, Genevieve Miller, HMUA Monica Balderas, Hannah Johnson, Layout Laura Gonima

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THE CLOSING

THE CLOSING PIECES PIECES Whether in music videos or everyday life, jewelry and accessories provide the details needed to complete the picture.

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GOLD BRACELET | Ermine Vintage GOLD WATCH | Ermine Vintage

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D

ancing in the crowd, you feel the rhythm of your favorite song guide your movements. The intense bass commands your attention and slowly, the instrumental sounds are introduced, perfectly layered into the song while a steady background beat keeps a constant rhythm. You start to jump with the crowd when the lyrics pop in, and you can feel your heart beating faster and faster, your breath catching up to the rhythm of the song and sweat dripping down in unison. Out of the corner of your eye, you catch glimpses of everyone else’s shining jewelry.

We listen to music for a variety of reasons. From background study music to creating the perfect ambiance at a party, music plays a vital role in creating the right mood for a certain setting.

Music can make people feel like they are taking on the role of another character. It can be used to empower or make a statement.

The theme or message of a particular song is often depicted visually through an artist’s music video where he or she masters the art of combining audio and visual effects to bring the song to life. In achieving this, elements such as costume, hair and makeup are crucial in creating the right vibe and making the music video as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

In particular, accessories, although often underrated, are key in invoking the right mood through either completing the outfit or being the statement piece.

Artists like A$AP Rocky and Rihanna embody the perfect balance of edgy and classy. Both artists’ powerful presence in their music videos is further highlighted

with accessories appearing at the right time to complement the lyrics or context of the song. In A$AP Rocky’s music video to “Praise the Lord,” the opening scene shows off his bulletproof black vest and his usual gold chains and watch.

The heavy gold metal paired with the vest combine to prove dominance. The bulletproof vest gives the appearance of someone ready for combat, as Rocky is ready to face any opponent in the music industry. The flashy gold watch and diamond bracelets on his wrist catch the viewer’s’ eye, heightening their awareness for the artist and what he has to say.

As the video progresses, Rocky steps out with an oversized puffy yellow coat thrown on over his vest paired with a giant gold cross chain layered with his other chains. Here, he also shows off his full set gold grill with a smirk. The loud statement coat further commands attention, and just as the viewers think the jewelry couldn’t get more extravagant, Rocky proves them wrong. As the song’s content consists of Rocky boasting about his assets over other rappers and his superior choice of style, the viewer expects a certain level of confidence and swagger, and Rocky’s performance paired with the right accessories throughout the video achieves just this.

Similarly, Rihanna’s video for “Bitch Better Have My Money” showcases how accessories can help personify an intimidating presence. Throughout the entire video, Rihanna is seen wearing full outfits composed of unique sunglasses, fur coats, pinstripe coats and caps completed by tall, statement heels. These outfits were very coordinated and gave a carefree, unique aesthetic full of color and personality. However, at the end of the video, ►

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the outfit theme completely changes as Rihanna prepares for deliberate and violent revenge.

The shift into this nighttime scene where the murder takes place is highlighted by nude latex gloves, a smaller gold watch and a simple gold necklace.

As the scene captures her latex-gloved hands touching knives and chainsaws, an ominous mood overtakes the video.

The slight highlight from the gold chain necklace and watch are a sharp contrast from the more elaborate accessories in prior scenes, which helps portray the direct message of the murder about to take place. With the help of simple, uniform accessories and textures like latex, Rihanna’s edgy and intense character is easily displayed.

While accessories can add the finishing touches to an outfit to complete the entire look, they can also be the center of attention in an outfit to make a dramatic statement. In the music video for “MotorSport,” the Migos, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B flaunt dramatic looks to emphasize the message of the song and to set the right mood. In a futuristic setting, all three members of the Migos wear full racecar sweatsuits, but the main attraction are the diamond watches, rings, bracelets and grills.

Quavo layers his diamond chains until there is no more room for even one more necklace. Meanwhile, Nicki has a scene with her hair styled in super long pink braids that almost touch the floor, which she uses to whip around as she raps and dances.

Obviously, these kinds of accessories may be too dramatic for an average

person’s everyday use, but for the purpose of this music video, showing off their riches by using diamond jewelry as the centerpiece of their outfits or having such a statement hairstyle is important in imposing superiority and confidence upon viewers. The artists want their fans to know that they are listening to the best artist in the era. With the help of the accessories dominating the outfits in the music videos, the artists command their viewers’ attention and such a statement is displayed.

As A$AP Rocky, Rihanna and Migos have proved, accessories play a pivotal role in not only completing the outfits worn, but also in visually emphasizing the theme of the songs. The statement pieces like the diamond chains or oversized coats help to push the vision of the music video past just the singing and dancing. Despite each artist’s differences in personal style and genre of music, the perfect accessories in each music video all have the same role in making the outfits stand out and match the aesthetic of the music.

The role of accessories in music videos is also similar to how they are seen in everyday life. While most people don’t flaunt a layered diamond chain look, the idea of jewelry and accessories completing an outfit still holds true for people as they chose their everyday jewelry to wear. That added pop of self-expression is important in making or breaking the outfit. Smaller pieces can be easily overlooked, but it is in these pieces that a person can further invoke a particular mood than he or she could through just clothing pieces. ■

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GOLD CHAIN | Ermine Vintage PINK SUNGLASSES | Ermine Vintage

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Writer Ty Marsh, Stylists Nicole Gausman, Maya Halabi, Photographer Jeffrey Barrett, Models Lindsay Gallagher, Kaitlin Street, Kayleigh Wilson, HMUA Mariam Ali, Jenna Campbell, Layout Maya Haws-Shaddock

THE 1998 TELEVISION SHOW, “THE POWERPUFF GIRLS,” HAS MAINTAINED ITS SPOTLIGHT IN POP CULTURE ALONG WITH THE ARCHETYPES OF ITS THREE MAIN HEROINES, EACH OF WHOM SHOWCASES THE DIVERSE BEAUTY AND STRENGTH WITHIN WOMEN IN THEIR OWN WAY.

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wenty years ago, the first episode of “The Powerpuff Girls” aired on television. Centered around three superhuman 6-year-old girls created from sugar, spice, everything nice and a dangerous Chemical x, the cartoon has become a staple in feminist history as one of the earliest sources of proof that girls can be more powerful than boys.

These girls — Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles — showed viewers three distinct examples of archetypal femininity, each of which are still heavily represented and recognized in various aspects of pop culture. The Blossoms, Buttercups and Bubbles of the world each have a distinctive and easily recognizable look and attitude to them. This instant recognition is what has solidified their presence in various creative spheres, especially within fashion. These iconic fashion archetypes have withstood the test of time along with “The Powerpuff Girls,” with each archetype having something to say in portraying both the beauty and the power within women.

The Blossoms of the world exemplify the values of their Powerpuff counterpart. She is clean-cut, poised and powerful. Her fashion also follows these characteristics. The monochromatic turtlenecks worn by the Blossom can be seen in coffee shops around the world. Her simplistic fashion is exemplary of her poise. Her elegance is most prevalent in what she does. With few accessories, she keeps the focus on what she is saying rather than what she is wearing. This, however, does not mean that she is not fashion forward. Blossoms have a post-minimalism approach to their fashion — minimalist silhouettes with perfectly calculated bursts of color.

An example of the Blossom is Emma Watson, the clean-cut child star turned feminist activist who uses her voice and platform to better the world. The outfits worn by the Blossom do all but scream her leadership capabilities. She is someone who silences a room upon entrance, someone who leads all discussions she takes part in. Her power, however, is not derived from negativity.

She leads with the sugar she was made of mentioned in the title sequence of her and her sisters.

A natural leader, her poise is one of inspiration.

Her leadership is also a key part of her feminism.

She expects all women to receive the same respect she is given, regardless of status. The Blossom shows the world that women do not need to give up their femininity to be powerful, and that women do not need to give up their power to be beautiful.

The Buttercups of the world are different than that of the Blossoms, in where the Blossom finds beauty within minimalism, the Buttercup finds beauty in the extreme — she is a woman of intensity. From the dramatic makeup on her face to the platform boots on her feet, the Buttercup has a mesmerizing presence from the moment she is seen. She is a woman of the night. Just as she explores the lights of the city she calls home, the Buttercup also explores the masculinity within herself in the same way. The masculinity within the Buttercup is something that she enjoys exploring, she is constantly finding a balance between her masculine and feminine side. She can be seen in celebrities such as Kristen Stewart, the tomboyish actress who is unapologetic in both what she wears and what she believes in. The Buttercup uses her blend of masculine and feminine to express herself in ways she wishes, despite it not ►

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being a societal norm. Her tomboy nature is a testament to the fact that women do not need to be girly to be beautiful. The Buttercup’s beauty comes from within herself, and she knows that no matter how she chooses to express herself, she is beautiful. Her masculine expression does not stop her from wearing her womanhood like a badge of honor upon her sleeve. Her femininity is complimented by her masculine nature, and vice versa.

The Buttercup is an archetype of inspiration for a wide range of projects, with her punk-esque silhouette drawn from the ‘90s and an attraction to all things dramatic. Her personality is outspoken, just as suggested by her outfit. The Buttercup’s intensity is what gives her spice. She speaks for what she believes in and refuses to be left unheard. This is her superpower. Her outspoken nature elicits change in the world, and her refusal to be silent forces others to listen to what she has to say. Where the Blossom expects respect for all women, the Buttercup demands it. The Buttercup is defined by womanhood by defining it her own way.

The Bubbles, made from everything nice, embraces modern femininity in the fullest. She is a woman up to date with all modern trends. Her style is a reflection of her joyful mindset. A social creature, the Bubbles is outgoing in both her personality and her fashion. The Bubbles has a personality that is a reflection of her namesake: she is bubbly. With the ability to bring out the best in anyone, the Bubbles is a delight to be around.

Her clothing has a color palette that rivals that of a Moschino runway, and her makeup could

be taken straight from an Instagram beauty page.

Her trendiness is stare-worthy, causing others to question if she has a celebrity status.

Her girly fashion is imagery dedicated to her love for her femininity. She is just as intelligent as Blossom and just as outspoken as Buttercup — she is a combination of the two doused in the embrace of stereotypical womanhood. This womanhood may be seen as weakness by some, but it is her Chemical x: It gives her power. The Bubbles can be seen vastly throughout pop culture, specifically in celebrities such as Karlie Kloss, the beautiful model who advocates for women’s rights and is also an avid coder. The Bubbles is proud of all things feminine and sees the beauty in all types of women. Her feminism encourages self expression and self love. Respect to all women is seen as a given to her. The Bubbles shows women that there is nothing wrong with being too girly. She shows women that their femininity is of something that they should be proud.

The archetypes depicted in “The Powerpuff Girls” have been an inspiring influence on pop culture for decades. The show itself has had a lasting impact upon the now adults of the modern generation, showing us that women of all kinds are both powerful and beautiful. Though the Blossom, the Buttercup and the Bubbles are all extremities within the spectrum of womanhood, all have something important to say in inspiring women to become the best, individualized versions of themselves. With luck, the Blossoms, Buttercups and Bubbles of the world will be saving the day for decades to come. Cue the heart sequence. ■

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COLLABORATION

CULTURE

Writer Prerna Pama, Stylist Joann Kim, Photographer Katerine Perks, Models Helena Sampayo, Jillian Westphal, HMUA Taylor Stiff, Layout Natasha Hsu

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The historically hostile world of fashion is seeing a new age of cordial collaboration.

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magine lines wrapped around blocks and blocks of New York City. Excited shoppers stand for hours in hopes of getting their hands on any item of a new, exciting collaboration. When the doors open, crowds of eager people flood in.

This was the case when the Louis Vuitton and Supreme collection launched.

When two major brands make the decision to merge together to create a collection that showcases their two unique styles, fashion becomes more than an individualist, competitive industry it is normally labeled as. Collaborations also provide an avenue for new, niche brands to gain recognition. With the help of brands that are already established, smaller brands such as Off-White have gained status in the fashion world through their collaborations. Also, collaborations between two companies like Louis Vuitton and Supreme that are well known for the branding also bring a new perspective to the way we view fashion.

Off-White, a niche brand directed by Virgil Abloh, has been rising up in the ranks of fashion. Taking part in eight collaborations, Virgil Abloh has used collaboration as a sort of advertis-

ing platform for his brand. The most popular collaboration is the Off-White and Nike collection. A trademark of Off-White is the use of graphic designs and words on the shoes and clothes he designs. A classic off-white boot has the words “For Walking” written in black, bold letters. Mimicking this trademark, the Off-White Nike collaboration consists of the classic Nike sneaker with the word “For Air” written in black bold letters on the side of the shoe. In this way, the classic Nike shoe is seen through the lens of Off-White. Another notable Off-White collaboration is Abloh’s collaboration with Moncler, an outerwear brand. Once again, Virgil brought streetwear influenced graphics to the various Moncler jackets, changing the look of the otherwise monotone brand.

Off-White also brought different fabrics and styles to the outerwear collection as well. Through the platform of collaborations with brands as big as Moncler and Nike, Off-White was able to climb the ranks of fashion and become a notable brand itself.

Another notable collaboration was the Supreme and Louis Vuitton mash up.

This collaboration gave a new spin on ►

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the concepts of collaborations since it involved two brands that were mainly recognized for their logos. Supreme is a brand that mainly makes its pieces revolving around the “Supreme” logo popularly seen on its many graphic tees. Louis Vuitton matches this idea since the lv logos spread across their bags and other items is what they are mainly known for. That’s why when these two came together to make a collection; it was a huge moment in the fashion industry. Using the bright red color shown in the Supreme logo, the lv logo of Louis Vuitton was placed on red bags, wallets, luggage pieces and sweatshirts. This collaboration was something the fashion industry had never seen before, and it created a new perspective on collaborations since two very popular brands worked together to create something the public enjoyed. Instead of competing against each other, these two top brands collaborated together to create a monumental collection.

A popular, notable collaboration is the Commes des Garçons and Converse

All Star collaboration. Commes des Garçons’ famous heart graphic was placed on converse high tops for their collection. This collaboration is unique because it brought a high-end, exclusive designer to a brand that is more common and affordable. In this way, the collaboration gave a twist to the brand that elevated its name in the fashion industry. When the collection first came out, the Commes des Garçons collaboration with Converse could be seen worn with designer outfits at every major runway show. Converse went from a shoe you could wear with any high-end outfit.

Collaborations have made the fashion industry a more exciting and friendly environment since big brands are letting go of the hostile competitiveness it was known for in the past. By supporting collaborations with other popular brands as well as smaller, niche brands, the fashion industry is opening the avenue for a more accepting form of fashion. ■

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D I S E M B O DY D I S E M B O DY D I S E M B O DY D I S E M B O DY D I S E M B O DY D I S E M B O DY D I S E M B O DY D I S E M B O DY D I S E M B O DY D I S E M B O DY GUY BOURDIN — BRINGING THE AVANT-GARDE TO FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY.

Writer Jessie Yin, Stylists Ellie Dunn, Gabi Feltner, Photographer Anna Droddy, Models Angela Chastain, Rohma Ejaz, Jeanette Hoelscher, HMUA Alora Jones, Cameron Polonet, Layout Adriana Torres

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he concrete is stained with something dark enough to be blood. At the juncture of these pools lives stark white lines of chalk, gently framing a female form that is not there. But even in the echo, we can see how her legs bent, how her skirt twisted around her thighs. A sleek black car with chrome that glares in the harsh camera flash is pulled up tight against the curb. Then, one in the left corner and another tucked, almost forgotten, at the brim of the sidewalk in the shadow of the gleaming black. These shocking spots of pink are a pair of Charles Jordan shoes in a Guy Bourdin shoot. They are left almost as an afterthought.

Instead, the story of this chalk-lined woman and her expensive car take over the frame of the photograph.

The photo shoot described is reflective of a lot of Guy Bourdin’s work.

His photographs read like film stills, like there’s a greater story evolving beyond the paper. How did the woman end up there? Was she hit by the car? Did she fall from the roof ?

What about the shoes? What do they mean? His works deviated greatly from the prototypical fashion shoots of the time that were focused solely on showcasing the clothes; models and sets were no more than clothing hangers and backgrounds. Bourdin tapped into two important things with his photographs. Firstly, art inspires

people to imagine. Second, people like to imagine grander lives for themselves than the ones they are living.

His spreads invited people to imagine what it would be like to wear those clothes. The glamour and the intrigue and the sensuality of it all. A woman in a soft nightgown can lay laughing across plush pillows, the mirrors behind her fracture her body, and every disjointed angle dares you to desire to touch, to have.

This radical alternative take on the industry made Guy Bourdin the most famous and sought-after fashion and advertising photographer of the late 20th century. However, let’s not dismiss the intricacies of his artistry simply because he shot for Vogue and Chanel. His campaigns were art and, in their own way, avant-garde.

In fact, Bourdin started his career as a photographer in the art world. He called upon the house of renowned surrealist photographer Man Ray six times before finally being received by the man on his seventh visit and becoming his protege. The influence of this great Surrealist and others such as Matisse and Luis Buñuel are evident in his use of color and absurd imagery. Think about the last weird dream you had — maybe it could even be bordering on nightmare-ish — and that’s it. Giant women and gargantuan shoes placed innocuously upon abandoned streets and a foreboding quiet. ►

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CLOTHING HAS TO BE WORN CLOTHING HAS TO BE WORN CLOTHING HAS TO BE WORN A cornerstone in Bourdin’s most iconic works is the placement of disembodied limbs. Octopus legs with no owners spawning from a suitcase in striped leggings. The bottom half of a woman, her torso tipping over a pop color plateau into the abyss. Eyes covered by hands with nails painted red, terraformed one on top of the other. And many of these images were coupled with a stunning use of high-saturation: blues and reds, yellows and greens, and a woman with no head. Add to this concoction shoot locations consisting of desolate streets, grimy apartments, vast flatlands, or a world that consists solely of plains of color. Bourdin’s campaigns look like they’ve walked right out of a surrealist dream.

It has been said before that the moment an avant-gardist is given an exhibition is the moment they die as an innovator.

After the ‘60’s, Bourdin did not allow for exhibitions of his work until 2003, over a decade after his passing. On the count of reputation alone, Bourdin certainly set himself up as a reclusive artist. Whatever the reason for this reluctance, there are presently multiple retrospective exhibitions of Bourdin’s photography scattered across Europe.

We can gaze upon them and recognize the exact impact that he had upon commercial photography, and wonder whether those larger than life Charles Jordans, with which he made his name, could ever be filled by another.

While he draws inspiration from the avant-garde art scene, there is some disagreement on whether his works could be considered truly avant-garde. Despite the mainstream and commercial component, Bourdin completed the basic requirement of the avant-garde, which is to shock and to disturb. Many of his campaigns elicited such reactions and yet it was the general population’s morbid fascination that allowed him to both demand complete creative control and maintain a long-term partnership with Vogue. Bourdin challenged other fashion photographers to step outside of traditional confines and shake off the constraints of their complacency. His astute references to literature, cinema and art history set him aside from his contemporaries.

Bourdin demanded something new from fashion photographers. Models and spreads were not to be glorified mannequins in a storefront anymore.

He understood that clothing has to be worn to be worth anything and that in the swirling scene of haute couture, all a campaign really needs is to be talked about. He gave them plenty to talk about. His images were wildly provocative and confusing. His reputation as an auteur and a notoriously picky photographer was compounded. His name became a sign of class and culture depending on if you could complete the proper French pronunciation or not. And he forcefully pulled the fashion runway closer to the art museums. ■

TO BE WORTH ANYTHING TO BE WORTH ANYTHING TO BE WORTH ANYTHING

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Hyperfemininity has been one of the fastest ways to dismiss a person, labeling them as incapable or weak — but with femininity comes its own power.

bittersweet femininity Writer Abigail Rosenthal, Stylists Ariana Diaz, Sophia Santos, Photographer Anna Droddy, Model Louise Amsili, HMUA Kiyanna Elliott, Layout Alisa Lu

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B

ack in the early 20th century, pink was denoted as a boy’s color, and any fashionable and proper baby at the time should’ve sported the color. It was simple, according to a 1918 issue of Ladies Home Journal: “The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”

Pink. “More decided.” “Stronger.” Now, we associate the color with high school mean girls and ditsy unserious adult women, those that seemingly hang onto their femininity like a crutch whether they want to just be that feminine. Pink is far less stronger than it once was simply because it is so intertwined with traditional femininity.

But femininity has a power of its own, the ability to sway others, to make one feel more put-together.

Despite its continued lack of respect from the masses, traditional femininity has its advantages when used properly.

“Legally Blonde” remains so significant because it seems no one else has done what “Legally Blonde” did. Elle Woods absolutely should not succeed at anything involving books and careers based on how she is characterized in the beginning of the film — hyper-feminine, overly positive, rich and kind to everyone. She dresses in bright colors

(mostly pinks) and seems to always be sporting heels.

“Legally Blonde” is largely a comedy because you don’t expect her to succeed.

But there are glimpses of what is to come as she starts her quest to go to Harvard (“Oh, I have a 4.0,” “I don’t need backups. I’m going to Harvard.”). She’s intelligent, tenacious, doesn’t give up. But Elle doesn’t lose any of those hyperfeminine qualities throughout the film, using all of them plus some good ol’ Harvard knowledge to achieve her goals without stepping on anyone except her horrible professor, who dared to assume her femininity was an invitation or a bargaining tool as he tries to convince her that sleeping with him is the way to get ahead. She stomps out instead.

Elle also uses her feminine qualities for the good of others, seen especially in her friendship with Paulette the nail technician. Paulette is suffering from a lack of confidence. It’s clear that she and Elle have a mutual love for pink and glitzy things, but she doesn’t have the poise and confidence Elle does (“You have all the equipment. You just need to read the manual.”). Instead of laughing at Paulette, Elle teaches her the secret to bagging the ups guy for whom Paulette pines. That iconic “bend and snap” scene ups the confidence of Paulette and everyone else in the salon, all based around the feminine wiles Elle employs to get the attention she actually desires. ►

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“

But femininity has a power of its own, the ability to sway others, to make one feel more put-together.”

While femininity and its ideals can be used for the good of all, it can also be used for evil revenge.

In “Gone Girl,” Amy Dunne employs her femininity to manipulate the truth in order to get back at her husband, faking her own ill-planned murder to simultaneously disappear and get her husband, Nick Dunne, sent to death row.

Amy is automatically assumed to be a victim. The (planted) evidence is there, of course, but those involved in investigating her disappearance or searching for her immediately turn Amy into a perfect, blameless woman. She appears to be a doting wife, committed to her husband even in her loneliness. She appears to be pregnant. She is remembered as the center of her parents’ world.

Again, this is all by Amy’s design. She isn’t a victim or pregnant or blameless, but she harnesses the qualities seen as peak femininity in order to doom

her husband to death row for her murder — the revenge for taking her money, for cheating on her, for not trying in their relationship anymore. Nick no longer saw her as the angelic wife he once had, and for that, he had to die.

But Amy eventually decides she wants her husband back and forms another elaborate plan to get back to him and undo what she had done.

She returns to him in a silk nightgown, short blonde hair and drenched in blood in front of a crowd of onlookers and news people. She takes Nick’s face into her bloodied hands and falls into his arms. And as he catches her, whispering “You fucking bitch…” she pretends to faint as the cameras flash.

Both Elle and Amy characterize themselves as hyper-feminine in different ways for different reasons. Elle, because she finds joy in ►

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heart-shaped notebooks and hair clips. Amy, because it’s the key to getting the sympathy she needs to pull off her revenge.

Amy designed her scheme to make it look like she was the angelic victim stuck with an abusive husband and his uncaring family.

One of the main ways Elle draws attention and Amy gains sympathy is by the way they each dress. Elle dresses to the nines everyday, attending class in eye-catching colors and textures — flowered caps, metallic blue sweaters — and ultimately coming into her own in her pink power outfit. Amy purposely embodies more of the delicate daintiness associated with femininity. In the (admittedly unreliable) flashback scenes, she wears button up cardigans and ties her long blonde hair in loose ponytails. She wants everyone to think she took up less space in order to let her husband thrive. She is meant to seem like the doting wife, the sympathetic and understanding partner to a husband who didn’t care.

But where there’s genuine kindness and warmth to Elle, Amy is cold, manipulative and frightening. And there’s power in both.

Elle graduates from Harvard at the top of her class. Amy only returns on her terms, still beloved and believed by the public and expecting a baby only a few months later.

And nothing is more feminine and nurturing than motherhood.

They both also stick out in their surroundings.

Elle consistently seems out of place among her buttoned-up classmates, but she sticks out in a good way — she seems more fun.

Femininity has always drawn attention — sometimes wanted, and many, many times unwanted. But when Elle Woods triumphantly steps back into the courtroom in her bright pink dress and heels, she wants all eyes on her. She’s returning to replace the man who sexually harassed her. She’s returning to help a friend who needs. She’s returning to prove that one can be like her and be taken seriously. She’s not dainty or delicate. She’s strong, standing tall in her hot pink dress. ■

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Stylist Nikita Kalyana, Photographer Ariana Diaz, Models Christian Kenoly, Gabby Tan, HMUA Rebekah Heidel, Sarah Stiles, Layout Rebecca Wong

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Southern Belle

Writer Kenneth Wei, Stylists Courtney Fay, Sandra Tsang, Photographer Paige Miller, Models Madi Janysek, Hannah Johnson, Sophia Santos HMUA Julie Garcia, Alison McLean, Layout Isa Kauffman

The trope of the southern belle is a deeply political idea. It has drastically changed throughout the years, and its evolution reflects our own soceital values.

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S

outhern women have crafted memorable images ranging from ostentatious ball gowns so dramatic they border on camp, to soft romantic dresses befitting a dream.

Cultural influencers from filmmakers to fashion bloggers often find inspiration for their modern works in the old roots of southern hospitality. We have celebrated the aesthetics of the southern belle as far back as Margaret Mitchell’s novel Gone with the Wind and the iconic film of the same name starring Vivien Leigh as the ruthlessly ambitious Scarlett O’Hara. With Scarlett’s iconic moments like ripping velvet house drapes into a dress or literally beating a dead horse after fleeing Atlanta as it burns to cinders during the war, it is no wonder why literature finds the gritty glamour of the southern belle so attractive. While literature paints an ideal image of these women, their real-life counterparts carry a darker historical past that is often forgotten or romanticized.

The Antebellum South is the period from the 1800s until the start of the Civil War. The women then held elaborate and grand hopes that styles like Victorian Era hoop skirts decorated with dramatic bows would communicate the wealth of the wearer with a refined touch. Floppy sun hats, sheer feminine gloves and lace parasols were favorite accessories of the historical southern belle used to protect the wearer’s skin from tanning under the heat of the sun. Southern fashion’s inherent mission of projecting status during this era is especially heinous considering the fact that many supporters of these decadent fashions were also slave owners. Beauty standards were, and often still are, skewed to conform to lighter skin tones. Women who were wealthy enough to be southern belles inherently benefited from a racist ideal while exploiting the very people who maintained their comfortable lifestyle. ►

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Combatting and expanding beauty standards during the years following Reconstruction was the first selfmade female millionaire in the US, CJ Walker, an African-American woman who established the first cosmetics and hair products designed for black women. During her time, Walker was known for her beauty techniques and hair products for women who just one generation before were denied any form of civil liberty. During her company’s peak in 1910, Walker oversaw an expansive beauty empire of nearly 20,000 employees that included many women in key management positions while offering strategic financial consultation to other prospering black women business owners. Walker’s influence in fashion also crosses over into feminist activism. Walker’s annual convention of sales agents is believed to be the first national gatherings of women entrepreneurs. Walker died in 1919 and her business closed in 1981 after 71 years of operation. Companies like Mary Kay and Avon base their business model on Walker’s own. In 2016, Sephora and Sundial Brands launched a line of hair products that bears her name: Madam C. J. Walker Beauty Culture.

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Pop culture recently found itself enraptured with a love story set just three years after Walker’s death. Eternally reveling in the vivacity of the 1920s Jazz Age is Daisy Buchanan, one of literature’s most complicated and posh southern belles. Although the present action of The Great Gatsby takes place in New York, Daisy’s sense of mystery comes from her alluring past as the local debutante and sweetheart of 1900s Louisville, Kentucky. The underlying aesthetics of the southern belle combined with the uproarious nature of the Jazz Era made for a winning combination. Further, southern charm cemented an even greater place in cinematic fashion history when Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 version of the film The Great Gatsby won Oscars for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.

The aesthetic value of pearls was shattered and reinvented by F. Scott Fitzgerald when Daisy Buchanan famously ripped a long pearl necklace tied around her throat in The Great Gatsby. What was once a symbol of opulence and elegance, the pearl now had a spirit of quiet rebellion that echoed Daisy’s signature sense of ►

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mystery. Flowing, diaphanous fabrics in pastel color, a styling favorite of southern belles, are almost always reminiscent of Daisy herself and the past days of olden debutantes. These light fabrics are far from the restrictive corsets and Victorian-inspired fashions that literally and metaphorically limited the mobility of women.

It is a reality that many cultural narratives, not just that of southern women, have a problematic past.

Fortunately, social progress has recently led the southern belle down a path that has been kinder. Along with being a popular organizing center for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Atlanta, Georgia was also a place where many black-owned businesses from newspapers to nightclubs prospered. Today, Atlanta’s community is known for promoting social equity through the arts and fashion. The Alliance Theatre fosters a vision of social justice and their mission statement is centered around “expanding minds onstage and off” by “modeling radical inclusion and catalytic experiences throughout Atlanta.”

The day Daisy Buchanan clawed away the pearls that choked her, fashion acknowledged the dangers of becoming the beautiful fool foreshadowed in Fitzgerald’s writing. Like any art form, fashion is still used as a way to communicate status but can equally become an avenue of social justice. The 75th Golden Globes saw women who wore black dresses as a visible demonstration of solidarity against sexual misconduct which led to the downfall of numerous previously unpunished abusers. Many factors in the production process of fashion still prove to be deeply problematic, but the southern belle’s aesthetic evolution is just one example of how social values are reflected in the aesthetics of culture and fashion. It is undeniable that culture and fashion often move parallel to each other, but the southern belle’s combination of glamour with unexpected grit demonstrates that so too does social progress. ■

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An examination of personal and cultural beliefs surrounding death and all of the bereavement and beauty surrounding it.

TIL DEATH DO US ART Writer Ivanna Sofia English, Stylists Joann Kim, Travis Young, Photographer Nicole Bolar, Models Jaclyn Carter, Amber Deaver, Mijolae Wright, HMUA Rachel Cook, Cameron Kelly, Layout Chie-Hsi Jasmy Liu

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C

risp breezes caress soft cheeks before biting, the air is dense, and the sun stretches out its arms to the aimless passerby in hopes that the wanderer can lift him from sinking further into the dark earth as the light slowly fades. An unkindness of ravens flies low among the naked trees and with them they take the last of the bloodred beams, whispering goodbye as they pass. In the distance, the lonely traveler eyes a companion, and in the twilight a familiar outline is stopped in the path, slowly approaching.

I have been observing you from afar, but I was always around, moving about your days quietly. At times you came close to knowing me — much more personally.

But now you see my face and you give me your time, now I give you rest and eternal silence. Down you will go, from whence you came, from whence all beings came and you will return to the universe. I cannot promise you much more than this, not much more than stillness, not much more than the cool, muddy earth, but you’ll learn to make it a home. Am I a dark presence that eludes you? Do you welcome me with open arms? Does my certain uncertainty frighten you? I am the grim reaper, the angel of death, Yama, and the Banshee.

For all of creation you have known me, for eternity you will, too. Why then, must you fear me? Why must I make you nervous while others welcome me with arms open, and others still celebrate me and prepare for my arrival? Allow me to dazzle you.

Your ancestors tried to tame me, ascribe meaning to my gift of peace. Since recorded time, mortals have attempted to navigate the river Styx as such with the “Egyptian Book of the Dead,” or more accurately, “The Book of Coming Forth,”

in Ancient Egypt. To help you better understand me, I was ascribed humanoid form ranging from the Greek god Hades, as well as skeletal figures like the Mexican “La Catrina,” who is derived from the Aztec Lady of the Dead, Mictecacihuatl, the keeper of bones. Despite the fire and brimstone that some entities may connote, certain cultures do not regard death with such darkness. In a few eastern cultures, such as Japan and India, the color of mourning is white rather than black. Religions such as Christianity view death as freeing, and an opportunity to move on to another state, Heaven, that is full of peace, and much like the Egyptian Field of Reeds. In colorful Mexico, Death even has its own holiday known as Dia de los Muertos, on which it is believed that the dead pay their visits to the living that honor them through their memory. Unlike typical western culture, it is full of music, laughter and celebration as beautifully portrayed by the 2017 Pixar film, “Coco.”

With familiarity comes understanding, and through dark periods in history, emerged morbid literary and visual works regarding Death. From demonic fowl as portrayed in the work of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” fantastical portrayals of biblical figures and blood-obsessed lovers by Oscar Wilde in “Salome: A Tragedy in One Act,” to not so heartwarming children’s fables of Edward Gorey in “The Gashlycrumb Tinies” — in which there is an untimely disaster of the absurd for which a child for each letter of the alphabet is killed — Death transcends the physical form. I have achieved such consciousness in humanity that other human energies in the form of visual art has too given me a life of sort. Even the brightness and color cannot completely blot out the darkness as portrayed in the pop art works of Andy Warhol in his piece, ►

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“Big Electric Chair.” Consumed by the rampant the message literally strung into black jeans by death by the first guerilla war in the early 1800s white fabric that spelled out memento mori as it Francisco de Goya created the dark works entitled ran down the front of the leg, a Latin phrase for “The Disasters of War,” which depicted the horrors “remember you must die.” against human bodies as committed by both sides.

However devastating death might be, I doubt that These staunch reminders of the darkness in this you can completely blame me. religiously inspired work serve as reminders for the duality of the approaches of death. RemindThe art which surrounds my morbid bones is not ers of the horrid slaughter caused by the Crualways so ghastly and has of late been given justice sades in stark contrast to the Christian belief of in the form of gothic beauty in the eyes of design- death as a redemption, and something to pray for. ers of high fashion. As a tribute to the thought Maybe by making Death appealing through these of Death as a fascination with deeply resonating works you can stare into eternity and be a little gothic undertones, Gucci’s Alessandro Michele less afraid, for after all there is certainty in that. has kept busy making a beauty of darkness. Amidst Perhaps you feel closer to lost loved ones by allowa backdrop of a bleak, black night, with blazing ing yourself to be fascinated by death, but as has orange and red torches stabbed into sandy French been noted across cultures from the ancients until beaches to illuminate the runway, long-faced mod- now, despite the grief that accompanies death no els haunt the runway in precious black gem-stud- one really wishes death upon themselves to visit a ded cruxes, green lace, and blue velvet robes with loved one in the eternal plane. All along Death has golden threads running through. Slightly wilted been guised as a thief, but it may just be you who flowers were paraded by models to their seeming is guilty — guilty and selfish. Expensive, inefficient graves as 114 designs floated by in the Alyscamps and often ineffective medical procedures to pro— an Ancient Roman necropolis — to the Claudio long life. Funerals and their amounting expenses Monteverdi’s “Vespers of the Blessed Virgin.” The are for the living, and not quite for the dead that detailed workings, notably in footwear and back- they mourn. I do not mean to offend, I am just packs, often comprised of flames and flora and as fascinated in you as you are in me. Your speis mentioned on the house’s Instagram that these cies’ selfishness and perhaps love has blossomed a were inspired from Scottish graves. “Death masks” plethora of inspiration through sorrow and grief. occasionally adorned the looks, as both the classic On a lone beach in Japan stands a rotary “wind black fascinator hats in varying lengths as well as phone” in a white phone booth encased in glass nude glittering pantyhose-like masks. panels overlooking the Pacific Ocean that brought death to nearly 16,000 people in the 2011 tsunami.

Along with lace came leather and canvas, with the Through death, memorials and other such creatlatter sporting the name “Chateau Marmont,” a ing have been erected, because death belongs to Californian hotel said to be eternally occupied by you as a unifying factor—and experience as finite the spirit of John Belushi, who died there. Michele beings that is shared. As metabolizing beings, you displayed the diversity of the belief surrounding will one day close your eyes to create uniquely, love death from the sacred to the supernatural and deeply, feel the sun’s rays softly nevermore. Frightwas all the while beautiful and morbid. Perhaps ening as it may be, it may be a gift to spend your the most outward statement about death, as if days more consciously and with regard for the being in a literal graveyard was not enough, was beings with which you share this present. ■

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Writer Alejandra Terrones, Stylist Nicole Gausman, Photographer Tanvi Sehgal, Models William Gonzales, Sophia Santos, HMUA Alessandra Garcia-Fuentes, Layout Elianna Panakis

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FRIDA KAHLO MAY BE WIDELY KNOWN FOR HER PAINTINGS AND HER FAMOUS UNIBROW, BUT NOT MANY RECOGNIZE THE INFLUENCE HER WORK HAS MADE ON THE WORLD OF FASHION.

H

er colors come alive — both from her dresses and her paintings. Given that her life was unfortunately not as vibrant, she endured many hardships to give us the beautiful art she crafted so dearly. Today, most of her artwork can be valued at over millions of dollars. Her contribution to the world of fashion however, is absolutely priceless.

Born in Coyoacán, Mexico just before the Mexican Revolution, Frida Kahlo grew to be an iconic and gifted woman whose legacy continues to this day. As an artist, style icon, activist and strong minded feminist, Frida blazed a path not only for young women of color but also for some of today’s most quintessential moments of fashion. The recognizable burst of color in her wardrobe, her bright lips paired with rosy-orange cheeks and the bold accessories used both in jewelry and in her hair were just some among of the most iconic amongthe many. Not to mention the brow… you mustn’t forget the brow.

Frida’s style was incredibly influential. One of the ways she inspired modern day fashion was the clothing that she wore herself. Like most of modern human society, Frida allowed her personal experiences to dictate her wardrobe. When she was with her husband and renowned artist

Diego Rivera, she dressed in a way that showed people she was happy by wearing colorful, traditional Mexican dresses and by growing her hair long. But when the relationship turned tumultuous, she cut her hair short and stopped wearing the bright Tehuana dresses that portrayed her contentment. She even proceeded to wear suits that almost looked lifeless in their dull and achromatic tones. But through it all, Frida still managed to catch the eye of designers decades later.

She influenced designers like Osman Yousefzada in his spring/summer collection of 2016 with an “Ode to Frida Kahlo,” and Maya Hansen and her spring 2013 collection entitled “Skully Tulum.”

In their collections they both shadow Frida’s look with Mexican style cues, tiered staple pieces and vivid colors. She inspired Riccardo Tisci as well for Givenchy in the fall of 2010. According to Tim Blank’s article “Fall 2010 Couture Givenchy” from Vogue, Tisci claimed the inspiration came from “Frida Kahlo and her three obsessions: religion, sensuality and, given the painter’s lifelong battle with spinal pain, the human anatomy.”

Frida’s Tehuana dress inspired Raffaella Curiel too in her spring 2008 couture collection, along with the bold colors and the flower crowns. Frida also inspired designs by Jean Paul Gaultier in his spring 1998 ready-to-wear collection. Incorporating Frida’s corset/back brace, her unibrow and a wide use of hair accessories from thorn crowns to flower crowns, Gaultier managed to ►

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capture her essence in his collection quite well.

But nothing can capture Frida’s essence quite like her paintings.

Frida’s artwork, including her self-portraits that reflected pain and isolation also provoked a conversation about style and embodiment of one’s emotions. The thorn crowns in Jean Paul Gaultier’s spring collection were most likely inspired

by Frida’s self-portrait with a thorn necklace and monkeys at her side. However, there is more to it than simply replicating some of her famous pieces. Frida’s paintings were very intimate and unique to her personal tragedies. One doesn’t simply glance at Frida’s paintingand self-portraits; they experience them in a certain way that only Frida intended. Her life was filled with misfortune and pain — both physically and emotionally. Life has a tendency of being unfair, but pain also has a tendency of igniting passion and fervor in someone. And that is exactly what took place in Frida’s life. Her personal pain elicited the intensity of her paintings and her will to continue to paint. And that is something worth being inspired of; enough to want to embody and portray in today’s fashion. However, her passion was not the only thing inspiring others in fashion. Frida’s headstrong stance on political issues caught people’s eye too.

Empowering is an understatement for those who regarded Frida as an iconic political activist. Frida

was a known Communist. In one of the famous images taken of her from the mid-20th century, she is shown wearing a plaster corset, which she decorated herself, with the Communist hammer and sickle. Until the late 1970s, Frida Kahlo was mostly known as Diego Rivera’s wife. It was not until the mid-1990s that historians and political activists rediscovered her work. And some years later, she not only became a recognized figure in art history but a powerful symbol for Chicanos, the feminist movement and the lgbtq+ movement. Frida’s work has also been celebrated globally by feminists for its unrelenting representation of the female form and experience. Her feminism was portrayed in the times she decided to challenge the feminine norm. She broke barriers when she wore her suits and her hair short. And when she did choose to dress feminine, it seemed to liberate her from her pains, as if the bright colors blinded all of the pain and heartache she had gone through — much like many of us do today.

Frida Kahlo is immortal. She embraced who she was and that same unapologetic attitude is what made many people fall in love. Today her level of fame, has sparked a movement. She continues to inspire fashion through her timeless and iconic looks. As long as people continue to look to her for inspiration, future generations will be granted the gift of her remembrance forever and her beautiful array of colors will never die. ■

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THE UNFOUNDED FEAR OF OVERDRESSING Writer Mai Geller, Stylist Isaiah Valle Quiñones Photographer Kate Mulligan, Models Melina Perez, Srija Seenivasan, HMUA Mariam Ali, Layout Alisa Lu

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SUNGLASSES | Blue Elephant

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THE SARTORIAL FEAR OF OVERDRESSING IS PREVALENT IN THE LIVES OF MANY; BUT WHEN EMBRACED, THE TASK OF PUTTING TOGETHER AN UNCONVENTIONAL LOOK IS AN INCREDIBLY FREEING DECISION.

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T

hink about the question most commonly asked when an individual is faced with the prospect of a new social setting. The detail that commands the most attention often is, what am I going to wear? If it’s not this question then it’s others incredibly similar. What are other people going to wear? Is there a dress code? Put simply, we search for an outfit that allows us to best fit in with our environment. In theory, the art of dressing for yourself sounds easy enough, but in practice, the task becomes drastically more difficult.

The psychology behind the fear of dressing over the top mainly stems from a fear of what might happen if one allows themselves to be honest and unapologetic in the public eye. For some, this worry isn’t applicable.

They dress as “under” or “over” the top as they please, only feeling truly comfortable when their outfit completely represents what they feel on the inside. For others, the issue is not only there, but it is prevalent. Of course, it is natural to want to blend in when entering a given situation. Yet when one allows themselves to dress a certain way, despite the fact that their look may draw attention, there is something incredibly freeing, thrilling and eye-opening about dressing in complete opposition to the task at hand. The juxtaposition of an unconventional look and a routine outing holds the potential to break an individual out of their rut. When that vibrant red jacket and matching slacks, usually stored in the back of the closet, are worn purely for the monotonous task of grocery shopping, something unexpected is added to an otherwise humdrum day.

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Now this does not mean one must wear the most outlandish pieces they could ever hope to pull together when stepping out for a morning coffee.

The importance of battling the sartorial fear of overdressing is directing the attack at the anxiety that builds when one doesn’t abide by dress expectations.

The purpose of overcoming the fear is to become most comfortable in your own skin. So if wearing jeans and heels to a meeting is your idea of being the most honest external representation of yourself ? Do it! Even if you know fully well that everyone else will be dressed completely “down.” What an individual wears is so incredibly personal that it shouldn’t be anyone else’s business to determine what is or isn’t acceptable.

I believe that when dressing to your heart’s desire and wearing what will make you blend in become two opposing but appealing paths to take, consider what is added to the day when these small things are done wholly for yourself. Oftentimes, the opportunity to indulge in one’s personal tastes can make the difference between a great day and a devastatingly awful one. It is impossible to say where one might be led when they begin to dress to please no one but themselves. ■

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FROM

REELS TO

RUNWAY Writer Shroothi Ramesh, Stylist Kaylee Holland, Photographer Vivian Baier, Model Tosin Anjorin, HMUA Amber Bray, Layout Ana Sierra

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the influence of film costume design on popular fashion has been prevalent since the beginning of the film industry and continues to shape our cultural understanding within fashion.

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ith a fitted bodice embellished at the back with a cut-out décolleté, and a skirt gathered to one side, a slit at the thigh on the other, Audrey Hepburn’s sleeveless Givenchy gown became iconic to both film and fashion in 1961. Though the concept of a “little black dress” was coined three decades earlier, the iconoclastic filmography and thereafter success of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” gave new meaning to the dress and revitalized it as a closet staple for any woman in the modern era.

Film fashion and costume design, like that seen in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” has influenced popular fashion for decades.

“The road between costume design and popular fashion is a two-way street” Both costume design and film fashion have influenced popular fashion since the beginning of the film industry. Film fashion, in particular, is more connected to the influence of designers and their relation to the actor or actress wearing their designs. Brands that get featured and create designs specifically for the movie join mainstream fashion, if they are not already popular. When film fashion and costume design first began entering the mainstream, designers would create “copycat” designs to market to the public. The general culture surrounding inspired designs would be to imitate the original as much as possible. Over time the culture and demand shifted to incorporate more a transfer

of concept rather than imitation or copycat styling. Costume designers create clothing and styles that ultimately define a character and immortalize scenes from movies. These days after the success of a movie, the embodiment of a character can be more influential than a specific article of clothing.

The inspiration for “Black Panther” came from traditional culture and clothing of tribes in Africa.

The idea was to represent as many different parts of the continent as possible. Costume designer, Ruth Carter, explained her process of modernizing traditional clothing to represent an Afrofuturistic blend during her lecture at Hogg Memorial on Sept. 5: Clothing for each of the tribes in the film came from various points of inspiration. For example, the Border Tribe and their colorful blankets came from the people of Lesotho who use blankets due to the cold temperatures year-round at high elevations. Since Wakanda is a fictional nation that has been isolated from the outside world for centuries, the costume design department had to create a world out of fabrics and styles. Clothing took inspiration from traditional culture and then was subsequently recreated with a modern lense. Both western concepts and existing traditional concepts were blended into one. This visual blend was accomplished by pairing generally “western” popular fashion like ankle pants, sunglasses, and tiller hats with traditional prints like kente and pieces like head wraps and jewelry.

To get a futuristic look, jewelry and other accessories were 3d printed with excruciating detail. As existing traditional fashion influenced the film, the fashion created for the film now influences popular fashion. Actors and actresses who were in the movie went to the premiere and on tour sporting similarly culturally blended clothing designed by large fashion labels. Lupita Nyong’o wore ►

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a vibrant purple Versace gown to the premiere that had a jewel-encrusted neckline that was reminiscent of the traditional armor she wore in the movie. It further had modern touches with a deep cut neckline and a modern skirt flow.

New York Fashion Week 2018 featured designs that also drew from concepts created for the movie. More designs presented had traditional African elements fused with modern fashion lines. Proper representation influenced a wave of recognition for the movie. And representation overall in the arts has expanded out from the film industry to the worlds of fashion and art design.

“Crazy Rich Asians” is another 2018 movie that had startling success and elegant style. Asian characters set in high-class Singapore wore Asian designed labels. Carven Ong was one such designer to be featured in the movie with his opulent work for Araminita’s wedding dress: a sheer, white jumpsuit with a multilayered skirt, studded with Swarovski crystals. The pomp and extravagance seen in the set and clothes were for the first time represented by a fully Asian cast. Proper representation in the movie was demanded by the director, designer and audience. Other brands that were featured in the movie also gained attention including Dolce & Gabbana and Valentino. These fashion designers also continued to create and market their own

brand with clothing seen in and inspired by the movie. Cultural fashion that was designed for the movie influenced high fashion and street fashion with the movie’s success. Actors and actresses from the main cast including, Awkwafina, continued repping these brands outside the movie on press tours and during premieres. New York Fashion week 2018 designers Claudia Li and Prabal Gurung supported the representation of Crazy Rich Asians by creating a line based on themes from the movie and promoting Asian design and representation through models. Prabal’s influence for his featured line came from the bright traditional color prints and textiles of Nepal, the country he was raised in, and Singapore, the movie’s inspiration. As seen by the influence of these two movies, fashion is moving toward the trend of properly representing culture and tradition while respectfully blending it with modern features.

The transfer of concept from films to fashion moves in a cyclical manner — an exchange of creative direction from both ends. Iconic filmography, as seen in both “Black Panther” and “Crazy Rich Asians,” popularized fashion designed for the movie. From reels to runway, and runways to our closets, movie costume design plays a huge role in the fashion we consume and view as art. ■

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Writer Jade Fabello, Stylist Lauren Aguirre, Photographer Caitlin Rounds, Models Mariam Abdul-Rashid, Loeva Cagle, HMUA Rebekah Heidel, Sarah Stiles, Layout Mingyo Lee

INSIDE: Explore the tantalizing legacy of the eye-catching yet problematic art of American Pulp Magazines!

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TALES OF AESTHETIC

“The garbagery of pulps may, in fact, have been all-encompassing.”

B

ack before Sonic the Hedgehog and SoundCloud, America did not have much culture to go around. Horses ran in circles, drawing great crowds. The world was still in varying tones of gray because no one had gotten around to inventing color yet. After you and your alfalfa-haired boys did your daily racism, there was nothing to fill the time. This was the early 20th century. People were bored. America was in desperate need of entertainment. The eye-catching and vibrant pulp magazines (or simply “the pulps” to friends and family) were a colorful solution to that problem.

Named for the paper they were made from, the pulps were mass-produced fiction that circulated from the 1890s to the 1950s. Different authors would tackle a slate of recurring characters and ideas across a range of publications. Long remembered as the spiritual predecessor of both modern-day comic-books and paperbacks, pulp magazines made

headway for generations of American genre-fiction. This bastion of American culture has the unique honor of generally being pretty garbage.

The paper quality was garbage, the printing quality equally so, and more often than not, the content too was garbage. However, one aspect of pulp held debatable garbagery: the cover.

The art of pulp magazines was distinctive and bold. Skill guided illustrator’s hands as they outlined harrowing and imaginative images that set the scene for the stories that followed. The 20thcentury retro color palette and masterful line work highlighted the human form rather impressively. Various authors and illustrators perfected their craft throughout the decades to create this lasting and powerful aesthetic that is instantly recognizable today. Though a brewing bitterness, in this cup of coffee, is a reflective look at the numerous problematic portrayals on those very covers. The garbagery of pulps may, in fact, have been all-encompassing. ►

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TALES OF AESTHETIC

Attempting to evaluate pulp magazines captures the conflict of a modern-day Kanye supporter — a constant ebb and flow of an appreciation of the art and a “Geez, come on man, seriously?”

Race, gender, power dynamics — these were not the forte of the pulps. Their lurid, misogynistic and exploitative subject matter was critical to their marketability.

They were incredibly cheap and focused on tantalizing themes. Nuance did not find a home on those pages.

One example of the subtlety of pulps is with ki-gor the great white jungle lord. A civil rights leader by some definitions (given your dictionary is from an on-fire trash-bin), Ki-Gor is like Tarzan but even a little more racist. One Ki-Gor story, “The Monsters of Voo Doo Isle”

by John Peter Drummond, starts with the line: “About the tall, lean white man and the squat, thick-bodied black who trailed at his heels was an air of urgency.”

Pulps often wasted no time establishing the lights they wanted to cast.

Having no desire to appear lazy, pulp covers would often pull double duty and

be racist and sexist when they had the chance. Across genres, pulps were common perpetrators of the damsel in distress trope. Musclely men with their Jon Hamm-faces would guard scantily clad white-women from whatever marauding forces came their way.

The cover of one issue of “Jungle Stories” features our buddy Ki-Gor engaging in such “heroics.” He kicks a stereotypical depiction of an African tribesman right before the brute can plunge his knife down into a defenseless white woman.

We find her right above the words “stories of babaric africa” from the copy.

She is strapped to the table with the restraints placed just right to contort her body to show off every curve of her full figure. In the background, next to another African stereotype, is an eastern woman scheming atop an ivory throne clad in an alluring red dress.

And it was not all bad. Sometimes KiGor fought dinosaurs. That’s pretty cool.

But so often the marauders of pulp were enabling portrayals of America’s fears and hatreds. The covers and stories would engage in exclusionary ►

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GOLD DRESS | Revival Vintage GREEN DRESS | Revival Vintage

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TALES OF AESTHETIC

white-male fantasy creation that is only possible when you trivialize marginalized groups.

Then again, pulps were made when America had yet to be made un-great.

Some would suggest you should evaluate issues of race and gender relative to the time they occurred. Context is certainly vital, but this logic can be used as a free pass. Suggesting we should not give judgment implies we should be sympathetic to the powerful forces of the time. Many folks already understood that these stereotypical portrayals were wrong.

It is true, some of the criticism of pulps is weak. Moral critics did take issue with the subversive subject matter on its inherent worth. But the topics are not the problem. Their handling, implications and bias reinforcement are. Pulps often showed white men as saviors, white women as conquests, black men as brutes, black women as irrelevant and women of color as exotically provocative.

This is the legacy of pulps.

The magazines were simply a medium, like film or television. All genres do not carry this legacy and baggage equally.

But these images endure. While the aesthetic lasts, the impact of it in enforcing the horrific parts of the American mythos does too.

Every film textbook wants to talk about “The Birth of a Nation” for its contribution to film while relegating its role in revitalizing and empowering the kkk to an unfortunate asterisk. The same happens with much art from our history, pulps included. But art does not sit in solitude. It is incompatible with existing in a vacuum. The line work, bold expressions and unique style of pulps are married to whatever ideas weighted the fingers that held the brush.

Political implications of art cannot be an afterthought when we reflect on it. Just because we are a more evolved people with our fast hedgehogs and self-made rappers, does not mean we are free of the impact of our pretty yet problematic art. ■

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Burning Gold Writer Jade Fabello, Stylist Megan Arimanda, Photographer Cat Wilson, Models Jade Fabello, Grant Kanak, Ben Vega, HMUA Amanda MacFarlane, Sarah Stiles, Layout Kalissa White

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Hey there flyboy, I hope it’s not all gone — the sparking of your eyes, your true belief.

It was hot then, It could never have been me. Only for that moment in time did I dare to try.

It was when the sky still knew me, my skin could bear.

Encased and metallic — but my joints had yet to lock.

Anointed and propelled, I would take the metal that bound me and with it, cause a shower of bitter slippery glass.

I’ll never forget that heat, Down I would look at those faces bathed in light, illuminated not from the flame of destruction, but recast through my glimmering person.

Shining and reflective — through the punctured atmosphere, I would deliver us all.

But — But the heat, the hot hot heat.

It made me want to rise, so I would not have to boil and flay in its warped embrace, but no rupture was ever made, no ceiling ever shattered.

The tongue endured only chalk, and skin dried out, baked under coats of metal.

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I once self-christened a warrior most devout and mighty. Now I rescind. Now I reject the call.

Because I love you and I don’t want you to die.

It was hot then. And today, I am afraid.

Glory caught my throat. Flame asphyxiated. My prince, my baby boy, the only wrong ever done by you — was to see too, the lie of me.

Long burned and luster lost, my body now stiff, the last flicker of my soul left is you.

My selfish wish is to nail you to our jagged yet familiar earth. But I know it pulses in you too, I know you will again push the world down with the force of your legs in effort to reach what was never intended for us.

Today you fell, bounced off our cage above. If you accepted it, I would not blame you, in fact, it would turn my tears to those of greedy joy. But you were born of this world and know you have claim to the air above.

My dear boy — propulsion and false glory kindle of the same pyre.

So please for me, safe keep your flame. The rain of my eye can cool you if you let it.

It can be you. Just — Don’t be like me, strangled by the wrappings of burning gold.

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Outfit or Ottoman which defines your personal style?

Writer Mattison Gotcher, Stylist Megan Schuetz, Photographer Harrison Xue, Models Natalie Lee, Leonor Martins, HMUA Tiffany Lam, Layout Amy Lim, Rebecca Wong

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I

t’s morning. The birds are chirping, the sun is up (or not), and we have to get dressed for the day. This is a process we all go through, ‘’What am I going to wear? Do I want to look comfortable cute, or just cute?’’ This goes on for a while as we struggle to wipe the sleep from our eyes and take a tour of the collection of clothes we own in our closets. But take another look, deeper than our closets and we might find inspiration for our outfit that day from the space we are in. From the wallpaper to the chair sitting in the corner of the room, our environment might have a reflection of the clothes hanging on the racks of our closets. Is what you’re wearing similar to the chair across the corner of your room?

Personal space is just as telling of a person as personal style. Leandra Medine, creator of the fashion blog Man Repeller, did a house tour with Architectural Digest. During the tour of her home, she mentioned how she is a “big accessories person,” stating her love for jewelry and pointing to knick-knacks she had around her home. The way Medine’s home is decorated is similar to the types of

items she would wear. Many fashion brands have picked up on this and adapted it into production. These brands are not just selling clothing, but a lifestyle of their aesthetics. The clothing brand Anthropologie is very recognizable for this. When shopping on Anthropologie’s website or in their stores, there are sections for clothing, and also a variety of home goods. These aren’t just little trinkets and home accessories, but enough goods to decorate an entire house.

These home decor products are designed in the same Anthropologie style as the clothes.

Things such as colorful tassels on pillows can be found on a shirt or a bag. Embroidery and appliques that are on bath-mats and rugs are also on their pants. It makes sense that an Anthropologie girl would dress her house in the same tassel finishing detail as the top she is wearing and the bag she is carrying. Boho chic is who she is.

Why wouldn’t she want her shoes to match her wallpaper?

The processing and color tones exhibited in apparel and interior are similar too. While upholstery fabric is usually heavier and more durable than apparel fabric, ►

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STRIPED SHIRT | Ermine Vintage DENIM PANTS | Revival Vintage

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the processing and the mills are practically the same. design methods such as ruching and pleating are showcased in curtains, while also dresses. Soft jersey cotton can be found in a blanket along with a T-shirt. There are also designers of both interiors and fashion that pull from each other’s textiles to make a design in their fields. The color choices usually follow the same pattern based off of trend forecasting. When deep browns were in fashion last season, the browns were also shown in dishes and wall coloring in the home.

Fashion magazines like Vogue and architecture and interior magazines like Architectural Digest intertwine these worlds of fashion and spaces through different sections on their websites and magazines. Navigating through Architectural Digest’s website, the “Lifestyle” tab shows different sections that include travel, entertainment, technology and fashion. Looking through the “Fashion” tab, the articles discuss fashion within the realms of architecture and interior design. Some of the articles involving Gucci opening up a restaurant and the Gucci aesthetic the restaurant encompasses.

There are articles over building the space for a collection of clothing in a retail environment, and talking to jewelry designers about building, something people in the architecture world would know about, especially regarding their designs. Vogue magazine talks about architecture, mostly interior and furniture design, in the same way that fits the fashion readers of Vogue. On their website’s “Living” section there are articles on the Home tab that involving interior home subjects, ranging from topics over a fashion production designer designing chairs, and how their readers should want those chairs, to designers exhibitions and fashionable Vogue-ist accessories for the home.

Fashion and interior design are a part of the same creative space, but within different segments. One’s personal style will surely represent who they are in their personal spaces. It is a form of comfort and familiarity to accompany your home with similar cloths, colors and decor that informs who you are as a person. The chair across the room is no different than the clothes in your closet. ■

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Writer Jacqueline Porteny, Stylist Nikita Kalyana, Photographer Cat Wilson, Models Kate Mulligan, Elena Petropoulos, Alison Stutzman, HMUA Julie Garcia, Layout Ashlyn Hartfiel

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LADIES of the

STAGE

The theatre has historically portrayed a specific archetype of feminity that has misrepresented women for generations; however, more recently theatre companies have made a conscious effort to be more inclusive in their representation.

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G

irls in white dresses and blue satin sashes, snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes — these are a few of our favorite things. From images of Julie Andrews frolicking through a meadow in Salzburg, to Audrey Hepburn’s grandiose hat on the set of “My Fair Lady,” it is no secret that musicals have historically adhered to societal definitions of the ideal woman. As the curtains are drawn, again and again, they without fail- unveil a very narrow scope and specific archetype of women.

Feminine ideals have shown themselves through the theatre since the first well-known musicals in the late 19th and early 20th century. In what is referred to as the first wave of women and theatre, the ideal woman cast in a musical demonstrated the quintessential romantic, subtle and dreamlike virtues. “The Great Gatsby,” first produced for the stage in 1924, captured audiences with the character of Daisy Buchanan. From the introduction of her character, she is associated with otherworldliness and mystery. From the soft pastel shades that always seem to surround her, to the long strand of pearls delicately placed around her neck, Daisy’s character resides in a state of elegance and delicacy.

In her affair with millionaire Jay Gatsby, Daisy exemplifies the elements of whimsical romance desired of women in the early 20th century.

By the mid-20th century, female characters on stage had been demystified and played more complex characters who — like any other person — had moral dilemmas, dreams and desires. Seeing as this era put forth the first academically educated generation of women, the way women were represented on stage evolved. The new heroine introduced on stage was smart, elegant, well educated and sharptongued. For instance, in “The King and I” (1956), prim English teacher Anna Leonowens, portrayed by Deborah Kerr, is employed by an autocratic monarch to westernize his mass of children. Anna epitomizes the newfound role of women on stage. Opulently dressed in magnificent golds and elegant updos, Anna establishes her character as a well-to-do, educated Englishwoman. Besides being wellversed in literature and the arts, her character also serves as a moral compass to the King and his enclave.

As the ‘60s and ‘70s arrived, the skirts got longer, the heels got higher and ribbons made their way into nearly every hairstyle. Writers, directors, and producers of this era of musical theatre endowed women with classical beauty, a good at heart and an open-minded personality. For instance, in the film “Mary Poppins,” which first captured its audiences in 1964, Julie Andrews plays a Mary Poppins, a nanny with serious supernatural powers. As Mary Poppins quite literally flies in on the wind, she brings a sense of wonder and disciplined common sense into the children’s lives, and as her magical measuring tape says, she’s “practically perfect in every way.” Mary Poppins projects the oh-so-desired feminine benevolence of the era by giving the children a literal and figurative “spoonful of sugar” in every lesson she teaches them, from tidying their nursery to taking their medicine. Despite her admirable qualities, Mary Poppins is not the most dynamic character who experiences growth or struggles. Rather, she is seemingly in control and prepared for every situation thrown her way. Mary Poppins’ character embodies the ideal female character in 1960s musical theatre and film; she is gracious, nurturing and centered.

While we all love Mary Poppins and the magic she brought into our childhood, it is worth acknowledging that the lack of complexity in her character makes for an oversimplified version of femininity.

More recently, stage lights shone brightly on the cast of “Waitress,” one of Broadway’s newest musicals brought to life by an all-female creative team. However, feminist critics may suggest holding the applause until analyzing the musical more thoroughly. The production has been criticized for its so-called pervasive femininity, in which Jenna, the main character, is in an abusive marriage and essentially escapes her reality by baking pies. If that isn’t 1950s-esque enough, she is also pregnant and struggling to make ends meet.

Critics have raised concerns over the questionable messages about relationships being Ogie sends, one of Jenna’s suitors. Ogie initially displays controlling and emotionally abusive tendencies, but his slate is seemingly wiped clean after he sings the catchy and frustratingly funny “Never Ever Getting Rid of Me.” Ogie’s charm and comedic timing encourage the audience to disregard his perturbing behavior. In this way, “Waitress” establishes a ►

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perplexing double standard in which abuse — however mild — can be erased or forgiven if it becomes a love story or if the abuser in question seems non-threatening.

“Waitress” may have been a step in the right direction as far as female portrayal in musicals goes, but there is still considerable room to grow. Despite women making up roughly 68 percent of Broadway audiences, they are grossly underrepresented behind the scenes. The dissatisfaction with the noninclusivity has inspired avid theatre-goers Harmony France and Danni Smith to take action. France and Smith founded Firebrand Theatre as a way to fill the void of female representation in theatre. Their mission to employ and empower women on and off the stage is fulfilled by using the criteria of the self-created Firebrand Test, which was developed to accompany the well-known Bechdel test when evaluating and commissioning new musicals. At Firebrand Theatre, passing the Bechdel test, which requires for two women to talk to each other about something besides a man, is the bare minimum.

The Firebrand test requires that there be at least as many women as men in the cast and crew. Employing these two evaluating criteria to musicals has helped expand the women-centric vision in theatre on stage, as well as behind the scenes.

Musicals make for far more interesting experiences when women play characters other than the helpless damsel in distress, the promiscuous prostitute, the wise motherly figure, or the old hag. Though these have historically been roles that plague women in the theater, musical companies like Firebrand are stepping forward to empower women.

As there have been eras of feminine representation — or misrepresentation — on stage, this can be the new era. An era of sharing the untold stories of hundreds of female characters, each boundless in their breadth of experiences. Times may be changing, but as always, the show must go on. ■

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Writer Aimee Lara, Stylist Gabi Feltner, Photographer Andrea Xie, Models Julie Garcia, Melina Perez, HMUA Monica Balderas, Layout Natalie Lee

T

hey sit around the dining table at midnight, using beans and soda caps as playing pieces. El Sol, La Luna, La Diablita, lay on the playing card in a diagonal formation. “¡loteria!” yells someone at the end of the table. One can often find families in Mexico playing the game of Loteria on a weekend night. Loteria is comparable to bingo, and has been harkened as a staple to Mexican family life, as well as other regions in Latin America. We then zero into Monterrey, one of Mexico’s largest industrial and cultural hubs. Regio. An individual from Monterrey, Mexico. Regio style is a conglomerate of color and efficiency. The city of Monterrey is fast paced and alert. Nightlife is king, and the business professionals reign over the town with bright business suits reminiscent of days where textiles were created from rustic and agrarian elements. The vibrant hues and characters are evocative of the flora and fauna that permeate Mexican country sides. Both Monterrey fashion and culture is engendered from the old caricatures and figures in Loteria cards. ►

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EL SOL Y LA LUNA

A certain kind of vivacity is in the step of Monterrey fashion enthusiasts. The colors they wear are shades of crimson, mustard yellow, gold and orange. The Loteria card that best elicits this brightness is El Sol. Lace fabrics provide an aura of delicacy and jubilance.

Women from Monterrey that embrace this style express a buoyancy and high enthusiasm for life when they pair bright pieces with each other. They exhibit a sense of empowerment and a self-assured grin, and facilitate erasure

to constraining impositions of gender-based femininity and frailty. Perhaps those of us who are moodier might feel more inclined towards La Luna. Silver and cool tones of blue comprise her style. La Luna is calm, maybe a little somber, and slightly overworked by the banalities of city life. But she keeps on. She wears white lace and a tranquil but piercing demeanor, concerned with her ambitions and goals. I wouldn’t try to tell her to “smile more often.” ►

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LA DIABLITA AND EL MUSICO And then it’s night, and Monterrey thrives. La Diablita comes out to play after a long day of work. She’s adorned in black mesh, scuffed Doc Martens and a classic leather jacket that fits a tad too loosely. Monterrey nightlife flourishes in conjunction with unfettered sensuality and lust.

La Diablita is the emanation of a day’s hard work come to fruition, when all hell breaks loose. Any impulse she may have is met with self-control.

She is calculated, cunning, sly. She is followed by El Musico, the street musician that works until the sun comes out. She sticks to an all-black wardrobe in an effort to keep the stress of choosing clothing to a minimum. There’s work to be done, ballads to belt and her family to honor. But even with all of this, she makes sure to keep some sort of bold accessory to illustrate her spontaneity and love for vibrancy. She emulates Mexico’s ingrained zeal for music, and transcends eras with her timeless pieces of dark clothing while picking classical music on her guitar.

EL CATRIN El Catrin is a businessperson, the aristocrat. She’s reached the apex of the hierarchy in her company, and she lives off of a jam-packed Google Calendar. Dark neutrals are what her wardrobe is comprised off, with occasional ornations of ruffles and simple patterns. She keeps her outfits figure flattering, because she claims her sexuality, and works to combine this with her tenacious work ethic in an impenetrable coalescence. Pops of canary yellow adorn her feet, and a tight bun rests gently at the top of her head.

These Loteria caricatures elicit the facets of everyday life in Monterrey, and the individuals who live in this metropolis. While the clothes are still functional and quick, the citizens of Monterrey make sure not to forget richness, radiance and playfulness in their pieces.

Globalization has brought modern streetwear to Monterrey, but individuals atop of this city on a mountain never cease to invoke brilliancy into their clothes and outwards expressions. ■

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THE ADVERTISING AND FASHION INDUSTRIES HAVE PLAYED A KEY ROLE IN DEFINING OUR GENDER ROLES, FOR BOTH THE BETTER AND THE WORSE.

Writer Isabella McWhorter, Stylist Heejung An, Photographer Benjamin Graham, Models Yasmeen Amro, Benjamin Vega, HMUA Hannah Nรถelle Johnson, Layout Maya Haws-Shaddock

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RED SKIRT | Revival Vintage GREEN BLOUSE | Revival Vintage

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EVERY DAY, EVERY SECOND, YOU ARE BEING ADVERTISED TO WHETHER YOU CONSCIOUSLY NOTICE IT OR NOT. Look around you. Massive billboards are on display while you walk or drive down the street, the photo of a fashion model pops up in the margins of your open internet tab — the list goes on and on.

You, as an American, are exposed to around 4,000 to 10,000 ads on a daily basis. The advertising industry thrives off of targeting your mind in a well-endorsed and calculating manner. It has shaped our country’s identity; notably, it has had an adverse effect on our gender roles.

REWIND SEVEN DECADES — THE ‘50S The roles of American women and men were defined when advertising pushed specific gender norms.

Picture this: A woman with a short floofy hairstyle, a dress with some flare at the bottom and a nice apron to top it off. She looks nice, she’s in the kitchen, and if you’re a man, she’s going to cook and clean for you.

Then there’s the man. He’s got a smooth ironed out suit, an air of entitlement and, hey, he’s a hard worker.

The perfect American dream was a man’s dream, and it came with the perfect wife. This was the advertising trend publicized to the country. Ads told women and men on a daily basis who they could and could not be in America, and we listened. That is the power of advertising. And seven decades later, we’re still learning how to wield it. ►

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FASHION IN ADVERTISING Fashion ads display impressive, groundbreaking and eye-catching style. However, today a number of designers — such as Kate Spade and Tamara Mellon — and various ad campaigns have also succeeded in portraying progressive ideas.

Ideas that advance and modernize gender roles.

Fashion is bettering our past mistakes.

So, now, picture this: A woman stands with her hands on her hips, with an air of confidence and clad in a slick suit. In an entirely separate picture, a man sits with his hands cupping his face, donning a light shade of lipstick and nothing but a red elegant skirt. Flip another magazine page and you see a woman in a stunning sheer dress that extenuates her body: She is sexy, she is empowered.

Page after page, and it becomes clear. The fashion industry has and is redefining gender roles. Style can’t be controlled in a box of gender-assigned roles. This is the time when our country can finally learn what diversity means and what it stands for. You can wear dresses, you can wear suits — you are not restricted to the gender role the past created for you.

“Ads sell a great deal more than products,” said Jean Kilbourne in her 2013 essay “Beauty … and the Beast of Advertising.” “They sell values, images, and concepts of success and worth, love and sexuality, popularity and normalcy. They tell us who we are and who we should be.” Women, girls, men and boys can look around them and believe that they can be whoever they want. The fashion industry is a perfect example of how ads have broken down the boxes that restrict identity. Someone can decide to be career driven like the woman or man in a stunning business suit photographed downtown; they can be vulnerable like the man being embraced by a woman in a perfume ad; they can be passionate like the woman in an elegantly breathtaking Dior dress. The fluidity of cultural perceptions of gender is growing.

It hardly matters what an ad is selling physically, but matters more so what the ad can personally sell the consumer. That’s the calculating and wellendorsed manner in which advertising tackles our minds. The fashion industry wants to sell a new brand of perfume, that is the surface level message. Underneath that, fashion ads sell sex, they sell desire, they sell success. They sell the idea that if you buy their product, you could be like said visual. If the ads reflect diversity and the endless opportunities we need to decide who we want to be, then this would be a perfect outcome. ►

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THE DARK SIDE — THE RETURN OF SEXISM, OBJECTIFICATION AND ASSIGNMENT Nonetheless, the fashion industry has also played a part in bringing back outdated gender roles. In a hit or miss fashion, advertising in the industry either perfectly reflects healthy gender roles, or gets it so, so wrong.

Picture this: You’re a female flipping through magazines at a hair salon and a man sits next to you.

Your fingers stop turning pages as you pause to stare at a Jimmy Choo ad. A woman dons a tight-fitting elegant white dress, and a strappy pair of heels. A man wears an all-black outfit. It’s the selling of your typical Jimmy Choo ad: dress, shoes, shirt, pants. But the ad sells so much more. The woman model is seemingly passed out in the open trunk of a car, while the man leans against it with a shovel in his hand. Objectification, rape, violence, victimization — those are the ideals the ad sells. You look down at your own pair of heels and dress, and feel uncomfortable with the man next to you.

This reveals how far the fashion industry has to go to completely eliminate acts of sexual violence and harassment, objectification and unhealthy gender roles from its advertising and message. While the industry can be applauded for breaking down gender barriers of the past, even one ad such as the latter is one too many. And it’s not even the only ad of its kind. A similar Dolce & Gabbana ad shows a woman in a black bodysuit and beautiful black heels, and four men in equally groundbreaking style. The kicker: While three men watch longingly, the fourth man pins the woman down to the floor, straddling her body. Beautiful style crossed with a disturbing ideal of gang rape.

HOW WE GO SO, SO WRONG DEPICTING MEN AND WOMEN TOGETHER The fashion industry and its advertising have allowed men and women to take control of their own sexuality and gender roles. Wearing clothes that highlight their bodies is not scandalous so much as empowering for women. Wearing a dress is not a lack of masculinity, but a strong statement for men.

However, when the fashion industry encourages fluidity within gender norms, men and women are often separated. When together, ads begin to place unacceptable roles on men and women. In a society where we are constantly in contact with the opposite gender, our advertising should reflect how we want to interact.

In the ‘50s, advertising was powerful enough to literally push and box women into the housewife role. Today, advertising has equal if not more power. Industries that have such an impactful and loud platform are showing Americans that objectification of men and women, violence and sexist expectations are okay.

Look around you. Walk down the street. Glance at the margins of your open internet window. In a world that is constantly trying to tell you who you can and can’t be, filter the flaws of two powerfully influential industries, and notice the ads that let you decide who you are. Look at the fashion trends: newly tailored business suits, revamped dresses, statement makeup and accessories. See that a female modeled that business suit calling your name; notice that a male model rocked a shade of lipstick you want to give your boyfriend; be confident in seeing that a female model wore a sexy dress without being objectified by a man.

The fashion and advertising industries hold influence and power. Together, they have begun to show Americans that gender norms don’t exist. There is a long way to go. This is a start. ■

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THE

DISTORTION

OF BEAUTY

Writer Wendy Du, Stylist Emma Gray, Photographer Ariana Diaz, Models Mariam Abdul-Rashid, Jeanette Hoelscher, Madeline Wells, HMUA Vivianna Torres, Cameron Young, Layout Kelsey Jones

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L

avish, downy lashes frame enlarged pupils, luminous in color. The eyes stand starkly against the entirely faultless skin, so silky in texture that not a single pore remains visible.

Such exemplary qualities are only enhanced by a perfectly pinched nose-bridge: narrow, high and defined. Immaculate hair frames a sharply angled face. It’s exquisitely tiny, yet delicately balances the enormous eyes to a small chin.

These features can be yours, easily — simply swipe open your phone lock screen and click on any social media or multimedia messaging app available. In our society, we have access to “cosmetic” alteration almost instantaneously through nothing other than social media filters.

Augmented reality filters have become a staple on multiple social media platforms since 2015 when Snapchat first released their signature face lenses. They have since pervaded other major networking corporations such as Instagram and Facebook. Realizing the feature was no longer an optional add-on, these companies are constantly updating their filter catalog. New waves are released seasonally with fresh and amusing ways to cutify their users’ appearances.

With a wide array of options to choose from, from making one’s face squishy and freckled to sprouting fangs and horrendous veins, it is no wonder that people are preoccupied with filters. The relative ease of altering one’s characteristics has resulted in the task becoming normalized, and corporations are ensuring that it will stay this way. However, the seemingly harmless act of enhancing features can carry heavy consequences if one is not aware of the detrimental impacts, especially on those from younger generations.

In this era of social media, people have become obsessed with their online personas. It’s simple to fall into a routine of editing and posting; counting likes and reactions like credits of validation. However, compared to when photo and video-sharing platforms first became popular, the intensity of the process has escalated dramatically. People will go through great lengths to edit a single photo, channeling it through multiple photo editing apps to alter image characteristics. Common examples include vsco, which can shift the quality and atmosphere of a photo, and FaceTune, where blemishes are smoothed and areas of concern pinched and eliminated. Furthermore, photographers can now be booked to create content for Instagram accounts, and social media likes can be purchased in bulk. With this much effort stacked behind every single post, it’s no wonder that people become so invested in ensuring that their lives appear nothing less than perfect on the internet. Filters, therefore, spur on this obsession. Now even in short photo message exchanges, one can guarantee that they are at the height of their physical attractiveness. One can carry on the consistency of what they’ve established online.

But what about those who are younger and have seen nothing but these facades of perfection? When all you can see is the polished and primed states of those around you, it is natural to become inflicted with thoughts of low selfesteem and doubt. With this type of mindset, filters transition gradually from a choice to a necessity. Then, as augmented reality lenses typically reflect what is current of modern beauty standards, the daily post dangerously becomes the repetitive enforcement of ►

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unrealistic physical ideals. Those of us who remember a time where technology had not diffused into every aspect of life often go on social media cleanses to purge ourselves of the overwhelming influence of constant beauty expectations. But the younger generations of the digital era have not truly experienced this distinction — they are simply bombarded with it every day.

Yet, while filters and social media can encourage detrimental thoughts, they cannot be solely blamed for our society’s thirst for beauty. The need to alter our bodies had been present even before them, namely in the form of makeup. Humans have been decorating their bodies with color pigments since the prehistoric times. The Chinese invented nail polish while the Egyptians developed mascara and eyeliner, and the Sumerians created lipstick while the Germans produced foundation. Throughout time, multiple cultures spread their cosmetic products and preferences around the globe: namely a pale face with red lips, which was especially popularized in the 1500s by the English. The need to conform to this style of appearance was so extensive that the female population in England painted their face with toxic white paint, leading to skin discoloration and hair fallout. Today, we idealize a different type of face: one that is bronze and angled, chiseled by contour makeup.

The stir for this trend has not gone unnoticed by networking corporations. Social media filters typically mimic contouring and highlighting by shrinking and slimming the user’s face at a rate much quicker than if they were to go through the makeup process. Even if one did not realize the influence behind the filter, they would still feel the instinctive yearning to harbor the idealized features present

upon them, increasing the need to hide behind a filter. The reason for this high demand for carved out features is arguably due to the American icon Kim Kardashian, who spurred on this makeup trend by releasing photos before and after her makeup routine. Utilizing shades both lighter and darker than her skin tone, she was able to add depth to her face in areas such as beneath her cheekbone and on her temples, creating the illusion of a sharper and slimmer face. Since then, the technique has taken the world by storm, resulting in waves of new contour palettes and highlighting powders. Highlighters in particular pop out features that accentuate the bone structure of the face, such as the cheekbones.

Yet, this unfortunately means that people are craving slender features even more intensely than before, consequently relying on makeup and filters to achieve the desired look.

The usage of makeup and social media filters understandably can be considered very harmless. Since features are not being permanently altered, such acts can be seen as simply enhancing preexisting traits, which one should never blame another for seeking. With beauty comes empowerment and confidence, feelings that should be advocated for and encouraged. It’s just the excess of unrealistic beauty expectations that should be cautioned against. Younger generations should grow up with the knowledge that amending one’s features is not as critical as their environments make it appear to be — that there are others with insecurities they possess that they are not ashamed of and flaunt every day, shamelessly and brilliantly.

People live gorgeous and flourishing lives everywhere, regardless of whether or not that is shared on social media. One should feel beautiful always: filter or no filter. ■

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Writer Kenneth Wei, Stylist Susy Seo, Photographer Ernest Chan, Models Haoqing Geng, Hyo Chul Kim, HMUA Cameron Polonet, Layout Ernest Chan

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DIST

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ANCE Writer Abigail Rosenthal, Stylist Carlie Roberson, Photographer Anna Droddy, Models Carlie Roberson, Madeline Wells, HMUA Julie Garcia, Layout Maya Haws-Shaddock

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sometimes all it takes is a spark.

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