The Chromatic Issue

the chromatic issue

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• OCTOBER 2019

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06 FACES AND SPACES: MARY PENCKOFER A look into the life of Mary Penckofer, a colorblind Northwestern artist

09 A LOOK AT VIBRANT HAIR

Outlandish hair colors are all the rage. Hear from three students about their experiences with vibrant hair

12 WHIMSY

Color brings a sense of whimsy into our lives, and we have a lot of whimsy to share in our photoshoot

49 SETTING THE TONE

Take a close look at Pantone’s Color of the Year: Living Coral

36 IN OPPOSITION

Clashing colors have become a fashion hit, and in this shoot clashing colors are all the rage

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COLORISM

One STITCH writer takes a close look at her experiences with colorism and how it affects our society

29 SEEING RED

The color red is important in Chinese culture, however many Western designers have used red and Chinese culture in an appropriative way

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MASTHEAD QUESTION:

How do you bring a little color into your everyday life?

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Emily Ash + Rachel Burns Samuel Maude + Nina Wescott MANAGING EDITOR Eden Lichterman CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lizzie Zhang SENIOR EDITOR Lexi Schiff

ite vor reen a f y e g ny is ma lim ve ma n s e a gre wear d I h ssorie e I n e Lim r, so ket a n acc o jac ee l o r c ffy g pu lime

PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Caroline Ward

DIGITAL CREATIVE DIRECTOR Zoe Grossinger PRINT EDITOR Chloe Law PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Nia Adurgbola

DESIGN EDITOR Angela Cheng

PHOTOSHOOT DIRECTOR Emily Burns

ONLINE EDITOR Lilly Pace

ASSISTANT ONLINE EDITOR Radhika Rahlan

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Jay Towns

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Natalie Vazquez

CORPORATE DIRECTOR Emily Wang

CORPORATE DIRECTOR Patricia Tang

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Daniella Ueki

MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR Wenbo Zhang

CORPORATE TEAM Eden Hirschfield, Savion Jean-Pierre, Yonjoo Seo + Susan Tran

and es o sh s! gh ssorie u o r Th acce

I bri n my ng color i on n ails. I c n my lif u e e con on ora rrently with brigh tinue to nge, and have I t col g ors et loud will the w all throu and inter ghou ! t

By acces collectin s g pins, ories - e dramat belts arring ic , ribb s ons, , hair etc.

EDITORIAL TEAM Irene Chang, Olivia Evans, Lizabeth Frohwein, Giovana Golhoren, Hayley Grindle, Nia Harris, Florence O’Connor, Sarah Rosenblum, Joely Simon, Sierra Turner + Rachael Vargas DESIGN TEAM Rita Liu, Grace Lougheed, Jessie Paridis + Stephanie Zhu

MULTIMEDIA TEAM Pranavi Ahuja, Maddy Duam, Sylvia Goodman, Zoe Juanitas, Michelle Kim, Agnes Lee, Victoria Lee, Marie Mendoza, Gabrielle Silva, Sharon Song, Kumail Sydain + Maria Valencia PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM Maria Arias, Coco Huang, Nami Hoffman, Sarah Loper + Anna Weeks SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM Sarah Filby, Stella Kleynerman, Rachel Kwak + Humna Saad STYLING TEAM Miranda Andrade, Erica Cantor, Joyce D’Aprile, Renee Grotthuss, Anya Joseph, Sharon Kleiman, Katharina Nachtigall, Emily Norfolk, Joyce Park, Nicolas Petry-Mitchel, Missy Romoff, Sanchita Sen, Annika de Vogel, Ava White, Erin Zhang

I fill my so I get room with hous to see m eplants (green) e y favorite color ver y day !

e tim g n o i h d speneople wday! y B th p my wi hten brig

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SARAH LOPER HUNTSVILLE, AL SECOND YEAR PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM “I love having a pop of color in my look, and it usually ends up being pink or red because of my staple shoes—my red and white adidas and my pink doc martens. But now that my hair is pink, I have to wear a lot more black and white."

SARAH FILBY MINNEAPOLIS, MN THIRD YEAR SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM "For me, color creates both cohesion and juxtaposition in my outfits. Usually, I'll either wear similar tones that create a sense of cohesion, or I'll wear a statement piece that really stands out."

RACHAEL VARGAS CARBONDALE, IL FOURTH YEAR EDITORIAL TEAM "I try to bring a decent amount of color into my style. I’m really into the bright colors of the 80’s and early 90’s. If there’s a Saved by the Bell reboot please call me."

WENBO ZHANG TAIYUAN, CHINA FOURTH YEAR CORPORATE TEAM "There are two parts of one’s style: color and shape. While shape sets the boundaries, colors expresses how conflicted or balanced my style is, so color matters to me in the way that it speaks for my emotions and even my personality."

THOUGHTS F R O M

T H E

E D I TO R S

For most of us, the ability to recognize colors begins when we are less than two years old, and by the time we finish preschool, we can identify blue from green and red from purple. From then on, color becomes the dominating feature of just about everything we see. Fashion is the ultimate exemplar of this. So many factors go into designing a garment, but when that garment comes down the runway or hangs in a store, its color is the first thing we observe and the impact is instantaneous.

Yet, the ability to recognize the psychological impact of color is not as innate as our ability to distinguish blue from green. Color affects the way we perceive, understand, associate and interpret everything we see—from products to people to entire cultures. The effect can be direct and tangible. Like when Pantone announces its Color of the Year and we see an influx of that color in every industry across the world, as explained on page 49. Other times, the effect can manifest itself in subtle ways that go unnoticed, unacknowledged or ignored by a majority of people. On page 34, writer Sierra Turner examines the impact of colorism on her and other Northwestern students’ view of their identities. Another writer discusses the Western misperception of the color red in Chinese history and culture on page 29.

While color psychology is a well-established, widely discussed area of study, there is still so much to explore. We, the STITCH team, wanted to contemplate how color impacts our everyday lives, passions and interactions. And what better time to dive into the complex role and impact of color than in our Spring quarter issue—when the weather finally goes above 40 degrees and we can trade in our black winter coats for some bright, springtime colors. We hope you enjoy the Chromatic Issue and take the time to look around and appreciate the beauty of color, while recognizing and considering its psychological impact.

Rachel Burns & Emily Ash • OCTOBER 2019

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Faces and Spaces: Mary Penckofer 6

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By Sarah Rosenblum Photos by Brian Ho Art by Mary Penckofer

U

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ntil her friends said something Mary Penckofer was convinced that her orange sofa was bright red.

After looking at only three of Penckofer’s pieces and noticing she consistently worked with certain colors, her art professor guessed that she was colorblind. She was right-- Penckofer has mild enchroma, and her perception of color has become part of her identity as an artist. Penckofer is a senior at Northwestern studying neuroscience, but she was previously an art major. Art remains an important part of her life, and it has been since she was a little girl. Penckofer works with intense colors and high contrast.

Penckofer grew up going to the Art Institute of Chicago a few times a week with her father, who is also an artist . As a photographer, he has a darkroom in the basement of their home, which provoked Pencokfer’s fascination with high contrast. She started painting with him as a little girl, and it wasn’t until she was nine or ten that she figured out she was colorblind.

“I guess it didn’t really affect me because I already loved art,” Penckofer says. “I figured out how to work with [color blindness] without realizing I was working with it.”

Penckofer spent years walking through museums with

My realistic paintings are pop art-y and my abstract paintings are kind of chaotic. But a planned chaotic.

her father and talking about what they admired. She had no idea that she was perceiving different colors than he was. Her color blindness is subtle, with reds and greens and certain other shades that appear close to each other on the color wheel obscured. The normal eye has three color cones: red, blue and green. Red-green colorblind people like Penckofer cannot clearly tell the difference between the two wavelengths.

However, her idea of color is part of her style, and she isn’t shy to show it.

“I definitely don’t think about what it would look like to other people,” Penckofer says.

She believes that color blindness neither positively or negatively affects her work. Color blindness has impacted her vision for her entire life, so it simply complements her sight.

In sixth or seventh grade, her dad bought her a neon hot pink tube of paint which she instantly adored. That’s when she started experimenting with bright colors, and the habit has stuck with her since. Ironically, color blindness may be why she gravitates to extremely vibrant hues. She has noticed that she definitely sticks to specific color palettes. Penckofer paints with purples, blues, pinks and yellows because those colors are vividly stand out to her. Most times, she doesn’t paint with

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I don't really care about what it looks like in the end, which I think is a good thing.

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realistic colors, which helps her avoid having to color match with certain hues she can’t differentiate.

“I use really intense neon paints,” Penckofer says. “ I don’t use natural colors at all. I don’t know why, I just think it’s fun.”

She often takes a photos and uses them as the blueprints for her paintings. Most of her pictures are against dark backgrounds or capture dark shadows. She used this technique of playing with light when she was at Tulane her freshman year and got into glassblowing. One of her favorite works she has created is actually not a painting at all, but a giant installation filling a hallway with 400 glass raindrops from the ceiling, lit up by led lights that switched colors. The installation is still there today. In this installation, similarly to the way she shoots photos, light is her tool for contrast. Penckofer describes her personal artistic style: “I would say a mixture of realistic and abstract paintings. My realistic paintings are pop art-y and my abstract paintings are kind of chaotic. But a planned chaotic.”

Penckofer’s fashion taste correlates to the color schemes and attitudes she works with in her art. Yellow is her favorite color, and she wears a lot of it. She also loves black and wears neutrals to avoid wearing a really bad outfit.

“I wear super bright colors, which kind of reflects my pop art style paintings,” Penckofer says. “Or, I’ll dress kind of street-style-esque which is more chaotic, edgy or really fun.”

Creating art always brings her back to childhood moments in the museum with her father. Art serves as her release. “Now, everytime I do it, it relaxes me and reminds me of being a kid.”

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Penckofer’s free and playful outlook on art gives her a creative space she can return to at any time, and her outlook is reflected in her creations.

“I don’t really care about what it looks like in the end, which I think is a good thing,” she says.

In her final year at Northwestern, she knows she will continue to prioritize fitting art into her schedule. It keeps her calm and seeing people’s happy reactions to her paintings feels rewarding. As an artist, colorblindness is a built-in contributor to the way she works, and it’s something that she is proud to identify with. If she had the opportunity to see “normally” for good, she wouldn’t make the switch.

“I think it’s a cool, unique thing that I could talk about,” Penckofer says “If I ever had a show or something, I probably would focus it around color or being colorblind.”

A LOOK AT VIBRANT HAIR

by Lizabeth Frowhein

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People increasingly are choosing to express themselves through hair color. While this trend was once viewed by many as an outlandish expression of self, dying hair unnatural colors, such as blue, pink or green, has now become widely accepted. The movement of bright hair from the outskirts of society to the mainstream speaks to the growing acceptance of expression through hair color.

Three Northwestern students both expressed that they feel more like themselves with colorful hair and feel today’s society is more accepting of non-traditional forms of self expression.

Flannery Cusick, a Weinberg sophomore, says that she always loved the color pink.

“I had this huge mental breakdown the day before Valentine’s Day and I was just like, ‘I need to change something about my appearance,’” Cusick says. “I had been planning to do it. To me, I just really love the color pink, so whenever I’m in the mood to change something big or feel like putting a little more effort into my appearance, I go with pink.”

Cusick believes the acceptance of her hair reflects the modern shift in mindset from rejecting colorful hair as a form of expression to accepting it expression through hair to the acceptance of it.

“I tend to be really impulsive with my hair. Sometimes, I’ll have a friend cut it before we go out,” Cusick says. “I haven’t been to a salon in probably ten years. I love doing it myself. I’ve ended up with pink hands a couple of times, but I’ve learned my lesson.”

Medill sophomore Roxanne Panas said that she had been thinking about dying her hair for a while but decided to take the plunge last spring. Since then, she has changed her color a few times. She’s tried magenta, blue and lavender.

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“I was scared to go through with it,” Panas said. “I thought it might look bad, or the color might not turn out the way I wanted it to, because I wasn’t going to go to a salon to get it done. But eventually, I just decided that it was pointless to worry about all of those things.”

Panas said she feels most like herself when her hair is dyed.

She doesn’t dye it bright colors for attention but rather because she loves how it makes her feel and sees it as a way to express her personality. According to Panas, Northwestern also harbors a good environment for people to feel comfortable expressing themselves however they want.

“It is solidarity when I am walking down Sheridan and see someone else with bright hair,” Panas says. “I feel comfortable on this campus not caring how other people view me.It was a comfort to see other people using their hair as a form of expression.”

Panas said that her friends and family were very supportive, as well.

“My family and friends saw how much I enjoyed it and how happy it made me, and so they chose to also let it make them happy too,” Panas said.

Overall, the colorful hair ultimately changed Panas’ mindset.

It made her feel joyful and more like herself which is ultimately

how any personal decision should be. Panas said that her lavender hair has been her favorite so far, but she hopes to dye her hair a bubblegum pink shade in the future.

“I feel like it gives people an immediate impression of me, which is funny,” Forst said. “I don’t really like it, because it makes me feel more conspicuous; people’s eyes are attracted to it, and they remember you more easily.”

Forst thinks that others might think she is seeking attention or wanting to stand out. However, that is not the case. According to Forst, she simply likes to be experimental with her hair and change it often. She says that her hair has been received with indifference from her family, love from her friends and surprise from strangers.

“I think people see short, colored hair and connect it with a queer identity,” Forst says. “It’s just strange when people get this immediate perception of you.”

She says that she thinks vibrant hair has become more accepted over time. Forst’s mom told her that when she was a teenager she had colorful hair and only a few companies would hire her. Forst feels that today, more people want to express their identities in a very public way, and the popularity of outlandish hair colors have changed. Not for everyone, though.

“My grandma hates it,” Forst says.

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WHI Models: Chase Doggett and Sayeed Sanchez Photoshoot Director: Emily Burns Photographer: Sarah Loper Stylists: Emily Burns, Lizzie Zhang, Joyce D’Aprile, Nina Wescott 12

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Color gives life its meaning and character. In this shoot, STITCH explores makeup’s ability to convey self expression.

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Huda Beauty Obsessions eyeshadow palette in shade Sapphire, Color Pop Disco Glitter in OMG I’m Wet, Mac Trolls Matte Lipstick in Midnight Troll • OCTOBER 2019

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On Sayeed: James Charles by Morphe palette, Glossier lipgloss On Chase: James Charles by Morphe palette, Fenty Stunna Lip Paint in Uncensored

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James Charles by Morphe Palette, Glossier Play Colorslide in Jumbo

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BY CHLOE LAW For me, the color red evokes the image of the red pocket. A red envelope embossed with gold designs that usually contains money, the red pocket is given out at Chinese New Year dinners to symbolize the transfer of good fortune. New Year’s dinner feels incomplete without family members fighting over the bill and older aunties giving out red pockets to all the kids, all while donning an absurd amount of red clothing. Red has become synonymous with luck in Chinese culture and somehow also indicative of China itself. A stroll through Chicago’s Chinatown requires walking through a large red gate in the heart of the district and past red railings and lanterns hanging in front of shop doors. It is clear, even in the infrastructure of the district itself that red holds importance in Chinese culture. The color is a key feature of the Western imagination of China, permeating multiple facets of Western culture, including fashion.

Western fashion has long been influenced by “Oriental” aesthetics in an attempt to be fashion forward. This trend creates a contrast between the reality and the fictionalization of the East that reflects a long history of cultural ideas getting lost in translation between the East and West. For centuries, China’s silk trade, blue and white porcelain, calligraphy and mysticism have amazed Western designers. The very notion of the East as unrestrained and free, and the West as confined and orderly, plays heavily into the idea of Orientalism, as it implies that the East is a place where civilized Westerners may become unbound.

In 1977, Yves Saint Laurent launched his Chinese inspired collection, dubbed “the Opium collection” due to Saint Laurent’s fascination with the Opium Wars in China. The Opium Wars were a series of attempts in the 1850s by the British empire to establish ports in China and legalize the opium trade for imperial economic gain. This severely undermined China’s economic and political sovereignty and led to widespread opium addiction throughout the country. Flash forward to 1977 and the opening of Saint Laurent’s Opium collection, which included an array of Chinese aesthetics such as exaggerated pagoda shoulders, cheongsams and the crimson Mao Jacket. Modeled after Chairman Mao, the infamous image can be connected to tumultuous events in Chinese history such as the founding of the • OCTOBER 2019 29

Shrouding history with the polish of red lacquer and the sheen of red silk.

Communist Party in China and the horrors of famine and the Cultural Revolution. For Saint Laurent, the Orient offered a lush and forbidden sensuality that made his work more daring, and provided a certain majesty of color and opulence. Problematically, however, Saint Laurent’s collection romanticizes the deadly effects of the Opium Wars on the Chinese, presenting it instead as part of the allure and sensuality of the East. Aside from the deadly effects of opium itself, the wars left a legacy of imperial subjugation and partitioned China into various regions of foreign control, subordinating dynastic control to British imperial forces.

In harkening back to one of the darkest periods in Chinese history, Saint Laurent recalled a time of Western domination over China. Transporting his Western audience to a place of superiority that not only trivializes the severity of the wars and their legacy, he also constantly reminds Chinese communities that their history can simply be ignored for the sake of a larger Western aesthetic.

This Orientalist tradition has continued into the present day with the Chinese-themed Met Gala in 2015. The 2015 Met Gala only furthered the tradition of exotic and sensual Easterninspired clothing in Western fashion. Unlike Chanel and Saint Laurent, however, the Met adopted a more self-conscious Orientalist approach by purposely presenting an inauthentic view of the East. The museum explicitly states that the 2015 exhibition, China: Through the Looking Glass, “explores the impact of Chinese aesthetics on Western fashion and how China has fueled the fashionable imagination for centuries.” In other words, the exhibition was designed to show how Western designers have been influenced by Chinese culture and to explore a Western perception of China. It showcases a dazzling display of chinoiserie, silk, palettes of red and gold, dragons, phoenixes, pagodas, mandarin collars, frog buttons and the cheongsam and qipao dresses as a way to “introduce a misreading from the start,” as head curator Andrew Bolton calls it.

However, the exhibition ultimately paints this lostin-translation, cross-cultural understanding as positive, dehistoricizing and depoliticizing the very real place that these aesthetics come from. The exhibition shows Vivienne Tam’s iconic screen-printed Mao Dress which features a colorful checkerboard design depicting Mao in various masquerades: in pigtails, as a priest, in sunglasses and with a bee on his nose.

With this, many people, like art historian Rachel Silberstein, 30

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criticize how the Met simply glosses over historical and political context of such important pieces. The exhibition doesn’t explain the way in which Tam’s Warhol-esque manipulation of Mao reflects Mao’s manipulation of his own cult of personality, dismissing Tam’s use of clothing to address ideas of personal expression versus the restrictive political ideology during Mao’s turbulent Cultural Revolution. The idea of the Mao Dress has been translated to the Mao Jacket by Vivienne Westwood, who used the simplicity of the jacket to create a fashion basic of cotton poplin, and John Galliano, who elevated the plebeian look to a sophisticated style with green silk and red satin ribbon.

Both draw influence from Tam’s original Mao Dress as they transform Mao’s dictatorial look into an item of self-expression.

Yet, by changing the satirical message behind Tam’s original, they use the image of Mao as an aesthetic rather than a political statement.

Excluding the political statement of Tam’s Mao Dress obscures how Western designers often appropriate Eastern imagery or aesthetics for the sake of being cutting-edge and unique. Rather than considering the negative effects of Orientalism on history, it presents an overly stylized and romanticized version of it, showing audiences that politics and history can be simply covered with the symbolic and powerful color red. Through this disconnect, the 20,000 Chinese soldiers killed in the Opium Wars, and the many more who suffered the effects, become a high-end fragrance named “Black Opium,” while the 45 million people killed under Mao’s leadership become a trendy army green jacket, effectively reducing a country, its people and its history to a fashion statement.

With this, the color red occupies a strange place in my experience as a Chinese American because it is the unifying factor in the misperceptions and reduction of Chinese history to mere aesthetic. Yet, it’s also a defining quality of my Chinese heritage and upbringing. The color red reminds me of halfhearted and often tone-deaf Chinese New Year celebrations at my predominantly white elementary school. More importantly, it instantly brings me back to festive yet tacky decorations at Chinese banquet halls, to my mom telling me to wear red on Lunar New Year for good luck and to my family’s stash of red pockets hiding behind the fortune cat on our mantlepiece.

Balancing both of these experiences is ultimately something that I’ve come to embrace as a Chinese American.

The Green Fashion Scene

Sustainable fashion is becoming more and more popular, but as the movement goes forward it leaves low income communities behind.

By Rachael Vargas

On February 18, 2019, the Australian Environment Minister, Melissa Price, announced that Melomys rubicola was officially extinct. The tiny rodent is considered by scientists to be the first mammal driven to extinction by human-caused climate change .

According to a report by the Solid Waste Environmental Excellence Protocol, in 2018, the 2,000 active landfills in the U.S. began speedily approaching capacity. The Ocean Conservancy Agency even reports that eight million tons of plastic enter our oceans each year. These are only a few of the countless examples of our impact on the environment. The choices we make every day affect the planet, and all too often, that impact is an increasingly negative one. Still, gradual changes in how we stock our closets can begin to make a positive impact on the state of the environment.

Going green is a movement defined by making more environmentally conscious choices in our daily lives.

These choices can include producing less waste, recycling when possible and

reducing our carbon footprint. However, it takes more than reusable straws and hybrid cars to live a green lifestyle. In fact, we need to take a pointed look at clothing production. McKinsey and Company found that the fashion industry is worth approximately 2.4 trillion dollars. Fashion is an economic success story, but that success has come at a cost. False statistics that the fashion industry is the second largest polluter behind oil have spread over the year. While the problem has not quite reached this level of severity, the fashion industry has become a very prominent polluter. The processing, production and shipping of textiles and clothing use dangerous chemicals and release huge quantities of greenhouse gases. The global apparel and footwear industries produce eight percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

Due to fashion’s substantial impact on the environment and a growing concern with green living, the sustainable fashion movement has found itself catching wind.

Sustainable fashion is a movement focused on creating clothing in an environmentally responsible way.

“Taking a green stance on life” means considering what our closets contribute to the problems found in mass carbon production, water, soil pollution and waste. However, sustainable fashion has an unignorable pitfall. While the movement is admirable in its intent, the execution has made it unfortunately inaccessible to many individuals.

According to the 2017 U.S. Census, there were 39.7 million people living in poverty(defined as earning less than $30,000 a year for a household of four). Many Americans struggle to make ends meet and do not have the disposable income to participate in the sustainable fashion philosophy as it stands. If this movement truly aims for sustainability, then it must not neglect these individuals.

Despite this flaw in the sustainable fashion movement, the problem it seeks to correct is an important one. Much of fashion's impact on the environment occurs

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during the production stage. Harmful chemicals and heavy metals are used in the production of textiles which are then used to make the clothes we wear. Greenhouse gases are released in multiple steps during the production process. Due to strong demand for trendy clothing, many companies produce products at extremely high rates.

Bike shorts became a huge trend in summer 2018 and were seen on the runways of brands such as Chanel and Fendi. But, chances are the girl wearing bike shorts in your Intro to Psychology class got her pair from Forever 21, not Chanel. Big trends like bike shorts or cargo pants hit the runways and large fast fashion retailers aim to meet the demand of the everyday consumer. In order to cut costs in production is made in large factories inciting further greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping of these clothes.

Sustainable fashion brands aim to cut the impact of the production process. They do so by using more ecofriendly fibers, cutting downshipping by producing product closer to where it will be sold and focusing on classic looks.

These brands are able to make clothing in a way that is more environmentally conscious. However, the choice to not outsource production and to invest in sustainable fibers within the U.S. comes at a cost. Sustainable brands must charge more for their product to offset the high cost of production. The best-selling

product on sustainable fashion brand Everlane’s website is a pair of jeans for just under $70. This simply is not feasible for individuals who struggle financially. A quick look at fashion retailer Reformation’s website displays their commitment to sustainable packaging. They outline their practices on the website, claiming that: “Over 80% of our cutting and sewing is done in Los Angeles and we manufacture the majority of our products in our own

portion of the retailer’s clothing lies between $100 and $300. Brands like Reformation and Everlane are success stories in regards to sustainable fashion,, but they only cater to a very specific demographic of people--individuals who can afford this large price tag on everyday clothing.

The sustainable fashion movement also encourages investing in high quality pieces over fast fashion. This is meant to increase the longevity of your clothes and reduce the disposal of clothing.

McKinsey and Company reports that almost three-fifths of clothing produced ends up in landfills or is incinerated within a year of production. The sustainable fashion movement argues that fast fashion not only unethically produces clothing but also caters to ever changing trends, leading to mass amounts of clothing production and then disposal once the trend has passed. While this retains some validity, this claim fails to acknowledge that some people depend on this clothing for its accessible price

"Brands like Reformation and Everlane are success stories in regards to sustainable fashion, but they only cater to a very specific demographic of people, specifically individuals who can afford this large price tag on everyday clothing."

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factory.” They cover everything from factory production to the shipping packaging, which happens to be “100% recycled paper products and compostable bio-based films.” Reformation goes as far as to publish their quarterly sustainability report, which they send out to their consumers via their newsletter. The brand not only practices sustainability in their production but informs their consumers about their practices and the positive impact they have on the environment. But, a large

point and variety in clothing options.

Famous fast fashion brands such as Forever 21 provide clothes for a variety of body types at a low price point. Many college students or post grads find themselves suddenly in new jobs and with minimal funds. Education major Marlinde Taylor finds that “as a student teacher, I need some specific professional clothes.” While Taylor considers herself proactive in limiting her environmental impact, she admits that the price of high quality goods or specifically sustainable clothes is not financially feasible for her as a college student.

Second-hand clothing has become the most accessible means of buying clothes in a green manner often increasing the lifespan of the items. Unfortunately, second hand clothing stores often have limited sizing options and minimal special occasion clothing.

At Northwestern University, Student

Enrichment Services (SES) offers a program to provide low-income students with clothing to get them through harsh Evanston winters and to give them business clothes. According to SES, 145 students requested clothing assistance in the 2019 fiscal year. Second-hand shopping provides limited access to purchasing sustainable fashion, especially for low income students.

Second-hand clothing can be a good option for people on a budget. Thrifting has become in vogue over the last few years. Second-hand clothing stores, like all others, are a business and operate on supply and demand. As ‘thrifting’ becomes trendy, stores are able to charge more for their products. Certain thrift stores, such as the chain Ragstock, offer those high-quality goods

that sustainable fashion encourages, but not at a reasonable price. A used vintage T-shirt can cost $30 by the virtue of its name. On the other hand, many second hand clothing stores or websites like Depop allow people to sell their old clothing and increase the lifespan in an eco-friendly manner.

Overall, any attempt at sustainable fashion is an admirable one.

With the current pressurized dialogue around our environment and its need for protection, individuals must hold themselves accountable. Many aspects of our lives create detrimental impacts on the planet and our closets are easily forgettable in this regard. The movement for environmentally conscious clothing production has brought attention to how our clothing choices have an effect on our environment but has made another issue entirely in excluding certain individuals. Sustainable fashion is a step that needs to be taken but, as consumers, we must hold the movement itself accountable for inclusion.

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How prejudice can dictate your self love

by Sierra Turner

CO LO RIS M

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cried when I got my first sunburn in eighth grade. I thought my skin color was permanently changed. Even as a Florida native, I grew to hate the beach. For many summers of my life, I wished for the winters to come sooner and never wanted to go outside because I feared becoming darker.

I am not light, but I am not dark. My dad calls me “golden brown.” For a long time I would have changed the hue of my skin for a lot of reasons. I was often perplexed that my darker, “mocha” shaded older sister did not feel the same. Everyone in my family loves to tan and become darker than they are.

Lotioning themselves with SPF 15 Banana Boat tanning oil was something I could never wrap my head around I had internalized colorist attitudes.

Colorism, a term coined by American novelist Alice Walker in 1982, is the “prejudicial or preferential treatment of samerace people based solely on their color.” It is a form of discrimination based on one’s skin complexion. It is a preference for lighter skin that ultimately devalues and discriminates against those with darker skin. A colorist mindset associates lighter skin with beauty because of its proximity to whiteness—a mindset I had adopted.

Colonialism in the Americas played a huge role in the preference we see today for white and light skin in the United States. This preference was carried by colonists and their enslavement of African people. This distinct enslavement of visibly dark-skinned people is what made slavery in the United States

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so unique—it became almost impossible to separate slavery and dark-skinned people.

In early years of American slavery, African slaves in the Virginia and Carolina colonies could be released from slavery if they converted to Christianity. In 1667, this rule was eliminated and the legal status of Africans became tied to their dark skin color. Ultimately, by the late seventeenth century, white skin came to be associated with freedom and black skin with enslavement.

Over time, practices, beliefs and false justifications made white and light skin more valuable, ultimately placing it at a premium while simultaneously dehumanizing black and darker skin.

These colorist attitudes prescribed by white individuals were internalized by black people leading them to believe lighter skin was better.

In elite, social circles, light-skinned blacks administered practices like the brown paper bag test, for example. That is, if a black person was lighter than a brown paper bag, then they were light enough to join certain elite, black organizations and circles.

Colorist attitudes persist and hold true even today. When first-year Northwestern student Janeá Wilson was 7 years old, her school orchestrated the paper bag test.

Growing up, Wilson described her now “caramel” shade, as much fairer.

“I passed,” she says. “I was so happy that I passed. I bragged about it.” She expressed to me that she even made fun of those that didn’t, saying that there were on the “outside.”

Colorism is a form of discrimination against one's skin complexion.

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For a long time, Wilson held onto that feeling of superiority. She considered light skin to be prettier and better, never wanting to go outside out of fear of becoming darker.

First-year Northwestern student Channing Russell also dealt with insecurities as a result of his “midnight” skin complexion.

“I was a butt of a lot of jokes in sixth and seventh grade,” Russell says. He was once even called a “burnt crow” by one of his closest black friends.

“It’s tough, especially as a middle school kid because you don't exactly know why everyone's trying to roast you for something that you can't control,” he continues.

According to Wilson, colorism is so deeply ingrained. “You know that you are different from other people that are the same as you,” she says. However, Wilson’s family never addressed colorism.

In contrast, Russell’s parents did address colorism and openly loved his dark shade.

According to Russell, they instilled confidence within him. Because they told him that he was beautiful he rarely felt that he couldn’t be himself.

Wilson did not find her sense of self until high school. “In my friend group there were more people that looked like me,” Wilson says. These friends were very comfortable and proud of who they were, which inspired Wilson to embrace herself as well.

In the end, Russell believes that skin complexion does not matter, and he believes that at a certain point, you have to accept the fact that there’s nothing you can do about it. “You have to always reaffirm yourself and practice self love,” Russell said.

However, it takes more than that.

Although many believe in the idea of a postracial environment, colorism still manifests itself on a macro level. Bad individual experiences like Wilson and Russell’s are just the trickle down effect of a broader

institutional and historical problem rooted in pain and bigotry.

Colorism is embedded everywhere in our society. Colorist attitudes have impacted the representation of blacks in the most powerful positions in the United States—many black CEOs, corporate executives and government officials are lighter in skin tone. Darker skinned people are arrested and incarcerated at higher levels than lighter skinned blacks, and receive longer prison sentences. Lighter skinned blacks are more prevalent in all forms of media whether it’s television, movies, advertising, magazines, or billboards, their features are preferred.

Although loving yourself is important, as a black community we need to hold our families, practices and institutions accountable. We must be transparent with the history of colorism and the attitudes that still pervade in today’s society. We must acknowledge each other’s privileges, and we must love who we are. No one should be treated differently based on something they cannot control, especially when it is something so beautiful.

Colorist attitudes will never go away.

And to be quite honest, colorism is something I still internalize. Especially as a black woman, it is so hard to ignore the normalcy of light skinned women constantly being considered more beautiful. However, working on my self-love has been essential in the past few years of my life. There hasn’t been a defining moment where I have completely ignored my colorist instincts—and who knows whether there will be—but I have learned to value myself. I have learned that I shouldn’t let my skin color devalue my own self-worth and deter me from my aspirations and goals in life. Mostimportantly, I will not let allow that to happen to other black women either. Our skin complexion should not and will not define us.

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Models: Sophia Bening and Leslye Guadian Photoshoot Director: Emily Burns Photographer: Caroline Ward Stylists: Emily Burns, Nina Wescott, and Kat Nachtigall

Complimentary colors, typically considered clashing, have become a staple of bold fashion. In this shoot, Stitch explores the coordination of two opposing colors. • OCTOBER 2019

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On Sophia: Tiffany Young x H&M orange padded jacket, O Mighty shirt, Goodbye Bread camo pants, Fila shoes On Leslye: Tiffany Young x H&M blue padded jacket, Fashion Nova blue set, Fila shoes 38

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SETTING THE TONE ®

BY RADHIKA RAHLAN How Pantone's 'Color of the Year' shapes marketing campaigns all over the world

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Every year the Pantone Color Institute selects a color reflective of the cultural climate – the current political, social, and economic state and demands are mirrored in the psychological effects of the color. This year Pantone named Living Coral (Pantone 16-1546) as the shade to keep an eye out for across the fashion, furnishing, product, packaging and graphic design industries. After the first Color of the Year was named in 2000, one has to ask: How does Pantone select this color? What makes them the experts? Does this actually mean anything?

According to Pantone’s website, Pantone Color Institute experts choose the color after thoughtful consideration and careful trend analysis. In a 2014 interview with Glamour, Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of Pantone, describes the intricacies of the nine-month process for selecting the Color of the Year, which typically begins in the spring of each year. Eiseman states that the experts first find colors that are popping up more within the fashion industry.

However, it is not just the fashion industry that dictates the Color of the Year—the Pantone team looks at cars, films and art to evaluate what colors are being used and how they are being used.

Pantone’s Color of the Year is not only what’s in vogue, but it’s a reflection of current culture. Eiseman, who has a background in psychology, acknowledges the importance of the brain and its processes in perceiving color. The Pantone website even provides a psychological explanation behind each color chosen for a given year. Living Coral reflects that as a

society we look for “authentic and immersive experiences that enable connection and intimacy.” The colorpicking process allows the company to demonstrate how the neurological and psychological perceptions of a color effectively lead to its popularization.

So, who gives Pantone the authority to declare the Color of the Year? As it turns out, no one does.

While Pantone has positioned itself as the leading color expert (countries such as Scotland and Canada use Pantone-specific colors in their flags)

validates their decision to include the color in their products.

Though Pantone has no direct way to measure whether their chosen color was the color of the year, the color nonetheless inevitably sets trends.

Because Pantone picks the year’s color based on what is most prevalent in many industries, companies can easily market products with the annual color almost as soon as it is announced.

Consequently, the existing products that Pantone based their decision off of receive an official stamp of approval in using Pantone’s color of the year, making them more appealing to customers. This again increases the color’s prevalence in fashion, furnishing, technology and art. Regardless of whether we agree with their selection the cyclical nature of the system enhances the color’s popularity once it has been Pantone approved. It’s likely that Pantone will end up “correct” anyways.

In terms of decor, Living Coral can be purchased in anything from a rug to a bath set to a sofa to a KitchenAid mixer. Fashion isn’t far behind either. The Spring 2019 collections of Marc Jacobs, Prada, Fendi and Christian Siriano included this vibrant, peachy tone. In 2017 when Pantone named Greenery (Pantone 15-0343) the color of the year, Mercedes released a car in a spring green shade and Airbnb partnered with Pantone on an immersive “greenery-themed” experience in London.

As the self-fulfilling prophecy fulfills itself, and Pantone’s Color of the Year becomes visible in more markets, it is evident that Pantone’s Color of the Year declaration shapes the colors seen across the world.

Pantone’s Color of the Year is not only what’s in vogue, but it’s a psychological reflection of current culture.

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the company does not actively profit from the annual color announcement.

Pantone does not directly sell products in the color it chooses, nor does it require companies to buy licensing for selling products in the color. It is unclear exactly why Pantone’s Color of the Year has been adopted by companies as a standard by which to sell products but the color has nonetheless become a widely-applicable marketing tool for companies as it

By Lilly Pace

P

icture this: It’s 2011 and “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO is blasting through my speakers. I am getting ready for another monthly “Free Dress Friday” at my Catholic middle school. I put on my favorite outfit for my favorite day – my white and pink sparkly heart top, skinny jeans, sparkly pink Toms and a pink bow headband that covers more than half of my head.

I am 13 years old, and it is only the beginning of my obsession with using color to create my identity.

Looking back now, I see how ridiculous I looked strutting down my small school’s hallways in monochromatic glitter outfits. But at the time, I couldn’t have been more encouraged by those around me.

Every “You’re so unique!” and “I love how you match your eyeliner to your shoes!” pushed me further to defy the boundaries of my school’s dress code with my passion for color and selfexpression. Although most school days I was forced to wear a forest green polo and pleated skirt, I made sure I stood out among the dark green masses with a pop of pink in my clothing. I genuinely believed I was giving my 35 “unfashionable” classmates a lesson in style by coming to class every day in a new, wild look. Whether it was purple, blue, or my classic pink, color became the means of expressing myself during a pivotal time of self-discovery in my life.

My love affair with color continued into my first year of high school, when I became enamored with the color blue.

Facing a new school and the chance to create another identity, I decided I wanted to have blue eyes. When I visited the eye doctor a week before the start of school, I convinced my mom to buy me blue contact lenses. I

was sure that pairing bright, (clearly fake) blue eyes with my brown hair would attract attention in a sea of 100 first-year students. Although I received the comments and questions I hoped for – ranging from “Your eyes are so bright!” to “Those aren’t real, are they?”

– my contacts and I parted ways soon after we met. I stuck it out for as long as I could, but the burn in my eyes and consistent tiredness forced me to give them up and return to my natural brown hue.

After a few months of contemplation over how to next use color to shape my identity, I decided to give blue another go. I had recently stumbled upon a picture of Jade Thirlwall, from the girl band Little Mix, with blue hair and I decided that I had to try it myself. I spent weeks crafting Pinterest boards with different shades of blue hair, and I eventually found and purchased the exact dye that Jade used from England. My mom agreed to let me fulfill my blue-haired dreams only if I promised not to use bleach and let a professional dye my hair instead of doing it myself. The next week, after spending an anxious two hours at the hair salon, I was met with an anticlimactic surprise. Without bleach, the blue dye turned my light brown hair black. My 15-year-old dreams of looking as cool as a Little Mix member were crushed. But in the midst of attempting to hold back tears, my hairdresser suggested a color that would change my life. She asked if I wanted to try depositing red dye over my blue-black mess, as red pigment tends to show more vibrantly on unbleached hair. Two hours later and I was looking in the mirror at a version of myself that I have held onto ever since.

With red hair as my armor when I transferred to a different school my second year, I was ready to stand out and make the perfect first impression.

Red became my new and improved identity, and I was willing to embrace every aspect of it. Whether it was compliments or questions on whether my hair color was natural (sadly no, I was not born with burgundy hair), I ate it all up. I was ecstatic for my identity to once again be paired with color.

However, when the buzz died down and my friends became indifferent to my red hair, I yearned for one last color shock. I was ready to test my sense of identity with a new wardrobe color scheme. I traded my floral print tops for black leather jackets and I decided the perfect partner to my cherry red hair was an edgy, all-black wardrobe– black combat boots with black dresses and black winged eyeliner on the daily.

Thankfully, my dark wardrobe only lasted about a year and a half, and that marked the end of my single color obsession. Now as a third-year college student, I have managed to integrate almost every color into my wardrobe.

Although I try not to favor a single hue anymore, my love for black clothing is here to stay. Admittedly, it took me a while to become comfortable mixing bright colors into my normal line-up of neutrals, but I’ve found that pink can be a fun addition to any outfit – in moderation. I still have red hair, and still love every nickname and affirmation of identity that comes with it, though I may no longer strut to class in full monochromatic looks. But, even still, sometimes my 13-year-old fashion sense kicks in, and I’ll match my red suede boots and sparkly red eyeshadow to my hair, because some things never change.

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@stitchfashion

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