The Academia Issue

the academia issue

issue no. 48

06 Faces and Spaces

NU’s Content Creators Control The New Age of Academia

10 The Road to "Euphoria High"

Costumers from “The Breakfast Club” to “Euphoria” explain the evolution of designing for high school characters.

28 The Dark Side

The Origins, Renaissance and Implications of Dark Academia

50 The Best Four Years

College is supposed to be the best four years of your life... Right?

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38 Dear Lolita

Weird Science

Who says science and fashion don’t go hand in hand? Labs are often the birthplaces of counterculture, from Frankenstein’s creature popularizing science fiction to birth control kickstarting the sexual revolution. These mad scientists aren’t afraid to get weird, both in their closets and the lab.

An Open Letter to the Schoolgirl Trope

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EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Giovana Gelhoren + Grace Lougheed

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sara Gronich PRINT MANAGING EDITOR Ashley Capoot DESIGN EDITOR Quynh-Nhi Tran PHOTOSHOOT DIRECTOR Amina Elmasry MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR Susan Tran DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR Vaibhavi Hemasundar MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Libby Markham SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Sarah Filby DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Emi Silverstein

DIGITAL CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sierra Turner PRINT MANAGING EDITOR Jude Cramer DESIGN EDITOR Agnes Lee PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Sara Loper DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL EDUCATION Rebecca Aizin ASSOCIATE EDITOR Molly Van Gorp DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR Erica Davis MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Yola Mzizi CORPORATE DIRECTOR Grace Shi

CORPORATE TEAM Aditi Ghei, Olivia Corderi, Nicolas Gonzalz DESIGN TEAM Ruth Ellen Berry, Jess Chen, Isabelle Hauf-Pisoni, Michelle Hong, Bailey Richards, Margeaux Rocco, Lauren Schlageter, Allie Wicks, Meher Yeda, Sabrina Eicher, Wendy Zhu + Zara Hasnani EDITORIAL TEAM Abigail Abdi, Sam Albright, Nyla Gilstrap, Kira Gopinath, Maya Krainc, Ella Kuffour, Gabrielle Kurzer, Eve Leupold, Lucia Shorr, Tamara Ulalisa, Annalise Biesterfeld + Carly Witteman MULTIMEDIA TEAM Sophie D’Amato, Chiara Dorsi, Tara King + Catie Moore PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM Grace Deng, Maryam Ikuforiji, Wyatt Morris + Madison Smith SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM Ashley Chin, Kimberly Cruz Mendez, Rhea Dhar, Sara Frank, McKenna Frey, Isabella Moran, Greta Rose, Isabelle Costa, Lucia Koo + Olivia Stone STYLING TEAM Sandra Alrifai, Ilise Angel, Anna Biasco, Daisy Brockhouse, Kenny Davis, Julia Greenberg, Shea Randall, Melissa Santoyo, Laila Simone Robinson, Danielle Spitz, Lisa Vicini + Ava White

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My favorite course I've taken at NU is...

Catie Moore Albuquerque, NM Junior, Multimedia Cinemaphotography

Sara Frank Houston, TX Junior, Social Media Psychopathology

Ruth Ellen Berry Memphis, TN Sophomore, Design Astronomy 101

Gabi Kurzer Miami, FL Sophomore, Editorial Costume Design

Margeaux Rocco Columbus, OH Junior, Design Sculpture or Painting

Quynh-Nhi Tran Happy Valley, OR Junior, Design Service Design

Laila Simone Robinson Homestead, FL Sophomore, Styling The Art of Storytelling

Grace Shi Westport, CT Junior, Corporate Art of the Russian Rev.

Aditi Ghei Washington, DC Junior, Corporate Social Psych

Julia Greenberg Potomac, MD Junior, Styling Web Development

Amina Elmasry Dubai, UAE Junior, Styling The Spring Flora

Giovana Gelhoren Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Senior, Editor-in-chief Intro to Painting

McKenna Frey Sam Albright Nyla Gilstrap Warren, NJ Katonah, NY New York City, NY Junior, Social Media Freshman, Editorial Freshman, Editorial Philosophy of Bioethics Imagining the Internet Theorizing Blackness

Yola Mzizi Durban, South Africa Junior, Multimedia The Literary, Historical & Anthropological Roots

Lisa Vicini Santo Domingo, DR Junior, Styling 18th & 19th Century European Art

Sara Loper Huntsville, AL Senior, Photography Field Ecology

Carly Witteman. Los Sabrina Eicher Sara Gronich Angeles, CA Lawrence, KS West Windsor, NJ Sophmore, Editorial Sophomore, Design Junior, Creative Director The Art of Storytelling Learning, Represenation History of US and Reasoning Foreign Relations

contributors

thoughts F R O M

T H E

E D I TO R S

If you’re reading this, you’re probably in it – in the exclusive, confusing, elitist, overwhelming yet impactful world of academia. Whether Northwestern’s the first place that comes to mind when you think of the term, or if it’s your terrifying high school years, academia can mean a variety of different things – many of which we aim to tackle in this issue. From what you wear, the decisions you make, and the friends you meet along the way, our academic lives are just a sliver of life, even though they feel like so much more.

Throughout the issue, editorial pieces will dig deep into the dilemmas, pressures and opportunities that come with academia. In a piece by Rebecca Aizin, exclusive interviews with iconic costume designers give us the inside look into the creation of high school characters’ costumes in entertainment, from The Breakfast Club to Euphoria. In a personal essay by Maya Krainc, we reflect on the pressures of making the four years of college the “best time of our lives.” And, with a thought-provoking story on the “schoolgirl” trope

by Carly Witteman, we take a deep dive into the history of the persona and its alarming underlying causes.

The photoshoots in this issue will have you experiencing three very different moods and aesthetics. In the “Yearbook Profiles'' shoot, we highlight the multidimensionality of students and the fact that we shouldn’t be defined by only one label. After all, who says a neuroscience and economics double-major can’t be a pro in tennis? In our dark academia shoot entitled “Forbidden Knowledge,” we reflect on the exclusiveness ingrained into the world of academia and how secret societies can illuminate knowledge forbidden to them.

In the last shoot of the issue, “Weird Science,” we give a nod to counterculture, juxtaposing lab coats and corsets, test tubes and liberty spikes.

On a more personal note, this is our last issue as the editors-in-chief of STITCH. And though we’re hopeful that this publication will continue to grow and evolve, we can’t help but to think of this issue as the end of a wonderful chapter. And, much like our road here at STITCH, our academic careers are also coming to an end as the realization that graduation is finally around the corner begins to sink in. These were incredible four years, and all of the staff at STITCH is largely to thank.

giovana gelhoren & grace lougheed

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College content creators in the digital age contribute to perceptions of academia in the main stream. Is it their job to be accurate or to entertain?

I was a high school senior when the pandemic first hit. And with no ability to travel to prospective schools due to pandemic-related cancellations of admitted student days, I relied heavily on online content to inform my college commitment decision. In the digital age, this has become very common, as many ideas of academia are informed by internet culture. From videos like “what I wear to fashion school in New York City” blowing up on TikTok, to the rise in “day in the life at *insert

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popular university name here*” videos on YouTube, there seems to be a growing interest in, and supply of, college-related content. There is a certain level of clout and prestige associated with higher education as a whole, but more specifically when it comes to Top 10 schools like Northwestern.

On campus, there are many students using Northwestern's big name and reputation to their advantage in order to increase their viewership, especially on YouTube.

Joan Gwak, a Northwestern senior, started regularly uploading videos to her YouTube channel when the pandemic first hit and she was sent home to Korea.

She uploaded videos so her friends and family could

see what she was up to due to the large time difference. Now, with over 1,000 subscribers, she posts videos ranging from dance routines to day-in-the-life vlogs.

Although Gwak started uploading videos “to keep [her] friends humored,” she said she’s always had a love for creating and editing videos. It’s a skill that’s become second nature ever since learning iMovie in secondary school. But it’s a hobby that takes dedication — Gwak spends an average of two hours editing each video.

Gwak enjoys creating and uploading college-related videos, partially for the traffic they generate. “It’s a good way to hop onto that trend and grab a few subscribers while you’re at it,” she says.

“I will be honest, I think my

Image via holygwakamole Youtube

day-in-thelife videos haven’t been super informative about the

school,” Gwak says. She believes her viewer base mainly cares about her dance cover content and is not concerned as much with her daily vlog videos.

Despite this, Gwak receives a steady number of streams for her academia-related content as well.

She looks to content creators from all different sides of YouTube for inspiration. “I really like the way Kelly Wakasa and Elliot Choy do their editing. It’s very fast-paced and it keeps me glued to the screen,” she says. “I have a fun time watching it.”

While Gwak focuses more on the dance and lifestyle sides of Northwestern

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content creation, there are lots of other Northwestern YouTubers that present different narratives to the campus experience. Take School of

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Communication senior Jay Towns, who’s famous on campus for his dorm vlogs.

Similar to Gwak, Towns started creating YouTube videos to show his hometown friends what he was

up to while away at college.

Taking a viewer-centered approach to his content, Towns would make videos based on the suggestions he’d get in the comment section. This is how he started his dorm tour series.

Since COVID-19 canceled admitted student days and tours, many incoming first-years with no prior knowledge of the ins-and-outs of Northwestern’s campus would look to YouTube.

Towns’ videos proved to be helpful for many students when filling out their housing preferences. His most popular dorm tour video of Lincoln Hall amassed over 20,000 views, with several other videos in his dorm tour series closely following in streaming numbers.

Towns continued posting to maintain momentum, uploading other college-related content such as day-in-the-life vlogs.

Towns says he enjoys the entrepreneurial aspect of college videos.

Image via Jay Towns Youtube

Image via Jay Towns Youtube

“I just had to figure out how to make it digestible,” he says.

As a theatre major, he enjoys performing and being on camera, so YouTube was an outlet to combine all of these interests. More importantly, it means he has control of his own brand.

As a Black man, Towns said having a YouTube platform is a way to control his own narrative and demonstrate a Black experience that breaks stereotypes.

Towns says he’s lucky enough to have had a pretty positive experience with Northwestern, but his experience is just that: his own. “It can be misleading,” Towns says, to look only to one person or platform to be informed on the Northwestern college experience.

“There’s such a wide variety of Northwestern experiences,” he says. “I just try to be true to my

experience at Northwestern. It’s not everybody all the time doing homework and being supernerds… Actually, there’s fun that can be had.”

The American college experience has long been

Image via Jay Towns Youtube

romanticized in the media world.

The stereotypes around academia often center around a lifestyle of basement parties, red solo cups and fraternities. Now, in the age of social media and streaming platforms, content creators have presented new perceptions of college life, allowing prospective students a glimpse into more realistic depictions of college through new avenues.

“I like making those videos because I feel like there has been a growing number of these types of YouTubers being produced by students at these universities. … Also, for me, just because my parents don’t really know what it’s like here,” Gwak says. “They weren’t a part of the American higher education system. I think it’s fun for them to watch so I do it for them — also for prospective students who maybe want to know a little bit more about Northwestern.”

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THE ROAD TO EUPHORIA HIGH COSTUMERS FROM “THE BREAKFAST CLUB” TO “EUPHORIA” EXPLAIN THE EVOLUTION OF DESIGNING FOR HIGH SCHOOL CHARACTERS WRITTEN BY REBECCA AIZAN If you’re watching “Euphoria” for the first time with no context, you might think it’s about college students who go to the artsiest of universities, overindulge in glitter and compete for who can wear the least amount of material that still passes as clothing. You would be wrong.

DESIGNED BY RUTH ELLEN BERRY HBO’s hit show actually follows a number of teenagers as they navigate the trials and tribulations of suburban high school life, including struggles with addiction, unplanned pregnancy, questioning sexualities and abusive relationships, to name a few. The clothing and makeup are eccentric, to say the least, and characters show up to school in skin tight dresses with glittered faces — something I imagine does t\\\\\\\ not pass a typical high school dress code. Many viewers have teased the show for being unrealistic.

So how did we go from classic portrayals of high schoolers, like the jocks and cheerleaders that graced the screen in John Hughes’ films like “The Breakfast Club,'' to the glittery, high fashion madness of “Euphoria”?

One of the first and arguably most iconic portrayals of high school students, “The Breakfast Club'' tells the coming-of-age story of five students from different backgrounds who come together in detention. The characters fulfill all the archetypal high school roles: a jock, a popular good girl, a nerd, an odd goth and a criminal.

Designed by Marilyn Vance, their outfits echo their personalities and have inspired many designers in the 37 years since the film’s release.

Andy Clarke, the jock, dons a varsity jacket while Claire Standish, the good girl, wears a head-to-toe Ralph Lauren pink and brown leather ensemble.

Perhaps the most interesting character in the film is rebel John Bender, who sports a plaid T-shirt over a white long-sleeve paired with black jeans and utilitarian boots.

And of course, he rocks fingerless leather gloves.

“In dressing them, I didn’t want to be on the nose of fashion,” Vance tells STITCH. “Each [character] had a title, so I took everything [Hughes] said and thought about how to dress them individually.”

Each outfit, Vance says, was specifically color-coded to each character’s personality. Standish’s was brown and pink, Bender’s was multi-colored, Clarke’s was varsity blues and yellow, nerd Brian Johnson’s was khaki, and goth Allison Reynold's was different shades of black.

As the film progresses, each character begins to shed a layer of their outfit. “Each layer is a little piece of the person,” Vance explained in an interview from 1999. “All their hang-ups are discarded as they start becoming relaxed with each other.”

For Vance, authenticity was essential. She says she wanted the designs to emulate the authenticity of the characters Hughes wrote and they didn’t need to be as “out there” as some designs are today. Each design had meaning, but was simple.

Since Vance created the blueprint for how high school students are depicted in media, costume design in the genre has veered from stereotypes to more unique takes.

Lest design get too basic — as if! — the next major blockbuster that defined high school fashion was 1995’s “Clueless.”

Designer Mona May’s styling of Cher, the naive diva who rules her Beverly Hills high school, is nothing short of iconic. May strays from the stereotype of a perfect princess and puts Cher in more unique outfits, most famously a plaid yellow set featuring a blazer and mini skirt. At one point in the film, Cher, much to her father’s chagrin, comes out in a slip dress.

Cher’s best friend, Dionne, also shows up and shows out, pulling up to school in a white top hat fit for British royalty. “Clueless” marked the beginning of costume designers taking risks and creative liberties when dressing high schoolers, pushing the limits of what the average high school student might wear to class.

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The mid-2000s saw more mainstream outfits for the time, ranging from the preppy, lavish outfits that graced the Upper East Side in “Gossip Girl” to the trendy outfits one would actually see in their classrooms — maybe sans the stilettos — in “Pretty Little Liars.”

While the designs in these shows were not something most viewers could relate to, they weren’t entirely inaccurate for the populations they represented.

They did, however, set the stage for the outrageous outfits seen in “Euphoria.”

Designer of the hit show Heidi Biven tells STITCH she found inspiration from outfits she’d see on the street and, notably, not from past TV shows and movies depicting high schoolers — except to see what she “didn’t want to do,” she says.

Each character has a set of “rules” that Biven develops based on the script for their likes, how much money they spend on clothes and where they shop. Since the first season, Biven says each character’s fashion has progressed in respect to their personal growth. For Hunter Schafer’s Jules, this manifested in a transition from brighter, happier clothing to darker, more somber ensembles.

Meanwhile, for Jacob Elordi’s Nate, Biven elected to keep his outfits more subdued with little change as he suppresses his emotions and resists growth.

Many “Euphoria” viewers make fun of the show on platforms like TikTok, making spoofs where people pretend they are going to "Euphoria high school" and dress in very revealing clothing, lampooning the designs of the show. This, however, only amuses Biven.

“The show obviously is not meant to be funny in the same way, but it’s important to be able to find the humor and not take yourself too seriously,” she says.

And frankly, the reality of what high schoolers are wearing today doesn't really affect her decisions in designing, she says.

At around the same time as “Euphoria,” “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” took an entirely different approach. Where “Euphoria” leaned into the eccentricity and aesthetic that the show called for, “HSMTMTS” looked like it raided actual teenagers’ closets and pulled out all the micro trends that it could find. Back were the classic jock looks, denim jackets and color blocked sweaters.

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Blair Levin, who designed “HSMTMS,” says she used the very blueprint Vance set, along with inspiration from “Clueless,” to design the high schoolers’ outfits. For her, the challenge in designing for a teenage age group lay in portraying the characters in interesting, fashion-forward ways while also remaining accessible and ageappropriate.

“I want their personality to read through the clothes, I don’t want the clothes to read them,” Levin tells STITCH. When designing, she used a mix of her own original designs, inspiration from the actual outfits worn in the original Disney Channel movie “High School Musical” and a variety of items from a number of different clothing stores. She even replicated the varsity jackets the original Wildcats team wore in the first three movies.

"I WANT THEIR PERSONALITY TO READ THROUGH THE CLOTHES. I DON'T WANT THE CLOTHES TO READ THEM.'" “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” in many ways feels like a callback to the days of “The Breakfast Club.” It celebrates high school for what it is and uses its Disney platform to target a younger audience. “Euphoria,” on the other hand, airs on HBO, a service for much more mature audiences.

The difference between these two channels could contribute to their vastly different takes on high school — neither of which are necessarily accurate to what high school looks like for students today.

While costume design went into different avenues from 1985’s “The Breakfast Club” to 2022’s “Euphoria,” each designer has stuck to their own intuition for what feels right for the characters they’re dressing.

“It’s an instinct and a feeling … and affinity for aesthetic storytelling that leads me to the decisions I make for the show,” Biven says. “I rely on my gut to steer me.”

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Photoshoot Directors Sara Gronich, Amina Elmasry

Photographer Madison Smith

Stylists

Laila Simone Robinson, Lisa Vicini, Julia Greenberg

Photo Assistant Sarah Loper

Models

Bailey Richards, Mya Vandegrift, Omar Sharaf, Janie Xu, Annika Hiredesai

Designer

Meher Yeda

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Profiles

“AND is in our DNA” anyone?

Students are often boxed-in by a single label - your major, your school, your GPA. But it’s all the academics, hobbies, extra-curriculars, interests, and passions that make a student who they are.

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Bailey

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Mya

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Janie

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Omar

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Annika

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these colors don't fade

by Maya Krainc

Designed by Isabelle Hauf

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my future spelled out in college merch

In the last weeks of my junior year of high school, members of the graduating class walked the halls with a glow that, at the time, felt far removed from my own life. My summer promised little other than standardized test preparation, and senior year felt impossibly far away. But on May 1, the thought of it had never been so stifling. Seniors clad in T-shirts of every color were labeled with the college of their choice, and the class of 2019 crowded in the library to celebrate that impossibly unfamiliar prospect of “the future.”

It was those shirts that I couldn’t get off my mind.

Throughout the day, I heard whispers about the important distinction between crimson and carnelian red, between blue and maize and blue and gold.

The shirts represented grades, talent, luck, ambition, careers. And for those of us who could think of nothing but which school we’d be repping in 365

so it’s unsurprising that “right schools” weren't on my radar until my older sister entered her junior year of high school. But even then, my middle school self couldn’t comprehend the weight of the choices she had to make.

When I took her place, I finally saw it for myself. It’s always a career and never a job, always a next step and never a still moment. In May of 2020 I committed to a purple T-shirt and to four years of chasing the next goal. When I arrived at Northwestern, it was quickly clear that having “only” one major seems like taking the easy route, that joining a club takes as much effort as applying for a job and securing a summer internship is a given. We’re frequently reminded that we worked hard to get here and our reward is this: “Northwestern.” One word stitched into purple-dyed cotton to encompass our dedication, our effort, what the rest of our lives could look like.

"

it's always a next step and never a dull moment.

days' time, those shirts felt like they meant the rest of our lives.

I came to high school with little understanding that what shirt I’d be wearing on May 1 of my senior year actually mattered. Names and colors apparently opened doors to rooms I didn’t even know existed.

But I was entering the kind of high school where the college application frenzy began far before the 11th grade. For many, it started at an interview for pre-kindergarten — I still can’t picture an interview with a 4-year-old, but in this environment, it was a crucial first step orchestrated by parents securing that preordained future at the “right school.”

My own parents are from Slovenia — a country so small that its full name doesn’t fit on most maps.

There, the choice of university is based on little else but location and course of study. There are no mascots, school colors, spirit shops or college visits,

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This prophetic language is enough to make you forget that the world of our purple sweaters is an insular one. A world in which an achievement is merely a benchmark. I watch myself pursue it, giving up the time to take a breath for the sake of what’s coming, to avoid some dismal misstep at this first stage that we’ve been told is so crucial. It seems like a futile concern at times — after all, what do I know about the right steps when I haven’t taken any on my own?

Northwestern is a privilege, a product of the sacrifice and hard work of my family that I’ll never diminish the value of. For that, I’ll never stop wearing my sweater. But there was a time when a name on a sweater felt like the whole world, and there are some moments where it still does. As time passes they feel more infrequent, further away. I’m grateful for the distance.

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A is for attractive: DRESSING STUDY

UP AS A METHOD

BY ELLA KUFFOUR DESIGNED BY ISABELLE HAUF

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hen prepping for midterms, the last thing many students think about is their outfit. A mini skirt won’t make the hours spent at Main go by any faster; it’ll only make the walk home colder. You can’t easily sprawl out on the floor to make flashcards wearing stiff trousers. But if personal testimony rings true, sometimes a little extra confidence can outweigh any temporary discomfort.

In a viral TikTok posted Dec. 9, 2021, Riya Gopal explained her unique study method.

“I have to be the hottest person in the library in order for me to actively retain information,” she said.

“Every single study session, I have my cute little outfit on, I perch my perfect little body onto that seat, I tie my raven god-tier hair into a messy bun and I study for hours on end with the confidence of knowing that I’m literally the sexiest human being alive.”

The comments are flooded with users saying they, too, rely on the strategy Gopal calls “the backbone of [her] academic performance at school.” One user even said that dressing up for the library is how she got her master’s degree.

Gopal is hardly alone in her sentiment. A simple search on TikTok reveals video after video of users following the same “study method.” On August 28, one user posted a video where she spins to show off her outfit, complete with a New Yorker tote bag and an evil eye necklace, for her “hot girl walk to the library.”

Another did the same on September 30, sharing her all-black ensemble and pink lip gloss to “force [herself] to romanticize studying.” A third girl shared a video where she dances to Pharrell and Jay-Z’s “Frontin’” in the stacks on December 11, captioned, “me showing up to the library like this” — “this” being a brown mini dress, sheer tights and knee-high boots — “because hot girls pass their finals.”

Gopal said she was unsure of how healthy her study hack is. Lucky for her, science is actually on her side.

Scientists have long searched for a link between appearance and productivity. A 2015 study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science found that wearing business clothing increased “abstract processing,” pushing wearers towards more creative brainstorming and big-idea solutions. A 2014 study in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General had similar results — subjects who wore suits obtained more profitable deals in a mock negotiation than subjects who wore sweats.

Research in this field has even happened right here at Northwestern. Columbia Business School professor Adam Galinsky coined the term “enclothed cognition” in research he co-authored while working at the Library photo by Vancouver Public Central Libary Woman photo by George Marks

Kellogg School of Management in 2012. Enclothed cognition describes the “systematic influence that clothes have on the wearer's psychological processes.”

Galinsky’s study gave subjects attention tests that compared the performance of subjects in white lab coats to subjects in street clothes. Ultimately, those wearing lab coats performed better. As a next step, the researchers divided new subjects into three groups.

Two groups wore lab coats, but one group was told that they were doctor’s coats while the other group was told they were wearing painter’s coats. The third group wore street clothes. In this test, the group that was told they wore doctor’s coats performed the best.

Galinsky’s study not only showed a link between clothing and performance; it went a step further by showing a link between clothing’s perceived meaning and the impact it has on the wearer’s performance. But white lab coats are very different from the concealer and brow gel Gopal uses as motivation. What is the “meaning” one must ascribe to attractiveness to attain maximum academic performance?

Weinberg first-year Maddy Gallagher thinks confidence may be that meaning. She tested the theory of enclothed cognition during her midterm exams this year.

“Last quarter, I dressed really lazy for my exams because I thought being comfortable would make me perform better, but it ended up not really working out for me,” Gallagher says. “So this quarter, I decided to try something different and dressed up for one of my midterms. I put on some makeup and wore clothes that made me feel confident, and I ended up getting an A.” The logic sounds simple: if everyone were to dress to impress on test day, the class average would ultimately increase. But recent research suggests otherwise.

In an article for The Cut, author Cari Romm highlights a 2014 Harvard Business School study that found nonconformity is actually the key to boosting performance. In the study, college students were asked to compare the skills of two professors, one in a suit with a clean shave and the other in a T-shirt with a beard. The students rated the casually dressed professor better, but only when the descriptions they were given mentioned that both professors worked at prestigious universities with strict dress codes.

The scientific solution seems less clear than Gopal made it out to be. Dressing up does have a material impact on psychological processes and academic performance, but only when you are the odd one out.

So wear those stilettos to Mudd, but only if you know your study group is rocking snow boots.

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THE DARK SIDE THE ORIGINS, RENAISSANCE, AND IMPLICATIONS OF DARK ACADEMIA

By Vaibhavi Hemasundar

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Designed by Sabrina Eicher

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ou’re sitting at an old mahogany desk in a historic library. Warm golden light filters in through stained glass windows as you pore over yellowed pages.

Hundreds of hands have passed over these words, and the paper has crinkled and crumpled to account for the years of memories held in the book’s binding.

Candlelight flickers throughout the room, highlighting specks of dust that drift lazily in front of you. You push your glasses further up your nose to soak the words in.

This dark academia scenario isn’t too far off for Northwestern students. In fact, it’s just a regular afternoon at Deering Library.

The dark academia aesthetic is based in a nostalgia for classic literature, art and architecture, especially when studied at elite private institutions. The aesthetic stems from the literary genre of the same name, which originated in 1992 with the release of “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt.

The thriller follows a group of pompous classics students at a New England boarding school who, in an attempt to light their “pure fire of being,” try to reenact an ancient Greek myth and murder one of their peers in the process — don’t worry, this is all on the dust jacket. “The Secret History” sparked an ongoing trend of novels that follow similar themes of wealth, legacy, intellectual curiosity and madness.

Even though it's not exactly a new phenomenon, dark academia has gotten exponentially more popular because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the aesthetic’s prominence on social media like TikTok. As of February 2022, #darkacademia on TikTok has 1.9 billion views.

The growth of the dark academia hashtag has also given way to a distinct dark academia style. These outfits feature deep colors — think dark neutrals and cool jewel tones — and heavy fabrics like tweed and leather paired with lighter ones like satin

and silk. Silhouettes tend to be spaces and garner power at the highly structured. Staple pieces expense of women of color. Think include sweaters, cardigans, of Hillary Clinton in her infamous turtlenecks and blazers: the more pantsuit. layering the better.

In addition, the focus on neutral The recent upsurge in dark color schemes is deeply rooted academia aesthetics can be in Eurocentrism. Because I visited attributed to the coronavirus’ effect India biannually as a child, I grew on the “normal” college experience. up surrounded by an explosion Instead of sitting in libraries until of color. The houses I came the crack of dawn frantically across were bathed in tangerine annotating and highlighting notes, orange and cornflower blue. For the pandemic forced students into special occasions my aunties Zoomlandia. Students flocked to adorned themselves in brightly the dark academia style in order to colored sarees with matching romanticize necklaces, earrings the virtual and bangles. My learning upbringing showed "Silhouettes tend to be experience. me the inextricable highly structured. Staple So tie between neutrals, yes, dark Slavic minimalism pieces include sweaters, academia and Greco-Roman cardigans, turtlenecks and has served art as opposed to blazers: the more layering its purpose. the vibrancy of many I would be a communities of color. the better." hypocrite if I One of the best didn’t admit things about fashion that embracing the aesthetic helps is that it serves as a vessel to me romanticize my life as I slowly challenge internalized societal progress towards my degree. When assumptions surrounding identity done right, the genre even highlights and ability. In the film “Legally and tackles complex questions about Blonde,” main character Elle systemic inequality within higher Woods is initially belittled by her education. In the television show professors and peers at Harvard “Dear White People,” a group of Law School for embodying Black students navigate life at the characteristics traditionally fictional Winchester University — a associated with femininity. Elle predominantly white institution is unapologetically happy and eerily similar in look and feel to bubbly. She has a particular affinity Northwestern. And in the young for the color pink and hands her adult novel “Ace of Spades,” author professor a resume on scented, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé spins together rose-colored paper. Her classmates “Pretty Little Liars” and “Get believe that she is too softhearted Out” to craft a thriller that’s wholly to be a capable lawyer, but rooted in reality. But if done wrong, this exact trait helps her win an dark academia can preserve and important case. “Legally Blonde” glamorize historic inequality. taught me that it’s possible to The problem with dark academia achieve academic success without as a style is that it draws from embodying white masculinity — an existing societal associations idea that remains relevant on between intellectualism and white Northwestern’s campus. The masculinity. The combination of a dark academia aesthetic is not button-down blouse, structured inherently awful. But maybe next trousers and a square leather time, instead of reaching for a satchel simulates traditional leather bag, carry a fun printed masculinity; this is a tactic that white tote. Or layer a fuzzy, pink sweater feminists have historically used to over the usual button down. Light blend into male-dominated academia can be just as good.

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Photoshoot Directors: Sara Gronich, Amina Elmasry Photographer: Sarah Loper Stylists: Laila Simone Robinson, Lisa Vicini, Ilise Angel Models: Carmen Awin-Ongya, Sunnie Eraso, Yetong Li Designer: Zara Hasnani 28

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Forbidden Knowledge Knowledge is power, so perhaps that’s why so many dedicate their lives to discovery. Defying the exclusiveness ingrained into academia, secret societies can uncover hidden truths and illuminate a world of knowledge forbidden to them.

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Dear Lolita: Written by Carly Witteman Designed by Margeaux Rocco CONTENT WARNING: Pedophilia and sexual assault.

Knee-high socks. A pleated skirt that barely reaches the knees. A blouse with a few too many buttons undone. Pigtails. Bows. Mary Janes. Youthful innocence.

The schoolgirl, sexualized and objectified, while the patriarchy thrives.

Our society’s fixation on the objectification of women and a collective infatuation with youth and innocence has created the perfect storm: the fetishization of the schoolgirl. Simply put, the schoolgirl trope is the abhorrent brain child of pedophilia and sexism.

Many trace the trope to Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel “Lolita.” It depicts a middle-aged man, Humbert, smitten with a 12-year-old schoolgirl named Dolores, marrying her mother just so he can be close to her. But Gary Morson, an author and professor of Slavic literature at Northwestern, says pedophilic stories can also be seen in older Russian literature.

“In Dostoevsky’s ‘The Possessed,’ the hero actually

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An Open Letter to the Schoolgirl Trope rapes a young girl,” Morson says. “Though it’s mainly political, the novel has themes that Nabokov expands upon in ‘Lolita.’”

Though Nabokov may have drawn from earlier literature, his pedophilic hyperfixation in “Lolita” still stands out as one of the most prominent depictions of this schoolgirl phenomenon.

Take a passage in which the narrator, Humbert, passionately proclaims, “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul … She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.”

Alarmingly, he calls her “Lolita,” his own special name for her. The use of the suffix “-ita” is important to note; in Spanish, instead of adding the adjective pequeño (meaning small or little), one can use the diminutive suffix -ito, -ita, -itos or -itas. The suffix not only indicates a diminutive size, but in some cases, it can add a nuance of affection, or soften the meaning of the actual word.

His disturbing and belittling pet name for her takes away her sense of self and identity.

As the schoolgirl trope has grown from “Lolita” over the years, that trend continues: this sexualization takes away women’s sense of self and identity. Many women experience sexual harrasment while wearing school uniforms — a survey by Plan International UK reports that 35% of girls wearing school uniforms have been sexually harassed in public.

Speaking of school uniforms, their aesthetic aligns with what we consider to be the traditional schoolgirl.

Though uniforms are not necessarily sexual on the surface, there’s a certain connotation with a pleated skirt and a blouse: take the occasional provocative styling of school uniforms on the hit show “Gossip Girl.” Is sexualizing women the only way that men find women in education palatable and acceptable?

Olivia Alexander, a second-year at Northwestern, attended an all-girls Catholic high school with a strict uniform. “Some of my friends felt uncomfortable by certain male teachers,” she says.

“I do wonder if this power dynamic would have happened if we weren’t wearing skirt uniforms.”

In television shows that depict the lives of teens, adults are often unfortunately cast to play characters sometimes decades younger than them. Shows like “Riverdale” and “Pretty Little Liars” then hypersexualize these teens, exploring and exaggerating their sex lives and relationship drama.

In an extreme case, a storyline in “Pretty Little Liars” directly follows, and romanticizes, a teacher-student relationship.

“The relationship sent a message,” Alexander says.

“Watching the whole situation was uncomfortable.”

But that relationship is just one example of the sexualized schoolgirl. Britney Spears’ infamous “…

Baby One More Time” music video plays into these stereotypes, with Spears wearing knee-high socks, a pleated skirt and a cropped blouse tied to show her cleavage. She was only 16 when the video was made.

Though society’s obsession with youth and the objectification of women is at play, we cannot ignore the fact that media is being created to specifically please those who lust after adolescents.

We must hold perpetrators of the trope accountable as well.

In my experience, wearing a pleated skirt and knee-high socks immediately makes me feel perceived, sexualized and objectified.

The male gaze leaves me feeling stripped of my own identity. I cannot wear clothing that has a school uniform aesthetic without fearing the repercussions.

Two of my ex-boyfriends requested I buy kneehigh socks for their enjoyment. One of my friends was sexually assaulted at a Halloween party dressed as Britney Spears à la “…Baby One More Time.” Countless high school and college students wear a revealing school uniform on Halloween. “Teen” and “schoolgirl” are some of the top searches on pornographic websites.

To Lolita: I wish you never fell into the clutches of a sexist and pedophilic society. It is not your fault you ended up in the disturbing hands of Humbert. I hope we can learn — not from your mistakes, but from the mistakes that have collectively built up from the moment your story was shared.

“Simply put, the schoolgirl trope is the abhorrent brain child of pedophilia and sexism.”

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why not to buy the converse a letter to my october self Written by Sam Albright, Designed by Ruth Ellen Berry Dear Fall Quarter Sam, I promise you, you don’t need to buy the Converse. Even though it feels like everyone you know is wearing them, it's really just the two people that you interact with constantly. I know the feeling is strangely intense, but one thing you haven’t quite figured out yet is that college is not just advanced high school.

Here’s what you haven’t realized: despite being near a major city, Northwestern totally exists in a bubble. And as a freshman only three weeks into school, you’re only interacting with a sliver of the student body. It's a bubble within a bubble. I promise — the only people wearing those platform Converse are that one girl you sit next to in Econ 201, or the one who’s always at Allison at the same time you are. The pressure to conform can feel very real, and I don’t blame you for wanting to buy the shoes.

But for future reference, whenever you’re feeling that you HAVE to HAVE that new piece you feel like everyone is wearing, here’s a little list from you to you :)

1.

I know right now it feels like they go with absolutely everything, but are they actually your style? Or are you just trying to make them your style? Unlike the heels you begged Mom to borrow for months, or the perfect leather jacket you endlessly searched to thrift, the shoes won’t distinctly represent you in the same way.

While you’re definitely thinking right now you are going to wear them, like, every day, let me tell you what will actually happen. You’ll wear them a couple times (getting horrible blisters in the process) and then they’ll sit in the back of your closet. Until every once in a while you’ll see them among your other shoes and feel bad you don't wear them that much, but you still won’t know exactly how to style them so they feel like you.

2.

Think about your dorm — you really don't have the space for this!!! Space is limited and so now is the time to be thinking more critically about the things you buy, NOT LESS!

3.

While you might be able to get the shoes, that privilege isn't universal. You buying the shoes could even unknowingly ostracize those who can’t get the shoes themselves for a multitude of reasons. While this time it may be shoes, next time it could be a skirt, or a jacket, or even freaking socks. And remember, not all clothing items are size inclusive, and adhering to trends isn’t an option for everybody — these companies don’t always cater to all bodies.

4.

One final note: you succumbing to peer pressure makes you complicit in doing the same to others. You trying to fit in just reinforces some status quo, when instead you could be opening up the space for something new and more exciting.

So yeah, you’ll buy the Converse. But hopefully you’ll learn the lesson too.

Love, Winter Quarter Sam <3

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Photoshoot Directors: Sara Gronich, Amina Elmasry; Photographer: Wyatt Morris Stylists: Laila Simone Robinson, Lisa Davicini, Danielle Spitz, Shea Randall, Kenny Davis, Ilise Angel Photo Assistant: Sapah Loper; Model: Maraia Caamaño; Designer: Lauren Schlageter

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BEST FOUR YEARS

By Nyla Gilstrap

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Designed by Wendy Zhu

The night before the first day of my freshman year, I had trouble sleeping. It wasn’t that nauseating concoction of excitement and nerves that sent me tossing and turning during the monthlong buildup to that first day, nor was it the fact that my mom had flung her arms and legs around me as if I’d take off running and never come back. It was a sense of existential unease, tempting me to spend eternity cloaked in that warm, heavy darkness where time didn’t exist. Tomorrow would mark the official start to what I’d been told were going to be the best four years of my entire life.

Maybe the people around you, who watched you grow, who taught you everything you knew, said something like this before you left: “experiment while you still can,” or “cherish these moments, they won’t come again.” By the time my room was packed up, my then 18-year-old self was too wracked with anticipation to question why I was supposedly fated to peak at 22.

I had spent the last year and a half of high school sifting through brochures that marketed the best college experience: perfectly curated images of friends, fun, learning and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that I had to take advantage of before it was too late. They promised to help harness that raw, untapped potential us prospective students were apparently teeming with.

The freedom to make mistakes, embrace the thrill of spontaneity and immerse ourselves in the rare joy of learning something new for the sake of building character were all posited as youthful

luxuries only these next four years could offer. For those of you who received a “waiting for the host to start this meeting” notice before virtually marching through the arch, I can only imagine the feeling of this precious time slipping away.

Now, halfway through my freshman year, I worry that I’m not doing enough changing, or growing, or fun-having to last me an entire lifetime. More than anything, I resent the thought that I should.

Framing each individual’s time in college under the singular assertion that these years are certain to be the best of our lives is almost certain to fall short of the expectation. Some might struggle to fit in with their peer group, or find the academic expectations incompatible with their mental health. Others will lose sleep trying to balance demanding work hours on top of their class schedule.

College is hard, maybe even impossible at times.

We have to know that’s okay.

The discovering we do here, both inside and outside of the classroom, ultimately informs how we move onward. I question why everything supposedly gets worse once I’ve discovered my passions, learned to speak up in a room full of 400 people and explored my limitations after many late nights sleeping in the library and many weekends making up for it.

But just as every second of college is precious, so is every second of life. I can’t accept that my life begins and ends before I’m even old enough to drive a rental car. So enough with the clichés. I’m reclaiming my college experience for what it is: an experience.

The discovering we do here, both inside and outside of the classroom, ultimately informs how we move onward.

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