The Body Issue

the body issue

issue no. 47

08 Faces and Spaces: Annie Novotny

Annie Novotny “winks at gender performance” in her course at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

10 We Have Legs Again

How Northwestern students are re-entering their bodies after a year on Zoom.

12 Hair to Stay

Body hair is feminine. Body hair is glam.

Body hair deserves to be shown off. Body hair is fashion.

42 Silhouette

Highlighting the power of our bodies underneath the overlay of fashion.

38 Body, Beauty and Self

How Black women navigate the rejection of Black bodies in predominantly white spaces.

20 More Than Skin Deep

A look at three Northwestern students’ tattoo history shows how we modify our bodies to reflect our losses, our connections, our identities and so much more.

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EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Giovana Gelhoren + Grace Lougheed MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR Susan Tran CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sara Gronich PRINT MANAGING EDITOR Ashley Capoot DESIGN EDITOR Quynh-Nhi Tran PHOTOSHOOT DIRECTOR Amina Elmasry PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Sarah Loper 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 Jay Towns EDITORIAL EDUCATION DIRECTOR Rebecca Aizin ASSOCIATE EDITOR Molly Van Gorp DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR Erica Davis MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Yola Mzizi CORPORATE DIRECTOR Hannah Yang

CORPORATE TEAM Jaila Carey, Aditi Ghei, Ananya Gupta, Jiyoon Ha, Hope Jin, Maya Kim, Olivia Corderi, Peyton Nibblett, Grace Shi, Tiffany Xu + Asha Yearwood DESIGN TEAM Ruth Ellen Berry, Jess Chen, Isabelle Hauf-Pisoni, Michelle Hong, Bailey Richards, Margeaux Rocco, Sawyer Sadd, Lauren Schlageter, Allie Wicks, Ashley Xu, Meher Yeda, Sabrina Eicher, Wendy Zhu + Zara Hasnani EDITORIAL TEAM Abigail Abdi, Sam Albright, Gigi Cepeda, Nyla Gilstrap, Nicolas Gonzalez, Kira Gopinath, Maya Krainc, Ella Kuffour, Gabrielle Kurzer, Eve Leupold, Lucia Shorr, Tamara Ulalisa, Carly Witteman + Gia Yetikyel MULTIMEDIA TEAM Lucia Bosacoma, Maria Caamano, Sophie D’Amato, Chiara Dorsi, Maggie Haas, Tara King, Catie Moore, Emma Rosenbaum + Linda Shi 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, Annalise Biesterfeld, Daisy Brockhouse, Kenny Davis, Julia Greenberg, Shea Randall, Melissa Santoyo, Laila Simone Robinson, Danielle Spitz, Lisa Vicini + Ava White December 2021 03

LUCIA SHORR NEW YORK, NY JUNIOR EDITORIAL "I’ve always loved my curly hair, even when it’s annoying to deal with. I also love my smile; people’s smiles tend to be my favorite thing about them. I think smiling and seeing people smile is my favorite thing in general. I also love when I get freckles in the summer."

AGNES LEE FULLERTON, CA SENIOR DESIGN "My favorite thing about my body is the mole under my eye! Most Korean adults I come across tell me to get rid of it because of this superstition that it’ll lead to a lifetime of tears, but I think it makes me ‘me’ and emphasizes my eyes well."

MADISON SMITH HUDSON, NY JUNIOR PHOTOGRAPHY "My favorite thing about my body is my height!

It's definitely one of the first things people notice about me — especially after a year of meeting people via Zoom, almost every time I first meet someone in person I hear, 'wow, you're so tall!'

I know it's cliché, but being one of the tallest people in the room makes me feel so cool."

CHIARA DORSI NEW YORK, NY SOPHOMORE MULTIMEDIA "My favorite part about my body is my birthmarks.

They started popping up on my face and body, and I love finding new ones. My personal fave is the one on my cheekbone; it makes me feel like Marilyn Monroe."

contributors

thoughts F R O M

T H E

E D I TO R S

As our first issue back from the pandemic, STITCH is happy to announce Fall 2021’s issue: The Body Issue.

Often when we think “body,” we think shape and size. But each person’s embodied experience is unique and encompasses so much more than that.

The clothes we choose to put on our body and the ones we choose not to, when we make our bodies seen or hidden, the way our bodies are shaped by and influence the people around us — everybody has a body, and everybody has something to say about it. In the Body Issue, we have set out to explore this nuanced topic within the Northwestern community and culture at large.

In Molly Van Gorp’s feature in this magazine, she explores the history of women’s bodies being used as accessories. From the classic '20s flapper style, to the “heroin chic” style of Kate Moss, Van Gorp gives the reader a history lesson on the relationship between fashion and the body. In Tamara Ulalisa’s reported story, the writer takes a deep dive on what it means to be in a Black body at Northwestern, a predominantly white institution.

As for the photoshoots, we highlight both the power of nudity and the power of covering up through the shoots “Under your Clothes” and “Re-formed.”

And in “Hair to Stay,” STITCH celebrates female body hair, from natural to stubble, to emphasize every woman’s choice to modify their hair in any way they want to.

While this issue only scratches the surface of such a deeply personal, and political, topic, we hope that you take away new perspectives from exploring it. We want to thank everyone who helped the issue come to life. Enjoy!

giovana gelhoren & grace lougheed

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As I stare at the david A Poem by Nicolas Gonazalez Designed by Ruth Ellen Berry

I don’t even notice I’m bleeding.

The sun takes form in my eyes, or so it seems to me, when I stare longingly into the hard figure for which I was named. I do so even as crowds bumble to life around me and dawn breaks. The uneven stone pavement remains beautiful in its overuse — beautiful in its timelessness and its perseverance, in its perennial spirit and its location.

Pupils eclipse coffee irises as eyes slowly pan over the figure like light streaming in from an opening door. Marble like supple skin, a statue delicate and robust — from the small creases on its fingers, to its carefully crafted nose and lips.

An imaginary line follows its silhouette from the tips of its toes curving gracefully to its uppermost lock of hair. What appears now is at the pinnacle of it all — at the pinnacle of beauty, at the pinnacle of creation, at the pinnacle of art.

"that is what my spirit was born to be" That is what my spirit was born to be — my matter and my essence, and, in a way, my presence and absence. But how can something born live up to something created?

As I sweat blood, I realize I’m beautiful too.

My face is beautiful. Even the blood flowing down my temple is beautiful, as it becomes one with the unique geometry of my face. As that crimson droplet travels down my neck and chest, my torso, thigh, calf and the arch of my foot, it leaves a pale mark that becomes my detailed silhouette — the essence, at a glance, of what I am.

FAC E S & s pa c e s

ANNIE NOV

W I N K I N G AT G E N D E R P E R F O R M A N C E Q & A by va i b h av i h e m a s u n da r At the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, three women stand on stage, their bodies adorned with flesh-colored balloons blown up to various sizes to resemble breasts — smooth and wrinkled, sagging and perky.

These women are part of Professor Annie Novotny’s class “Transformation and Spectacle,” which delves into the intersection of fashion and performance, whether that’s performing through the arts or in our everyday lives. When she’s not teaching, Novotny works as an art therapist and

uses her knowledge of the body to delve into the physiological effects of her clients’ emotions.

Novotny is a veteran of the fashion industry. After graduating from SAIC in 2004 with a minor in Fiber and Material Studies, she moved to New York and worked as a fashion designer for over a decade before returning to Chicago, where she started her own clothing line. Now, she teaches the next generation of fashion designers.

STITCH sat down with Annie Nota vessel for art, the ways in which we perform and the body as being inherently political.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I’VE H EARD YOU CALL FASH ION A “PUNCTUATION MARK FOR TH E BODY.” WHAT DO YOU M EAN BY THAT? It's a necessity to be clothed to protect our very vulnerable bodies.

But, fashion is also such a signifier of who we are and our first line of defense against the world. I love the idea that fashion is a tool both to indicate that we are a part of, and also separate from, one another.

I always use this analogy when I talk to my students about the way that fashion can speak for you. A punk walking down Michigan Ave. with a huge purple mohawk, chains, ripped-up clothing and piercings is going to stand out among the suits with their briefcases. But then a punk at a concert is just a punk in a sea of punks.

I U N DERSTAN D YOU R CLASS DELVES I NTO HOW WE USE FASH ION TO PERFORM GEN DER I N OU R EVERYDAY LIVES. WHAT CAN YOU TELL M E ABOUT THAT? Am I being really conscious about whether or not I'm wearing something that is feminine, sexy or comfortable?

And for male identifying people as well, there's a certain

OVOTNY expectation of what maleness or masculinity might look like in a professional setting.

Clothing is truly another language. There's a certain amount of privilege that goes along with someone who can pass as straight but they consider themselves to be queer. You have to recognize that even when people are making decisions that might align most authentically with who they are and how they feel, that might be risky for them. Performing gender, it's kind of like code switching. There’s this idea of being able to move throughout different spaces and be safe.

WHAT ARE OTH ER WAYS I N WH ICH FASH ION TI ES I NTO TH IS CONVERSATION ABOUT CODE SWITCH I NG? This could be a 25-hour discussion just about the regulation that's placed upon Black women's hair. I think a lot of this comes back to the idea that neoliberal capitalist structures don't want us to be individuals. They want us to fall in line. I think each person gets to decide, and even not deciding is a decision. Normcore is still a decision.

YOU DESCRI BE YOU R WORK AS AN EXPLORATION OF “MYTHOLOGY VERSUS REALITY.” WHAT DO YOU M EAN BY THAT? Fashion can be very fantastical.

You can inhabit a character based on what you're wearing or not wearing. My earliest memories of fashion are of watching my mom get ready for her job in the ‘80s.

Wearing three colors of eyeshadow was very acceptable at the time. She

would start with this pink layer, and then she would add this purple layer. I like thinking of what it means to put on this war paint and enter this ‘80s unregulated market where you're clawing your way through.

I TH I N K THAT OPENS UP TH IS VERY I NTERESTI NG DISCOURSE ABOUT MAKEUP’S ROLE AN D WH ETH ER IT'S RESTRICTIVE, OR WH ETH ER IT'S LI BERATI NG. HOW DOES MAKEUP PLAY A ROLE I N BODI LY EXPRESSION, NOT JUST FOR WOM EN, BUT PEOPLE OF ALL GEN DERS? I think that whether it's liberating or confining really has everything to do with the person. When you think about this idea of enhancing your features, making your eyes bigger, your lips fuller or your cheeks flushed, it’s all mimicking the physiological responses you have when you're aroused.

Makeup-wise, I’m a pretty simple gal. I put on a little blush, and at this point with two young kids I just like trying to make myself not look dead. How do I show up in the world looking like I slept through the night? Sometimes we’re just trying to artificially recreate what our body does naturally when it's feeling good.

YOU DESCRI BE YOUR WORK AS “EXPLORI NG TH E TERRAI N OF TH E POSTMODERN WOMAN.” COULD YOU ELABORATE ON THAT I DEA? A lot of the work that I do that's more performative is grappling with my body in a postmodern context.

One of the pieces that I made a few years back was this heavily beaded belt with Swarovski glass crystals that was designed to look like a cesarean section. It looked like it was popping open with bloody scarlet beads. So it’s like, what do I get for pushing a human out of my body?

I tend to wink at gender ideas a lot with my work. Because I think a lot of it's bullshit. And I want other people to realize that when they see something that kind of touches them in a weird way. Like, when you think about this idea that a woman who has a C-section and a big scar because of it tends to want to hide it or conceal it. Who told us that it wasn't beautiful to have survived something? And I think about how different that is for men and women.

Dudes will be the first ones to be like, “Have you seen my scars?”

YOU R WORK EXPLORES TH E BODY AS BOTH “POLITICAL AN D M U N DAN E.” WHAT DOES THAT M EAN TO YOU? A lot of my work in the past has been in relation to motherhood, which is probably the most political and mundane thing you can ever think of. What’s more political or mundane than, like — a leaky boob?

D E S I G N e d by M ICH ELLE HONG P H OTOS: KR I ST I E KAH N S December 2021 09

We Have Legs Again HOW NORTHWESTERN STUDENTS ARE RE-ENTERING THEIR BODIES AFTER A YEAR ON ZOOM

By Gabi Kurzer • Designed By Bailey Richards Eli Gottsegen is a second-year heads visible in a Zoom box during enough to make him worry. student at Northwestern University, the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s definitely just more to be but he had never set foot in an For half of Northwestern’s conscious about,” says Gottsegan, in-person class until this fall. student body, this fall has been “and I just feel my full self.”

Gottsegen has found the transition their first time attending college In order to combat these to in-person classes a bit bumpy, classes in person. For many feelings of self-consciousness, saying he’s more "ultra-conscious" upperclassmen, it has been almost Gottsegen has completely of his appearance, especially since two years since they last sat in a changed his routine so that he he can't check his feels like he looks reflection in the presentable for his For half of Nor thwestern's student classes. Last year, Zoom camera.

"You can literally Gottsegen could b o dy, this fall has b een their first just roll out of bed alter anything on Zoom," says (or sometimes even time attending c ollege classes in Gottsegen. "You stay tucked in) and can have the light keep his camera off. person. For many upperclassmen, However, without hit your face in a different way that a “camera-off” it has b een almost t wo years since option, Gottsegen makes you look good, so I think has started to take they last s at in a classro om. " the whole image is more time picking something I'm much out his outfits and more conscious of nowadays. I'm classroom. showering in the morning rather thinking about my hair especially Gottsegen’s inability to easily than at night. because I'm not looking at a adjust his physical appearance has “You definitely have to try a camera 24/7, and I'm not seeing been extra prevalent during his little harder to present yourself my picture back in my face." acting classes, where he, a theatre and make sure that you look ready Students at Northwestern are major, has to do warm-ups and enough for the day,” he says. finally back in in-person classes — stretches with his classmates. Just Indeed, now that NU students legs and all — after only having our his glasses falling to his nose is have emerged from their Zoom

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boxes, they’ve begun dressing classmates; now it’s just their faces up to attend their classes. Some rather than their legs. students, like second-year Avanti Emily Zhang, a second-year Parkhe, feel like they have to look student, says that she doesn't even nice for themselves and because notice the other people in her they are classes. Instead aware that of sitting their full with perfect "People are still body is posture, now being nervous about hiding par ts of perceived what people by their themselves from their think about classmates. her, Zhang ' "I prefers to be classmates now it s definitely comfortable feel like just their faces rather and "sit in class I have and slouch and to dress slump." than their legs." better," says Moreover, Parkhe. "I without having can't wear just sweatpants to class the ability to turn off her camera anymore, but I like it because it and easily distract herself, Zhang gives me an excuse to be put has found it much easier to actually together every day.” learn from her teachers.

Second-year Sara Ibrahim, "I pay attention however, has not had this in class experience.

;

She notes that just because her classmates can see her whole body doesn’t mean they’re seeing a complete picture of her. She doesn't like to dress up for classes, instead saving her best outfits for the weekend.

“Now people know how bummy I look all the time,” says Ibrahim.

“You actually have to wear pants, jeans, etc.”

But Ibrahim doesn’t feel any more self-conscious taking inperson classes than she did on Zoom.

“When you’re wearing a mask, you still feel kind of hidden,” she explains. People are still hiding parts of themselves from their

now, and I go to class now,” says Zhang. “I do my homework now, so it's been good!"

Bridget Roberts, another second-year student at Northwestern, says she’s realized that many of her perceptions of her classmates from last year have completely changed after meeting them in person.

One major attribute of a

person’s appearance is their height, but on Zoom, everyone’s heads are the same size, smushed into a little box. Seeing the rest of her classmates’ bodies forced Roberts to completely reconsider some of the assumptions that she’d made about them.

“Seeing people from my Zoom classes in person for the first time, you think that you recognize them, but you don't — like, the heights are so different,” says Roberts. “I've definitely been thinking about how people think that about me.”

Everyone wants to make a good impression, and spending time online has only made students more appreciative of the

little things that come with in-person classes, such as picking out an outfit or having fewer distractions.

A person's appearance is a big part of who they are. It's how they present themselves to the world without having to verbalize anything. Having their bodies back in the classroom has helped reconnect people to their studies, their classmates and themselves.

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Body hair is feminine. Body hair is glam.

Body hair deserves to be shown off.

Body hair is fashion.

Photoshoot directors: Sara Gronich, Amina Elmasry Photographer: Sarah Loper Stylists: Laila Simone, Lisa Vicini, Kenny Davis Model: Autumn Rose Designer: Isabelle Hauf-Pisoni

HAIR TO STAY

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More Than Skin D e ep

A look at the tattoo histories of four Northwestern students and how they reflect our losses, our connections, our identities and so much more.

Written and photographed by Lucia Shorr Designed by Ashley Xu & Q u y n h - N h i Tr a n 20

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GEORGE JAV ITCH s e n i o r i n w e i n b e rg George Javitch, a senior on the pre-medicine track, said his family strongly disapproves of tattoos. He jokes that while he couldn’t quote the scripture, he was sure somewhere in the Bible, there is something that has come to be used as a direction to avoid tattooing our bodies.

During Javitch’s's freshman year, he found out his close friend died while being hazed by a frat. Javitch and his friends decided to tattoo the initials of their friend who passed away on their wrists. The initials face inwards, which was abnormal according to the tattoo artist.

The tattoo reminds Javitch of his friend’s life and their time together whenever he looks at it. You can feel your heartbeat in your wrist, which makes it feel close to his heart. Javitch said he didn’t care if his parents or family members disapproved of tattoos, and given the context of this particular tattoo, they expressed no objection.

Often, people’s tattoos relate to their home or family. Javitch expects that after his girlfriend gives birth to their daughter, his next

tattoo will honor her with something related to the moon. Becoming a father as a 21-year-old has certainly altered the course of Javitch’s’s last two years of college. He reflected on his changing perceptions of his body, as well as women’s bodies, as he moved from having casual sex and college relationships to supporting his pregnant girlfriend, and now preparing for the birth of their child.

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GR AC E S H I N junior in sesp Grace Shin always knew she wanted tattoos. Growing up in an “overwhelmingly white and conservative” town in New Jersey and transitioning to a primarily white institution, Shin reflected on never feeling conventionally beautiful. As an East Asian woman with a darker complexion, she remembers being questioned by her family for the darker color of her skin. Shin explained that she received the message that she was not meant to feel comfortable in her own skin from a young age.

After struggling with body image issues and trauma, in addition to her experience with racism, her first tattoo was for her own healing with her body. It was the first major decision she got to make regarding her body, and she felt the power to reclaim it. Shin has also found love for art, and wanted to add art to her body in the hopes it would increase her love for it, which it has.

Something that Shin said to me that will stick with me forever (no pun intended) is that we have no power over our height, our hair color and texture or our skin color, but tattoos allow us to take power back over the control of our bodies. Her first tattoo sits on her ribcage: it’s an image of Jupiter. Jupiter represents optimism and power, and it reminds Shin that compared to the universe we are tiny and impermanent. Remembering

this helps Shin put herself into context when she is struggling with anything.

Shin now has over 10 tattoos. She spoke with me about the word “forward” on her wrist, which represents her reflection on the best piece of advice she was ever given: even when we all feel stuck, the only direction is forward. She also has a lip tattoo of the word “trouble,” because, duh.

Her most recent tattoo, which Shin referred to as “her,” is an image of a woman's legs diving into water in the center of her chest. This tattoo wasn’t planned — it was exciting, and freeing, and took place at a tattoo shop in Chicago without an appointment at 2 a.m. Shin was brimming with joy as she discussed her most recent tattoo.

I asked her if she feels this confident after each of her tattoos. She said yes. Even the tattoos that at times she questions, such as the “forward” which she felt was cheesy immediately after getting it despite its deep meaning, or Jupiter, which a boy thought was an Easter egg, have taught her about loving and accepting her body. Learning to love your body as it is, for the pieces of it that change and the pieces that don’t, is central to truly loving oneself, which is Shin’s goal and practice.

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ANON Y MOUS senior in school of comm This next student discussed the pressure to be sophisticated in order to be taken seriously, to take up space, to play and embrace our inner silliness and remember ourselves in the context of what small specks we are in the course of life’s history.

Her tattoos are a statement of her existence as something other than what was expected of her.

Rebellion against her parents, who had convinced her she actually really liked the preppy clothes she wore everyday to her West Village high school in New York City. Rebellion against the porcelain image she had always felt attached to her blondeness.

Her first tattoo is a lightly drawn woman on her forearm that was taken from one of her favorite artists. While she loves this tattoo, she hates that her parents approve of its inherent sophistication.

Her second tattoo, on the other hand, her parents hate.

She giggled. It's a white cat with a black mask on that reminds

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her of “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” which was the tattoo she intially wanted before learning about Roald Dahl’s history of anti-semitism. She got this tattoo just a week or so after she met her current boyfriend; she remembers inviting and then uninviting him from her appointment. She wanted her tattoos to speak to her lived experience and be unattached from any and all other people. As someone who has always felt the need to put effort into taking up space for fear she would otherwise blend into the background, she wants the space of her body to exist just for her.

No tattoo memories with boyfriends with undetermined futures.

She recognizes her boyfriend, who met her after she started getting tattoos, must have a different image of her. We spent a long time reflecting on this ability for tattoos to break into, or alter, our natural self images. How can something simultaneously be so permanent and attached to us, yet so surfacelevel that we do not always remember or notice it ourselves?

JAC Q UI T O U C H E T junior in school of comm Jacqui Touchet is one one of my best friends, and we began talking about tattoos standing in my kitchen, joking about our shared desire to randomly rip things from our bodies during panic attacks. Which we laughed about. We often find ourselves sharing a bond of bodily experiences, struggles with perception and a general fear of our own hilariously deranged thoughts.

Touchet strives to express themself externally in many ways — if you have seen them around campus you will know of their notoriously creative fashion choices. As Touchet has continued to grow into themself, they have found a desire to detach their inner and external selves from the emphasis that society places on our bodies and appearance. Tattoos exist largely genderlessly and provide this freedom.

Touchet’s first tattoo was of a milk bottle, located on their lower back. Growing up with a “hippy-dippy” mother in Dallas, they were never given formula as a substitute for their mother’s breast milk. When she stopped producing enough to nourish Touchet, Touchet was given their aunt’s break milk — Touchet and their cousin had been born within weeks of each other.

Touchet’s relationship with their cousin was closer than typical cousins, and they began to call themselves “milk sisters,” leading to their decision to get matching milk bottle tattoos to remind themselves of their deep connection to one another.

Struggling with OCD has caused anxiety for Touchet in terms of the decision to get tattoos.

Locating the milk bottle on their upper back allows Touchet to feel connected to their cousin without forcing them to look at the tattoo every day and develop an urge to remove it. However, the next tattoo Touchet is planning is meant to explicitly challenge the symmetry OCD they struggle with as a mechanism of proving to themself that a lack of symmetry can be beautiful and positive. The tattoo will be located on their chest between their breasts and will be an asymmetrical butterfly.

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T H E BO DY AS AN ACCESSO RY:

a look at how body types come in and out of style where to turn when your clothes begin to wear you

By Molly Van Gorp Designed by Margeaux Rocco

I’ve been in love with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel "The Great Gatsby" since high school. Everything about it, from the inflated egos to the bloody demise of Gatsby, is just so outrageously fantastical, so utterly unbelievable, that Fitzgerald’s world becomes something of a pipedream. But when I first watched Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film adaptation, I was saddened, though not surprised, by the lack of body diversity.

Jordan Baker, played by the tall, slender Elizabeth Debicki, is presented as the ultimate flapper. We first see her in a silk, champagne-colored tank, baggy slacks and layered pearls blending perfectly with the fluttering curtains. Later, she reappears at Gatsby’s party in a navy, open back evening gown.

Debicki’s figure seems to perfectly suit the flapper style.

Although this observation may seem rather trivial — almost obvious — its perceived “obviousness” got me thinking. Why do certain female bodies seem to just fit different styles? Why do we associate flapper dresses with lanky limbs, poodle skirts with defined curves, and low-rise jeans with a thin frame?

To put it quite simply, it’s because the female body has historically functioned as an accessory. Beauty standards shift with fashion trends, and the reality of bodily commoditization takes hold.

Credit: Corsets from Sears catalog, 1925-26. From Everyday Fashions of the Twenties, by Stella Blum

Androgynous Allure of Chanel N°5 Given that silhouette and style are intrinsically connected, it is no surprise that Debicki was chosen to play the rebellious Baker. In the ‘20s, clothing with simple lines and androgynous shapes was favored. It was fashionable for not only women’s clothing, but also their bodies, to appear straight and lanky. Through exercise, diets and undergarments, many women were able to achieve this shape.

La garçonne style, translated literally as “the man style,” encapsulates the way women aspired to dress and act in the ‘20s. Abolitionists and suffragettes paved the way for first-wave feminism. Women were taking on new roles in society, including voting, working, driving and even smoking in public. Consequently, they wanted a less physically restricting wardrobe to enjoy these freedoms.

Androgynous styles were the perfect option. Flappers embraced la garçonne by wearing high-waisted dress pants, cloche hats, scarves and dresses that resembled loose fitting suits. Coco Chanel led the way with her tweed suits, little black dresses and iconic fragrances for a dash of femininity.

Boxy, formless shapes rose in popularity alongside a very thin, athletic, almost boyish build, like that of Debicki. Curves were very much “out.” Rather than modern-day Spanx and Skims, which guarantee a cinched waist and smooth curves, aspiring flappers forced themselves into front lacing corsets and bust confiners. The former was meant to achieve a completely straight waist, and the latter, a flat chest.

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Dior to Daily Wear The clock is always ticking, especially in the fashion world. The flapper era was fleeting, and by the late ‘40s, curves were back in style. Christian Dior’s New Look collection was instrumental in reviving a more classic, Victorian-era style that dominated the postWorld War II eurocentric world. His titular “New Look” included billowing A-line dresses, cinched waistlines and padded hips along with plenty of frills and pleats.

After a decade of practical dressing due to wartime Fast forward to the mid-’90s. The Big Five supermodels restrictions on fine fabrics, — Cindy Crawford, Naomi this collection celebrates a Campbell, Christy Turlington, fresh start, ultra-femininity and Linda Evangelista and Claudia opulence. Although Dior’s Schieffer — began to take a “new outlook” may not have backseat to a British model, resonated with everyone, Kate Moss. Her pale complexion namely feminists who found a and waif-like frame ushered in return to old ways oppressive, “heroin chic” — an unfortunate it caught on quickly with the name for an era that glamorized general public. By the midlooking malnourished. Fashion ’50s, women everywhere houses took the heroine chic — from homemakers to trend to extremes by hiring Parisian socialites — sported models with visible rib cages, these Cinderella dresses and bags under their eyes, and wanted to create the illusion bruises covering their bodies. of a tiny waist, too.

Consequently, a connection The ‘50s were a time between unhealthy thinness and of social and political high fashion quickly emerged. conservatism, especially Moss’ work with Calvin Klein in the United States. White glorified minimalism, which picket fences, suburbia, was a core tenet of this time. strictly imposed gender roles Neutral tones and grungy plaids and a romanticization of were sexy and chic. The evermotherhood supported Dior’s polarizing low-rise jeans made vision of a blissful yesteryear. their first appearance in the Without the flapper dress, ‘90s but didn’t reach extreme there was no longer a desire levels of popularity until the Credit: © CALVIN KLEIN BY CALVIN KLEIN, RIZZOLI NEW YORK, 2017 for a boyish figure, at least latter half of Y2K. Scarf wrap within the fashion sphere. A defined waist and fuller tops, spaghetti straps and slip dresses were omnipresent, bust could more effectively convey the Victorian much like they are today. These styles provided minimal gentility that was mid-century fashion. coverage and tended to be modeled by women who were small all around. Fashion’s infatuation with litheness and bareness propelled trends like the slip dress and muted color schemes. In many ways, the late ‘90s epitomized what it means for the body to be an accessory.

A woman’s physical shape was forced to become part of the garment’s story because the actual designs were so ... lacking.

Moss and Minimalism

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WEAR THE CLOTHES, DON’T LET THEM WEAR YOU Conforming to “body trends” is an impossible endeavor, and one that is both physically harmful and detrimental to maintaining a positive body image. It’s important to separate fashion trends from the body because your body is not an accessory. It can never go out of style. Fashions are meant to be enjoyed, embraced and worn by everybody.

Our society pushes the idea that "modest" is synonymous with "boring." Modesty is about using fashion to keep the relationship between you and your body personal, whatever that may mean to you and your identity. You can use the shapes and layers of your clothes to create a new body, one to present to the world. One thing we know for sure: modesty certainly does not have to be boring.

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Photoshoot directors: Sara Gronich, Amina Elmasry Photographer: Jay Towns Stylists: Annalise Biesterfeld, Ilise Angel, Julia Greenberg, Kenny Davis, Laila Simone Robinson Models: Michael Ewarawon, Joelle Moore, Sama Ben Amer, India Janew Designers: Agnes Lee, Lauren Schlageter

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BODY BEAUTY & SELF How Black Women Navigate the Rejection of Black Bodies in Predominantly White Spaces

By Tamara Ulalisa

Designed by Jessica Chen

“As a Black woman, you’ll never be a white girl.” That’s what second-year student Solome Bezuneh says about being held to a Eurocentric beauty standard as a Black woman at a predominantly white institution, or PWI, like Northwestern. It’s a freeing sentiment for her, one she says allows her to create and live in her own standard of body, beauty and self.

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This reckoning doesn’t come without struggle. The constant barrage of “being looked at, being seen, being under a magnifying glass,” Bezuneh says, is one of the most frustrating parts of the Black experience on campus. The constant comparison to white women, both internal and external, is, put simply, “fucked up.”

I have lived in predominantly white spaces my entire life. Even so, the transition to Northwestern was a jarring one for me and many of my Black peers, particularly for those identifying as women. The Black student experience has long been one of struggle.

From the Bursar’s Office Takeover of 1968 to the push for Black affinity spaces today, Black students are continually fighting for space to exist and thrive within a restrictive and homogeneous society.

Bezuneh, a communications major from Chicago, also grew up in predominantly white spaces. She initially made the decision to come to this PWI because she thought she could find her own diverse community,

even within the confines of white-dominated spaces. Now, over a year into her university experience, she says she didn’t realize what the true day-today experience would be like.

She has learned to go against this grain and lean into her Blackness, feeling more comfortable in her body and presenting in an authentic and unapologetic way to the world around her.

If Bezuneh were to do the college process all over again, she said she would prefer to have looked into campuses with more ethnically diverse populations. This is in part due to the constant “otherization” that occurs everywhere at Northwestern: in class, in party settings and in most campus spaces. The realization that she’s one of very few people of color in a room at any given time is an incredibly jarring one.

This realization comes often,

she says, and she just has to continue with her day.

Maia Smith, a second-year prelaw student studying economics and history, has also had her fair share of difficulties excelling at Northwestern. Specifically, both of her majors are fields dominated by cisgender white men, and Smith has found it “very difficult to find a community that looks like me.” But she takes solace in the community that she has found. Smith’s overall Black experience at this university has been a positive one; the minority spaces here, though small, are much larger than the Black community in Smith’s hometown of Tampa, Florida. Even as the Black experience can often be difficult in predominantly white spaces, Smith says that she has learned to go against this grain and lean into her Blackness, feeling more comfortable in her body and presenting in an authentic and unapologetic way to the world around her.

Specifically for those identifying as Black women on campus, our bodies are societally deemed as “other” than the standard, but our culture is simultaneously appropriated and co-opted by that same standard. It’s a duality that Black women must confront every day. Especially within a university setting, this reality is one faced on all fronts — social life, love life, sense of self and body image. Despite the difficulties, the Black women on this campus are continually subverting these ideals, redefining these standards for themselves and finding solace in communities that they have forged.

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The Naked Truth Why do humans have to wear clothes?

By: Kira Gopinath Designed By: Meher Yeda

Image via Vevo

A

s humans began to lose their body hair and migrate to colder climates, we developed something called clothing and said goodbye to bare butts, backs and boobs. Nowadays, it’s quite rare to come across somebody parading around in their original, naked form. So what brought about this estrangement from nakedness? Of course, it makes sense to bundle up in warm jackets during harsh Chicago winters, but why aren’t we strutting around naked in the heat of summer?

Well, clothing no longer exists for the sole purpose of keeping us warm. There’s more to a cashmere suit or a pair of floral bell-bottoms than function alone. People have taken the concepts of “clothing” and “nakedness” and weaved them into society and culture like thread through a vintage sweater. What we wear and don’t wear is now a matter of stereotypes, social norms, class, gender and religion. The dichotomy between clothing and nakedness plays an integral role in what it means to be human.

Current attitudes toward nakedness can be explained, in part, by religion. Historically, certain cultures have idealized and worshipped the naked body: The “Venus of Willendorf,” discovered in Austria in 1908, is believed to be one of the earliest religious icons dating all the way back to the Stone Age, and it’s a small limestone figure of a naked woman. Sculptures in ncient Greece portrayed gods in a naked, human form and sought to portray perfection in the body. In India, Jainism depicts its 24 enlightened founders with images of nude men.

Christianity, meanwhile, offers multiple, conflicting views on nakedness, which largely shape Western attitudes on nudity. The Bible says humans were created in God’s image. Yet, the same body that was created and inspired

by God also signifies shame and lust. Here, and in multiple other religions, the human body is

something sacred and created by deities, but it’s also the cause of suffering.

Western beliefs about nakedness are influenced by Judaic and Middle Eastern ideas as well. In the past, these cultures frequently associated nakedness with poverty. Powerful people were often depicted wearing clothes showcasing their wealth, while prostitutes, enslaved people and other outcasts were represented naked. In contrast, the ancient Greeks associated nakedness with power, with artists portraying statesmen naked to depict their likeness to gods. This all plays into the social context of what it means to be “naked.” Clothes and jewelry are often used to symbolize wealth and power. Nakedness, however, can have multiple social connotations. While the naked body may symbolize vulnerability and poverty, it can just as easily signify power and authority.

When we bring colonialism and interactions between different cultures into the picture, the concept of nakedness gets even more complicated. In the 1800s, Christian missionaries in the Cook Islands censored nudity in the religious artwork of the indigenous people, cutting the phalluses off of the islanders’ sculptures of their deities. Similar occurrences of Christian censorship of nudity in indigenous cultures have occurred around the world. With the spread of European colonialism, a specific European colonial view on what nakedness represents took form. In this view, the “self” is clothed and civilized. The “other” is naked, wild and erotic. Due to colonialism, this Western view on nudity has spread to other cultures.

Because of the naked body’s varied meanings, whether in a single scripture or across culture, time and place, context is key to when nudity is perceived as okay and when it’s not. The body can be seen as sexual, as obscene, as beautiful — the

significance of nakedness is far from fixed.

In the context of art, a difference between “nude” and “naked” arises.

Historian Kenneth Clark writes in his study, The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form, that the English language distinguishes between “naked,” which is to be defenseless and embarrassed, and “nude,” which is to be confident and assured. High art, he claims, can portray bodies as nude rather than naked. So in the context of certain artworks, to be disrobed can be noble, not shameful.

Outside of the art world, there are plenty of other spaces where nakedness is not considered sexual: a locker room, nude beach, a doctor’s office, a streaking protest (which became quite a fad in the '70s). And with animals other than humans — we are animals, after all — a lack of clothing isn’t considered erotic. But animals are generally not considered “naked.” Nakedness is a human construct. We can use it to shame, to uplift and to categorize.

So while clothes may be a human thing, nakedness is too. And while clothes may demonstrate civilization and culture and separate us from animals, it’s ultimately our bodies which make us human.

Our naked, human bodies are inextricably ourselves.

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Highlighting the power of our bodies underneath the overlay of fashion.

UNDER YOUR CLOTHES

Photoshoot Directors: Sara Gronich, Amina Elmasry Photographer: Grace Deng Stylists: Danielle Spitz, Annalise Biesterfeld, Sandra Alrifai, Shea Randall, Ilise Angel Models: Rivers Leche, Grayson Willenbacher, Feben Lemma, Sara Ibrahim Designer: Allie Wicks

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we remember

we remember

By Gia Yetikyel Designed by Sawyer Sadd

This poem is dedicated to the constant opportunity of earning back our own love and trust. I intended this poem to center body neutrality and to find a place of peace for our entire beings. Through pieces of memories and reflection, We Remember is for those who feel stuck in those time loops and don’t remember how to show one’s body and mind unconditional love. Self-love shouldn’t have an asterisk, but this poem is a reminder that it’s okay to have not gotten there yet. We don’t have to love our bodies every day, but this poem cultivates hope that one day we’ll get there.

Content warning: This poem contatins mentions of sexual assault, disordered eating and alcohol/drug abuse.

past

You came to this new home alive and a little sad. Far from what you knew — but happiness comes just as quickly as it goes. You worry you will not find a home in the burrows of your own sheets, smothered in a fading scent you desperately need to replace. You find yourself in a place of trust, of maybe, someday, love, and you bask in it. The late nights of soft touches, even as they grow more rough, the sweet nothings, even as they are no longer sweet, convince you and trap you still.

You whisper no, tell him, no, but he keeps going, takes your stilled body as permission instead of shock or fear. The body remembers even when the mind tries to make us all forget. Only blocking out so much, as we remember the walk to the bathroom. We remember looking into the mirror and checking the time. Knowing we could never tell mom, knowing it’ll hurt more later if we beg to forget now. And it did. Oh, it did.

The body remembers.

You had told yourself how much it would rip you apart when your heart would inevitably get broken. He was not a forever, you knew this, he was a day-by-day until one day he had enough. You will come to learn that most of the boys you love believe in forever only many heartbreaks after you. You train your body that forevers are not for us, that she must embrace the night and accept what she is given. Until one night you are touched in the way you remember, where you can finally yell back before you must relive the hurt. But the hurt has always lived within you, and as you walk to the bathroom and stare at the mirror, you feel everything that happened months ago. You thought you had rid of it.

But the body remembers.

In between life came the care that never fully immersed itself into you. It was small. The late nights you stayed awake for poor reasons,

often alone. The far-too-early mornings you woke and couldn’t manifest any sort of hunger. The hunger that would arrive and leave before you could do anything about it. The most you could do was drink, but drink all the wrong things upon your parched mouth. The exhaustion is evident in your eyes, but youth is the best cover-up, and your youth reveled in its own power.

But the body remembers.

When sleep became hard, as you stayed awake until you got the early morning’s New York Times newsletter, until you could finally rest your head, you grew lonely. The night is silent after a certain point, and you used to embrace being alone. But the difference between alone and lonely is the desperation, the depression, and the remembrance all wrapped up in the quiet air, waiting for you to crack.

The body remembers.

The bottom of your shoes is always sticky with alcohol, and you don’t do laundry enough to get rid of the stench. You stopped believing in a God after you spoke to him on a bad night and didn’t hear anything back. You emptied bottles just so you could throw them against your fence and hear them crash and break, scattering across the grass.

You are the excitement of every party. The attention you’ve always craved is yours, yet you feel it fleeting. You fear missing a beat, missing a night — forgotten. Again, you are no one, just as you were before all of this. The scent of cigarettes stains your skin as your fingers shake, you are awake, you are rife with every one of your cravings. You laugh at the silly boys who called you a convenience. You are grander than life itself and they were simply too stupid to see. Pain is a figment of the mind, and right now, the mind is the enemy. As long as the mind is quiet, there will be no pain.

But the body always remembers.

present

We don’t have to perceive ourselves as beautiful. Beauty quietly changes as we get older, and the child resting from decades past will always remember the days she was called ugly. Do you remember dissecting yourself, trying to understand what made you look the way you did? Maybe if you could solve your features like an equation, you could discover the error of your physicality. Even after convincing yourself of your beauty, your body remembers the way you snatched and grabbed and pinched at it.

Some days are just as hard as before. Where I can leave and my body will walk through my life, doing what needs to be done. But we choose not to. She moves as I go and we hold each other through it all.

Sometimes we are pushed apart, vilifying one another, placing blame when it belongs to the past.

The days I cannot remember, refuse to remember, I know she will.

I used to hate her for storing trauma like a time capsule, knowing we would one day open it. But all this time she was asking not to be alone, asking me to stop leaving her with the darkness. We are a compilation of the mistakes made, but we were right when we believed we were grander than life. She no longer asks me to obsess over her. And I no longer run away. Where one day we will know this upon instinct, and might even feel serenity with one another. Might even feel all the adoration we couldn’t muster in adolescence.

future And my love, we have.

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designed by: sawyer sadd