The WALK Spring 2018

Spring 2018

The WALK Magazine

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Behind the Scenes photographs by Alisa Wadsworth, Faith Cho, Jennifer Higa, Jin Ma, Noa Baker, Kara Hu, Braden Saba, Skylar Scafidi, Shirley Yang, Justine de Jesus, Isabel Zapata, and Nicole Fridling.

Copyright © 2017-2018 The WALK Magazine. All rights reserved.

The University of Pennsylvania’s premier fashion magazine, The WALK was founded in 2006 as a student initiative and continues to be a student fueled organization.

The WALK Online was launched in 2010 as a sister to the print edition. The WALK aims to satisfy our community’s widely-demanded fashion fix year-round.

Stories edited by the editorial staff will carry bylines of the original author. Please report corrections to thewalkmag@gmail.com. We will post corrections on our website.

This publication is typeset using Freight and Soleil, with additional custom fonts used for certain headings. Page layouts were created using Adobe InDesign. Original images were taken with DSLR cameras and edited using Adobe Photoshop. The WALK is printed in Sappi Flo 70lb gloss text paper (FSC and 10% recycled) using sheet-fed offset presses. The binding is saddle-stitched. Printed by Garrison Printing Company, Inc., Pennsauken, NJ. To get involved or learn about advertising and partnership opportunities, please contact us at thewalkmag@gmail.com.

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The WALK Magazine

Spring 2018

SPRING 2018 • VOL . XII, No. 2

Nadia Kim Editor-in-Chief

Julien Advaney Creative Director

Emily Cieslak

Alden Terry

Siyuan Liu, Edward Kim

Karen Yang

Editorial Director

Photography Director

Design Directors

Video Director

Kiki Dominguez

Sabrina Aberman

Chrissy Walker

Eugenie Shin

Marketing Director

Operations Coordinator

Finance Director

Web Director

EDITORIAL

Fashion Editor Emily Schwartz • Features Editor Jessica Sulima • People Editor Varshini Gali Copy Editors Jessica Schmitt, Amy Marcus, Amanda Steinborn Writers Amanda Kwon, Alexandra Nichols, Francesca Catania, Eliana

Waxman, Courtney Gu, Yana-Maria Milcheva, Tyler Lawson, Ty Ciatto PHOTOGR AHY

Full-time Photographers Arjun Doshi, Miru Osuga, Belle Carlson, Chris Oh, Emily Johnson, Noel Zheng, Tong Pow Part-time Photographers Alisa Wadsworth, Faith Cho, Jennifer Higa, Jin Ma, Noa Baker, Kara Hu, Braden Saba,

Skylar Scafidi, Shirley Yang, Justine de Jesus, Isabel Zapata, Nicole Fridling VIDEO

Videographers Joy Lee, Sydney Judge, Vanessa Wanyandeh, Carolina Salazar-Paranhos

DESIGN

Assistant Art Director Selina Nie

Layout Designers Andrea Frost, Ilana Nathans, Khuc Thuy Duy Chau, Claire Shin, Minsuh Park, Emily Yao Illustrators Edmund Cai, Bryan Joung, Cathleen Gui, Gloria Yuen, Rhea Goenka

ST YLING & BEAUT Y

Fashion Director Noel Zheng • Beauty Director Madison Kahn • Pro-Apparel Coordinator Esther Woo

Women’s Stylists Chelsea Lee, Luiza Franca, Kalyxa Roman, Alexandra Nichols, Airika Yee, Nadira Berman, Carolyn Ryan, Davery Joso,

Eliana Margherio, Isabella Vura, Isabella Yu, Juliana Kemenosh, Lula Chou, Natalia Rommen, Terry Chien, Veronica Fenton, Xizi Chen, Zovinar Khrimian • Men’s Stylists Arianne Wong, Paolo Nasr, Urwa Khaliq, Felix Cui • Beauty Stylists Jamie Trubowitsch, Emilio Frayre, Serena Wen, Perren Carrillo, Sarah Thomas, Tinyan Omere, Giovanna Sena, Yuqi Zhao, Emily Shu-yun Yao, Anita Itaman, Ana Miletic MANAGEMENT

Assistant Operations Coordinator Natalie Sadjo • Strategic Projects Coordinator Danielle Goh Corporate Sponsorships Ariana Callender, Adriana Ramirez, Alisha Jain, Clara Menestrot, Rhea Aurora, Katie Leventhal, Kos Mante

THE WALK ONLINE

Managing Editor Sarah Llewellyn • Creative Director Airika Yee • Social Media Editor Michaela Tinkey • Asst. Webmaster Angel Fan Senior Fashion Editors Allison Walter, Meredith Mitchell, Caroline Harris • Senior Health & Beauty Editors Marianne Demarolle, Helen Dugan • Senior Culture Editors Faith Cho, Tyler Lawson • Senior Features Editor Grace Lee • Fashion Editors Javier Perez, Ty Ciatto, Emily Guo, Elly Choi, Imogen Fallon • Health & Beauty Editors Lauren Tappan, Adriana Richmond, Changyue Yin, Helen Qi • Culture Editors Katherine Waltman, Audrey Osborn, Needhi Mehta, Del Patel, Rachael Ruhland, Euthymia Stratakis, Julci Areza • Feature Editors Marina Gialanella, Yana Milcheva, Caitlin McNamara, Laiqa Shariff Creative Staff Ella Bei, Yui Shimokobe, Jessica Saad, Joy Lee, Caroline Gibson, Sonia Hussain, Sydney Shiffman, Eliza Halpin, Kiley

Mahoney, Hannah Nasseri, Eliza Culp, Amanda Simpson, Chioma Duru, Ami Diane, Arya Akal, Keri Zhang, Via Lim, Ebony Goldman, Anita Itaman, Marina Gialanella, Judy Choi MARKETING

Event Coordinators Anna Jellinek, Louise Lu, Anya Saraf, Wendy Hirata • Social Media Allison Domm, Valentina Rodriguez

SEEN ON THE WALK

Street Style Photographers Khulan Solongozaya, Kiara Honma, Kabele Cook, Kara Hu, Megan Jones, Hana Pearlman, Bangsun Kwon,

Eliana Margherio, Justine de Jesus, Shirley Yang

Spring 2018

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CONTENTS

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Shift from West to East

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The eye turns East for the newest fashion trends.

Destined for Design

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Designers who prove you don’t need a background that screams “fashion” to make it big.

Overcoming the Obstacles of Shifting Schools: Penn’s TSO

A (WO)MAN’S PLACE IS A Shift to Gen Z

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An in-depth look into the generation surpassing the Millennials.

Unisex & Universal

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The transition from classic black pumps to flat alternatives in the modern business wardrobe.

42

Meet the organization making transfer students thrive at Penn.

New Kids on the Block

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A look at how social media has turned the world of beauty and fashion upside down.

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38

Delve into the emerging world of genderless clothing.

Flat, Fearless and Fabulous

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SHIFTING GEARS Penn Speaks: Penn Professors on Fashion

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Penn may not have a fashion major, but it has these professors.

One Item, Four Ways: The Denim Jacket

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How four students style the timeless denim jacket.

REFRACT 4

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Spring 2018

The Penn Entrepreneurs Embracing Functionality and Fashion

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A look into successful retail startups from Penn Alums.

Senior Spotlight

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Capture That

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COV ER LOOK

SHIFT The idea of “shift” is nearly inextricable from the idea of movement. It immediately evokes the notion of change, of moving from point A to point B – it demands a kind of animation that is difficult to express in a frozen image. For our cover, we took on the challenge of capturing this dynamic essence in a still photograph. Using long-exposure photography, we aimed to capture the actual movement of our subject through space, allowing the viewer to see his form both before and after the literal shift.

DIRECTED BY JULIEN ADVANEY ‘18, ALDEN TERRY ‘19 AND NADIA KIM ‘19. PHOTOGRAPHED BY ALDEN TERRY ‘19. ST YLED BY NOEL ZHENG ‘20. MODELED BY JERRETTE LEE II ‘19.

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR T

Nadia Kim ’19. Photographed by Alden Terry ’19.

he idea of “SHIFT” as our Spring 2018 theme occurred to me while I was staring at my laptop keyboard. SZA already had dibs on “Ctrl”, so “SHIFT” seemed like a promising alternative. At first glance, the word itself is fairly unremarkable. It doesn’t possess quite the same ceremonious ring or symbolic weightiness of previous WALK themes. If anything, it’s a simple word that we throw around from time to time without a second thought. And why shouldn’t we? Intrinsic to the idea of “shift” is the notion of change, which is arguably the most ordinary, constant aspect of our lives. We shift our gaze from one subject to another. We shift our perspective from one viewpoint to the next.

Even as you read this, your body shifts its own weight from side to side.

It’s a concept that is so familiar that we sometimes forget to name it. In our Spring 2018 issue, The WALK sought to explore such shifts and how they play out across fashion, culture, and beyond.

It goes without saying that fashion is always shifting. New trends, styles, and icons boom and bust so quickly it’s sometimes hard to keep track. Footwear is no exception to this rule, and Amanda Steinborn analyzes these changes in women’s shoes in her piece “Flat, Fearless, and Fabulous.” In contrast, the denim jacket is a wardrobe staple that has remained fairly constant over time – in Yana Milcheva’s “One Item, Four Ways”, we see the shift in the way four different students style the timeless piece. Meanwhile, Alex Nichols’ “Unisex and Universal?” delves into fashion brands that are beginning to move toward genderless clothing and the implications of this change.

We also explored shifts across time and space, both tangible and intangible. In “Shift from East to West,” Ty Ciatto discusses the ever-growing influence of several East Asian countries in the fashion world. Our featured student group, Penn Transfer Organization, dedicates itself to supporting transfer students as they adjust to a new academic, social, and geographic setting. In “New Kids on the Block”, Amanda Kwon analyzes the increased importance of influencers in the fashion and beauty industries, while Tyler Lawson scrutinizes the distinction between Millennials and Generation Z in “A Shift to Gen Z.” Finally, as is tradition for The WALK’s spring issue, we paid tribute to graduating members of The WALK team in “Senior Spotlight” as they prepare to transition to a new stage of their lives.

Something I love about the word “shift” is that it gives absolutely no hints as to what type of movement it is describing – a shift can be drastic or minute, consequential or insignificant – it leaves all imaginable possibilities on the table. This is precisely what grounds “shift” so firmly in our everyday lives. Some days, we experience seismic, earth-shattering movements. Other days, the change is so infinitesimal we barely notice it. In the pages that follow, I invite you to question, celebrate, critique, and reflect on these shifts and all the changes, big or small, they may bring.

Much love,

Nadia Kim Editor-in-Chief

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ONLINE

THIS SPRING

Completely redesigned, The WALK Online now presents articles in a beautiful, longform and comfortable reading experience.

When Fashion and Politics Intertwine Is fashion becoming more thoughtful and politically responsible, or is it commodifying the ideological questions of the day?

BY IMOGEN FALLON.

Off-Primaries: A Photo Series Do you know your color wheel?

BY KERI ZHANG. PHOTOGRAPHED BY ELL A BEI. MODELED BY KERI ZHANG AND GEORGE BEALL. APPAREL ST YLING BY SONIA HUSSAIN AND SYDNEY SHIFFMAN. BEAUT Y ST YLING BY KERI ZHANG.

Want to Run a Business Like Stuart Weitzman?

Hear the ins and outs of creating a successful business from the famous Wharton Grad himself.

BY MARINA GIALANELLA.

Spring 2018

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a (wo)man’s place is

DIRECTED BY JULIEN ADVANEY ‘18, ALDEN TERRY ‘19, NOEL ZHENG ‘20 AND NADIA KIM ‘19. PHOTOGRAPHED BY NOEL ZHENG ‘20 AND ARJUN DOSHI ‘19. MODELED BY ANTHONY WILLIAMS ‘19, MADELINE SMITH ‘21 AND MICA TENEBAUM ‘18.

STYLED BY NATALIA ROMMEN ‘21, ESTHER WOO ‘18, NADIRA BERMAN ‘19, DAVERY JOSO ‘21, ARIANNE WONG ‘21 AND URWA KHALIQ ‘20. BEAUTY

BY MADISON KAHN ‘19 AND GIOVANNA SENA ‘20.

On all models: Stylists’ Own.

SHIFT FROM WEST

TO EAST

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Spring 2018

Traditionally, Western countries have been championed as the tastemakers in fashion. But game changing designers and brands in Eastern countries are ready to take the spotlight.

BY TY CIATTO. PHOTOGRAPHED BY JIN MA AND JENNIFER HIGA.

P

aris, London, Milan, New York: The four biggest fashion capitals in the world. And what do these cities have in common? For starters, three out of four are located in Europe. Even the fourth was created and heavily influenced by European settlers.

Therefore, these cities share a common Western view, and this fact has been impacting the global perspective of designers, fashion patrons and average people for decades.

The hegemony of the European fashion empire always had avid fashion goers flocking to the West, but in recent years, the countries of the Eastern world have been emerging as strong influencers of fashion. Several countries stand out when considering the strengthening popularity of Asian and Oceanic names: Japan, South Korea and Australia.

The Japanese have one of the fastest moving cultures in today’s world, and fashion trends are no exception. One of the biggest stories of Japanese fashion is the street style that emerges and changes generationally in various districts of Tokyo. Such a district is Harajuku, comprised predominantly of 16 to 20 year-old college students. The nature of this demographic ensures that every four years Harajuku witnesses a change in approximately 20 percent of its residents.

Anyone that questions the impact of Tokyo — and the rest of Japan — on the fashion world can simply refer to Marc Jacobs’ Spring/ Summer 2017 show and Rihanna’s Fenty Line with Puma, both of which were noted to have been heavily influenced by colorful, eclectic and almost cartoonish Harajuku style.

Designer Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo of Commes Des Garçons are other well-known names in the industry based out of Tokyo, but Kansai Yamamoto has also been coming to the forefront in recent years. David Bowie first wore Kansai’s designs in 1972, and in recent years, the 73 year-old Japanese designer has been discerned in the colors of Gucci’s Spring/Summer 2017 collection, Valentino’s pre-2016 ode to Japan, the Givenchy 2017 January Menswear Collection and Louis Vuitton’s 2018 Cruise Show. In fact, Nicolas Ghesquire, the current creative director of the house of Louis Vuitton, actually enlisted the help of Kansai himself to create the perfect images of yakko faces.

It is no surprise that Japan’s greatest rival in the East is also one known for its extremely technologically advanced society. South Korea

has recently made giant leaps in both the beauty and fashion industry. A trip to the Myeongdong shopping district in Seoul would demonstrate just how intense the beauty industry is in South Korea, as the streets are lined with an innumerable amount of cosmetic shops.

This huge emphasis on beauty products can be largely explained by Korean culture.

Taking care of one’s skin has become a necessity on the peninsula, and the population’s overwhelming acceptance of this notion has precipitated one of the largest markets for cosmetic surgery. For instance, even children religiously apply sunscreen and regularly visit Korean spas with their family. Moreover, BB creams, sheet masks, snail slime, fermented skincare, essences, cushion compacts, powder exfoliators and sleeping masks, which have become popular in Western markets, are all originally South Korean beauty practices, and the Korean market is said to be years ahead of the West in terms of beauty products such as these. In terms of cosmetic surgery, there are procedures such as double eyelid surgery and jaw shaving which remain popular for Koreans trying to obtain more “Western” features.

A result of the international gaze turning towards Seoul for its beauty products has actually caused quite a lot of clamor around the South Korean fashion industry. Most South Korean brands tend to market towards street style, but the general interest in Korean culture and the media coverage of Seoul Fashion Week has made the city one of the most popular destinations in Asia for fashion. The Korean fashion market is known to be heavily influenced by trends, yet it is both praised and criticized for this by the fashion world. This is primarily due to the generational dynamic of the fashion world in which the young enjoy this shift toward “street style,” despite the fact that it is not the most conventional approach to fashion.

Although the final country making recent headlines has similar European roots to New York and lies off the continent of Asia, the fashion and lifestyle influence of Australia is as important and atypical as that of Japan or South Korea. Before the 1990s, Australian style was very limited and was most likely adapted from European trends.

The fashion industry in Australia, however, is quite unique compared to that of other countries. Major Australian factories are spread out across the suburbs, and this geographic

dispersion has allowed for the development of a fashion industry dominated by small to medium sized companies all across the country.

Creative collaborations have thrived in this setting, and new designers have been able to receive a wide array of opportunities.

This has been the case for many years, but more recently, many higher up in the Australian fashion world such as Courtney Miller, general manager of the Australian Fashion Chamber, have been pushing for Australian entrance into the American market. Labels such as Zimmerman, Dion Lee and Ellery have been paving the way in this effort by dressing high-profile personalities and hosting runway shows at New York and Paris Fashion Weeks. The Australian Fashion Chamber strives to help these and similar brands by supporting them in their Resort 2018 lines, which are collections that cater directly to the Australian lifestyle. They believe this outward shift towards appealing to the global market would help many brands overcome the limitations posed by the smaller Australian market.

This unique scene does, however, have a downside since the limited resources can make increased demand difficult to supply, and the volatility of the global market can easily destroy several companies. Supporters of the Australian fashion industry, nevertheless, try to remain optimistic and strive for the continuation of Australian brands through small operations, online retail and increased exposure to the conventional fashion capitals.

In the past, these Eastern countries were exploited by the West; they were large markets that made little contribution to the global industry or even their local fashion industries.

Much of this is evident through the actions of Chinese consumers who continue to buy the high end brands of the Western world, despite many efforts to expand Chinese retail. In contrast, several Eastern countries like that of Japan, South Korea and Australia have turned their gaze inward, and this has resulted in an almost counterintuitive shift towards the production of Eastern markets. In other words, not only have the fashion industries of these countries made giant progress with respect to their development but also they have begun to serve as inspiration for the traditional fashion tycoons of the West, which are constantly observing the dynamic and ever-changing nature of Eastern fashion.

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DESTINED FOR

DESIGN

BY COURTNEY GU. ILLUSTRATION BY GLORIA YUEN. A glimpse into the histories of three of the most influential fashion designers today, each of whom did not start out in fashion.

T

he path to becoming a fashion designer, like many lines of work, is one made much easier by the possession of certain privileges. Having the financial security to depart from more stable sources of income in order to pursue a dream is considered a luxury. Obtaining a formal degree in design is not always a viable option (or even necessary) and also requires certain means. Perhaps most vital but hardest to come by is the support of people who believe in your dream, as well as connections within the industry. Because of this, people who lack one or all of these resources, yet still choose to embark on this path and succeed, in spite of the obstacles, are all the more impressive. But after all, fashion designers are a breed of their own far from ordinary.

Here are three designers whose names have become synonymous with luxury but who came from beginnings that were far from luxurious.

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Image courtesy of The Rake

Giorgio Armani “I guess I fell into fashion,” said Giorgio Armani to Harper’s BAZAAR editor Jamie Huckbody.

This may come as a surprise to many, as the Giorgio Armani name is one of the first that comes to mind when we think of fashion designers. Armani’s eponymous fashion company, launched in 1975, is an incredibly successful multi-billion dollar business that has expanded to include hospitality ventures around the world, namely branded hotels in Dubai and Milan.

However, Armani’s beginnings contained little to suggest he would eventually become one of the most influential forces in fashion.

Italian designer Giorgio Armani was born in 1934 to a poor working class family in Piacenza, Italy, a city ravaged by war. Like Ralph Lauren, Armani admired the lives of movie stars in cinema, which served as an escape from the harsh realities of life. Considering this, it’s fitting he eventually became the first fashion designer to take advantage of the connection between Hollywood and the fashion industry. Fashion historian Harold Koda asserts that Armani “professionalized the red carpet,” making it “a place where actresses could present the kind of glamour that historically the studios would orchestrate.”

As a young man, Armani initially pursued a degree in medicine at the University of Milan but left for compulsory military service before completing his degree. After his service ended, he felt obligated to start earning money to provide assistance for his family and found work as a window dresser at a luxury department store in Milan in 1957. This role served as a catalyst to his eventual rise as a designer, launching his own label in 1975. The world of fashion would be forever changed by it. Armani is thought of by many as the first designer since Chanel to have had such a substantial effect on the sartorial choices of the masses, creating an aesthetic of sophisticated luxury embodied by his signature power suit. His elegant, streamlined interpretation of this traditionally stiff garment made the Armani suit into the powerful icon it is today. Armani fell into fashion, and

Image courtesy of Clearly Contacts

Image courtesy of Ralph Lauren

Phillip Lim

Ralph Lauren

fashion definitely fell for him.

In a time during which the concept of privacy might seem like a distant dream for those of celebrity status, Phillip Lim has managed to keep a relatively low profile. Lim’s work has managed to speak volumes without Lim saying much himself. However, we do know enough to say that he isn’t your typical Parsons-educated designer — but this has in no way stopped him from building an impressive million-dollar empire.

Lim was born in Thailand in 1973 but was brought up in California along with six older siblings by Chinese parents, after the family fled the Cambodian Genocide. Growing up, he cites his professional poker-playing father as a more influential source of learning than his seamstress mother, perhaps referring to the calculated risks both poker players and the designer must take. He went on to graduate in 1995 from California State University at Long Beach with a home economics degree. After seeing Katayone Adeli’s designs while working at Barney’s New York following graduation, Lim cold-called and finessed his way into an internship, despite not having a portfolio or formal design training.

Fast forward to today, where Lim’s shrewd eye for style and long-time friend Wen Zhou’s business savvy gave birth to 3.1 Phillip Lim, a brand that reached almost $3 million in sales in its first six months. It would be remiss to fail to mention the instrumental role Zhou, a selfmade immigrant from China, played in introducing Lim to the world. Zhou’s initial funding of Lim’s designs made it possible for the larger public to experience Phillip Lim’s full potential. And for that, we are forever grateful.

Ralph Lauren was originally born Ralph Lifshitz to working-class Ashkenazi Jewish parents from Belarus. Movie outings offered a brief respite from life in the Bronx, and the films served as inspiration for his designs later on. Lauren attended Baruch College before dropping out to join the United States Army in 1962 and served until 1964, an experience that also injected a military flavor to his pieces.

Lauren’s first foray into fashion came when he was hired as a salesperson at Brooks Brothers post-military service. Never failing to draw inspiration from his surroundings, he began to design ties on his own time, drawing on the Brooks Brothers Prep aesthetic with an important difference — the ties were almost twice as wide as the narrow styles en vogue at the time. This unique creation quickly garnered the attention of department stores that wanted to carry his designs and was key to opening the door to Lauren’s later success. In 1967, the Ralph Lauren brand was created and adopted the polo player symbol, a nod to the designer’s love of sports despite never having watched polo.

The Ralph Lauren Corporation has now expanded to encompass menswear, womenswear, fragrances and housewares. Today, Lauren’s net worth is estimated to be over $7 billion, and the Ralph Lauren brand has become a household name.

In today’s world of style bloggers and Instagram influencers, it’s clear that having a background in fashion isn’t a prerequisite for working in the fashion industry. But before this became the norm, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani and Phillip Lim paved their own ways against the odds to become successful designers and heads of million-dollar fashion empires.

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Why You Should Apply SCHOLARSHIP - Chance to win between $5-$35K scholarship check payable to YOU - Scholarship money can be applied to any educational expense such as tuition, summer housing for an internship, study abroad program, etc.

MENTORING - Scholarship winners are invited to attend the annual January Awards Gala in New York City, attended by the FSF Board of Governors and other industry executives. Complimentary hotel and travel reimbursements provided.

- Each scholarship recipient is invited to join the FSF Mentor Program and be paired with an industry mentor during the year of the award.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT - Winners will have access to internship opportunities through FSF partner companies.

- Winners are eligible to join the FSF Alumni Association to grow their professional network.

Eligibility Criteria - Full time students enrolled at one of the sixty four member schools listed on the FSF website.

- Freshmen (at the discretion of their educator) through seniors (graduating fall 2018, or spring/summer/ fall 2019), transfer students and international students.

- Minimum Overall G.P.A. of 3.00.

- All Disciplines such as but not limited to: advertising, communications, consumer science, design, information technology, business management, marketing, supply chain, merchandising, and retail studies.

- Students considering opportunities in the fashion industry after graduation.

- Applicants may reapply for the scholarship each year!

How to Apply 1) Contact the school educator listed on the MEMBER SCHOOLS page. He or she can confirm your eligibility and establish your login for our online application website. You will also be given a case study that you will need to complete and submit with your application.

2) Work with your educator to make sure the application and case study is completed correctly.

3) Submit your application, case study, resume, and official transcript by due date and make sure that your educator takes the final step of approving your submission.

Completed case submissions are due October 1st, 2018.

This advertisement for the Fashion Scholarship Fund was generously donated by Threadstone Advisors, LLC. For more information please go to www.threadstonelp.com.

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OVERCOMING THE OBSTACLES OF SHIFTING SCHOOLS:

PENN TSO

TRANSFER STUDENT ORGANIZATION

CHOOSING YOUR COLLEGE IS THE BIGGEST DECISION OF YOUR LIFE; CHOOSING TO TRANSFER IS THE SECOND.

BY EMILY SCHWARTZ. PHOTOGRAPHED BY CHRIS OH AND TONG POW.

y October of her freshman year at the University of Georgia, Ashley Warner (C ’19) knew she wanted to transfer.

She felt the culture shock of the South after having grown up in New Jersey. She struggled to find resources when searching for government or consulting internships that could place her in offices outside of Georgia.

She realized she wanted to pursue Earth Science as a major yet it wasn’t offered at her school.

In the fall of 2016, Warner transferred to Penn. Fast forward a year and a half, and Warner now serves as the Co-President of Penn’s Transfer Student Organization (TSO), an association of transfer students with the goal of making the transfer process as smooth as possible at every stage.

“We’re basically an organization of people who have transferred to Penn, and our main goal is to integrate new transfers into the Penn community,” said Sarah Cronin (C ’19), Co-Executive Vice President.

Even those who haven’t transferred can imagine transferring between schools is a huge shift in one’s college years. That’s why TSO at Penn was founded by transfer students in 2011. While the club itself just consists of the 17-person board, anyone who transfers becomes associated by nature of NSO events and the community in place.

It’s still one of the only such organizations nationwide.

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Integrating new transfer students is no small task. They plan events for transfers during New Student Orientation, organize other events throughout the year to keep transfers engaged, oversee a mentorship program in which a new transfer student is matched with an older transfer student to serve as a guide to Penn life and much more.

The NSO office grants TSO the majority of their funding, so the two groups work closely together to plan several activities — especially the Transfer Student Orientation, which is separate from normal NSO — and ensure that TSO efforts are successful.

Co-Vice President of Mentorship Justin Roberson (C ’20) knows just how important mentor relationships, and relationships in general, can be. One relationship in particular, the close one he had with his best friend from home, encouraged him to go to Xavier University in Ohio where his friend had decided to enroll. Roberson, however, transferred this past fall after feeling like there were other options out there that were more challenging and provided something bigger.

“We were going to have the perfect college experience together...and just have the best time of our lives and all that,” Roberson said. “And I slowly realized — I love him, he’s like a brother to me — but that just wasn’t the right path for me to go down.”

He noted Penn has around 150 transfers each year, whereas other prestigious

universities only admit fewer than 10. This helps build a community naturally among transfer students that is specific to Penn because of the sheer size of the group. TSO plays a role in this because of the way it brings transfers together right at the beginning of the school year, both impacting the community at large and the individual students who constitute it.

“Being a transfer is such a unique experience, and it felt like everyone kind of understood each other from the beginning, so without [TSO] I’d probably be lost,” Roberson said. “So I’m really thankful to them for just helping me out with whatever I needed and making me feel welcome.

Because of the lifestyle change that happens when you transfer schools, TSO doesn’t only help in providing programming but also bonds students over the shared experiences and difficulties that transferring can bring. Before a student even decides to transfer, challenges arise.

“Going through that thought process of ‘Okay, the school that I’m at is not right for me,’ and taking the initiative to figure out what exactly is wrong, and finding a school that could fix what’s wrong about your current school — that’s a really hard process to go through,” Warner said.

After the decision itself comes applications, which have to be completed in the midst of a busy school year. The process of applying as a transfer is relatively similar to that of high school students, as is the acceptance rate. Potential transfers have to obtain professor recommendations, and as a freshman at a new school, likely taking large introductory classes, getting these recommendations can be hard.

There’s a stigma associated with transferring. Some potential transfers avoid discussing it with their friends for fear of being socially ostracized, and others worry about the accusation that they are only considering transferring to Penn to get into the Ivy League. Lacking a network to help you through the experience makes transferring that much harder.

Cronin transferred from Boston College in the fall of 2016. She ended up at BC because many of her family members had gone there, and it was close to home, though it was never really somewhere she wanted to be. Because of the stigma, Cronin never spoke about transferring with her new college friends freshman year — only to find out that four other people in her hall alone were also planning to transfer.

“I kind of went in with the mindset of ‘Okay, I’ll give

[BC] a try and see how it works out’, but I kind of knew that it wasn’t what I wanted in a school,” Cronin said.

TSO has all of its bases covered. It doesn’t just help transfer students when they get to Penn but tries to reach them even before, when they’re prospective students working through their options. TSO hosts information sessions for transfer students visiting the school, leads tours and holds an Open House in May. In past years, they’ve done a live online chat catering to prospective students, which they’re planning to do again.

Warner went to the Open House nearly two years ago when she was applying. “Being able to speak to someone who has transferred, and knowing that it’s feasible, and you’re going to be okay, and Penn is great and people are welcoming — it’s very comforting,” Warner said.

Even at Penn, transfers have to navigate policies like the requirement to live on campus and eat on the meal plan, all the while trying to make new friends and become a part of the Penn community. TSO helps guide students through these protocols and choices in a way that is unique to transfer students, instead of freshmen starting college for the first time. They have board members overseeing everything

from student life to admissions, mentorship, social planning, fundraising and publicity.

“The hardest part is feeling like you’re a freshman again, even though you’ve already done a full year of college,” Cronin said. “It feels kind of redundant like you’ve done it before, but it’s not the same.”

That’s not to say transferring is all work, no reward.

Talk to anyone in TSO, and they’re likely to tell you why transferring was a good decision or how much it’s improved their life. One big perk is a fresh perspective that often results from going through the process.

“I feel like I’m so different than I was at my old school, and every time I say that to people they don’t understand unless they’ve done it,” said Cronin. “I think it makes you think a lot more about what you actually want, and I just feel like I’m more committed to the things I care about now…I feel like I appreciate things more, because I know what it’s like to be somewhere else.”

Warner agrees. “I hear people complain about Penn all the time, and I just laugh because I’m just like listen, you don’t know how good you have it being at this school, and I think that’s something that we all feel.”

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NEW KIDS ON THE

BLOCK

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BY AMANDA KWON. ILLUSTRATION BY CATHLEEN GUI. With the revolutionary strides in social media made in the past decade, the beauty and fashion industry has been caught in a whirlwind of change. Let’s take a look at the power social media influencers wield and how they have transformed the marketing game in this industry.

who are these “influencers”?

O

nline beauty and fashion influencers originated in the early 2000s, when internet blogs were all the rage. These were just young girls posting pictures of their budget-friendly outfits, and the content became wildly popular. However, as technology became more widely accessible and the favorite online platforms changed, the “influencers” exploded into the giants they are on YouTube and Instagram today.

Each month, over 1.6 billion minutes of consumer-created fashion and beauty videos on YouTube are watched by over 50 million people, and these numbers are rapidly rising. Much like earlier blogs, it started with regular girls around the ages of 16 to 20 yearsold, who decided to film back-to-school outfit ideas and ‘everyday makeup’ tutorials on their Macbooks. As the popularity of the beauty community grew, many of those girls were able to quit their day jobs to create more and better content for growing subscriber bases and become some of the most successful creators on the platform. The most notable example would be Michelle Phan, who started by uploading Halloween makeup tutorials in 2007, spent years creating beauty videos, and after many partnerships with various brands, went on to start her own company, now worth $500 million.

Now, the beauty community is exploding with small creators choosing to pursue YouTube rather than a traditional career path and larger creators who attend fashion shows and start their own line of products. With a push for diversity, these larger creators even include male beauty gurus such as Manny MUA and Patrick Starr.

Beauty influencers also have a larger presence on Instagram, where they typically post carefully staged photos. While all YouTube creators are active on Instagram, the reverse cannot be said, as many influencers now use Instagram alone. Whereas Instagram was once a secondary platform, it has now become a starting point.

These influencers can be as large as Kylie Jenner or as small as a college student. With the quality of phone cameras only improving, anyone can try his or her hand at becoming an internet idol.

why do people care?

A lack of diversity in traditional media plays a huge role in the popularity of the social media beauty community. Beauty and fashion are based on aesthetics, and without many Asian, black, brown or curvy women in magazines and on TV, most girls were either trying to fix themselves to as closely match what they saw on Jennifer Aniston as possible or feeling left out and insecure. Now, there are creators of all shapes, sizes and colors on YouTube and Instagram for all audiences that show girls and boys who don’t see their monolids, hair or curves in traditional media how to enhance their own beauty.

After locking in their audience, influencers portray a fabulous life through well-lit photos and intricately thought-out camera angles. This is the aspect of online celebrity that at first glance is similar to traditional celebrity, but is in fact, more powerful, because while fans of traditional stars fawn over how great they look on the red carpet or on screen, fans of online celebrities fawn over how great they look in what seems to be their normal, everyday lives. At the same time, these influencers gain the trust of their fans by regularly interacting with them. People are no longer interested in the shampoo that Zooey Deschanel holds up to her face with a giant fan on set blowing her hair back. They want to use the shampoo their older sister and her friends use that makes their hair look amazing every time they come over. Influencers become Spring 2018

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the girl-next-door who shows up on their followers’ feeds to tell hand-picked stories of their lives and make followers want to buy whatever makes their lives so perfect. This trust, however, can be hard to maintain, and nearly every influencer who takes a sponsorship, no matter how well-intentioned,

is accused by some of selling out. Influencers may also receive backlash for working with brands with values that followers do not agree with. In order to maintain their followers’ trust, influencers must be very careful about with which brands they choose to associate themselves.

how have the behaviors of companies changed?

With more than 71 percent of consumers looking to social media prior to making a purchase, it is not surprising that more than 57 percent of beauty and fashion companies are using influencers as part of their marketing strategies. Brands will often send PR packages of products, from clothes to phone cases to hair vitamins, to social media influencers, hoping they will mention or tag the product in a video or post and share it with their followers. When a new product line launches, brands often invite influencers to the launch party, where pictures are encouraged for social media exposure and caption suggestions to best promote the products are even made.

This marketing strategy has lowered the barrier to start a brand, because not only can brands now operate exclusively online with no physical stores, but they can also advertise their products simply by sending them to influencers followed by their targeted consumers. Exposing consumers to products through social media has been the key to success for online brands such as Fashion Nova, I.AM.GIA and even Kylie Cosmetics. Sending PR packages, hosting influencers at events and partnering with influencers allow brands to stay relevant to a generation that is constantly looking for the next best thing.

But relevancy is a double edged sword. Social media has allowed millions of people to gain access to information very quickly, which means word spreads fast. In the case of Fenty Beauty by Rihanna, so much social media buzz had been created over the huge, inclusive range in foundation shades that popular shades of the product were sold out for many months. On the other hand, there have been numerous scandals in the past decade from Marc Jacobs’ white models with dreadlocks and no people of color in his SS17 fashion show to the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch famously stating his brand was for “cool, good-looking people.” These stories became well-known because they were widely spread

by Twitter users and Instagram comments expressing serious backlash that undoubtedly influenced purchase decisions. In this new age, consumers are no longer chasing brands — the brands must prove themselves worthy of the consumers. This means brands must be extra careful about defining what they stand for and aligning their values with those of their target consumers. With social media, the pressure on all companies is high, because the Internet never forgets mistakes.

what does the future of influencers look like?

With people consuming more of their media through the Internet rather than TV or magazines, YouTube has become an important place for companies to advertise their products. But traditional celebrities simply are not translating the same way online as they did through traditional media. YouTube is the creators’ territory, where they are the idols who grab people’s attention. No more clearly could this have been demonstrated than through the various Beats

by Dre advertisements on the site which featured different celebrities such as DJ Khaled and Tom Brady, but also extremely popular YouTube comedy creator Liza Koshy, who drew four times as many clicks on her advertisements than any other celebrity. Statistics like these are only encouraging big brands to invest more in sponsoring influencers for online ads. Designer labels are also realizing collaborations with influencers even off-screen may be better for marketing than working with unknowns who may be more talented. A notable example is Burberry asking Brooklyn Beckham, son of soccer player David Beckham with nearly 11 million Instagram followers, to shoot the Burberry Brit campaign in 2016.

Though art critics described his photos as “boring” and having “nothing to say,” Burberry proudly advertised the photos had been shot by Beckham. As 26

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the power of influencers grows stronger, there is no doubt there will be more collaborations between big labels and online celebrities who can reach the younger generation.

Nowadays, YouTube and Instagram stars are rarely one man shows. With the increasing production value of maintaining a strong online presence and more traditional celebrities trying to increase their online followership, the barrier to entry for becoming a full-time influencer has risen immensely.

In the next few years, influencers will have to differentiate themselves through their style, personality or some X-factor to convince followers to pay attention. Many people have already become tired of influencers, who they believe have become so commercialized they are now just another outlet for companies to advertise through. This has brought attention to microinfluencers, who typically only have a few thousand followers, but a much higher percentage of follower engagement and cost much less for companies to sponsor. With the current pace of content consumption and advancement in social platforms, there is little we can say about where and to whom we’ll be looking before making a purchase in five years. The only thing that seems to be constant is change.

A SHIFT TO GEN Z A shift in generations is taking place in the nation. As Millennials have had their moment in the spotlight, it is time to now take a look at the next phase of young game changers: Generation Z. Who are they and how are they going to shape the world?

BY TYLER LAWSON. ILLUSTRATION BY EDMUND CAI.

W

ere you born during or shortly past the mid-90s? Is it hard for your to recall the uprise of the modern day internet? If you were stranded on a deserted island would you bring WiFi to survive? If you answered “yes” to one or all of those questions, then you might be a part of Generation Z. Generation Z. It is the generation that is seldom discussed, yet will have the most to offer in a few years. It is the generation still overshadowed by Millennials because of their young age and the limited research done on them. As a result, many of its older members wrongly identify themselves as Millennials.

Nevertheless, it is the generation with the power to change the world for the better-or worse-in the near future. Roughly, born between the years of 1995-2012, Generation Z currently inhabits the University of Pennsylvania, making its own unique impacts on campus and globally, one student at a time.

Millennials. They’re approximately born between 1981-1994.

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The media has fervently identified, analyzed, classified and scrutinized all aspects of this generation. They are categorized by their detrimental optimism and their intense use of technology that was introduced to them throughout their late childhoods. They are the “follow your dreams” kids and the narcissistic, entitled and unconventional co-workers.

Currently, they are on track to surpass the “Baby Boomers” and become the largest living adult generation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Their influence on the job, housing and stock market have garnered exceptional attention from both the media and older citizens. Their coming of age is what makes them a defined generation.

While Millennials still impact the future, they have largely proved who they are and what they stand for: a more progressive, tech heavy world and less traditionalism in all areas of life.

The shift of influence between Millennials to Generation Z has already started. The differences? Time is the best indicator.

Early observations include Gen Z being digital natives as opposed to digital pioneers. Fourteen percent of U.S. adults had access to the internet in 1995, a huge contrast to the 87 percent of adults that were able to use WiFi in 2014.

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technology and heightened access to the digital world, but they transformed these powerful resources. They are considered global citizens with their ability to use social media platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to connect with their peers around the globe.

According to a study done by Ford, 58 percent of adults 35 and older believe Generation Z has more in common with peers across the world then they do with adults in their own country. Furthermore, their intense consumption of products have set them on a path of becoming the largest generation of buyers by 2020 as they currently account for $29 to $143 billion in direct spending. Millennials were considered the first “global citizens” of the world. Yet Generation Z members expanded this connectivity on a level that could have never been predicted.

Nevertheless, it is undeniable there are blurred lines between what makes a true Millennial and what makes a true Generation Z-er.

Nia Davis (C‘09), who is wary of considering herself a “true” anything, is definitely able to see how generations differ from each other. When asked how she thinks her fellow Millennials affect the workplace, Davis said, “we see possibilities where other people see obstacles.”

Professional development was very big on campus

when she was at Penn, as it is now. However, with the lack of social media, Millennial students felt less of an urge to constantly create new things.

“There’s always this sort of drive to innovate [for Generation Z]... which I think is good... but I think there’s a rush on it,” Davis said. “It’s a flawed pressure.”

As a member of Generation Z, Prateek Agarwal, (E ’20), said, “[the] spread of information,” is what defines us. “Memes define our generation… they’re a metaphor for how fast they can spread and change, like information in general.”

On whether or not he believes it’s possible to label Generation Z he said, “No. We need the workplace. We need to see what we can do to the world.”

Many experts agree with Agarwal’s last statement.

While the oldest members, between 18-22 years of age, have reached the workplace, it’s still difficult for researchers and the media to report on Generation Z. Only a small portion of this cohort was able to vote in the last election and an even smaller amount are buying houses and searching for jobs, as most of them are college students and younger. Researchers from the Pew Center go so far as to say that until the vast majority of Generation Z reach 18 and adulthood, studies on them shouldn’t even be considered complete.

While the 2016 election served as the first time Generation Z was able to vote in a presidential election, the media virtually ignored their impact and an opportunity to bring light to this new breed of voters. The vast amount of studies conducted on the election lumped their votes in with members of the Millennial cohort, creating an age group of 18-29 year olds. These election studies essentially ignored the differences between the two generations, leaving the world blind of the differences in opinions between Millennials and Generation Z. Yet in March, the country saw the power of Generation Z. About 800,000 citizens, mainly students, marched in Washington D.C. for gun control at March for Our Lives, making it the largest single day protest in the history of the nation’s capital, according to USA Today. While celebrities made appearances, the world was blown away by the speeches made by student Parkland survivors who urged their generation to vote and kick out the politicians not taking a stance on gun control.

With a shift in generations, lines can get blurred. A consensus has yet to be reached on the exact year Millennials end and Generation Z begins. While all the dates range during the mid-90’s, researchers still differ on what makes someone who was born in 1994 different than someone born in 1998.

Thus, these uncertainties still lead researchers to conclude more studies need to be done on the newest generation. More time also needs to elapse before concrete facts can be made and used to distinguish the youngest of Millennials from the oldest of Generation Z’ers.

“I feel like my older brothers born in 1995 can be classified as Millennials, yet I don’t feel like we differ too much in ideals,” said Kyler Mintah (E ’20).“Regardless, I think our generation has all the tools to make a formidable and global impact in this world.”

Generation Quiz: Which Cohort Do You Best Fit in With?

1. What mindset do you hold? a. Pragmatic b. Idealistic 2. Which is your biggest concern? a. Saving money to invest in future experiences b. Spending money in the present to make meaningful experiences happen now 3. Which type of store do you prefer to buy from? a. Independent shops that push individualism and uniqueness b. Big name brands that everyone recognizes 4. If given the option, which would you choose? a. To work for a unique startup that aims to promote change and is not controlled by major corporations b. To work for a large and powerful corporation that promises money and power 5. Which ability are you stronger in? a. Being able to multitask on many different technology platforms (such as doing homework on a laptop while sitting in front of the T.V. and facetiming a friend…) b. Focusing on one task at a time using one form of technology very efficiently 6. Do you consider yourself addicted to social media? a. Yes, it is how I connect to everyone and I can hardly remember a time without it. b. No, I use it often and rely on it to keep me connected but I know when I’ve had enough of it.

Check Your Results

If you answered “A” to a majority of the questions then you are considered to have a mindset in line with that of Generation Z! If you answered “B” to a majority of the questions then you have a mindset in line with that of Millennials!

If you answered “A” and “B” about the same amount of times then you are right in between the two generations and were probably born in the mid-90s!

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DIRECTED BY ALDEN TERRY ‘19, NOEL ZHENG ‘20 AND NADIA KIM ‘19. PHOTOGRAPHED BY NOEL ZHENG ‘20 AND BELLE CARLSON ‘19. MODELED BY ADAN SORIANO ‘19, SHIV NADKARNI ‘19, KIANA CRUZ ‘20 AND DAIA ERNST ‘21. STYLED BY JULIEN ADVANEY ‘18. ARIANNE WONG ‘21, PAOLO NASR ‘21, URWA KHALIQ ‘20, VERONICA FENTON ‘21, FELIX CUI ‘21 AND ISABELLA YU ‘21. BEAUTY BY MADISON KAHN ‘19 AND GIOVANNA SENA ‘20.

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On Daia: Adidas Originals Adibreak Snap Track Pant, $80.

On Shiv: Urban Outfitters Tearaway Snap Work Pant, $59.

On Adan and Kiana: Stylists’ Own.

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&

Genderless fashion has increasingly come into the mainstream as some brands attempt to reconcile traditionally gendered clothing styles with a changing consumer base. But can they move beyond the pantsuit?

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BY ALEX NICHOLS. PHOTOGRAPHED BY ALISA WADSWORTH AND SKYLAR SCAFIDI.

U

pon walking into a department store, you are immediately prompted to make a decision. Do you explore the men’s section, surrounded by ties, cufflinks and rows upon rows of collared button-downs?

Or, do you take the escalator up to the women’s section, where you might find dresses and jeans that fit more like leggings? Lately, the two paths may not be so distinct.

More and more brands are rejecting this gendered-clothing binary and are opting to showcase all-inclusive, unisex lines.

Gender-neutral clothing is generally defined as any article of clothing not limited to a specific gender. These types of clothes usually include loose-fitting shirts and jackets neither overtly feminine nor overtly masculine in style. However, even the definition of unisex clothing varies between brands and designers. While some designers introduce unisex clothing as men’s clothing redesigned to fit women, other designers envision unisex clothing as clothing not marked for either gender. Alisa Bhakta (E&W ’20) claims she doesn’t shy away from wearing traditionally male clothing, such as button-downs and flannels. However, she said, “I find it hard to believe unisex jeans would fit the way I want them to.”

Recently, numerous brands have built their image around embracing the unisex clothing shift. Rad Hourani, a clothing brand founded in 2007, has no gender-distinct section on its website, and its clothes are displayed without a model. Rather than designing masculine clothes for women or vice versa, Hourani emphasizes he wanted his brand to consist of clothing “without a distinct masculine or feminine style.” He is not alone. Brands like 69 and Not Equal have followed suit, producing androgynous clothing that is more evocative of avant garde styles. Genderless clothing can come at a steep cost, nonetheless. Not Equal’s and 69’s prices range from $100-$400, while pieces in Rad Hourani’s collections can reach up to $2,500. While more affordable brands, such as Zara, have introduced unisex clothing collections, most strictly genderless clothing brands run significantly more expensive than mass retailers.

Unisex clothing is hardly a revolutionary concept. In

19th and 20th century Japan, it was commonplace to embrace both feminine and masculine styles in daily dress and makeup. Gender-fluid clothing also popped up in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States in an attempt to blur gender lines. In 1968 specifically, many department stores introduced unisex clothing sections that included orange button-downs and lace bell bottoms as the wave of the future. Despite the effort, this trend died quickly as most stores closed their unisex sections by 1969. However, even as the U.S. unisex clothing movement died down in the 1980s with the reintroduction of more obviously gendered clothing, its remnants were felt through his-and-hers matching outfits and the redesign of traditionally male clothes for the female silhouette. In 1966, Yves Saint Laurent introduced le smoking tuxedo jacket for women, and women continued to bring suits into gender-neutral territory well into the 1980s. Some Penn students seem to be largely embracing the unisex clothing shift. Lauren McLeod (E ’20) fully supports unisex clothing, stating “half my closet is unisex.” However, she remains skeptical of venturing into all clothing categories when it comes to unisex fashion.

For men, transitioning to traditionally feminine clothing has been less widespread. It is also evident that male garments tailored to fit female bodies are different from truly genderless clothing. It is the latter that many modern brands have recently begun to emulate. Modern unisex clothing tends to reflect a fairly narrow definition of “men’s clothing for women,” rather than “women’s clothing for men” or “clothing lacking any gender styling at all.” Genderless clothing, on the other hand, is clothing that purely lacks any gender divides. Lexie Shah (C ’21) emphasized she was much more likely to embrace unisex clothing tailored to women, otherwise, “it wouldn’t fit my body right.” Zara, H&M, Selfridges and Opening Ceremony are all stores that have begun to offer genderless clothing. However, a large divide remains: though Zara’s genderless collection, “ungendered,” showcased many types of trousers for women, skirts for men were largely absent.

However, this issue was not solely unique to Zara.

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FLAT,

FEARLESS & FABULOUS

In a historically male dominated workplace, some business women view wearing flat shoes as a means for breaking down social norms and achieving newfound workplace respect. Are heels leaving the boardroom behind?

BY AMANDA STEINBORN. PHOTOGRAPHED BY JUSTINE DE JESUS AND SHIRLEY YANG.

M

ove over black pumps — mules, sneakers and loafers are in, and they are here to stay. The new working woman is powerful and edgy and stands confident next to her masculine counterparts. A seamless and simple day-to-night transition piece, the 2018 flat business shoe is the next biggest shift, and it’s time for you to hop on.

There’s just something about a pair of black (or a playful print for the bold) mules paired with a jacket-and-trouser-combo that speaks volumes about a woman’s confidence in herself and her professional abilities. Entering an early morning board room meeting, a woman must be comfortable and poised alongside her fellow executives.

No matter how many layers of Dr. Scholl’s gel cushions are lining your high heels, if you say you don’t have squeezed toes and cramped feet eight hours later, you’re lying. The focus in the modern workplace lies in inventive thought and breaking boundaries of previous innovation. Achieving 40

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these imperatives is impossible without clear focus and lack of distraction. A powerful woman has no time to peer at the ground while she walks the stairs to ensure she lands each step. More women today are running for public service positions and serving in executive business positions than ever before, and it’s time we show some love for the array of flat shoe options beyond the black ballet slipper that exhibits each woman’s individuality and style. Flats, espadrilles, loafers, sneakers, sandals, mules, brogues and oxfords come in all toe shapes, ankle backings and funky prints and solids with no shortage of color. Just as chic, right?

The shoes women don in the workplace have always reflected changing female status, as described by Margo DeMello’s book Feet and Footwear: A Cultural Encyclopedia — from serving as a symbol of female nobility in 17th-century Europe, to a means of rebellion from the heel ban in many of the original American colonies, to the classic black pumps complete with beige pantyhose that guided much of

the 20th century. In 2018, the business heel is fading as successful women push boundaries more than ever with the transitional yet feminine flat shoe. With an overall decrease in heel sales by 12 percent in 2017, compared to women’s sneakers which saw a 37 percent increase, according to NPD Group’s retail tracking service, many American women have chosen functionality over traditional style. In fact, high heel inventory rose by 28 percent this past year, providing clear evidence that a lack of options takes no accountability for the visible shift in preference.

People in general place a great deal of value on maintaining a high-paced lifestyle — they’re going from work to parent teacher conferences to happy hour to spinning class and back to work again. Modern businesswomen are excellent multitaskers; a multifunctional flat will ensure you don’t need to change into four different shoes throughout the day.

For many women today, choosing footwear serves as an additional means of fighting gender discrimination. Long stuck in the domain of casual attire, flats are making their way out, and if power is a measure of success, Hillary Clinton is doing something right. During her 2016 presidential campaign, Clinton’s choice to wear flats was viewed as an assertion of her unbending confidence and appreciation for greater accessibility. The criticism Melania Trump received in response to the stilettos she sported on the site of Houston’s Hurricane Harvey efforts shows just how necessary a staple flat alternative is. Clinton, like other female professionals, stands firmly in her position while maintaining the ability to fend for herself, on her own two feet, may a situation arise. The practical shoe provides a level of professional confidence necessary for any woman in such an influential public position. Clinton is certainly not alone in this preference — Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Michelle Obama and Angela Merkel each continually rocked a personal flat favorite before the public eye.

Through making women appear taller and accentuating the backside, the timeless heel provides empowerment in which many continue to find assurance. Pledging allegiance to her Louboutins, Cardi B describes her shoes as “a status symbol that the masses can relate to; everyday girls can save up their money to have that shoe.” Cardi B, along with countless other women, express their femininity and status through high heels and would not exchange that confidence for anything. Perhaps many of us cannot unmarry the shoe tastes we are cultured to nor can we look beyond the attire of our social class, but we can continue to embrace our preferences unabashedly. While this shift is by no means a “burn your heels” moment, the expectation to show up to both the boardroom and a night out in a pair of pointed heels no longer remains.

Penn’s Locust Walk, home to student political action, jagged bricks and the dreaded trek from David Rittenhouse Laboratory to Huntsman Hall, serves a critical role as the walk for students to show off the latest trend. This is undoubtedly the place to strut your stuff — after all, Penn Fashion Week never really ends. Based much in the pre-professional environment that radiates through each of Penn’s four undergraduate schools, business professional attire is no stranger on this quintessential walk through campus.

Many Penn women are catching on and rocking flats to interviews, while some stand on middle ground supporting the comeback of the kitten heel, and others maintain their allegiance to the appeal of the high heel.

No matter how strict your workplace or internship site is, a playful flat shoe is a surefire way to draw in some personality without drawing unwanted attention. Rather than playing with pumps and the ever-threatening nextday blisters, pick flat shoes like smoking sneakers or loafers and you’re on your way to the most comfortable, confident business day yet.

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REfract

DIRECTED BY JULIEN ADVANEY ‘18, ALDEN TERRY ‘19, NOEL ZHENG ‘20 AND NADIA KIM ‘19. PHOTOGRAPHED

BY MIRU OSUGA ‘18. MODELED BY GENA BASHA ‘18, THOMAS CALDER ‘20 AND LINDA RUAN ‘19. BEAUTY BY MADISON KAHN ‘19, GIOVANNA SENA ‘20 AND EMILY YAO ‘21.

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Penn Speaks: Penn Professors on Fashion

BY AMY MARCUS & ELIANA WAXMAN. PHOTOGRAPHED BY BRADEN SABA.

Just like the hundreds of students they teach every week, Penn professors get up every morning and put on the clothes they feel best represent how they are feeling that day. For some, the style of teaching is associated most heavily with professionalism. But for others, clothes remain an avenue of self-expression that can enrich the classroom and affect their teaching style. From Wharton and Engineering to the most creative corners of the College, Penn professors make individual style choices for reasons you may never have even thought.

RILEY MCGUIRE English department, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of English, College of Arts and Sciences, Reading Voices: Literature as Audio Technology (ENGL 200) The WALK: Tell us about your personal style.

Riley McGuire: Overall, I think it’s rather eclectic — I don’t want things to be too homogenous. I like to be comfortable, but also to convey a sense of personality in my clothing. I tend to mix bright colors or patterns (floral, polka dot, houndstooth, etc.) with muted, neutral colors to try to balance things out.

W: Can you describe your favorite outfit?

RM: Right now it’s probably a long, bottle-green

Chesterfield coat over a camel-coloured sweater (and matching socks!) with black pants and a crocheted scarf from a near-and-dear friend back home in Canada. Layering has been particularly necessary in the recent unpredictable weather!

W: Where are your favorite places to shop for work

clothes and everyday clothes?

RM: Lately, it’s been difficult to find time to

shop, so I’ve been increasingly buying things online. Topman and ASOS are my usual go-to sites.

When I have the time, I like to go thrifting for some more vintage options — Philly AIDS Thrift is always fun.

W: How does your everyday style differ from your professional style?

RM: Maybe the biggest difference is in footwear. I

spend most of my life in a well-worn (read: a putme-out-of-my-misery) pair of Doc Martens that are perfectly formed to my feet, but feel a bit out of place in the classroom.

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RILEY MCGUIRE

W: How has your style changed from when you first started teaching to today?

RM: If anything, I think it may have stabilized.

I used to oscillate more between incredibly casual (T-shirts) and hyper-formal (ties) outfit options, and now I’ve perhaps found more of a consistent medium in terms of the level of formality.

W: Can you tell a difference in how students treat you based on what you wear?

RM: I think I’ve been lucky to interact with

students that are consistently respectful, regardless of setting or my appearance. I tend to reach a place with some of my students where we can discuss or compliment instances of personal style, which is nice.

egant, but need to be practical, because I ride my bike to work, and when I teach, I move a lot. I’m always wearing clogs or boots that are comfortable but also look nice.

W: Do you feel that since you became a professor at Penn that your style has changed? Do you dress differently in your life outside of Penn than in class? What are the main differences?

LP: It hasn’t changed. Maybe as I get older, I want to project something that’s a little more mature. I used to wear a lot of cool T-shirts… I tend to do that less and less now. I wear more button down shirts. I love wearing dresses.

Some of them are shorter than I would be comfortable wearing in a classroom. But my

shoes are the same, because I ride my bike everywhere.

W: Do you notice a difference in the way your department (the French department/language department) dresses versus other departments in the university?

LP: I didn’t notice any differences between French and any other languages. I think maybe language instructors are a little more casual in the way they dress compared to Wharton teachers. They teach business, so they look like businessmen. Language classes meet almost every day. It would be difficult to have a different suit for each day.

W: How do you try to distinguish yourself from your students through your clothing?

RM: I don’t know if I do, exactly — perhaps

it’s more so just dressing in a way that feels comfortable for me in the classroom context.

I think it’s interesting to consider the sort of sartorial judgments we make, and how we associate them with notions of authority; in other words, who’s allowed to wear what in what setting? I also feel like clothing is one way for me — as a queer academic — to connect to queer students, a sort of visual cue or link, rather than a form of differentiation or distancing.

LUCIE PETITJEAN

LUCIE PETITJEAN College of Arts and Sciences, French and Francophone Studies, Introduction to French The WALK: Where are you originally from? How has your French heritage influenced your style?

Lucie Petitjean: The Champagne region of

France. I lived in Paris for ten years. In France, it’s not as commonly accepted to wear casual or workout clothes outside if you’re not going to actually work out. Coming to the U.S. has taught me to be more relaxed about how I dress. I still like to look nice, but I feel like it’s more my choice and not pressure from outside. When I see some students come in wearing pajamas, that’s still a bit of a shocker to me.

W: How would you describe your personal style?

LP: I think I’m only finding now what my style is. Depending on the day I had an outfit from a different style. When I was in middle school, I had outfits that were more urban and more with the “skaters.” I want to be somewhat el-

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KENNETH GOLDSMITH English department, College of Arts and Sciences, (Un)Creative Writing, Writing Through Marcel Duchamp (ENGL 165) The WALK: Tell me a little bit about your personal

style? How do you pick some of your more unique items of clothing?

KENNETH GOLDSMITH

Kenneth Goldsmith: My style has evolved.

When I began at Penn, I was much more dandyish, wearing outrageously patterned colorful suits and ties, a la Paul Smith. Now, I’m much more into monochrome Commes, distressed, tattered jackets and skirts.

W: Describe one or more of your favorite outfits.

KG: I love these ties my friend Tom Meacham makes. He takes old rep ties, chops them up, sews dangling colorful threads and bits of fabric into them, then puts them back together.

They’re a gorgeous blend of traditional and avant-garde. I wear them with anything and they can make the dullest outfit sparkle.

W: What made you want to teach an entire class on fashion?

KG: There’s so much to say about fashion and as many ways to say it. I figured if we could somehow translate our style into words, we could speak about ourselves magnificently.

W: Some professors feel they have to dress differently for their jobs. How does your everyday fashion differ from what you wear to class? Do professors have a dress code?

KG: At home, I tend to wear a uniform of a really nice white cotton shirt, a cardigan sweater and a pair of jeans — simple but elegant. I pump it up a bit to teach because teaching is a performance; even if the stage is small, it’s a stage nonetheless. There is no stated dress code for professors, just personal ones.

W: How does fashion factor into your identity as a

writer, teacher, father, artist, etc.?

KG: I have different style for different roles. If I turned up to my son’s school in a full-blown Commes tattered skirt, he’d fall through the floor with embarrassment. So when I go to events there, I tend to look conservative but sharp, at once very dad-like and at the same time very un-dad like.

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ONE ITEM, FOUR WAYS:

THE DENIM JACKET. How do four students style the timeless denim jacket?

We take a look at how four Penn students, each with different lifestyles and personalities, incorporate the denim jacket into their everyday style.

BY YANA MILCHEVA. PHOTOGRAPHED BY ISABEL ZAPATA.

W

e live in a time when trends and culture continuously shift and change, but the denim jacket is one of the few pieces of clothing that has remained a wardrobe staple across generations. You likely have it in your closet and may take it for granted – it’s so easy to throw on top of every outfit, whether you’re running late for class or going out with friends on a chilly summer night. However, decades of history are kept in between the seams of this garment, and only a few pieces of clothing are as resilient against the shift in trends.

The fact that a piece of clothing can undergo so many transformations and retain its iconic image is a true testament to its significance in contemporary culture.

Initially designed by Levi Strauss in the 19th century for cowboys and laborers, the denim jacket remains a notable symbol of American culture and spirit. Considered a rebellious statement and symbol of non-conformity, this piece has always been an iconic statement in contemporary fashion. Ever since Levi’s created the first all-denim tuxedo, 52

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to be worn by Bing Crosby in the early ’50s, many fashion and pop culture icons have rocked this style, from James Dean and Marilyn Monroe to Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.

The various designs, textures and patterns in denim jackets provide an outlet for everyone to express their personality and style.

Shearling-lined denim jackets have been all the rage as well as details like colorful furry collars and bold leather accents. Designers such as Maison Margiela, Anrealage and Alexander McQueen offer fresh and edgier interpretations of the classic silhouette, such as deconstructed and asymmetrical fits. A common sight on Penn’s campus is the heavily customised, deconstructed versions of the denim jacket.

To represent the versatility, comfort and edginess of the denim jacket, we asked four Penn students with diverse personalities and tastes to incorporate the item into their outfits. The goal: to demonstrate the way a denim jacket can transform every look into a strong statement.

1.

Natasha Allen (C’19) does not need much introduction, as she lets her unique style and bold hair speak for herself. The Political Science and Economics student reveals that her main source of fashion inspiration comes from shopping online and hunting for designer items at affordable prices. Her take on the denim jacket is edgy and cool, a look that can be worn both in the daytime and as a going-out ensemble.

“I’ve gotten really into online shopping over the past semester and found you can find really good deals even on Amazon. For example, the green overall dress I got was around $13. I managed to get my Timberlands $60 cheaper due to fall sales, and my jean jacket was an Amazon prime deal in the Men’s section,” Allen said.

On Rinaldi: Coat, H&M, $20; Sweater, thrifted, $3; Denim jacket, Levi’s, $100; Pants, thrifted, $30; Boots, Crevo, $120.

2.

On Allen: Denim jacket, Amazon, $50; Green overalls, Amazon, $13; Boots, Timberland, $90.

Antonio Rinaldi (C’20) is a member of Penn’s Glee Club and an architecture major. Antonio’s artistic and bohemian character is accurately expressed through this cool, composed outfit, in which the denim jacket is the star of the show. The orange trench coat he threw on top gives a pop of color and makes a great statement.

"I get most of my style inspiration from my dad ­— he's from Italy.

He has great taste, and he's taught me everything I know about fashion.

When I styled this jacket, I wanted to emulate how he would have worn it when he was my age in the 70's. Thus, the vintage checked pants, wool turtleneck and a rusty orange coat for an extra layer of warmth," Rinaldi said.

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3.

Anicia Bouhadouf, (C’19), brings chic Parisian style with her all the way from France. With simple, clean silhouettes in monochromatic colours, this outfit stands out without her even trying, and the denim jacket is the perfect finishing touch that brings it all together: “I am a fan of the total black look, especially when going out.

I find it elegant, chic and mysterious, and the blue denim jacket is the perfect item to break the visual monotony of such an outfit. It brings a pop of color and makes it more casual as well. I don’t like to give the impression that I put too much effort in my look, and the denim jacket helps me do exactly that. It makes everything I wear more nonchalant and laid back. It also ties the whole outfit together. It’s a great item to have in a wardrobe!” Bouhadouf said.

On Wang: T-shirt, Uniqlo, $15; Skir Glassons, $60; Denim jacket, Buffalo Exchange, $27; Shoes, Dr. Martens, $214.

4.

On Bouhadouf: Skirt, Zara, $30; Top: Zara, $18; Denim jacket: Levi's, $84; Shoes, André, $100.

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Caroline Wang (C’20) is an exchange student from Australia, and her style is a mixture of many different cultural influences.

Bold but casual, she creates a look that makes an impression by combining statement pieces with everyday staples: “I love pairing baggy oversized jackets with feminine silhouettes, because it provides an interesting play on shapes and form,” Wang said. Her take on the denim jacket involves a crepe plaid skirt with an asymmetric design and a dusty pink T-shirt: “Most of the clothes in my wardrobe are neutral colours – I own a lot of black! – so I try and incorporate a pop of colour whenever I can.”

THE PENN ENTREPRENEURS EMBRACING FUNCTIONALITY AND FASHION A look into successful retail startups from Penn Alumnae

BY FRANCESCA CATANIA

These female Wharton alums launched startups in fashion not on the premise of frivolity but of function.

In recent years Wharton has produced countless entrepreneurs and startups. To gain insight into their success, The WALK spoke to three retail entrepreneurs at different stages of their startup lifecycle. Melissa Mash (W’12) and Deepa Gandhi (W’13) are co-founders of Dagne Dover, a company launched in 2012 which creates the bag for every occasion, focusing on function without sacrificing style. Ashley Howerton (W’12) is a cofounder of TILDEN, an e-commerce business launched in 2016 that provides women with clothing which fits at all stages of their lives, “whether they are in the best shape of their life or eight months pregnant.” These three women noticed gaps in the industry where major designers were failing to deliver and resolved to fix them. When other retailers were pushing fashion and forgetting functionality, Mash, Gandhi and Howerton put the needs of women first and merged practicality and style. They are part of a new age of customer centric retail startups born from Penn alums.

Learn more about their inspiration, their time at Penn and how they plan on growing even larger.

Vince Polka Dot Pleated Cami Dress, Tilden, $325

D

agne Dover was started by Mash, Gandhi and Dover based on the premise that the one bag women (or men) actually do not exist. Before their product, no bag on the market had specific places for your laptop, your gym shoes, your coffee and anything else you need throughout the day under the $300 price point. Before Dagne Dover, Mash and Dover had been at Coach, where Mash worked as a senior account associate and later business consultant and Dover worked as a designer. Gandhi had been a senior merchandise planner at Club Monaco. Having met years prior, Mash and Gandhi ended up at Whar-

ton together. While at Coach, Mash was incredibly impressed by the technical skills that Dover brought to the table and asked that she join her and Gandhi in an independent study at Wharton to put together the bones of what would become Dagne Dover. The three of them envisioned creating a company led by the tenet of inclusivity. In the past five years, the company has grown exponentially and their products are sold not only on their website but also through Nordstrom, Revolve, Bandier and Equinox. Dagne Dover has been featured in numerous publications, including Forbes and Business Insider.

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The WALK: Since this is a fashion magazine, let’s start off by discussing

how your personal styles influenced your designs for Dagne Dover.

MM: “I’m really practical in what I wear, but it also needs to be fashionable. If you can’t run through the streets to catch the bus to get to the next meeting, that’s a problem to me, so that is definitely reflected in the science of Dagne Dover as well. They are very classic. They are eye-catching and look great on the outside, but really it’s about function on the inside that makes them special and that helps you perform on a daily basis. We are all really practical, like to wear comfortable clothes, but we never compromise on style.”

DG: “While we opened our business with the much more professional signature collection, if you look at the 365 collection we have, that’s most in line with our personal styles and Jesse’s specifically. You have to design products that obviously are what your customers want, but with 365 that was kind of her love child of a collection because it’s a little more sporty, a little more casual, a little more New York. That’s a really good representation of all of us.”

W: How did Penn, and specifically Wharton, help you transition into starting your own retail company? Were there any classes or professors that stuck with you?

MM: “We get this question a lot. People say, ‘Oh you guys had these really successful careers in retail, why did you need an MBA in order to do this?’ And all day long Deepa and I are like, ‘No one would have listened to us.’ No one would have cared that two young people who had great careers at big name companies were interested in building this brand.

The Wharton name added so much credibility to everything we were doing, and the community was just so supportive, from providing the first 1,000 people that we were able to survey in focus groups to winning the Wharton Venture Award to being the first MBA funded company by The Dorm Room Fund… At the very beginning that $10,000 from the Venture Award was huge for the setup cost of the business.”

W: How did Coach and Club Monaco, respectively, shape the way you wanted to model your business?

DG: “Oh, so many ways! So many ways. I think, to start, culture... we also wanted to build a better company led by women that represents the future of what culture at companies should be: of inclusivity, flat structure and things that make people happy to be where they work.

Something we do that’s really unique to us as a retail company is we don’t have a merchandising team. What we believe fundamentally is that design should work directly with the business side. For us, flat doesn’t just mean across functions and roles, but it’s actually that there is respect for everyone around the table, and there isn’t just one person who overpowers the conversation. We look at that lack of a merchant strategy as one of our differentiators because it allows us to move faster, move more nimbly and make sure all opinions are heard and have a diversity of thought.”

MM: “In my first few roles at Coach, I was managing wholesale brick and mortar accounts and helped launch the wholesaling e-commerce channel... Understanding the relationship that a new brand needs to have with its retailers and how to very carefully cultivate it was very helpful for us in modeling our business the right way, so we’re not too dependent on any particular partner...There was definitely something between a Tumi and a Gucci that people wanted to buy, especially under the $300 price point and [with] really practical materials that can withstand weather. So that was the very beginning and the framework of Dagne Dover. We made our first collection out of coated canvas, and it holds up beautifully with time.”

“We are all really practical, like to wear comfortable clothes, but we never compromise on style.”

MELISSA MASH W ’12 Co-founder Dagne Dover

W: Any words of advice to any future Wharton retail startups?

MM: “Two things: team. It’s not about just having the right skills around

Deepa, Melissa, and Jesse (Image from Dagne Dover Website)

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the table, but it’s also about how the personalities are going to go together and if they are going to be committed… So [find] people who are really committed beyond just the founding team and willing to stay there. There are always going to be other opportunities that come up, so you have to have to be able to give them something that’s far more valuable than that, which is the experience, and the people and building [something] together. [Second,] I would say the financing and being really smart about how much money you take, who you take it from, when you take it and [being] willing to stretch every dollar, so you don’t have to give away your business. A lot of entrepreneurs can easily make a mistake by giving away control, whether you’re outsourcing production or using a middleman or something that muddies your brand or the quality of your product.”

DG: “The third thing, especially for Wharton kids, is to remember the importance of the creative side of things and the design. That’s why for us having a third co-founder who has that background was instrumental.

Then, focusing on product. Focus on your product and know that at the end of the day that’s the core of your business, and you have to own it.”

A

t TILDEN, maternity clothes are just clothes. Their mantra is that a piece of clothing you can wear in the best shape of your life should be the same piece you can wear when you’re pregnant. Founders Howerton and Forman partner with brands to curate a collection of clothing that fit women as their bodies and lifestyles change. They do so by finding well-made, flexible fabrics and silhouettes that live and change with a woman’s body. Having worked at Gap, Rent the Runway and eBay, Howerton used her extensive knowledge of the retail industry to launch the brand alongside Forman. She had seen how often women struggled to find flattering pieces. Forman had experienced this difficulty firsthand while going through the births of her two children. The team and their designs have sparked incredible reception from people like celebrity Whitney Port and the Style and Beauty Director of People.

TILDEN Photo by Angela Fink The WALK: How have your and Laura’s personal style influenced the designs you pick for Tilden?

AH: “We recognize bodies fluctuate, and we’re here to celebrate that.

Right after undergrad I did the Retail Management Program at The Gap and saw in the fitting rooms how hard it was as a woman to find things that flattered you. It’s shocking that in this day and age, in 2018, that the fashion industry is so behind. Our goal is to help women seeking their confidence every morning no matter if you are on a juice cleanse or about to have a baby. It’s important if you are buying things that are high quality as opposed to fast fashion that it will be timeless. I look to find fabrics that are first and foremost well made.”

W: How did Penn, and specifically Wharton, help you transition into starting your own retail company? Were there any classes or professors that stuck with you?

AH: “I think the pricing classes are great and a handful of marketing classes were instrumental to me in terms of thinking through phases.

If you were to launch a product, how do you do research with consumers in terms of understanding their needs, and how do you ask questions the consumer can actually answer? I think that’s the thing a lot of startups actually struggle with; one of the things Wharton taught me is how to help consumers give you truthful accurate answers that help you solve their problem.”

W: How did Gap help you learn how to model your business?

AH: “The biggest thing I learned is that you HAVE to listen to the cus-

tomer...You can elicit more truthful answers by having more of a dialogue as opposed to trying to digitize their answers in a very easy to digest yes-or-no format.”

W: Do you envision yourself opening more brick and mortar stores or plan on going for a solely ecommerce route?

AH: “It’s an interesting time right now. I think some of the very early digital companies are now recognizing there is so much value in that offline dialogue with customers as long as it’s done in a responsible manner. I personally have always felt that a physical space can really cement what a brand means to a consumer. For a company like TILDEN it’ll be invaluable to create a space for the community to gather...One day I do see the opportunity to have select locations for TILDEN nationwide, but it’s going to be done in an atelier style that will combine community events as well as the opportunity for consumers to try on clothing.”

W: How do you partner with brands?

AH: “We have chatted with over 150 consumer brands, and right now we

are live with about 40 on our site. Our long-term plan is to have exclusives from all of these different designers as well as the TILDEN brand line which will be out this fall. When you talk to women about what they hate the most in their closet, it’s universally the bra. We are working on some designs that will bridge that gap and be beautiful as well as comfortable.”

W: Do you have any words of advice for students who want to start their own retail company?

AH: “Always be a student, whether it’s summer break or just the weekend. Always have your eyes and ears open and be absorbing information.

There is no shortage of things you can learn from having coffee chats with Penn alums and classmates who have cool ideas. You never know when something is going to be useful, so have lots of conversations.”

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SENIOR spotlight

BY VARSHINI GALI. PHOTOGRAPHED BY ALDEN TERRY.

F

rom their stunning sense of style to their passion and drive, the seniors of The WALK inspire our staff every day to excel at life and look good doing it. The WALK is incredibly grateful to have this group with us for so long — we couldn’t imagine what this magazine would be like without them. To commemorate all the hard work and dedication they’ve put in for The WALK, let’s take a step in the shoes of our seniors…

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Sabrina

Aberman

Major: Systems Science & Engineering Position: Operations Management Plans for next year? Moving to Toronto!

Who's been the most influential in your style?

My mom, hands down.

Favorite piece in your closet? Everyone knows my leather jacket. My fur cuffs are a favorite, too.

Favorite season to dress for? I don't know anyone who wouldn't say Fall.

Esther

Woo

Major: Communications Position: Pro Apparel Coordinator, Women’s Stylist Plans for next year? Aside from traveling, TBD. Describe your aesthetic in a sentence: Drippin’ in finesse.

Favorite designer? Self-Portrait — chic and flirty with a modern twist.

What have you learned from The WALK? How exhilarating it is to work on something I am passionate about alongside such creative, talented people.

Miru

Osuga

Major: Communications Position: Full Time Photographer Plans for next year? Who the fuck knows!!!!!!! I’ll be finishing up a semester at the Social Policy and Practice School and then frolick around a bit I guess.

Favorite designer? Nadia Kim One trend you wish you tried? Get a permanent perm Any messages you want to pass on to younger readers of The WALK? Do the things, with flair, don’t wear the Penn uniform, because if Locust Walk looked half as interesting as The WALK Launch party every day, no one would be falling asleep in class. Though a lot more people might be online shopping.

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Courtney

Gu

Major: Marketing, Retailing Position: Staff Writer Plans for next year? To travel as much as I can (read: as much as my bank account will allow) before settling down Describe your aesthetic in a sentence: Constantly shifting amalgamation of different styles Favorite designer? Alexander McQueen or Rei Kawakubo - depends on my mood What do you think you’ll still be wearing in 10 years? Turtlenecks

Kiara

Honma Major: Chemistry Position: Seen on The WALK Photographer Plans for next year? Biotech/pharmaceutical consulting in San Francisco Favorite piece in your closet? Vintage denim jacket I got embroidered with “kikanator” Describe your aesthetic in a sentence: Fun pants and statement jackets Any messages you want to pass on to younger readers of The WALK? Be spontaneous and never stop learning, questioning, or wondering about your passions.

Julien

Advaney Major: Systems Engineering Position: Creative Director Plans for next year? I’ll be starting as a Category Specialist at Jet.com Best fashion/style tip you’ve ever received? The darker your jeans, the better.

Favorite piece in your closet? My long gray winter coat. I wear it several times a week once it starts getting cold and most people know me for wearing it.

What do you think you’ll still be wearing in 10 years? Monochrome sneakers. I really think they can go with almost anything (formal or informal) and have always been a sneakerhead, but these are a slightly more mature version of the neon sneakers I used to wear.

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Isabella

Cuan

Major: Biological Basis of Behavior Position: Former Editor-in-Chief Plans for next year? I recently received the Thouron Award, which is a post-graduate fellowship, so I will be moving to the UK to pursue a master’s in Medical Humanities!

One trend you wish you tried: Honestly, I think I’ve tried them all. I was that girl who wore arm sleeves, knee-high converse, and choker necklaces all at the same time.

Maybe the trend I should have tried was not to try every trend...

Who has been most influential in your style: Easy answer--my mom, the epitome of style and grace. I don’t know anyone who can pull off leopard scarves or vintage 80s menswear better than her!

What you learned from The WALK: By bringing together a group of deeply passionate and creative people, really cool things can happen. And to be okay with imperfection and the unexpected because life will inevitably throw conflict and disaster your way (aka flooding an entire studio in Addams).

Sonia

not pictured:

Helen

Hussain Major: Marketing and Operations Management Position: Apparel Stylist for the web team Plans for next year? Merchandising at Bloomingdale’s Best fashion/style tip you’ve ever received?

Don’t buy things that aren’t comfortable to wear.

Favorite piece in your closet? Black and white striped trousers Who’s been the most influential in your style?

Alexa Chung

Gloria

DuGan Yuen Major: Visual Studies Position: Senior Health & Beauty Editor Plans for next year? N/A Describe your aesthetic in a sentence: It’s really dependent on where in the world I am that day!

Best fashion/style tip you’ve ever received? My mom taught me to express my style though jewelry and to never be afraid to mix metals.

One trend you wish you tried? Fishnets Any messages you want to pass on to younger readers of The WALK? Print’s not dead!

Major: English Position: Illustrator Plans for next year? None What do you think you’ll still be wearing in 10 years? Belt chains Best fashion/style tip you’ve ever received? Tuck in one half of your shirt What have you learned from The WALK? Teamwork, dedication and good taste

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CAPTURE THAT

I

n the sixth installment of our “Capture That” challenge, teams of The WALK photographers and stylists competed to articulate their own interpretations of our theme, SHIFT, for a chance to have their photos featured in our Spring Issue. Photographer Justine de Jesus ’21 and stylists Paolo Nasr ’21, Davery Joso ’21 and Arianne Wong ’21 were chosen for their dynamic take on “shift” – their images refract light and distort shapes in a way that communicates this issue’s theme in its most literal sense.

Intrigued by the different ways shift can be interpreted, we decided to explore how it can be represented through sight and space. The result was a series of three images that all present our subject, Ashley Chen, in a distorted manner. To create the illusion of a shift we used multiple “glass panes”, refracting the image of the subject and manipulating the way in which the viewer sees her. Therefore, instead of seeing a single contour of her body, we see her as a combination of these individual shifted glass panes.

We styled each look in order to enhance the effect of this shift. We saw this as an opportunity to use metallic statement pieces in each outfit, which would reflect light and allow for more dynamic photographs.

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