TigerTrends Dec 2022

TIGERTRENDS

MISSION STATEMENT

TigerTrends showcases the best of fashion, art, and lifestyle on campus and beyond. We are committed to inclusion and diversity at every level of our organization and the collections we release. Every two months, we release a digital magazine curated from scratch by our talented team of editors, stylists, photographers, and journalists. In between issues, you can explore more of our journalists’ content on our website and our videographers’ work on our Youtube channel. From cozy to chic and the street to the classroom, TigerTrends shows how fashion, art, and lifestyle choices inspire Princeton students to feel their best.

Everyone can fashion. We just put it in a book.

ADRIAN MORIERA-BEHRENS ‘24 CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

KATE VAN DUSEN '24 CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

CO-EDITOR IN CHIEFS LETTER FROM THE

Dear Readers,

Hello and Happy Holidays from TigerTrends! We hope that everyone had a great fall semester and that you are enjoying some much needed rest this winter break.

In a nod to the colder temperatures this time of year, our theme for this book is Icy . We hope that you enjoy different takes on what it means to be icy, whether it's being dressed for the slopes, rocking some iced out jewelry with a band tee, or an outfit that just makes you say ‘damn that's cold’.

This edition we were excited to highlight our growing involvement in connecting with the greater Princeton community, as we highlight our collaboration with Princeton University Art Museum’s Student Advisory Board. As the Spring semester approaches, we are planning many more events to help the community engage with fashion on campus and embody our motto that anyone can fashion! This especially rings true to our feature on student musician ROI, whom we were honored to profile in this issue and be invited as guests to his shows. We hope to see your lovely faces at our events next semester; stay tuned for more details!

We would like to extend a special thanks to our Member Spotlight recipient, Camille Reeves (2023), who coordinated these wonderful events this semester, and is working to bring TigerTrends’ mission to the wider campus community! As always, we’d also like to say thank you to the wonderfully creative and talented TigerTrends staff and Executive Board. You all are amazing and this book is truly a reflection of that!

Be sure to follow @tiger.trends on Instagram for updates on upcoming events and style inspo, and we can’t wait to see you back on campus soon! Enjoy the issue!

TT love,

Kate Van Dusen and Adrian Moreira-Behrens Co-Editors in Chief

CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEFS

ADRIAN MORIERA-BEHRENS '24 KATE VAN DUSEN '24

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

APRIL DONG '24

PHOTO & VIDEO DIRECTOR LAURA ROBERTSON '24

STYLING DIRECTOR TOREE WILKS '24

JOURNALISM DIRECTOR SIERRA STERN '24

PR DIRECTOR/EIC EMERITA CAMILLE REEVES '23

EDITORS

ANAGHA RAJAGOPALAN '23 ANURAG PRATAP '24 NABAA AL HASHIMI '25

JOURNALISTS

ARREY ENOW '26 CAMPBELL SHOUTEN '24 DAVID CHMIELEWSKI '24

STYLISTS

PHOTOGRAPHERS

AYINDE BRADFORD '24 LAURA ROBERTSON '24

FRONT & BACK COVER

PHOTOGRAPHER: LAURA ROBERTSON '24

STYLIST: AYINDE BRADFORD '24

MODEL: RODRIGO FERNANDEZ '23

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

CAMILLE REEVES '23

When I joined TigerTrends in January of 2020, I only had loose ideas about what this amazing book would blossom into. As I spent the majority of my tenure as TigerTrends’ 3rd editor in chief navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, I dreamed about all of the ways I could use my love of fashion, music, and culture to reconnect with the remote Princeton community. And as TigerTrends’ inaugural Director of Public Relations & Events, I am so honored to have been able to use TigerTrends to bring this community back to life after the pandemic. And as I conclude my Princeton career, I am so proud of my amazing team for all of their hard work & flexibility: you six made it happen. And to our amazing Princeton partners cannot thank you all enough for your support for TigerTrends’ events this semester; we can’t wait to take what we’ve learned this time around into 2023 with you all.

TT Love & Happy New Year, Camille Reeves

8-11 12-15 16-21

Fashion As Bridge: Art's Present Past in the TigerTrends Exhibit at the Art Museum Student Gala

Iced Out By the Industry: The Downfall of Nepotism Babies

ROI Brings the Soundscapes of Mexico to Princeton

TABLE OF CONTENTS

IMAGE: SAMUEL FOSSO IN TATI SERIES AND LA REVE DE MON GRANDE-PERE SERIES

On December 1st, the University Art Museum Student Advisory Board collaborated with TigerTrends to host the annual Art Museum Student Gala in Campus Club. While the main building of the Museum may be under construction, the Gala showcases that the Museum’s purpose transcends space. The event was held to highlight the new exhibit hosted at the museum’s contemporary photography space, Art on Hullfish, titled Samuel Fosso: Affirmative Acts. Drawing on the exhibit’s use of fashion as a performative and socially conscious art form, the gala’s theme was Art in Style and featured an exhibit of styles created by TigerTrends designers (Carrie Elcan, Miel Escamilla, and Jenny Nwokeji) in conversation with images from the Art Museum’s collections.

In the artwork of Samuel Fosso, photo self-portraits of Fosso become the medium for understanding the incredible power of fashion as a bridge artform, rooted in the present with the ability to conjure up the past and thus complicate the relationship between the two. In the collection African Spirits, on display at Hullfish, Fosso uses fashion as a means to embody the past, adopting the signature styles of prominent historical figures from African and African Diasporic contexts to become those figures: the self-portrait of Fosso becomes a portrait of Muhammad Ali, Angela Davis, or Martin Luther King Jr, transforming performance in the present into an embodiment of the past. What Fosso wears in the present becomes a way to be in conversation with, and even become, the past, thereby even further altering the present by inviting dialogue about these figures and their relationship to Pan-Africanism. In Fosso’s work, fashion becomes a bridge between temporalities.

A similar time-spanning vision of fashion animates the Gala’s collaboration with TigerTrends, with the designers responding to artworks as old as 1701 to as recent as 1971. In the looks the designers created this temporal difference is flattened; all these different pasts are brought into the present, engaging a dialogue that could not have actually occurred. And yet, to achieve this effect, the nuances of these pasts are not disregarded, but rather are given new vitality by the act of being brought into the present, with each designer paying incredibly careful attention to the specificity of the works when creating their styles. The nuanced brushstrokes of a Shitao painting, vivid rendering of a meadow in a Monet, and iconic style of an early 20th century modernist all serve as inspiration and are masterfully brought into the present via fashion. Just like Fosso, the designers use fashion to invite the viewer to reimagine the relationship between past and present, as conversation across pasts and presents invite a more dynamic understanding of a binary often viewed as static. Art’s past is not merely past: it exists in the present and the present continues to animate it.

This is the ideal of the museum as a space; the best museums are those which invite us to consider relationships across time and how these relationships can shape our understanding of our present. In a period where the University Art Museum is distinctly focused on a bold future, Samuel Fosso’s work at Hullfish, in dialogue with the Gala, is the perfect reminder of the ever-present importance of time to the art world

IMAGE: SAMUEL FOSSO IN AFRICAN SPIRITS SERIES, TATI SERIES, AND LA REVE DE MON GRANDE-PERE SERIES SAMUEL

ICED OUT BY THE IN DU ST RY

The Downfall Of Nepotism Babies

Since the beginning of time, children born into wealthy, influential families have always had an advantage in life, inheriting riches like kingdoms, commercial empires, wealth, and or star power, even at times surpassing the celebrity their parents once were. This phenomenon comes as a known shock because the majority of parents want the best for their kid. We've discovered that power frequently operates in this manner, but most notably in Hollywood. As we uncover that some of our favorite Hollywood stars didn't acquire their stardom solely based on talent, we called them

suitable term,

Recently wreaking havoc on the timelines of everyone on Fashion Twitter, Lily-Rose Depp did an interview to go along with her cover on ELLE. Promoting her new HBO series, The Idol, Depp discusses what it was like to grow up within the public eye. She saw this profile as an opportunity to denounce the claims that she's a "Nepo Baby," stating, "It's weird to me to reduce somebody to the idea that they're only there because it's a generational thing. It just doesn't make any sense. If somebody's mom or dad is a doctor, and then the kid becomes a doctor, you're not going to be like, 'Well, you're only a doctor because your parent is a doctor.' It's like, 'No, I went to medical school and trained.'"

"It's weird to me to reduce somebody to the idea that they're only there because it's a generational thing..."

the most

a "Nepo Baby".

Image Source: Elle.com

Naturally, this was extremely unsettling to the masses as she completely dismissed nepotism's role in her acting and modeling career. Beyond causing an upset on Twitter, her model peers even took to social media like Instagram to speak out on her claims. Italian model Vittoria Ceretti proclaimed, "You have no fucking idea how much it takes to make people respect you. TAKES YEARS. You just get it [for] free day one." Subsequently, heaps of top models like Anok Yai and Daniella Braga also turn to their platforms to support Vittoria Ceretti and speak out on their own struggles in the industry.

Image Source: @ModelFacts on Twitter

Image Source: @ModelFacts on Twitter

While Depp's radio silence speaks volumes about her claims and these situations, she is not the first to make statements (.ie Kendall Jenner, Maya Hawke, etc.) and presumably won't be the last. These children are so quick to deny their privilege because they feel like they have to live up to this came from nothing backstory. Because they feel that they have to work hard to get to where they are, something many nepotism babies may have done, they delude themselves with the idea that their success is down to their hard work alone. They all share this notion that a struggle story leads to being taken seriously in the industry, which couldn't be further from the truth.

The backlash that nepotism babies like LilyRose Depp are not being given in hopes of eliminating them altogether since most of us know that privilege is an intrinsic part of society and Hollywood. Instead, we want transparency from these celebrities, hopingthey simply acknowledge the privilege that got them a seat at the table. Now morethan ever, Gen Z is in tune with the idea that meritocracy is false and that we are all on an uneven playing field. So instead of attempting to gaslight the masses, these babies would be much better off disclosing their advantages and redistributing these to others who may not share the same luck.

ROIROI ROI ROIROI ROI ROIROI ROI ROIROI ROI ROIRO ROI RO

R RO OI I O O OI

ROI BRINGS THE SOUNDSCAPES OF MEXICO TO PRINCETON

“ARE YOU RECORDING THIS? BECAUSE I DON’T HAVE A SHIRT ON, JUST SO YOU KNOW,” HE SAYS. THOUGH I WASN’T RECORDING OUR CALL, THIS JOKE BROKE THE ICE FOR MY INTERVIEW WITH RODRIGO FERNANDEZ, KNOWN IN THE MUSIC WORLD AS ROI. ON THE DAY OF OUR CALL, RODRIGO WAS BACK HOME IN MEXICO; SERENDIPITOUSLY, HE WAS CALLING ME FROM THE VERY BEACH WHERE HE FILMED THE MUSIC VIDEO FOR HIS MOST RECENT SINGLE, “¿PA' QUÉ BATALLAS?” AS WE TALKED, I WAS TRANSPORTED BACK TO THE RECENT PERFORMANCE I SAW HIM GIVE AT CANNON DIAL ELM CLUB, KNOWN INFORMALLY AT PRINCETON AS CANNON: THE BASS IS PUMPING IN THE BASEMENT. THE LIGHTS ARE FLASHING RED, BLUE, GREEN IN THE DARK. THE BASEMENT OF THE CLUB, WHILE SPACIOUS, HAS THIS KIND OF ELECTRIC PULL TOWARDS THE DANCE FLOOR, WHERE RODRIGO IS PERFORMING. THERE ARE THREE TABLES SET UP WITH MUSIC EQUIPMENT AND SPEAKERS ON THEM, BUT THE MIDDLE ONE IS EMPTY FOR HIM TO HOP UP ONTO NONCHALANTLY AND DANCE WITH THE CROWD, WHO MEETS HIS ENERGY AND PRESSES IN EVER CLOSER TO THIS MUSIC. I SEE PEOPLE PAIRING OFF TO DANCE WITH EACH OTHER, WHICH ALMOST NEVER HAPPENS. THIS IS NO ORDINARY NIGHT OUT.

RODRIGO IS NO STRANGER TO PERFORMING. HE STARTED THIS MUSIC PROJECT, ROI, AFTER TAKING MUS345 (SONGS AND SONGWRITING)

TOP: MANDARIN JEWELRY: ROI

HIS FIRST YEAR AT PRINCETON, THOUGH HE STUDIES MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING AND ALSO PLAYS FOR THE VARSITY MEN’S VOLLEYBALL TEAM. IN OUR INTEVIEW, HE TOLD ME THAT HE WROTE HIS FIRST SONG IN THIS REGGAETÓN/BOSSA NOVA/R&B/EDM/UKDRILL/SALSA STYLE AS A CHALLENGE TO SOME OF THE MISOGYNISTIC LYRICS WHICH SEEM TO PERVADE REGGAETÓN. HE SHRUGGED, ADDING THAT THE FIRST SONG TOOK HIM ABOUT THREE DAYS TO WRITE. BUT THEN HE WROTE ANOTHER SONG. AND ANOTHER. AND THEN HE TOOK A GAP YEAR–NOT NECESSARILY FOR THE PURPOSE OF PURSUING ROI, BUT IT CERTAINLY GAVE HIM SOME TIME TO DO SO–AND BY SUMMER 2022 HE HAD PLAYED DOZENS OF SHOWS AROUND HIS HOMETOWN OF SALTILLO. ONE SHOW WHICH HE DESCRIBED TO ME WAS AT A LOCAL CULTURAL ICON WHICH HE SUSPECTED HAD NEVER PLAYED REGGAETÓN BEFORE.

FROM THE SHOWS IN MEXICO TO TWO SHOWS AT PRINCETON THIS PAST FALL, HE HAS CONTINUED TO CAPTIVATE CROWDS AND GET THEM MOVING. AS WE DISCUSSED THESE SHOWS, HE NOTED THAT HE USUALLY NEVER REMEMBERS HIS SHOWS: SOMETHING TAKES OVER AND HE GIVES HIMSELF OVER TO THE PERFORMANCES, NOT BEING ABLE TO RECALL THE MEMORY OF THE PERFORMANCE UNTIL LATER (AND AIDED BY FRIENDS WHO WERE THERE). BUT SOMETHING WAS DIFFERENT ABOUT THE NIGHT AT CANNON FOR HIM, TOO; IN FACT, HE SAID, THIS WAS THE FIRST ONE HE REALLY REMEMBERED. SO WHAT MADE IT SO DIFFERENT?

WHEN I’M NOT BEING SWEPT UP BY THE CROWD’S ENERGY AROUND ME OR WOMEN AROUND ME SCREAMING, “I LOVE YOU RODRIGO!”, I STOP TO OBSERVE THE SCENE: SUNGLASSES, WHITE PANTS, BLACK LED ZEPPELIN TEE, A CHAIN AND SOME OTHER ACCESSORIES THAT GLINT OFF THE PULSING LIGHT. GRUNGE. COOL. NEXT TO ME IS AYINDE BRADFORD, THE STYLIST FOR THIS EVENT AND THE PERFORMANCE AT IVY CLUB EARLIER IN THE SEMESTER. HIS WORK FOR THE SHOW IS DONE, AND HE CAN’T HELP BUT BE PULLED IN BY THIS MAGNETIC BEAT, AND HE’S DANCING– I MEAN, REALLY DANCING!

RODRIGO AND I TALKED ABOUT HIS STYLE, AND HOW HE TALKED WITH BRADFORD BEFORE THE SHOWS AND THEY WENT THRIFTING IN PRINCETON STORES TOGETHER FOR THE PERFORMANCES. AS YOU MIGHT GUESS FROM THE INFINITE SLASHES USED TO DESCRIBE HIS MUSIC, HE DOESN’T LIKE TO BE PINNED DOWN BY ONE LABEL STYLISTICALLY; HE’S THE SAME WAY IN HIS FASHION. WHILE HE IS

QUITE INTENTIONAL IN HIS CLOTHING CHOICES, PREFERRING TO THRIFT IN EFFORTS AT SUSTAINABLE FASHION, HE OFTEN ENDS UP CREATING AND PULLING PIECES WHICH SEEM REMINISCENT OF A CERTAIN CULTURAL MOMENT OR TIME PERIOD. THIS TRANSLATES INTO HIS PERFORMANCES, TOO– WHILE HE WORE A CRISP COLLARED SHIRT WHEN HE PLAYED AT THE CULTURAL ICON IN SALTILLO, HE OPTED FOR A PREPPIER LOOK AT IVY, AND THEN A MORE UNDERGROUND LOOK FOR THE BASEMENT SHOW AT CANNON.

HE SEEMS TO WORK IN A SIMILAR WAY CREATIVELY, AS HE ADDED THAT HE TENDS TO BE MOST PROFUSE WHEN HE COMES TO A NEW SPACE: THOSE FIRST FEW WEEKS AT PRINCETON, OR AT HOME, OR IN GERMANY (WHEN HE WORKED THERE OVER HIS GAP YEAR) ARE THE TIMES WHEN HE IS WRITING THE MOST. AND NOT ONLY DOES HE WRITE, RECORD, AND DO EVERYTHING TO PRODUCE HIS MUSIC SANS THE MORE TECHNICAL EDITING AND MIXING, BUT HE ALSO HAS A HUGE CREATIVE AUTHORITY OVER HIS MUSIC VIDEOS. WE TALKED ABOUT TWO RECENT VIDEOS, BOTH OF WHICH HE DREAMED UP ALMOST ENTIRELY, DOING EVERYTHING EXCEPT MAYBE HOLDING THE CAMERA FOR THE SHOTS. YET HE DOESN’T QUITE TAKE THESE PROJECTS TOO SERIOUSLY. FOR EXAMPLE, HE DESCRIBED “¿PA' QUÉ BATALLAS?” AS MORE OF AN EXPERIENCE WHICH HE SHARED WITH HIS FRIENDS, ONE ABOUT WHICH THEY STILL REMINISCE WHENEVER THEY GET TOGETHER.

BUT IF HE’S DOING THE CREATIVE WORK FOR HIS MUSIC VIDEOS, I WISH THERE WAS SOMEONE FOLLOWING HIM AROUND TO RECORD

RECENT “MOVIE” MOMENT! OVER FALL BREAK 2022, ROI PERFORMED AT THE SALTILLO MUSIC FESTIVAL ZAPAL. HE ATTENDED THE FESTIVAL IN 2018, WATCHING SOME OF HIS FAVORITE ARTISTS PERFORM ONSTAGE, THINKING TO HIMSELF, “IT COULD BE REALLY COOL TO PLAY HERE.” AFTER A HIATUS IN THE FESTIVAL FROM THE PANDEMIC, RODRIGO FINALLY REALIZED THIS DREAM THIS OCTOBER, EVEN PLAYING ON THE SAME STAGE AS THE ARTIST HE SAW FOUR YEARS EARLIER. HE MODELED PARTS OF HIS SHOW ON THAT PERFORMANCE AS AN HOMAGE, RE-RECORDING HIS MUSIC WITH LIVE DRUMMERS AND GUITARISTS AND BRINGING IN A CHOREOGRAPHER (WHOM HE HAD KNOWN IN HIGH SCHOOL!) AND DANCERS FOR THE SET. DECEMBER 2022

WITHOUT STRAIN, THE INFLUENCE OF SALTILLO AND HIS COMMUNITY SHINES THROUGH ROI’S MUSIC. RODRIGO DESCRIBED THE SOUNDSCAPES OF THE DESERT IN WHICH HE GREW UP THAT HE ADDED INTO THE BACKGROUND OF ONE SONG, “INTOXICADO.” YET EVERYTHING HE DOES, FROM THE FRIENDS IN HIS MUSIC VIDEOS TO THE CHOREOGRAPHER FROM HIGH SCHOOL TO THE GROUP CHAT OF OTHER LATINE PRINCETON STUDENTS OFF WHOM HE BOUNCES IDEAS FOR LYRICS, INCORPORATES AND HONORS THE COMMUNITIES WHICH HE IS A PART OF. LIKE A TRUE ENGINEER, HE DESCRIBED HIS GOAL OF BRIDGING SALTILLO AND PRINCETON, THE DIFFERENT PLACES WHICH HE CALLS HOME.

AND WHILE I CAN’T SAY FOR CERTAIN WHAT MADE THIS SHOW SO SPECIAL, PERHAPS IT WAS THE COMMUNITY AROUND HIM WHICH DID SO. CANNON HOSTED ROI AS A LATIN NIGHT FOR THE CLUB, ALLOWING SPACE FOR MORE STUDENTS WITH LATIN AMERICAN CONNECTIONS TO MAKE IT TO THE PERFORMANCE. FRONT AND CENTER THE WHOLE NIGHT WAS THE WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL TEAM, A SHOW OF PRINCETON TEAM SPIRIT AND CAMARADERIE. AND MAYBE THE WORD FROM RODRIGO’S IVY SHOW HAD SPREAD, TOO; I HAD FRIENDS WHO CHANCED TO SEE HIM AT IVY AND THEN MADE SURE TO BE AT HIS CANNON SHOW. CERTAINLY, HE HAD A LOT OF FANS AT THIS PERFORMANCE. HE COULDN’T HELP BUT SMILE AND SING AND DANCE ALONG WITH THE CROWD AS THEY FED OFF HIS ENERGY. JUST LIKE THE SHIFTING SANDS OF THE DESERT WHICH HE GREW UP IN, THE CROWD SEEMED TO CONTINUALLY SHIFT THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT TOWARDS RODRIGO’S PERFORMANCE, AN ELECTRIC PULL ON EVERYONE THERE. FROM EVERY PLACE IN THE CLUB, THIS DRAW TO THE DANCE FLOOR WAS INESCAPABLE.

AS I WALKED HOME AFTER THE NIGHT ENDED, I REFLECTED ON THE SOUNDSCAPES HERE: THE QUIETER BUZZ OF STUDENTS LEAVING THE CLUB, THE PEACEFUL EUPHORIA THAT COMES AFTER A GREAT SHOW AND A GREAT NIGHT, AND THE SOUND OF TWO STUDENTS IN FRONT OF ME SPEAKING IN SPANISH TO ONE ANOTHER, DISCUSSING THE EXPERIENCE THEY’D JUST HAD. THIS IS WHAT BUILDING THOSE BRIDGES LOOKS LIKE.