MINI V: The Premiere Issue

FEATURING: LILY COLLINS JADEN SMITH DIXIE D’AMELIO ANDRES VALENCIA KENZIE JACK CHAMPION

SAVANNAH LEE SMITH NOELLA MCMAHER WITH OLIVIA PETERSEN, RACHEL THABIOR, AND JUNIOR PHOTOGRAPHED BY DOMEN & VAN DE VELDE STYLED

NEVER GROWING UP

AN ODE TO ETERNAL YOUTH MINI V  PREMIERE ISSUE

BY NICOLA FORMICHETTI

by HUMBERTO CRUZ

Artwork

MINI V +CLAIRE’S first cover stars: Olivia Petersen, Rachel Thabior, and Junior

Photography DOMEN & VAN DE VELDE Fashion NICOLA FORMICHETTI

Makeup Liselotte van Saarloos Hair Joeri Rouffa Stylist assistants Hunter Clem, Michael Vasquez, Erica Valle Makeup assistant Mila Kwan Hair assistant Joffrey Conings Photo assistant Laura Berrou

Olivia wears CLAIRE’S toy jacket by Efrain Nava Hat and accessories CLAIRE’S Shirt MARSHALL COLUMBIA Jeans MAISON MIHARA YASUHIRO Belt BLUMARINE

Rachel wears coat JIMMYPAUL Shirt stylist’s own Jeans model’s own All accessories and plush toy CLAIRE’S

Junior wears sweater VERSACE Jeans and jewelry model’s own

WHEN I WAS 15, MY OLDER SISTER TOOK ME TO GET MY EARS PIERCED BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS. BIG DEAL, I KNOW—TWO TRADITIONS, CLAIRE’S AND TURKEY, FOLDED INTO ONE. THAT NIGHT, WITH PURPLE RHINESTONES IN MY EARS AND A NEW SENSE OF CONFIDENCE, I FELT I WAS SHOWING MY EXTENDED FAMILY A NEW AND IMPROVED ME. PERHAPS IT’S BECAUSE OF THIS FATEFUL DAY THAT I’VE ALWAYS FELT LIKE THE HOLIDAYS ARE THE MOST EXPRESSIVE TIME OF YEAR. I’D ADMIRE MY AUNT’S VINTAGE MIU MIU TOP AS SHE ARGUED WITH HER BROTHER OVER POLITICS, OR MY COUSIN’S BLACK AND WHITE TORTOISESHELL HAIR CLIP, ADDING THAT EXTRA TOUCH OF ELEGANCE AS SHE SERVED HER HOMEMADE MAC AND CHEESE. AND EACH YEAR, EVERYONE COMES BACK PRESENTING A NEW VERSION OF THEMSELVES—NEW STYLE, NEW BOYFRIEND, NEW JOB—NOT UNLIKE CONSECUTIVE ISSUES OF A CULTURE MAGAZINE COMING OUT OVER THE YEARS, ITS PAGES UPDATING WITH THE LATEST STARS AND FASHIONS. FOR ME, VMAGAZINE WAS ALWAYS THE MAGAZINE. I’VE COLLAGED ITS PAGES AND COVERS—BILLIE EILISH, WILLOW SMITH, EMMA CHAMBERLAIN, ETC.— ON MY BEDROOM WALL FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER. MINUTE AS IT MAY FEEL, THE DAY I GOT MY EARS PIERCED WAS THE FIRST TIME I FELT LIKE I COULD PARTAKE IN THE CREATIVE SELF-EXPRESSION AND ELECTRIFYING FRIVOLITY THAT OVERFLOWS FROM V ’S PAGES. IMAGINATION AND STYLE BECAME POWERFUL ANTIDOTES TO HOMOGENEITY, TO BOREDOM, TO A FLUCTUATING SENSE OF TEENAGE CONFIDENCE THAT LITERALLY CONTINUES TO WAVER TO THIS DAY. A BARBIE EARRING HERE, A PURPLE-SPECKLED HAIR SCRUNCHIE THERE—THESE SMALL TOUCHES DRAMATICALLY CHANGED MY ENERGY THROUGHOUT THE DAY. WITH MINI V , WE WANTED TO CREATE SOMETHING FOR THE REST OF MY GENERATION, GEN Z, AS WELL AS THOSE TO FOLLOW. OUR DEBUT ISSUE IS A CELEBRATION OF CREATIVITY AND EXPERIMENTATION, AND HOW SELF-EXPRESSION CAN BRING ABOUT NOT ONLY PERSONAL HAPPINESS, BUT EVEN WIDE-SCALE CHANGE IN HOW WE TREAT OURSELVES, EACH OTHER, AND EVEN OUR PLANET.

THIS HOLIDAY SEASON, I ASK YOU TO REMEMBER THAT SOMETIMES IT’S THE SMALL THINGS—NOT UNLIKE THIS MINI MAGAZINE— THAT PACK THE BIGGEST PUNCH. WITHLOVE, MINI V

Shoe KELSEY RANDALL Pink hat from LADY GAGA CHROMATICA customized with plush toy from CLAIRE’S by Efrain Nava

EDITOR’S LETTER

TO SCHOOL BACK

JADENSMITH STAPLETHEHOLLYWOODONHOWFASHIONCANJUSTPRODUCEMORETHAN WEARABLES

Jaden Smith’s life has been a revolving door of creativity since he was a kid. With an extensive music portfolio, numerous acting credits, and ongoing entrepreneurial pursuits, it’s a surprise the 24-year-old has time to do much else, let alone develop a clothing brand. Yet, since 2012, he’s managed to cultivate MSFTSrep, a label he cofounded with his sister Willow and their friends Moises Arias and ¿Téo?. Going far beyond mere garments, innovation seeps from every printed graphic and tailored silhouette.

“We really wanted to create designs for products we didn’t see in the landscape of fashion,” Smith says, explaining the origin of the streetwear brand that has evolved in the last 10 years to tackle greater societal shortcomings. Priding themselves on intentional design, MSFTSrep’s latest release, titled “Mystery School,” addresses flaws in the public education system through the geometric, cymatic, and science-inspired visuals that adorn an array of denim pieces, tees, hoodies, and more.

Both a collection and a movement, Mystery School takes its name from education practices of ancient Egypt, where the titular schools epitomized the ultimate wisdom and knowledge. As a result, the drop bands together an unlikely troupe of streetwear connoisseurs and intellectual minds alike in the fight for global unity, using education as a means to be more aware of reality. “The world is in such a delicate place right now—everything we do has to have meaning,” Smith says. “There needs to be someone that brings attention to it, and I can be that person.”

AVA MANSON

Photography TYRELL HAMPTON

Fashion MICHAEL VASQUEZ

Makeup Holly Silius Hair Lauren Palmer Smith

Photo assistant Khalilah Pianta Production Photobomb

BY ROBYN JOHNSON 13, SHE / HER, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

CLASSTHEBEHINDSCREEN

LOOKS, LOCKDOWNS, AND LESSONS: SIXTH GRADE WITH COVID-19

My alarm rings to signal the first day of sixth grade. I throw my covers over my head once more and bury my face in my pillow. One, two, five, and finally 10 minutes pass by before an evil creature rips the blanket off my cold body. I scream and cover my eyes to deflect the beaming sunlight. It’s my mother and, yes, I know, I’m late! I throw on my brown zipup and my old white house shoes before making my way to the kitchen. I sit down at the table and open my laptop. Well, I’m “at” school now. Such was sixth grade in 2020.

Most kids describe middle school as a big jump from elementary school, but my jump was even bigger. All of a sudden, classrooms became laptop screens, hallways became the click from one Zoom to the next, and uniforms became pajamas. After the second week of this pandemicinduced lockdown, everything became monotonous. Video games? Boring. TV? Boring. But one fateful day a makeup tutorial appeared on my YouTube feed. I had never dabbled in makeup, yet I was drawn toward drawing on my face. I clicked on the video and something I had never found interesting suddenly became fascinating.

In that way, the era of COVID-19 helped me learn how I wanted to self-express. I began to grow a deep love for makeup, as well as fashion. Shows and movies like Mean Girls, Moesha, and Gilmore Girls began to inspire my style. Suddenly, mindless scrolling wasn’t mindless: it opened so

many new avenues for exploration; it became fashion inspiration boards and soon, too, music playlists. I shared online, and I learned from what others shared. Community, in 2020, was created by sharing.

But for all light to shine, there must first be darkness.

Up until this point, I had always been an “above average” student. Coming back from lockdown, however, my grades dropped. I had always had a skill for numbers, but math suddenly wasn’t so easy, and things I thought I knew disappeared. At home, I hadn’t been able to complete one math problem without using a calculator. I had also started asking my parents for help and searching for answers online. These shortcuts never really helped me learn in the long run and returning to school only to see my grades go down was incredibly defeating. I no longer felt so…smart.

After months behind a screen, I also hardly remembered how to hold a conversation in person—and I had always liked to talk. I suddenly couldn’t decide if I wanted to start with “Hello” or “I like your hair,” and then I ended up just waving and booking it to the next available exit. I realized that I’d changed and so had the people around me.

Looking back on it now, spending sixth grade behind a screen wasn’t all bad or all good. It’s just all I had at the time. And honestly, I think that’s what most of life is all about: making do with what you have.

With enough followers to populate a large country (over 57 million on TikTok and 24.3 million on Instagram, to be exact), Dixie D’Amelio has Gen Z hanging onto her every move. What she wears creates social media superstorms. Every daring new look has the power to ignite a new pop culture trend. And to signal the start of a new chapter, the 21-year-old recently chopped her thick hair into a freshly shaven buzz cut look.

“Not to sound cheesy, but I think a big cut like this really symbolizes a new start for me,” D’Amelio says. In this behind-the-scenes exclusive, she tells Mini V what exactly that new start might be.

MINI V: We’re obsessed with your new look. Can you tell us why you decided to do it?

DIXIE D’AMELIO: I had been going back and forth about doing it for a long time and finally made the decision to just do it. My mom did it when she was in her 20s and she was the one who inspired me to go through with it. She was really supportive of the whole thing, which was really helpful, and it was so special sharing this moment with her. Ultimately, the timing of the decision came down to the fact that there is no better time than the present!

MV: What has your confidence journey been like since the cut?

DD: It’s definitely been a roller coaster. It took some getting used to, at first, but I absolutely love it now, and my confidence has been boosted for sure. It feels like a new era for me.

I was struggling with how I could elevate myself and this felt risky at first; I don’t think anyone was expecting this from me. But I’ve been sitting on the idea for so long that I was just tired of holding myself back. Being able to rock a buzz cut—when long, gorgeous hair has always been the standard—is empowering. I’ve now found new confidence in my fashion and look, I have been taking more risks in my career, and I just feel like I’ve entered a new chapter in my life. It feels freeing!

MV: Has it inspired you to make other changes to your style?

DD: My new cut has made me take more risks when it comes to fashion. I’ve been accessorizing more, having more fun with bolder statement pieces, and trying new trends. It’s also been so amazing to have people tell me how much this inspired them to take fashion risks or try a new look they were too nervous to do before.

MV: Were you worried about anything before the cut?

DD: Honestly, I wasn’t worried! Once I made the decision to cut my hair, I let my fear go and did it for myself. Outside opinions didn’t affect me in this decision, either. At the end of the day, it’s just hair. It’ll grow back and life goes on.

DIXIE D’AMELIO

SINGER,

MV: In addition to the new look, you’ve recently been vocal about your diagnosis of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). What has that been like?

DD: I was suffering with the symptoms of PMDD for a long time and had so many unanswered questions about why I was feeling the way I was. I sought advice from so many doctors, but no one knew exactly what was happening. It was insanely scary and very defeating. Once I was finally able to find an answer, it was very important to me to use my platform to share my diagnosis. I knew right away that I wanted to share it with people online in hopes of helping someone else who could be suffering in the same way.

MV: Looking ahead, what projects do you have on the horizon for the end of this year and into 2023?

DD: So much—I’m so excited to share once I can. Lots of music, fashion, and seeing where my creativity takes me! Stay tuned.

MULTI-HYPHEN-

THE

SOCIAL MEDIA STAR, ANDALLAROUND

ATETRADED IN HER TRESSES FOR A BUZZ CUT. BUT IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE NEW DO

T H E N E W B U Z Z

Photography TYRELL HAMPTON

Text SAM TRACY

Manicure Britney Tokyo Manicure assistant Tohko Nishimoto

Photography DOMEN & VAN DE VELDE

Model HUNTER CLEM

CAN WE REALLY BE E REAL?

BY SOPHIE LEE 22, SHE / HER, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

Out with the hyper-posed, face-tuned, and ring-lit photos. In with the teary-eyed, makeup-smeared selfies, blurry snapshots, and quick outfit checks. Gen Zers are turning their attention toward casual photo dumps and “authentic” apps like BeReal, and away from the curated, filtered funfest that is Instagram. But can social media platforms ever be real?

BeReal, a social media app that launched in 2020, prompts users to upload a candid photo once a day, during a randomly generated, two-minute time frame. The hope is that catching users off-guard leaves little time for perfection. As such, the app is populated by snapshots of laptop screens, classrooms, and the occasional concert or group hang. These posts remind us that life is, more often than not, pretty mundane. Most of our time is spent at school, with friends, or at home doing work or chores—not on expensive trips or celebrating milestones.

In theory, this shift toward “being real” could offer a foil to the oft-criticized impact of social media: that it ingrains within us the unattainable goals of always looking flawless and living flawlessly. But in reality, when the BeReal timer starts counting down, it elicits a mad dash to make oneself look a bit more presentable or to make one’s surroundings appear more exciting; the very act of sharing photos of ourselves online promotes comparison with our peers. We want to be liked. We want to be admired. We compare the facts of our own lives to Kylie Jenner’s morning routine and

Insta-girls’ perfectly plated, four-course dinners. So, as we are prompted to generate around-the-clock content online, we are pressured to live in a perpetual state of aesthetic beauty. No hair should ever be out of place unless, of course, it serves as a knowing nod toward manufactured imperfection.

Such a desire for social inclusion, acceptance, and beauty long predates Instagram, and a two-minute window won’t stop anyone from putting forward the best version of themselves. With this in mind, BeReal amounts to nothing more than a collective performance of authenticity: we show our inner lives, but from our best angles and with the knowledge that we are being watched—even if we can’t see our watchers. It has turned what were perhaps our last authentic moments into a perpetual performance.

BeReal positions itself as the solution to over-curation, but aren’t we the most “ourselves” when no one is looking? Imagine a world in which smartphone cameras were all turned away and our faces no longer had to remain perfectly poised for capture and commodification. Think about coming home after a long day, unbuttoning tight clothing, and putting your hair up without looking in the mirror to see if the strands are perfectly imperfect—there is a certain release that comes with privacy, with logging off. Perhaps the only way to achieve authenticity, the only way to be real, is to not share anything at all.

A NEW APP PROMOTES AUTHENTICITY ONLINE. BUT IS SUCH A THING EVEN POSSIBLE?