C A BRA
C ABRA SPRING 2019 ISSUE NO. 7
Special Thanks: Neill-Cochran House Museum Blue Romero Xiaozhou Zhu Lucy in Disguise Beehive Boutique St. Edward’s University Photo Lab
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR CABRA consistently, and unabashedly, evolves. With graduating members, new additions, and recurring contributors, our magazine never stagnates. This is one of the charming and most empowering aspects of the creative drive of our organization - its ability to adapt, proceed, and thrive under change. These adaptations come under many textures. When our previous Editor in Chief graduated, it was important to me to emphasize the excitement of our possibilities. The concepts I help represent cover a wide array of subjects that can reflect the St. Edward’s community, and as a small, student-run organization, it can be a heavy burden to actualize our ideals. By allowing each of our members to contribute in their own way, it enables structured fluidity in a direction the team desires. We continue to grow in several ways, but our roots remain the same, and our community understands where we have been, but it remains unseen where we can go. The magic of this semester’s iteration is its forward movement amidst harkening back to its roots. Started in 2015, CABRA involved the St. Edward’s community in a creative process it hadn’t seen before. While new, the magazine composed a piece of work that has inspired for years to come. Today, our team advances by appreciating and expanding on that ethos. As a new editor in chief, it would be naive to not acknowledge the team effort that pours into creating this magazine. Our group of creative individuals continues to bind together by fielding unforeseen circumstances in trying times, thinking outside of the box to push our boundaries, and working collaboratively to achieve a mutual goal. Our product is a labor of love, curiosity, and excitement that propels us into our respective unknowns. Seeing our members collectively and individually advance into their states of creativity is the only thing I can ask for as a newly appointed Editor in Chief. When considering the position, it was important for my creative director Jordyn and I to facilitate an experience that prompted and encouraged our teams. Not surprisingly, they exceeded expectations, and Jordyn and I are extremely grateful and inspired by their hard work and dedication. Hank Holmes Editor in Chief
Masthead Hank Holmes Editor in Chief
Daphne Kokkinis Photography & Casting
Jordyn Walker Creative Director & Beauty
Taylor Garcia Styling
Dominique Zuno Marketing
Corinne Bates Managing Editor
Jennifer Irving Digital Editor
STAFF TABLE OF CONTENTS STAFF
Writing Corinne Bates Selena Armendariz Sea D’amico Mia Bustillos
Styling Kat McCollum JAG Jaelyn Valero Bre Westry Daniela Romero Paige Barrett Grace Harter
Photography Camille Josephine Olivia Barrett Scarlett Maclain Design Sophia Raquel Guzman Christopher Perez Alex Millsap Anna Skelley Lian Li Quiel Marketing Daniela Torres Beauty Crescens Ott Jasmine Juarez Helena Elizardo Abigail Spencer Karla Flores Elena Poloskey
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Camp Directed by Anna Skelley Styling by Daniela Romero, JAG Beauty by Jordyn Walker, Helena Elizardo, Karla Flores, Jasmine Juarez, Elena Poloskey Writing by Sea D’amico Marketing by Crescens Ott Shot by Scarlett Maclain, Sophia Raquel Guzman Featuring Vania Neri, Daniel Matteson, Alejandro Izaguirre, Justin Taylor, Bryanna Barrera
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Bugs Directed by Jordyn Walker Styling by Bre Westry Beauty by Jordyn Walker Writing by Mia Bustillos Marketing by Daniela Torres Shot by Camille Josephine, Sophia Raquel Guzman Featuring Isabella Chiocca, Emily Harris
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Victorian Mourning Directed by Taylor Garcia Styling by Grace Harter, Kat McCollum, Taylor Garcia Beauty by Abigail Spencer, Karla Flores Writing by Selena Armendariz Marketing by Dominique Zuno Shot by Camille Josephine, Olivia Barrett Featuring Gasvid Gaspar, Makayla Comparin
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Sweet Charity Directed by Sea D’amico Styling by Paige Barrett, Daniela Romero Beauty by Jordyn Walker, Jasmine Juarez, Elena Poloskey Writing by Sea D’amico Marketing by Daniela Torres, Dominique Zuno Shot by Scarlett Maclain, Olivia Barrett Featuring Shelby Thomason, Veda Vandeventer, Nina Rocha, John Mascorro
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Racing Culture Directed by Christopher Perez Styling by Paige Barrett, Jaelyn Valero, Bre Westry, Grace Harter Beauty by Helena Elizardo, Karla Flores, Abigail Spencer Writing by Selena Armendariz Marketing by Dominique Zuno Shot by Olivia Barrett, Alex Millsap Featuring Lindsey Pelly, Lynnwood Campbell, Travis Larson
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Nostalgia Directed by Daphne Kokkinis Styling by Jaelyn Valero, JAG, Taylor Garcia Beauty by Helena Elizardo, Elena Poloskey Writing by Mia Bustillos Marketing by Crescens Ott Shot by Daphne Kokkinis, Alex Millsap Featuring Rena Gibbs, Philomene Block, Sarahi Villalobos, Dylan Cavazos
To name Camp is to betray it. A nod to Susan Sontag’s 1964 Notes on Camp, this stab-Caesar-approach eliminates any space to pretend like we can definitively make sense of the abstract concept. The more you feel like you understand camp, in fact, the less you probably do. Where reigns a small-but-fervent/articulate vanguard rather than an antiquated/inherited/artificial aristocracy if camp is a question of either/or’s, watching past performances of impenetrable institutions—an atelier or an opera house— a well-rehearsed pas de deux or a well defined set of bottom eyelashes on Twiggy. a Hall of Mirrors or a Fun House mirror or a Hall of Mirrors of Fun House mirrors. is anything Camp if you will it to be? where is this self-appointed reign? can they hear me? you can only call a spade a spade if you know what the fuck a spade is. to name Camp may be to betray it, but as we passively observe Camp, we come closest to creating it.
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All of our worst nightmares happen in the dark. The ones that are sinister, evil, and haunting feed on our fears and doubts. Entomophobia is defined as the unrealistic fear of insects, and bugs strike panic in the hearts of many. Do we fear bugs because they have the capacity to hurt us? Or do we fear them because their appearance is sinister? People believe that bugs are ugly and justify their fear of them through that. Beauty is subjective and thus lies in the eye of the beholder. The juxtaposition between the dark clothing and the texture of the bugs suggests that beauty doesn’t need to fall in its conventional idea to be appreciated. Bugs provide an alternative view towards what the mainstream media is trying to sell us. It provides us with a sense of what beauty could be if we erased the archaic ideas of what beauty is.
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In the Victorian Era, mourning clothes were an outward reflection of inner feelings after a loved one passed. In the initial stages of the mourning process, clothes were to be black, symbolic of spiritual darkness and turmoil. Dresses for deepest mourning were traditionally made of non-reflective parramatta silk, which was usually reserved for those who were very well off. Bombazine was a cheaper alternative to silk for those who couldn’t afford the exorbitant cost of a dress made entirely from silk. In fact, many of the widows in Charles Dickens’ novels wore dresses made from bombazine. Dresses made from either silk or bombazine were then trimmed with crepe, which is an scratchy crimped silk. Crepe is specifically associated with mourning because it was a stand alone material that didn’t match well with any other fabric. After a certain period of time, which varied from person to person, the crepe could be removed. This part of the process was called “slighting the mourning.” This gave a less intense look, which reflected how the individual was no longer in deep mourning. The color of cloth became lighter as mourning went on, from grey to mauve, and then white, which was referred to as “half-mourning.” Any jewelry that was worn was limited to any black materials or stones, and was sometimes combined with woven hair of the deceased.
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YOU RUN YOUR HEART LIKE A HOTEL, the others said of Charity, a taxi dancer in Times Square. The job itself required a sort of hotel-oriented mindset, in that the girls were paid dance partners on a per-dance basis. The story follows Charity, a girl desperate for love, at the intersections of her work and dating lives—a vibrant, often-unbelievable dramatization of what living in New York was and is. Sweet Charity was born on stage. Following a series of coincidences and reluctancies, Gwen Verdon, a well-established dancer in New York, met with Bob Fosse to audition for Damn Yankees in 1955. The rest, as they say, is history. The two ended up married with a kid less than ten years later and were collaborators as dancers and choreographers as much as, if not more than, they were a family. Gwen Verdon helped to visualize and realize the character of Charity in its original Broadway conception, and served as Bob Fosse’s muse. While musing perhaps wasn’t his worst offense, it does seem that Fosse simultaneously revered in Verdon’s creative offerings and accepted alone any and all acclaim that came their way—his name is on the 1966 Tony for best choreography. On the other hand, the film adaptation of Sweet Charity was negatively received—how can you do Charity without Charity? (That is, Gwen Verdon.) Shirley MacClain could only do so much to appease Fosse and Verdon, co-choreographers—her unofficially— on the film, while trying to achieve the inimitable balance of perfection in technique and ease in demeanor that Verdon embodied. Nevertheless, the non-conventional but perfectionist eye for movement that the two brought to Charity revere pieces like RICH MAN’S FRUG and BIG SPENDER hallmark works in the Fosse/Verdon repertoire. These pieces, enhanced only by Edith Head’s unmistakable costuming, represent a moment in American dance and film that simultaneously rejected the bruteness of New York theater and founded a genre based on accentuating minuscule details within the zeal.
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Within the last few years, the fashion industry has pulled influence from motorsports and racing culture and reappropriated it to resonate with a more diverse and modern audience. This is most popularly showcased in the music video for Motorsport, a song by Cardi B and Nicki Minaj. In the video they fully embrace and embody the motorsport aesthetic, as the title suggests. However, the lyrics of the song have absolutely nothing to do with actual motorsport or racing. A style and culture that was once associated with being “white trash” is now something cool and trendy. Large fashion houses feel the need to “upscale” or “upcycle” garments that have always been worn by those who may be thought of as lower-class individuals. Often times they’ll attempt to preserve the aesthetic of the look but completely strip the garment of its functionality. Forever 21 took the design aspects of the jackets but “upcycled” them into thin mesh layering tops which serve no purpose other than to look nice. Because of the way fashion companies have capitalized on trends worn by these people, those same people are now unable to afford the clothes they made popular. Prices have inflated due to the rise of celebrities and elite societies wearing these fashions. This is something that will continue to happen since companies lose absolutely no money over poor people being mad.
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There’s a film reel in the back of my head, and it plays out all my deepest memories, just for me. I like to tell myself that my memories are solid and unchanging, that I’ll always imagine them the way they happened in real life. Certain memories trigger an array of emotions that come flooding through my mind. Then suddenly I’m filled with a strong sense of nostalgia. When I think about childhood summers, I imagine various bright colors, nature and the smell of trees. The beauty in our imagery of a perfect summer is like a dream: too good to be true. Certain moments feel different to us and we are all victims to our own feelings. Nostalgia has a way of making us bittersweet about past moments. As we grow up, we become less like the person we were, and more like our parents. Nostalgia has a way of grounding us and reminding us of the sense of adventure and imagination we had as kids. When most people think of summer, they often think of hot, sunny days, bathing suits, glowing tans, and the smell of the beach, but every summer has its storm. Particular movies have the ability to make us sentimental for a time we never experienced. Movies that revolve around summer, childhood, and young love evoke nostalgia for this time in our lives when things were easier. The idea that young love could be the only problem in our lives reminds us of childhood naivety, a feeling that some of us yearn to feel again. Everyone has their own summer montage that exists in their minds, but instead of complete memories, there’s only fragments. It plays out images one by one and makes us reminiscent for a simpler time in our lives. Summer embodies a time of relaxation, fun, and adventure. Within that realm, we allow ourselves to embrace the memories of our younger self. “When I think about memories from spring and summer, especially when I was younger, they seem to have a dream-like quality to them” — Daphne Kokkinis.
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ENTERTAINMENT
Brandon Maxwell, a 2008 graduate of St. Edwards, is now a giant in New York City’s fashion scene. His clients include none other than Mother Monster herself, a one Lady Gaga. He launched his eponymous brand in 2015, and his designs have since graced empowered titans Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Jane Fonda (to name just a few). This spring, two of our members (Daniela Romero and Daniela Torres) had the privilege to sit down for a quick chat with this incredible designer and alumnus.
Daniela Romero: I want to know because I think we’re both really into fashion, how is it working with celebrities in this last season? This last season was so hectic, how was the whole process? Brandon Maxwell: Celebrities are people too. So I think I approach that how I approach dressing my girlfriends, or my mom, or anybody. I was a stylist for 10 years so I’m pretty accustomed to working with women of all different professions. So yeah it’s good, I think whether someone’s famous, or they’re getting married, or they’re going to work, it’s always just your goal as a stylist and designer to help them feel their best. That’s what I try and focus on. DR: I’m just so starstruck with you! You’re an american designer, and in this industry of European designers, the competition is huge. The fact that you are coming from Texas, and are making it big is crazy. BM: Thank you! It’s all hard work, you know, I was probably not the most talented but I worked pretty hard. We live in such a fame culture now where everything is about instagram and pictures, but I really thrive on human relationships. I think that’s what’s gotten me everywhere in my career. DR: Just making it into the industry, I feel like it was always hard, but at this time it’s particularly harder because its about being recognized and being someone already. BM: Yeah but ultimately that only lasts for a little bit of time. There’s moments like this when you’re at a party or on T.V. and that’s exciting, but mostly I’m in the office for 18 hours a day working, so it’s not very glamorous. But, it’s just about working hard everyday to support the women that work with me and they have children and lives, so you know, you always keep the focus on that. DR: And just another quick question - Project runway? BM: It’s on right now! At this moment! DR: What can we expect from it? BM: I think there’s a lot of heart in this one. I was a fan of the show for a really long time, and it’s a now brand new show, it’s season one. I just think I’ve not been doing it for that long, so I felt for them. There’s a lot of heart in it and there’s a lot of stories, I think a lot young people will see themselves represented on the show. I think it’s very much television for right now. Television that makes sense culturally for where we are. I’m super thrilled to be on it. By Daniela Romero & Daniela Torres