When making the look for this issue it was a very easy decision to use these colours. I am an openly bisexual woman and my pride flag is composed of pink, purple, and blue so those colours were the first to be considered for this look. Pride is not only derived from ourselves but rather from both the communities that we contribute to and participate in.
Lex Gordon is an Aries and also a Canadian university student. She grew up near the city, but on a farm. This means her personality is a wonderful mix of pretentious city slicker and down-to-earth farm girl. The best description she has ever heard about who she is was from Dolly Parton, a Backwoods Barbie. She is obsessed with the art of makeup as it provides a new and fun medium to create stories with. You can find more of her work on Instagram.
Naomi Howell-Steven.
Naomi is 23 years old, born and raised in South-East London. She is a qualified Early Years Educator and while she does still do some work within the education sector, she is also an aspiring makeup artist. Naomi comes from a performing arts background, having studied musical theatre, acting and still practicing many different styles of dance to this day. You can check out Naomi’s MUA and fashion videos here.
I didn’t want to go down the traditional rainbow pride makeup look (although that would be very on brand for me as I love rainbows). I have struggled over the past few years to understand where I belong on the sexuality spectrum. Up until recently I realised I have spent the majority of my life in very heteronormative spaces. As a result of this I have been exposed to a lot of casual homophobia, especially (it pains me to say) within my own Black Caribbean culture. And although I have always tried my best to stand up for the queer community within these spaces I was unsure as to whether I was doing this from the place of an ally or a member. The main thing I’ve come to realise now is does it really matter? The best way to take pride in who you are is to just be it unapologetically. I understand that labels are helpful to some, but generally I feel as though it’s pointless trying to put people into boxes. That defeats the object of a spectrum, it is supposed to flow. Much like the visible light spectrum if you zoom in far enough, sure, you’ll be able to identify individual colours but if you view it as a whole it is a beautiful menagerie of everything we see everyday.
