PHOSPHENES
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ASTRO 1
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Art / Design
ALLIE WHITEH E AD
Fashion
MARIANA CANTÚ
Photography
S HAYA N A SA D I | G A E TAN CAPUTO | G IANCARLO S KUNHARDT JAC KI E RO B ERTSO N | ANIS HA S ISO D IA
Text DANIELLE MARTIN
Models
PI E RCE AB E RNATH Y | NAOMI BY RD | MIMI C HANG | CALEB FEC HTO R PATRI CE J ULIÓ N | A ZEE Z OWO KO NIR AN A NAURY PEÑA | S H U YA XIE
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THE GREAT BEYOND A Letter from the Editor
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hat’s out there? There’s no denying all the scientific advances that have suggested the possibilities, with potential life everywhere from Mars to the outskirts of black holes, or new environments similar to our own discovered on planets all over the universe. And the mystery and curiosity surrounding these uncharted territories throughout the various galaxies has inspired everything from music to film to of course, fashion.
that are as much “human” as they are “other.” Illustrating a universe of complex souls, multidimensional personas, and fabulous figures, we pose our questions in relation to our perspective and imagination. What would potential alien life be like? The majority of interpretations have depicted suspected galactic species as dangerous, evil, even monstrous. But could it be the complete opposite? Is it possible that “aliens” are more tolerant, more peaceful and accepting than humans? Imagine a world without guns or violence, prejudice or hatred. Who’s to say that couldn’t exist in the farthest corners of outer space?
Outer space as a larger concept has long informed fashion, emerging over time as a theme in the collections of designers and artists like Paco Rabanne, Thierry Mugler, Lee Alexander McQueen, Iris Van Herpen, Trevor Paglen, Nicolas Ghesquière, and Hussein Chalayan, to name a few. Even up-and-comers like Evin Tison explore the great beyond through intergalactic creations. And then there’s Phosphenes, taking notes from the space-age ideas before us and going one step further.
Perhaps it’s human nature to fear the unknown. But why fear what should fascinate us? We’ll never entirely know what every corner of the universe is like until we encounter these places or these beings ourselves, and exploring our own hypotheses can easily be the most exciting journey.
While we could go literal, saturating Astro in kitschy costumes and belabored iterations, we decided to merge our inspiration with a touch of Earth. We tie personality into the respective traits of the cosmos, creating characters
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CONTENTS Reality 06
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08 FANTASTIC PLANET
Fantasy 14 ALIEN 16
BLACK HOLE BEINGS
Fashion 20 LIFT OFF
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VENUS
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MOONBATHING
64 SPACE DEBRIS
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AURORA
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STARDUST
TITAN
NEPTUNE
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AN INTERG
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or spring/summer 2016, emerging talent Evin Tison takes us on
an intergalactic, seductive journey through the complexity of the modern woman. Predominantly white with bursts of pastels, the garments make use of futuristic, space-age materials; semi-transparent latex coexists with iridescent PVC, while Tison creates oneof-a-kind fabrics by applying plastic to three-dimensional neoprene. The end result is an architectural, extraterrestrial aesthetic unlike anything on Earth, making a promising proposition for this new vision.
GALACTIC JOURNEY WITH EVIN TISON Photos by Gaetan Caputo x L’Empire Studio courtesy of Evin Tison
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FA N TAST I C PL ANE T Sometimes the most otherworldly things are right here on Earth.
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e’re constantly wondering what’s out there, whether in this galaxy or beyond. But what about uncovering the beauty in our own world? That’s what Chicago-based photographers Jackie Robertson and Anisha Sisodia are doing with their creative brand and production company, Recognize Duplexity. Going below the surface in the everyday, traveling across all corners of the world, the duo exposes viewers to a new perspective on the familiar. ReDu shows that beauty lies in the juxtaposition and cooperation of diverse visions, a phenomenon that can allow for the development of a new framework of observing our environment. Maybe our planet is the most otherworldly after all. *All photos by anisha Sisodia and Jackie Robertson* 11
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ALIEN Watercolor adaptation of the season’s most visionary looks
Illustrated by Scott Shapiro
jacket and skirt VETEMENTS. 14
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(Left) pants LOEWE. (Right) dress RICK OWENS. gloves MAISON MARGIELA
B L AC K HOLE BEI N G S Poems by D a n i el l e M . M a r ti n
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GHOST FLOWER OUTLIAR I first came to this place to get away from the real world, ‘cause, baby, it was freakin’ me out. Turns out there ain’t no place for day dreamin’ in this town, so I laid pipes in my sleep. But existential escape has vacated my nighttime paradise and is playing house in my head. One day you wiped your mud-caked boots on the not-so-welcome mat and tried to make yourself comfortable in the personal universe that formed within my mind. The life you discovered inside those walls made your stomach uneasy enough to spill the pit in your gut to all those Joes and Janes who I’ve been struggling to pull myself down to earth to relate to. Allow me to explain myself; I’ve been fakin’ it. The extraterrestrials first invaded my day to day after the big BANG! that was flesh and bone and brains, smushed and bloody against the metal steering wheel of your ‘67 el Camino, that, shit, we should’ve opted for the airbags in, but, hell, no, we shouldnt’ve, cause that ain’t true vintage. Now those rusted chrome wheels ain’t what’s turnin’ in my mind no more, it’s planets swirling and asteroids colliding and space debris floatin’ around like the sand on that desert storm day, grainy and crusted onto the expository gash across my left eyebrow. Meeting myself face to face in the shattered rearview, I knew that my forward thinking was about to start losing gravity. The exhaust pipe sparked stars in my eyes and the gas giants began to take over my brain, bulging against the interior of my skull, inducing migraines. Now everyday, humdrum life is painful to endure. But you got out of that car and wrapped your wounds in white gauze, casting a bloodied pink fog over what your eyes could’ve opened wide to see. The problem with me is that I just don’t know how to block it all out. I’m graspin’ at Rumple’s golden straws trying to pull together some mere piece of my old mind and you’re tellin’ them that my head is still stuck in those smoke clouds that rose dark and heavy from the hissing engine and swallowed Mescal Mountain whole. I weave the vague threads that I’m able to uncover into stories of grandeur, or, as you call ‘em, “delusion”. Your view’s been filtered to daisies and, in turn, has been twisting my ghost flowers into wilted weeds. If you’d lift the cloth bandage that’s impairing your vision you’d see that we’re standing on different ground but it’s ground just the same, the shift lies in atmospheric pressure. But it ain’t going to happen so I’m done trying to confine to your space and your time ‘cause the continuum’s no longer got much of a pull. I’ve found my new home on a planet that’s my own, I don’t know why bein’ alone means you gotta alienate me. I know I’m an outliar. 17
FLYING FISH FORGIVENESS Sister Rosemary caught me sticking my tongue out behind her back in my second grade math class. Her forefinger and thumb turned into a Venus Flytrap and snatched the words out of my mouth before I could cry “MERCY”. With my wagging tongue in the palm of her hand, she pulled up a chair and sat face to face with me across the school desk, filled with text books on science and out of date history and misspelled love notes from Jon Burns. Her eyes matched mine, where tears were beginning to brim. After 4 minutes, she looked me dead in the heart and told me that the clouds forming above my head were dark and that I should yank myself down before it was too late, ‘cause airheads don’t go nowhere in life. She stood abruptly to teach the class to pronounce Yosemite as “yozeh-might” and I stood up right after her before crawling under my desk to nurse my broken organ.
As it tries to strangle my last breath from my throat, I’m fighting to squeeze out some mediocre last words. The grip is twisted so I’m rubberneckin’ while I throw everything I got out at the universe and, behind my back, all those grounded people have had it up to here. They’re goin’ down quick, it’s flop or fly for the fish. I look back up at that world floating just out of my reach to thank those heavens that I’m a bird. I’m beggin’ for the sky to take me back, wailing for forgiveness for my attempt at conformity. I kick and I scream, “I’m sorry, I messed up real bad, I am so fucking sorry”.
For the next 16 years I tried harder than anything to foot my feet firmly in some muddy ground. As soon as that sand wrapped its grainy arms ‘round my ankles, I looked up to see the clouds parted, revealing the entire sky; quicker still, regret settled heavily in the depths of my mind. Had I known that behind that grey haze laid sunshine and Saturn and all those shining stars, I would’ve never stepped down to fulfill my loved ones’ desires. So I started runnin’ for the moon but reality’s holding me down and, as hard as I struggle, I can’t get my feet off of the torturous ground.
Being stuck in the mud, I’ve grown tired of playing tag. Call me a sore loser but I just thought the chase would take me somewhere, anywhere else but where I’m standing now. If I hadn’t given up faith it wouldnt’ve taken me reaching the bottom of this goddamned mud pit to realize that being different ain’t a curse, but a blessing. I believed in some harsh god instead of myself and hunched to the followers of a patriarch’s level. In finding my spine I’m now learnin’ a lesson that sends slow shivers down each vertebrae: If I can’t pull myself out of the trench, ain’t nobody offerin’.
And - did you know? quicksand really ain’t all that quick. It’s taken its sweet time working its sticky grip up every last inch of my body. It’s hands are holdin’ tight to my neck like Rosemary held my tongue, and I’m afraid that those stifled 4 ain’t so far away.
We’ll all die lonely down here.
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(OPPOSITE) SUNGLASSES (WORN THROUGHOUT) VINTAGE DIOR HOMME. TOP NEIL BARRETT. PANTS (WORN THROUGHOUT) COS.
(BOTTOM ) GLASSES (WORN THROUGHOUT) MODEL’S OWN. JACKET AND PANTS CALVIN KLEIN COLLECTION.
L I F T
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We propel into outer space, thrusting onward and upward.
PHOTOS BY JACKIE ROBERTSON
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Lift Off
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(BOTTOM ) SWEATSHIRT JUUN J. (OPPOSITE) T-SHIRT T BY ALEXANDER WANG. JACKET AND SILK SCARF LANVIN. SNEAKERS MODEL’S OWN.
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TURTLENECK AND COAT SANDRO. T-SHIRT T BY ALEXANDER WANG. JACKET DIOR HOMME.
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SHIRT SANDRO. LEATHER PANTS ACNE STUDIOS. LEATHER GLOVES LANVIN.
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WI NS U TH AN AL U AN TH E G NDE NIA D P OD B DE AS SS LE F S ER OF VO ION TH R EU AT , NIV WE E ER MEE SE T .
PHOTOS & BEAUTY : G i a n c ar lo s Ku n bar d t FASHION in collaboratio n w i t h M ar i an a C a n u 26
HEADBAND : Alexis Bittar NOSE RINGS (WORN THROUGHOUT) : model’s own JACKET : Kenzo DRESS : Vintage
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CHOKER : Paula Mendoza BRA : Agent Provocateur KIMONO : Vintage Lanvin 28
TOP : Dion Lee TROUSERS : Les Chiffoniers
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TOP : 3.1 Phillip Lim 30
JACKET : Elizabeth and James BRA : Agent Provocateur BAG : Missoni
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CHOKER : Paula Mendoza BRA : Agent Provocateur KIMONO : Vintage Lanvin BAG : Maria Brito
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[LEFT] NECKLACE : Stylist’s Own LEOTARD : Donna Karan SKIRT : Mariana Cantu
[RIGHT] CHOKER : Paula Mendoza TOP : Dion Lee 33
[OPPOSITE] TOP & TROUSERS : Tibi 34
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PHOTOS BY SHAYAN ASADI
LET YOUR ECCENTRICITY SHINE UNDER THE LIGHT OF THE MOON’S RAYS
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jacket 3.1a PHILLIP LIM. shirt VINTAGE THIERRY MUGLER. pants (worn throughout) COS. bracelet (worn throughout) model’s own.
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sunglasses MYKITA. shirt & shoes SANDRO.
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jacket VINTAGE YVES SAINT LAURENT
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glasses CUTLER & GROSS. shirt JILL SANDER. 40
sweater ACNE STUDIOS.
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[Opposite] shirt VINTAGE DIOR HOMME. cardigan MISSONI. pants LANVIN.
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TITAN photos by
GIANCARLOS KUNHARDT Saturn’s largest moon, with an environment similar to that on Earth, we explore Titan’s possibilities.
top J.W. ANDERSON. briefs AMERICAN APPAREL. boots RICK OWENS
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top and skirt ISSEY MIYAKE
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vintage choker. jacket and dress CALVIN KLEIN. shoes STUART WEITZMAN
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jacket and shorts HELMUT LANG
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jacket CALVIN KLEIN COLLECTION
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sweatshirt JUUN J. leggings AMERICAN APPAREL. jacket (around waist) CALVIN KLEIN
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NEPTUNE WIND AND SEA WITH CLOUDS OF GAS, WE DIVE INTO THE GREAT BLUE PLANET. PHOTOS BY JACKIE ROBERTSON 50
JACKET & PANTS : BALENCIAGA
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TEE-SHIRT : H&M. CHAIN: MODEL’S OWN. 52
TURTLENECK (WORN THROUGHOUT): ZARA. TOP : VINTAGE ISSEY MIYAKE. NECKLACES : PHOTGRAPHER’S OWN. 53
SHIRT (WORN THROUGHOUT): VINTAGE THIERRY MUGLER.
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JACKET: 3.1 PHILLIP LIM.
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JACKET: YVES SAINT LAURENT. CHAIN: MODEL’S OWN
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SWEATER (WORN THROUGHOUT): SANDRO.
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(OPPOSITE) COAT: RICK OWENS.
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SWEATER (WORN THROUGHOUT) : SANDRO
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ring (worn
MARQUES’ALMEIDA. ear ’s own. throughout) model
dress
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t-shirt RICK OWENS CALVIN DRKSHDW KLEIN. . jacket V
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INTAGE
top
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CALVIN KLEIN CO
LLECTION.
LMEIDA. bo ARQUES’A dress M ARGIELA. MAISON M
ots
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VINTAGE
top
CRAIG GREEN
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suede jacket VINTAGE MAI SON leather pant s ACNE ST
UDIOS.
MARGIELA.
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. FUTURE ME. SUPER ID HOM RETRO NDRO s A e ss rs e la g ak e n sn su NDRO. et SA jack
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AURORA PHOTOS BY SCOTT SHAPIRO A KALEIDOSCOPE OF COLOR DANCES IN THE NIGHT SKY, WITH FLASHES OF LIGHT ILLUMINATING THE GALAXY
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(OPPOSITE): DRESS (WORN THROUGHOUT) CHRISTIAN DIOR (THIS PAGE): CHOKER (WORN THROUGHOUT) VINTAGE
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gown EMILIO PUCCI. shoes (worn throughout) JIMMY CHOO. 80
Photos by Giancarlos Kunhardt. Styled in collaboration with Mariana Cantú.
DISCO GLAMOR GOES TO OUTER SPACE…AND CRASH LANDS BACK ON EARTH.
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jacket BALMAIN x H&M
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coat and pants CUSTOM HOUGHTON. top ADAM SELMAN.
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[Left] jacket FAITH CONNEXION. skirt LANVIN. [Right] top BALMAIN. pants VINTAGE.
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dress PROENZA SCHOULER. coat VINTAGE.
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The Power of Diversity. Fashion is fantasy, capable of creating a new framework through which we view our world. But fantasy is rooted in reality, and reality is made up of beautifully diverse individuals. No matter what planet or galaxy on our mind, we believe in the importance of not just considering, but promoting diversity and equality in everything we do. We know that “beauty” is not homogenous, nor is it a concept applicable to only one group of people. And despite the fashion industry’s struggle with diversity, we know that different cultures, complexions, features, quirks, personalities, and other unique characteristics are what make us
fascinating. Meanwhile, fashion can often possess enough cultural and social significance to make it capable of empowerment. And empowerment cannot happen unless everyone is included, regardless of their race or background. Our mission is to consistently use fashion as an artistic expression, one that empowers people of all types, especially women of color. We hope that this could contribute to a larger goal of helping to balance diversity in the fashion industry, thus expanding the multifaceted definition of what is beautiful.
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