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“Fashion is part of the daily air and it changes all the time, with all the events. You can even see the approaching of a revolution in clothes.You can see and feel everything in clothes.� - Diana Vreeland May, 1978
The Movement Issue
Editors in Chief
Emily Dunkel Gabrielle Weiss
Editor At Large
Kojo Abudu
Creative Director
Hallie Aston
Directors of Fashion & Production
Max Bernell Jean Yenbamroong
Art Director
Elizabeth Lim
Director of Marketing & PR
Cassidy Seggern
Fashion & Production Team
Adaiya Granberry Taylor Konrath Gianna Miller Dejana Saric Christina Tribull
Writers
Katherine Guo Mumbi Kanyogo Liz Kennedy Allie Kenny Brian Lin Maddy Shaw
Illustration
Sonia Fillipow
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Sections Voyager Musical Chairs Can We Really Just Let It Be? Liberation
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A Seat at the Table Pavement Thieves Constraining Movement Momentum
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Voyager Poetry: Mumbi Kanyogo Photographs: Elizabeth Lim Model: Emily Partner
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You speak into the air willing it to guide you in the right direction, hoping that it will speak life back into your lungs. Sometimes you come across bends in your path that remind you of how fragile plans can be. You never know where you will end up you only know that the wrong turn will bring you heartache on the nights when you should be finding happiness. When every door you try to open falls apart in your presence, when every crowd you find yourself in threatens to drown you, look for stillness. Sit, and conjure silence.
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Not every uphill climb yields freedom. Some swallow you whole, spit you out and leave you stranded on empty pathways wondering if you will survive your next step. There are some roots that cannot be broken, no matter how fast you run, no matter how many times you rename places home. They always guide you back to that small place between a rock and a hard place, that place you’ve worked so hard to disown. Sometimes you leave to escape old shadows and other times you leave to look at your reflection from a different angle – a new perspective. Maybe this time you will leave and find peace staring back at you even in broken mirrors.
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While Chiuri’s recent departure from Valentino to Dior after 17 years at the company may be considered a lateral movement in terms of her role, the change in direction and vision Dior will embody is worth watching. As the past creative director of Dior, Raf Simons curated a brand that reflected his minimalist aesthetic. Now, with Chiuri holding the reins, consumers can only speculate on the direction in which she will take the brand.
Musical Chairs Words: Katherine Guo Illustration: Sonia Fillipow
In her first collection for Dior, Chiuri has returned the brand’s image to one of contemporary femininity. One of the most iconic moments of the entire show was a t-shirt that read “We Should All Be Feminists,” taken from the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, paired with a tulle skirt and trainers. The rest of the show truly embodied the evolving image of women with a mix of long, flowy dresses paired with sneakers and strong, tailored suits. She drew her inspiration from Dior’s elegant heritage and powerful expressions of femininity, and then brought in streetwear to create an image of
Fashion’s most respected brands have no shortage of leaders and visionaries, with creative directors jumping from one fashion house to another. Christian Dior was succeeded by Yves Saint Laurent in 1957, who was followed by Gianfranco Ferre, John Galliano, Raf Simons, and most recently, Maria Grazia Chiuri, the first female head of the esteemed fashion house. The question of branding, or more specifically, what a brand entails, is important in distinguishing between a house and the person who guides it creatively.
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the contemporary woman. Within one season, she has already refocused the house’s feminine heritage. For her, it is not about stereotypical representations of femininity, but rather a reflection of what a contemporary woman can become and embody. There are definite similarities between Chiuri’s first show at Dior at her last for Valentino. The latter was characterized by romantic gowns with ornate detailing, harkening back to the Greco-Roman era. Furthermore, pearl embroidery, brocades, and taffeta decorated the models who appeared to have walked out of scene from the Middle Ages. At Valentino, she drew upon a strong image of femininity, but a classic one. At Dior, she has stepped out of more traditional constructs and has embraced a youthful approach. Returning to the question of what characterizes a brand, it is important to ask what degree of brand integrity remains when an individual creative force leaves its mark on multiple houses. As the fashion industry has proved over and over again, brands are often characterized by the work of their famous directors. However, sometimes these interest exist at odds. Heidi Slimane has transformed Saint Laurent since his arrival over a decade ago, and critics note that his modernization carries with it major clashes with the aesthetics of the house’s founder, Yves Saint Laurent. Laurent founded the brand in 1961, after his time at Dior. Saint Laurent was long successful, but lost popularity after Laurent’s death in 2008.
Slimane revitalized the brand, but also ushered in an aesthetic era very different than the one Laurent imagined fifty years prior. Instances of individuals overshadowing the brand for which they work are also worth noting. During Riccardo Tisci’s tenure at Givenchy, the designer was larger force than the brand itself, and his work garnered him a large following of admirers. Tisci was pivotal in transforming Givenchy from the fashion house that grew organically from the sartorial relationship between Hubert de Givenchy and Audrey Hepburn to the house whose clothes are regularly photographed on members of the Kardashian-West clan. After the announcement that Tisci would depart from Givenchy in 2017 after 12 years at the helm, Givenchy’s search for a new creative director has presented an opportunity to reevaluate its image and direction. His replacement, Claire Waight Keller from Chloé, has a dramatically different aesthetic. Waight Keller’s bohemian-inspired pieces are a sharp contrast to Tisci’s gothic, moody themes. Audiences worldwide look forward to seeing how Keller will bring her past influences to shape the future of Givenchy. Today, many prominent fashion houses deviate from their historical roots and allow their creative directors to take the brand in new directions, resulting in an heightened disparity between the aesthetic of a house’s creator and its current creative director. With different designers playing musical chairs between various fashion houses, a consistent brand identity is difficult to achieve.
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Can We Really Just Let It Be? Words: Allie Kenny Photographs: Justin Báez Models: Dipro Bhowmik. Maxton Mauney, Lúcia Mees, Edom Tilahun The United States stands in a precarious position in 2017. Millennials feel particularly perturbed by government policies that alienate and suppress rather than gather and mend. In the previous months, streets of major cities have been flooded with everything from women’s marches to immigration ban protests to Black Lives Matter sit-ins. But this is not the first time our country has faced feelings of division, anger and uncertainty calling for protest. In the 1960s and 70s, the counterculture movement became immensely popular. The counterculture movement refers to an anti-establishment movement that struck the UK and spread to the United States. It began in the US with the assassination of John F. Kennedy and grew along with the Civil Rights Movement, intensifying with further US military intervention in Vietnam. Hot beds in New York City and San Francisco emerged for protests about major issues such racial equality, human sexuality, women’s rights, traditional modes of authority, and new interpretations of the American dream. Counterculture movements promoted profound change. For example, Feminist movements were inflamed with the publication of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique in 1963. Friedan’s book documented the plight of college-educated housewives who felt trapped and hindered by their societal roles. Friedan along with Gloria Steinem and Angela Davis became the key activists in the feminist cause, activating important changes in the societal status for women. In that same year, Martin Luther King delivered his “I have a Dream” speech marking an iconic moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Activists sought to resolve constitutional civil rights illegalities especially regarding racial segregation,
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with art cinema, changing norms with limited levels of censorship. Writers and artists alike began to be more liberal in their choices, producing avant-garde works to document this period of radical change. These incredible works of originality were produced by and/or enjoyed by the masses of hippie youth.
disfranchisement of black in the South by white-dominated state governments, and overall discrimination in housing, jobs, and access to public places. And just a few years later, the Stonewall riots of 1969 ignited the Gay rights movement in the United States and around the world. This is cited as the first major moment that sexual minorities stood up against authoritative powers beginning a movement to end all forms of societal persecution based on sexual orientation.
The hippie movement stood for many important issues, namely the protection of peace and free speech. The hippies picketed the Vietnam War and led draft card burnings to show their dedication to pacifism. Many were involved in the Civil Rights movements and Gay Rights movements as well. Although passionate, the arguably lazy lifestyle caused deep divisions throughout the country. Much of the divide existed along generational lines. In the elder generations’ eyes, having undergone the pressures of the depression, working hard was a necessary factor to generate change. During the Counterculture movements, the US was in a state of relative affluence after the war allowing the children of Depression-era parents to pursue the Hippie lifestyle without real fear of its consequences. The older and governing population viewed this youthful protest as wasteful and inefficient.
As the era unfolded, new belief systems and lifestyles emerged. Namely, the hippie lifestyle, a modern take on bohemianism, was born. It is easy to picture the Hippie movement, as style was a major identifier of members of the group. Men and women sported long flowing hair, tie-dye shirts, floral headbands and loose dresses. Flowered embroidery was popular as it was self-made and the hippies believed in “flower power.” Rebelling against corporate culture, many wore vintage and old-fashioned clothes that could be recycled. And rebelling against war and authorities, some even wore military uniforms to protest the war rather than engage in it. The hippie movement was composed primarily of white teenagers and young adults who sought to find a new meaning for life. They embraced individuality while living against societal norms. Hippies rejected established institutions, opposed nuclear weapons and the Vietnam War, encouraged sexual liberation, promoted vegan and eco-friendly values, and experimented openly with drugs. The hippies lived in tribalistic communes travelling to different events and festivals ranging from protests at the Pentagon to “Summer of Love” Grateful Dead concerts.
Various people, events and ideas acted as notable catalysts of the Counterculture Movements in the 1960s and 70s. Although these catalysts were seemingly time-sensitive, many of these issues remain salient in society today. And as millennials, the future of our world, contemplate the best response to the mounting problems, it is natural to look at previous counterculture movements for advice. Are today’s millenials the new hippies travelling to different cities and locations to protest? Examining the hippie culture shows that it is important to stand for something, to exercise the power of free speech and to stand up against injustices. Yet it is also evident that, especially in present day, change does not come through hours spent tripping or wandering down the West Coast. Change comes in the form of constructive agency. Counterculture movements today should yearn to lead, educate, and promote justice in order to create a culture that all are proud to be a part of.
Experimental drug use became a very large part of the hippie lifestyle. Hippies used marijuana, LSD, peyote and psilocybin mushrooms in attempts to open up their consciousnesses. The hope was that the drugs would promote revelations and enhance creativity. This appreciation and search for creativity manifested itself in music enjoyed by the hippies like that of The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Creedance Clearwater Revival, Eric Clapton, The Grateful Dead, etc. It also expanded to filmmakers who experimented
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Liberation Words: Maddy Shaw Illustrations: Sonia Fillipow
Gone are the days when the removal of a white glove in a public space was a disturbance. Yet flash back a few centuries, and this simple gesture, the plucking off of each veiled fingertip, slowly, one by one, to reveal the bare, effeminate skin beneath, would have been viewed as an indecorous misdemeanor. Such was the backlash when Amelia Bloomer ditched her floor-length hoop skirt for a pair of pants in 1851, and the nascence of the female pant fundamentally destabilized the Western world’s expression of gender identity. Time and again, from the 1800s to today, forward-looking fashionistas have thrown convention aside and clothed themselves in the garb of their choosing, despite cultural castigation. Be it a pair of gloves, a pair of pants, or a pair of breasts, women have used their visual clout to orient society’s gaze toward equality.
1920s: The Bob “Bobbed hair is a state of mind,” flapper Ellen Welles Page told Outlook Magazine in 1922. What now seems like an everyday haircut was once a fervent political statement. “I consider getting rid of our long hair one of the many little shackles that women have cast aside in their passage of freedom,” Page explained. The bob, which rose to popularity at the end of World War I, further disrupted the patriarchy’s anticipated return to order. For women, on the other hand, short hair was a physical symbol of allegiance to modernity. These women weaponized their aesthetic and
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1930s: Chanel’s Two-Piece Pantsuit The war had allowed women to relocate from the living room to the workplace. With the set of politically-invigorated former housewives in mind, Coco Chanel created her version of the female pantsuit. It not only clothed women for the workplace, but facilitated their growing appetite for a piece of the public sphere. Chanel did more than merely tailor the man’s suit to a woman’s shape; she transformed her take on womanhood into a feminine vision of “English masculine” by co-opting an outfit and turning it into a disruptive fashion statement. Indeed, thanks to Chanel, the post-war working woman could go forth clad in a two-legged representation of her unabashed independence, with all the retained elegance of Chanel’s design.
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1950s: The Bikini With the popularity of stars like Marilyn Monroe, expressing one’s sexuality became less taboo, and as a result, stomachs started showing in swimwear. Swimsuit designers cut back on the fabric and the bikini was born. While tops were halter-bra hybrids, the bottoms were high-waisted and akin to a skirt. The confines of modesty fell in the face of a bare belly. Women could dress comfortably for aquatic activities without the shame previously associated with showing one’s skin. This liberating trend represented a huge step for female agency. Just because society objectified a woman’s body did not mean that she was meant to be ashamed.
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1960s: The Miniskirt With the 60s came Second Wave Feminism and with it a new shedding of clothes and restrictions as encapsulated by the miniskirt. Intended to shorten hemlines for the sake of practicality, the miniskirt was popularized by British designer Mary Quant, who wanted to free women of the burden they bore for the sake of modesty. The emergence of the miniskirt coincided with other trends of the 60s, like the surge in birth control use, the rise of divorce rates, and the “single girl� Cosmopolitan attitude encapsulated by Helen Gurley Brown’s Sex and the Single Girl. At this revolutionary time, the miniskirt came to embody the political weight of the women who wore them. With other, new liberating trends, the miniskirt represented a cohesive opposition to restrictive ideas about female sexuality.
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Present: Free the Nipple The question of sexualized body parts, dating back to the 1800s, persists today. The battleground now, however, is women’s nipples. Why must they be censored while mens’ are not? What began with the 2012 film Free the Nipple has burgeoned into an international movement seeking to raise awareness and affect change for gender equality. The movement, with its every bare-chested and bra-less supporter, condemns the idea that the exposure of the female areola warrants a criminal offense in all but four states. In the face of public indecency, disturbing the peace, and lewd behavior charges, women use their nipples rather than their fists to fight the prospect of an unending future ruled by men. Though centuries have passed since a woman needed to be covered from head to toe, the female body still remains the subject of sexual objectification. While progress has been made toward a more equal tomorrow, women’s bodies retain the capacity to serve as symbols of cultural rebellion. Nonetheless, thanks to bobs, bikinis, pant suits, and miniskirts, each insurgence has moved us a bit closer to a gender-neutral vision of humankind. Thanks to fashion, we have the ammunition for further feminist activism. Here’s to the promise of a society that does not stigmatize or criminalize any parts of the body a woman chooses to bare. Until then, onward we move, onward we march.
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A Seat at the Table Words: Liz Kennedy Photographs: Elizabeth Lim Model: Symonne Singleton
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On September 30th, Solange Knowles released one of the most relevant and evocative albums of 2016: A Seat at the Table, an ode to the majesty of black womanhood and a statement on contemporary black expression. Solange, a self-described feminist and womanist— a term coined by Alice Walker to refer to black feminism— provides a radical celebration of self-love as a counter to the countless humiliations and disadvantages experienced by black women in America. A Seat at the Table is radical black-girl manifesto, a toolkit for navigating a white, male-dominated world, a space for healing, a place where black femininity is expressed in its full regality. The album, which features appearances from Sampha, Kelly Rowland, and Andre 3000, among others, pays homage to the rich cultural past of black America while reimagining a bold new future. The album, her third EP and first release since 2012, serves as the icedtea to Beyonce’s Lemonade. While both albums celebrate the multidimensionality of black womanhood, Solange’s album is very much about self-determination: she offers an intimate look into the struggles and triumphs she endured over the last decade, which included a teenage pregnancy, the growing-pains of young adulthood, a divorce, the weariness of being black in America, the pain of having your femininity degraded, and the grief that accompanies healing. All of these themes are perhaps best evoked on her ode to mending a broken heart, “Cranes in the Sky.” The record won Best R&B Performance at the 2016 Grammy’s, the singer’s first. Knowles described the album as “a project on identity, empowerment, independence, grief and healing”: it’s an album “for us, by us.” Solange was denied a seat at the table, so she made her own.
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In contrast to her light, airy vocals and minimalist beats, Solange delivers her sophisticated political statements with lyrical precision. “Junie” tackles cultural appropriation, “F.U.B.U (For Us By Us)” describes the daily microaggressions black Americans face, and “Don’t Touch My Hair” delivers a f**k you to all the white people who treat black hair like a petting zoo. She’s illuminating the day to day lived experiences of black women, a perspective that too often goes deliberately ignored and unheard. The iconic rapper Master P also narrates throughout, providing commentary from an older generation of black artists who were forced to grapple with the same issues of racism and discrimination decades before. Through the weaving of past and future, she places modern day black feminism in the context of her forebears. Her songs are liberating, portraying both women and blackness uninhibited by the constraints of racialized or sexualized stereotypes.
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In “Cranes in the Sky,” Solange sings from a number of settings, most of them set in nature. She wears minimalist garments in muted colors. Her outfits are contemporary, temporary, almost whimsical: a dress made out of purple string, a top made out of tin foil, a pink robe that seems to almost envelop her person. While beautiful, the clothing ultimately focuses the viewers gaze directly on Solange. It adds, but does not distract. In “Don’t Touch My Hair,” Turini describes how they searched for symbols of iconic black fashion, including Sean John velour tracksuits, do-rags and fur and finger waves; the robes and blue pleated skirts were a nod to the regality and swagger of black church culture. Solange’s hair also serves as a liberation statement: she sports a number of different black hairstyles, ranging from weaves, to African braids, to a natural fro, a celebration of the full spectrum of black creativity and style. Solange “really wanted to present black people as, you know, [the] regal, stately beings that we are. I think that regality that can be expressed in so many different ways.” A Seat at the Table does just that. As Master P narrates on the album’s closing, “We come here as slaves, but we going out as royalty.” Amen.
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corporates the exact typeface as the logo of Fucking Awesome, a skate label founded by skateboarder Jason Dill. When asked about skateboarding’s recently trending status in the fashion world, Thrasher’s Editor-in-Chief Jake Phelps gave a simple response. In an interview with Hypebeast, he said, “We don’t send boxes to Justin Bieber or Rihanna or those fucking clowns. The pavement is where the real shit is. Blood and scabs, does it get realer than that?” Where is the line drawn high fashion’s appreciation of skateboarding’s counterculture and its blatant appropriation?
Pavement Thieves Words, Photographs: Brian Lin Models: Veohnti Afokpa, Addie Wood Tennis Club de Paris, Paris, France. January 23, 2016. Hundred of models lined a walkway in succession, triumphantly styled in the latest from Kris Van Assche’s Winter 2016-17 collection for Dior Homme. Powerfully clad in lush and rich tones of burgundy, maroon, black, and grey, the models stood in stark contrast to the various skate ramps and halfpipes adorning the walkway in a neon glow. The sight was a strange one to behold– somber and sophisticated high fashion models silhouetted against a setting most known for a defiantly adrenaline-fueled, bloodstained action sport. Yet this clash of cultures has become increasingly commonplace in the high fashion domain, with skate culture becoming one of the most prominent stylistic inspirations for labels such as Vetements, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and evidently Assche’s Dior Homme.
The markup of skateboarding’s artistic, creative, and intellectual property, like Vetements’ blatant theft, clearly indicates an irreverence towards skate’s origin and history in favor of ridiculously inflated profit margins. Skateboarding’s potent origins of rebellion, anti-conformation, and free youth seem to be the latest victim of high fashion’s long relationship with cultural appropriation. Yet the effects of this fashion trend do not remain entirely antagonistic and detrimental to skate culture. Skateboarder Alex Olson created a skate label/high fashion amalgamation with his line Bianca Chandon, using skateboarding’s fashion proliferation as a way to infiltrate the high fashion market’s notoriously high barrier to entry. His authentically established label, created by skaters for skaters, shares the same retail space as brands like Dior. Olson’s success signals an important marker of skateboarding’s economic viability within high fashion, one that returns the profits of skate culture’s popularity back into the hands of skaters.
The saturation of this culture within fashion-forward spheres is unmistakable, with celebrities like Rihanna and Ryan Gosling flaunting Thrasher shirts, a prominent skateboarding magazine founded in the 1980s, just as they normally would a Saint Laurent jacket. This trend is by no means a recent phenomenon either– streetwear’s infamous label Supreme has been projecting skate culture’s effortlessly cool merchandise into fashion’s public eye since its inception in the 1990s. Even the ubiquity of Vans shoes traces its roots to Southern Californian skate culture.
Ultimately, skateboarding’s relationship with high fashion remains a tenuous one. High fashion labels must cease mining countercultures for images, iconography, and aesthetic inspiration, erasing their historic meaning and social origin, and instead provide avenues for authentic cultural ventures to flourish. Without a cooperatively beneficial and symbiotic relationship, skate culture and others like it will remain much like Assche’s jarringly incongruous skate ramps– relegated to the shadows of the spotlight, stripped of their significance and substance.
Yet recently, high fashion labels have brazenly elevated skate culture on an unprecedented level. Vetements introduced a repurposed Thrasher hoodie, emblazoned with graphics identical to the original product, yet outrageously stamped with a price tag of over a thousand dollars. Gosha Rubchinskiy, the Russian upstart label, introduced a t-shirt that resells for hundreds of dollars, which in43
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Constraining Movement Words, Photographs: Tommaso Babucci Dancers: Ozi Boms, AurÊlia Fava Movement. For some it could be an action, for others a sport, for me it is art. Dancing takes inner feelings, sentiments, and it expresses them in motion. If I were asked which art represents the opposite of dancing, I would answer photography. If one is motion, the other is stillness; if the dancing is an experience, photography is an instant. I decided to tell the story of what happens when we constrain movement, and to do so, I used photography to freeze movement in a sixtieth of a second. On the set I gave two roles. A person represents the power, the naturalness of movement, while the other entity plays the role of a constrainer, a force whose goal is to restrain the spontaneity of dancing. Using a rope, he tries to capture the creative force of the dancer. Through the use of double exposures and a series of frames, I tell the story of what happens next. Movement cannot be stopped, and its active force combining with this passive force creates something new. Movement cannot be contained, and as shown through the images, it frees itself from constraint and explodes in creative defiance.
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Momentum Photographs: Alex Deckey Models: Emery Jenson, Nathan Lewis, Aizhan Seraly, Addama Tucker 60
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