ERA-GAZETT [NARCISSISTS OF IMPERFECTION]

ERA-GAZETT

spring/summer 18/19

PHOTOGRAPHY ELSIE OFORI @ELSIEOFORI

MODEL @ENAMASIAMA

danger passion daring romance style excitement urgency energetic

EMBRACE YOU .................................................................6, 15 @LA_DECLASSE Photography Alisha Robinson

WE WERE BORN TO BE REAL, NOT PERFECT.................48, 51 @LUCYYARCHERR Photography Alisha Robinson

LIFE IS LIKE WABI SABI..................................................54, 55

EMPOWERED WOMEN, EMPOWER WOMEN.....................66, 77 @PAIGEFIFTYFIVE Photography Alisha Robinson

NARCISSITS OF IMPERFECTON......................................94, 115 Photography Steffan Zachiyah

URBAN RENAISSANCE..................................................116, 133 Photography Steffan Zachiyah

@SHAWTYRP..................................................................136, 139

CONTENTS

7

styling - hair & makeup - photography Alisha Robinson

10you embrace

p

latforms like social media have allowed interwoven and intertwined sub-cultures to form and elevate the majority that is unrepresented. So much so, that this has brought a new wave of self-empowerment, self-acceptance and flourishing of all cultures, shapes and races.

Global communication birthed a movement where people give, take and make; bringing the world stage back to fashion, whether vocalising discontent or signifying the era.

Organisations like ‘Black lives matter’, female masculinity and satirical clothing have allowed us to be the most transparent we have ever been in self expression.

I believe that love starts at home and coming from a strong black family, I have been brought up to see the beauty in being black. Although I see a cast-war among the black community as well as others, I believe that representation and true depictions of beauty calls for self-validation and appreciation.

While it is a divided subject I do see more acceptance than hate. It’s undoubted that negative reactions and Eurocentric standards alter the narrative.

It’s important to acknowledge the functions of beauty and fashion industries which although have evolved, lack variety and so enforces the in and out groups that have been long standing in the infrastructure of these industries, which in turn this generation and those before have internalised.

Words of @la_declasse

makes “Do what YOU happy!

”

romance compassion faithfulness beauty love friendship sensitivity

15

PHOTOGRAPHER & FILMMAKER The Catalyst Studios Steffan Zachiyah Instagram: @thecatalyststudios FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER Elsie Ofori Instagram: @elsiefori PHOTOGRAPHER & VIDEO EDITOR Chantelle Slowly Twitter: @chantelleslowly Instagram: @chantelleslowly chanti,slowly@gmail.com MAKEUP ARTIST Makeup Versatile Alisha Robinson Instagram: @makeup_versatile HAIRSTYLIST Fiona Douglas Instagram: @hairstress_by_fifi hairstressbyfifi@gmail.com FASHION STYLIST Racquel Jose Instagram: @rackrack_city WRITER & BLOGGER Ilaina Skinner Instagram: @ilainaskinner www.ilainaskinner.wordpress.com/

CONTRIBUTIONS

EDITOR & CREATIVE DIRECTOR Alisha Robinson robmeleisha@gmail.com

...appreciating the beauty of the imperfect, the humble, the modest, and the unconventional.

editor’s note

Strong women from all over the U.K sharing their individual perceptions of todays society’s behaviours towards natural, imperfected bodies, diversity within scoial media, how they embrace their natural selves & describing their personal fashion style.

Self appreciation communicated through the art of colourology, with colour thoery translated throughout the Gazett. A trend to backlash against society’s generic ways of promoting what is ‘perfect’ & communicating to the public whether its through music, clothing or pictures, being obsessed over natural imperfections is in & here to stay!

“individuality starts with

not with

U�

I

It is not your differences that divide us, it is our inability to

recognise, accept and celebrate those differences

PHOTOGRAPHY STEFFAN ZACHIYAH - MAKEUP ARTIST ALISHA ROBINSON

sophistica t i o n po w e r myst e r y form a l i t y evil death

freshness hope goodness light purity cleanliness simplicity coolness

PHOTOGRAPHY STEFFAN ZACHIYAH

Instagram: @lucyyarcherr

life gr o w t h enviorn m e n t hea l i n g money safety relaxa t i o n freshn e s s

royalty luxury dignity wisdom spirituality passion vision magic

we were born

real TO BE

perfect NOT

Lucy Archer

M

51

y style is vintage mainly the 80s era. My style reflects and is influenced by own my personality and I rarely follow trends. Society isn’t accepting of imperfections. I feel you should be able to express yourself through your style, showing your personality and being an individual.

I embrace my natural imperfections through what I wear, making me feel confident and happy. My imperfections then become irrelevant to me.

People strive for perfection, thinking that they have to wear a mask to be accepted, dressing similar to fit into certain groups. Dressing a particular way can stereotype causing a divide and grouping in today’s society. Individuality is to be your own person and not to follow trends if it’s not you, you should be an individual and not dress the same as everyone else. Diversity is to be unique and remain individual therefore you don’t need to follow trends that don’t suit you or express who you really are.

stab i l i t y sec u r i t y strength of char a c t e r autho r i t y ma t u r i t y

Life is like WABI SABI

“ The simplicity of wabi-sabi is best described as the state of grace arrived at by a sober, modest, heartfelt intelligence. The main strategy of this intelligence is economy of means. Pare down to the essence, but don’t remove the poetry. Keep things clean and unencumbered, but don’t sterilize. (Things that are wabi-sabi are emotionally warm, never cold.) Usually this implies a limited palette of materials. It also means keeping conspicuous features to a minimum. But it doesn’t mean removing the invisible connective tissue that somehow binds the elements into a meaningful whole.

”

Leonard Koren

ASYMMETRY ASPERITY

SIMPLICITY MODESTY

INTIMACY

photography Alisha Robinson

sunglasses - ASOS necklace - Topshop top - Urban Outfitters jacket - ZARA mom jeans - Topshop belt - ASOS shoes - Sole Heaven

(Model) Instagram: @enamasiama Photographer: Ellis Lee (@ell7695)

EMPOWERED WOMEN,

EMPOWER WOMEN Paige Williams introduces her overall personal perceptions on current society & presents her trendy style!

Fashion styling, text, photography- Alisha Robinson

67

68 “

I would describe my personal style as a reflection of my mood. I wouldn’t say I have one ‘genre’ of clothing style, I would say I have collections depending on my mood.

I am very much controlled by my emotions so my style plays a massive part in that.

One day I can be totally urban, double denim, ripped jeans matched with a baggy run down tee, which shows my edgy, don’t give a damn, confident, spiky nature. Then other days I can throw together something as simple as a pair of black jeans and a leather jacket.

But no matter what clothing I go for I always wear my big hooped earnings, it’s my signature look.

”

Instagram: @paigefiftyfive

Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak

My views on the current society are extremely strong. Society portrays this negative, unrealistic, idealistic view of how women should look and how they fit in to boxes that society puts in place. I believe women pick apart other women because it’s the insecurities which live inside themselves that manifest and unfortunately come out as a defence.

I strongly believe ‘imperfections’ are beautiful, its what sets women apart from each other, and the beauty is we all have them, which is the very thing that ironically unites us.

Women need to learn to embrace their imperfections, because if we all entertain societies negative, unrealistic, idealistic views, we would no longer have a place to live.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black

eye.” — Jim Henson

I suffer a great deal with facial blemishes, as many women would I’m sure agree it’s one of the biggest things to get you down.

Especially when it’s on your face. Having no hair I cant exactly hide, so I can only embrace the my blemishes by not looking like I’ve tried too hard to cover them up. I think the biggest mistake women make, understandably is to try extra hard to cover their imperfections up. So for me, when I’m having a break out I never put lots of make-up on in fact, I do the complete opposite and wear either very little or nothing at all. There is something so empowering about not wearing makeup and having a sense of confidence with it, especially at your least confident moments.

My role models growing up was my nan and gags. They have inspired me from being a young child to the young woman that I am today, that is to who I owe my character to; my good values, my morals, my vision, expectations of self-love and the giving of love to others.

I have grown up always having kindness, a good work ethic and to never have self-doubt installed into me regardless of what other people see of me. They have always shown me unconditional and irreplaceable love. The example they have set is something I have always had an admiration for and looked up to and there is no other two people in the world that could have taught me more about life.

My nan and gags are very much one singular unit rather than two separate people, the strength and bond that they have, that describing this in words would be impossible.

73

“I think there is beauty in everything.

What ‘normal’ people would perceive as ugly, I can usually see something of beauty in it.”

Alexander McQueen

—

jacket - Urban Outfitters bra - Calvin Klein Jeans & belt - Topshop shoes - Zara

photography Steffan Zachiyah

BABY BABY BABY

Y GURL Y GURL Y GURL

iphone photography, hair & makeup, styling - Alisha Robinson

r oya l t y luxur y dignity wisdom spirituality passion vision magic

“Never settle

for shitty coffee, shitty friends or shitty men�

VISUAL LITERACY

translating symbolic feeling, mood & language through colourolgy

styling, hair, makeup Alisha Robinson phtotgraphy Steffan Zachiyah text Iliana Ali

NARCISSITS OF IMPERFECTION

Katie Taylor, 28, is a full time commercial model and oozes confidence, she gives her opinion on the dangerous ways imperfections are portrayed in society and how to overcome these.

Katie describes herself to be hard working and goal driven, which derived from her character formation which began as a child and was aided by a very supportive family network: “My drive to succeed comes from the environment I grew up in, which always taught me to love myself for who I am.”

‘Loving yourself’ is a motto Katie lives by and feels that if you don’t love yourself, then who will? By learning to be satisfied in your own body, you can be free to explore and progress in life without insecurities holding you back.

“The most important thing, when modelling, is to have confidence in yourself, this is something that casting directors love and appreciate. The key to confidence is to simply love yourself in both your perfections and imperfections, and let your personality shine through.”

Katie explains that when on long photo shoots, what pulls you through is having a strong personality and being versatile. Models are essentially a blank canvas for the designer or artist to visualise their work on.

Although looks are somewhat important, what gets you recognised and remembered is a confident personality.

From being a full time professional model, Katie has a unique insight into what it takes make it big and what are the underlying problems that exist.

“One of the biggest problems in the industry is what is define as ‘normal. The norm is often set by society and the media as appropriate for each culture, which varies from place to place. This can be so problematic for those who don’t fit into the ‘normal’ category, which is how I felt growing up mixed race”.

Katie is very proud of her dual white and black heritage, and now finds that as society processes to be more diverse it is easier for her to find work modelling and her look and personality is celebrated more.

“There is now a movement for society to embrace models from diverse backgrounds with African models becoming more and more popular in fashion campaigns. There are problems with this however, although black models are used more frequently, there is still a lack of diversity in the black models.

Many are lighter skinned with Caucasian features rather than looking traditionally African.”

Although the present circumstance for ethnic minority models is somewhat bleak, Katie is confident for the future. She explains that the change needed in society comes from the general population challenging the choices of fashion designers, which is something she is seeing more and more.

“My biggest motivation comes from my family, they always taught me to find happiness from within. Too often young women look to celebrities who do not resemble themselves which can be problematic. I’ve been very lucky with my upbringing.”

99

“ ALTHOUGH I’VE

BATTLED WITH TRYING TO LOVE MY BODY MY WHOLE LIFE, I AM NOW HAPPY THAT I’M NOT PERFECT AND EMBRACE MY IMPERFECTIONS BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT MAKES ME HUMAN.”

Sasha Cotton, 22, is a tattoo artist and is new to modelling. Her striking alternative look shows a young woman full of confidence and personality but the reality depicts a different story. She has battled with insecurities with her body for her entire life but now finds satisfaction in loving her own body: “My biggest imperfections, in my view, are my legs and my eyebrows. Tattoos have massively helped however when trying to build my confidence.”

Sasha explains that she found the best way to disguise her legs was through tattooing. From her tattoos, she found that she could learn to love her insecurities.

One of the biggest problems Sasha has faced is learning to love her own body despite society judging her. This is an issue many young women find themselves in but the key in overcoming this comes from yourself rather than people around you, explains Sasha: “It is so important to embrace your imperfections, it’s the only way to truly love yourself and feel comfortable in society.”

Imperfections of the body are something in the eye of the beholder rather than something which is physical and universal. Society definitely helps to shape what is defined as perfection and is subject to change.

“The modelling industry I find very exclusive. When you look at billboards or fashion campaigns for your local high-street stores, the girls tend to look the same following the same trends; blonde, slim, tall and white.”

Sasha finds that too many young women follow the trends they see in a magazine rather than embracing one’s own personality. This includes hair styles, make up looks and fashion trends. By looking to big co-corporations for style advice, the problem is only worsened when trying to be an individual.

“There is definitely a need for society to progress further to accepting all body types. It’s the youngest generation who are oppressed the most and who think it’s not okay to be different, when it’s our differences which should be celebrated.”

To change the way society views beauty, the first step is to change the way the media represents beautiful women. The models found in the media do not in any way represent the general population in all its beauty and this is something which Sasha feels needs to be urgently addressed.

When asked about her biggest inspiration, Sasha chose a slightly more historical figure; Marylyn Monroe who in today’s society is considered plus size.

“I idolise Marylin, she stood out from the rest and wasn’t just beautiful woman- she was also very intelligent.

“She is someone I aspire to be like and see a lot of myself in her which is shown in my modelling shoots inspired by Marylin.

“Whenever I felt low, one of Marylin’s quotes really motivated me and taught me to overcome insecurities and just be myself.”

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius.

It is better to be absolutely ridiculous than boring.” Marylin Monroe (1952)

114

Amina Mahamud, 23, is no stranger to the modelling industry, although her passions lie in politics and international relations and she has high aspirations for the future.

Amina has had a rich global understanding from her travels across the world, but one thing which was made apparent to her, is how society can change what is defined as ‘beautiful’ from country to country.

“In Holland and England, it is considered very attractive for women to be slim, tall and blonde yet in Somalia it is attractive to be heavier in weight.”

When considering her own preferences, Amina thinks it’s important to appreciate everyone’s own individual beauty rather than looking to an elitist society for guidance.

“I see my biggest imperfection as my weight, due to my slim physique. So often I’ve been asked: ‘are you eating okay?’ ‘Why are you so slim?’ even though I am perfectly healthy.

“Although I’ve battled with trying to love my body my whole life, I am now happy that I’m not perfect and embrace my imperfections because that’s what makes me human.”

Amina thinks it is important to look beyond aesthetics when meeting someone for the first time and to concentrate on the parts that really count and can be subject to change such as: personality, style and fashion choices because these are the areas which show the uniqueness of the individual.

“I always try to show my personality through my look and style, this is what I want to be recognised by rather than my height, weight or skin colour.”

Race also plays a massive part in how people are perceived, at first. Amina has battled racism throughout her life, especially when living in Scotland, due to her African Somalian roots. Her ethnic background is now something Amina is very proud of and the key to being appreciated in society is to have confidence in yourself.

“One part I love about this Narcissism project, is the ethnic diversity of the models used. This shows a genuine representation of the citizens of Birmingham and this inclusivity is something which should be pushed as a whole, to create a healthier society.

“Too often, especially when growing up, the blonde white girls would always be admired for their beauty, but why?

We are all beautiful in our own way, regardless of race and this should be celebrated more in our communities.”

When looking to her inspiration, Amina has no hesitation in stating that her biggest motivator is Margaret Thatcher.

“Thatcher always stood out to be an unyielding and strong woman in other words- an Iron Lady. She never seemed to bend to the whims of men and this is something I aspire to.

“Although women are in a much better place than they were a hundred years ago, there’s still more progression to be made until we are in an equal society. With more women like Margaret Thatcher, I think the world would be a much stronger place.”

Amina hopes to be a Prime Minister one day and embody the strengths Thatcher had and be a successful leader that will inspire and motivate a generation.

ENAM ASIAMA BRINGS HER UNIQUE STYLE & PERSONA TO ERA Photography Steffan Zachiyah Fashion Styling Racquel Jose Makeup Artist Alisha Robinson Text Iliana Ali

URBAN R

117

RENAISSANCE

It’s hard to pinpoint my style, but I would like to think it comes off as elegant ratchet student on a budget but trying to be bad and boujee, when I am really fat and boujee aha hahaha hahaha People hate fat people, people of colour and women, and i am all of those so society hates me, well the idea of me but hey people also hate people. Saying all this, I know we all have things that others don’t, that makes us different and people hate those difference... however some of us choice to embrace and love those.

I live my life unapologetically. I start with accepting my unpretty days and my pretty days. I accept that I cannot change everything especially because point them out belittling my imperfections.

125 Once you realise that no one is perfect then you will change your mind about the way you view yourself and your life.

Its part of the characteristics that define my identity: African Queer Femme. I have so much more to my identity but as a young adult who has had the university experience and is still trying to find her way in life, these are examples of some of the labels that allow others to distinguish how I am different from just being a human. I hope I’m making myself clear. I’ve not always known how to identify myself and the importance of doing so but luckily for me as I’ve grown I’ve been able to know my comforts and what makes me diverse and individual.

“

I am ME, that

is ENOUGH

”

“

I would describe my music to be “Raw Perfection” I don’t just rhyme, I rap in a very story telling and educational way, making it easier for others to understand what I am communicating whilst enjoying they my music.

I don’t follow the rules or the pattern in the music industry such as the music trend. I bring own my own sounds and try to inspire others to do the same as music should be an expression of yourself not a trend where everyone sounds the same.

@SHAWTYRP I embrace my natural imperfections by not focusing on them as much and embracing what I was blessed with. However if there are any imperfections that are beyond my control but can be fixed without any harm to myself then I may look into. For example; I was not happy with my teeth and that was something i couldn’t hide as I am always smiling and I was very cautious of them when speaking with others or shooting my music videos. I decided to take control and get them fixed by paying for braces as I was over the age to receive them for free.

’’

peace stability calmness confidence tranquilty sincerity affection integrity

joy cheerfulness friendliness interllect energy warmth caution cowardice

FUTURE ISSUE ALERT!

WOMEN OF THE 80S ARE BACK! MODERN VINTAGE STYLE, RETRO FASHION, PERSONAL ARTICLES & INSANE FEATURES!