Bello
STARRING
JEAN WATTS by Leslie Alejandro
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Editor's ToDo List 1. Stay cool before the finale of the amazing mini series Big Little Liers on HBO this sunday! 2. Test the Mavic Pro drone before our next photo shoot 3. Collect all the sugegstions from you guys and put them in the new reincarnation of BELLO mag coming out in June 4. Try not to freak out that there is only one episode left of The Walking Dead this season. 5. The Ride at the gym is a must (it feels so good when we are done cycling) 6. Stop dancing while driving and listening to Ponteme by Jenn Morel by Aleksandar Tomovic
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Bello PUBLISHER IMAGE NATION STUDIO LLC California, USA - editorial@bellomag.com ADVERTISING advertising@bellomag.com ALEKSANDAR TOMOVIC (EDITOR IN CHIEF / PUBLISHER) alek@bellomag.com @BelloMag Stephane Marquet (creative director) steph@bellomag.com @AlekAndSteph Leslie Alejandro (executive director) leslie@bellomag.com Dee Trillo (senior travel and lifestyle editor) dee@bellomag.com @HauteFrugalista Warren Alfie Baker (fashion director) warren@bellomag.com Nicole Walmsley (beauty editor) nicole@bellomag.com Kimmy Erin Kertes (fashion editor-at-large) kimmy@bellomag.com Hiko Mitsuzuka (entertainment editor-at-large) hiko@bellomag.com Steven Carver (international editor) steven@bellomag.com Brent Lambert (design and technology editor) brent@bellomag.com Jon Norris (european editor) jon@bellomag.com Mark Norris (european editor) mark@bellomag.com
Layout Nebojsa Dolovacki CONTRIBUTORS Brent Lamber, Kate Jacobson , Jon Norris & Mark Norris CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Leslie Alejandro. Sonny Tong, Aleksandar Tomovic, Alexandre Bui, Angie Kremer & Emily Sotomayor
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CO NTEN TS 02
Eidor’ TODO list
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Masthead
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tbMOMENT
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Ray Diaz
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The New Standard of Male Model Beauty
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Behind Blue Eyes
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Editor’s Picks Sun Gold
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Chic Shock
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Universal Humanity
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Chris Gernon
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Cover Soty : JEAN WATTS
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Matthew Daddario & Harry Shum Jr. Shadowhunters by Aleksandar Tomovic
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Bello
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Ray Diaz RAY DIAZ @RAYDIAZ PHOTOGRAPHY SONNY TONG @SONNYTONG
Ray Diaz is set to star opposite of George Lopez in TV Land’s second season of “Lopez” premiering March 29th at 10:30pm. Born in Key West, FL, Diaz began his career as a model in New York and after studying drama in the city, he moved to Los Angeles and broke into the industry with roles in Hulu’s “East Los High” and independent films including “Stone Markers” and “In Da Cut.”
*What neighborhood of LA do you live in? I currently live where the stars are outside of my building – Hollywood! *What influences your personal style? I have a very eclectic style. It’s constantly changing depending on how I feel and what’s trending.
ripped. Check me out at @RayDiaz on Instagram or RayDiazOfficial on Facebook.
I try to work out four to seven times a week. Doing fitness videos for social media really keeps me fine-tuned and 7
I’m very simple when it comes to dating – a nice walk after a dinner, then a movie.
*What are some of your favorite things to do during downtime?
*Who are some of your role models?
Filming Instagram and workout videos are now my new favorite things to do when I’m not on set.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Mark Wahlberg, Channing Tatum and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
*Favorites: Movie, Album, TV… *How do you stay in shape?
*What’s your ideal date?
These are always changing for me. At the moment, “Titanic” is back at the top for movie. TV is always going to be “Peaky Blinders.”
*What would be your dream job? Working on a film like “Jarhead” or “American Sniper,” mixed with a story like “The Departed” and “Brother,” with Leo DiCaprio or Mark Wahlberg in it with me. March 2016 - BELLO
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The New Standards of
Male Model Beauty WRITTEN AND CREATED BY INTERNATIONAL MODEL MARK NORRIS
Over the last couple of years, some news stories were brought to my attention that illustrate a problem I’ve been observing for a few years now. There has been a long line of Photoshopping scandals. From alreadystick-thin female model being slimmed down even further or women of color having their skin lightened or their features made to look more caucasian. The creativity in photoshop ideals has presented a real health problem amongst
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the world of normal human beings, men and women included.
MALE BEAUTY AND THE IMPOSSIBLE BODY
What strikes me about these stories is how they play into a new formidable culture movement – the new standards for male beauty and how the quest to live up to them has been taking a deadly toll on men.
The objectification of men has followed the same path as the objectification of women. The “ideal” female body is a study in contradictions – athletic yet still soft, petite yet still curvy, thin (thigh gap,
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yo) yet still busty. And – most importantly – it’s supposed to look effortless. The work that women are expected to put in to chasing the ideal is expected to be invisible. The “cool girl” rant from Gone Girl captures the dichotomy perfectly – they should be drinking beer and eating steaks yet look like they exist exclusively on salad. The problem is that this ideal body is almost impossible to achieve. Olesker inadvertently points out an unspoken truth: that gaining (and maintaining) the perfect masculine body has to be your job. In his quest for ultimate male beauty, Olesker has to eat and work out on a schedule so rigid that he’s forcing himself to scarf down chicken breasts on the bus as he scrambles to make it to the next work out. It’s one thing when you’re a writer being paid to do a feature or a CEO who can dictate his own hours and schedule; it’s another when you’re working a standard 8-5 in a cubicle with only a 20 to 30 minute break for lunch and an hour’s commute each way. Yes, there are body types we all enjoy looking at. But appreciating them doesn’t mean that this is the only type that we want. And yes, there will always be shallow people who insist that physical beauty is the only thing that matters. But we should guard against a society that is too blinkered in it’s view of Beauty.
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Behind
Blue Eyes BY ALEXANDRE BUI
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PHOTOGRAPHY ALEXANDRE BUI (www.alexandrebui.com | IG: @axb.42) POST PRODUCTION MAX RUZHINSKIY (IG: @ruzhinskiyretouch) ASSISTANT SOFÍA HERNÁNDEZ (www.sofiahernandez.com | IG: @adrianasofiaaa) MAKE-UP ARTIST MONIQUE NOELLE RUSSELL (www.joliebymoniquenoelle.me | IG: @joliebymoniquenoelle) MODEL AMANDA STRACHAN (IG: @prettywithink93) OF LOOK MODEL AGENCY (IG: @lookmodelagency) LOCATION: BERKELEY, CA
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Eyewear inspired by an endless quest for the next adventure
WRITTEN BY JON NORRIS
Inspired by an endless quest for the next adventure, SunGod are the world’s first to market interchangeable custom ski and snowboard goggles, customised by the user. It is remarkable that it’s taken so long in the industry, but finally, personification is available for winter enthusiasts, with voluminous personalities.
Genuinely practical, SunGod have produced goggles that satisfy both the fundamental function of what job they need to do for us, out on the mountain, but also, enable us to pick and choose the colour, style and lense for mountain conditions, whether it’s clear blue skies, or a dark gloomy day – they have your back, regardless of the conditions. Of course, being individualistic, we like to be differentiate ourselves from everyone else, and their range delivers on this perspective, too. A relatively new company, SunGod are transforming the ski and snowboard goggles market, fed-up with over-priced and underperforming rival brands, they are bringing a much-needed revolution, full of flavor, exuberance and high-end, quality products.
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The SunGod founders spent a lot of time developing the prototypes, testing them over a few winter seasons, making sure they were fully fit for purpose in all conditions, ensuring practicality and functional supremacy was achieved in design and production processes. Subsequently, this has enabled users to pick their own designs on a fresh and clean online interface, with four colour choices in the frames, six different tints of easy-switch interchangeable 4KO® snow lenses that are made from impact-resistant polycarbonate, featuring a dual-layer which ensures the highest possible vision, with no possible risk of them steaming up, they also have 10 different strap designs all with fully replaceable parts and the best aftercare, on the market.
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Editor Picks Grab your pair today and get free shipping on all orders over £100 at https://www.sungod.co plus enjoy SunGod’s lifetime warranty and guarantee on all their products!
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CH IC SH OCK Photographers ANGIE KREMER & EMILY SOTOMAYOR
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NECKLACE HAUTE HIPPIE BLAZER RALPH LAUREN
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Photographers ANGIE KREMER & EMILY SOTOMAYOR Produced by KIAN KAVOUSI stylist NOOSH hair RANKO SAIKAWA makeup TAKASHI ASHIZAWA model DENISE AT D1 retoucher FADY SAMEH Location Y29 STUDIO
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UNIVERSAL HUMANITY by Thomas Iser “I started to paint myself this way all over the world because I identify myself as a kintsugi. That is, an object that is more beautiful and strong after having been broken and repaired. I had a heavy childhood and adolescence that I transform today into something creative and ambitious. Everyone suffers.
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I make the portrait of humanity to inspire people to build themselves and find their place in the world. I explain the people I shoot that my body represents humanity and each broken part represents people. All different, building something unique. It is an infinite and living project. Universal Humanity. Moreover I launched Universal Humanity App now, so everyone can be part of the project. I am just an idea. See you soon somewhere in the world.� Thomas
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MARKETING GURU
Chris Gernon Uses His Talents To Shed Light On Mental Health WRITTEN BY KATE JACOBSON
All of his life Chris Gernon has been a fixer. He knew even when he was a kid growing up in Louisiana - it was his true calling. He was resourceful, creative, an innovator, a renegade. That’s why he started Fugitive Creatives, the catch-all, we-can-fix-it marketing and production house that fills in the gaps for other companies - typically those in the entertainment industry - when they need a little help. Then it happened - his help was needed again. Only this time it wasn’t just a company or a person, it was an effort to change the world. When Gernon and his team got the call from The Strongheart Group, a non-profit that raises awareness about global issues, they tackled it like any other project. The Strongheart Group and their partner The World Bank had a vision for something that had never been done - they wanted to use a pioneering technology to shed light on an issue plaguing third world countries. They wanted to make a virtual reality film centering on a man from Ghana named Francis. After being diagnosed with depression and anxiety by a local doctor, he was forced to hide away in a hut. For two years he was a prisoner there - losing everything in his life until a non-profit organization helped free and rehabilitate him. #149 issue - BELLOmag.com
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treat mental health issues, in countries like Ghana the social stigma can often be more crippling than the disease itself. Those diagnosed with any sort of mental health problem are often ridiculed, run out of town, or forced to live in isolation away from the rest of the community. It was that feeling of isolation and fear Gernon had to capture. He wanted people who watched it to truly feel the despair Francis felt, for people to gain a unique perspective that would impact them deeply. “The first world was all CGI - and when we looked at it in VR, it looked like plastic,” Gernon said. “It didn’t have the grittiness that the real film has. And that’s when we went, ‘We need to get into these spaces and see what he saw.’ You need to feel it. You need to see the real thing. Outside of hearing his story, you need to be actually sitting in the place that he sat and you need to look around that room.” So that’s what they did. A small crew left for Ghana and filmed Francis as well as the hut he was confined to for so long. “You feel disoriented and claustrophobic by the end of it,” Gernon said. “And that’s very purposeful because it’s exactly what he felt. It’s exactly what we imagined it. And all of those things visually help you feel, help you empathize.”
Could Gernon do it? Could he tell this story? “That’s how we got into it,” he said. “And that’s how we solved the problem.” Gernon didn’t seek out to take on an issue - not like this, anyway. He likes helping people in his industry; he’s considered an expert at what he does. But this wasn’t just another project - Gernon knew he was about to embark on a journey that would change his life. 39
“We want to send this worldwide,” he said. “We want to send it to different organizations around the globe who have meetings with people who can evoke change in the world. We’ve taken our marketing and advertising talents and we’ve moved them forward for the greater good.” The film titled “Francis” is 15 minutes long, and is from the perspective of Francis during his struggles with mental health. While many first world countries are beginning to seriously address and
The film isn’t set for a mass release until sometime in late 2017, but was shown to more than 100 leaders at the World Bank earlier this year. Gernon said he wants to get it out to festivals and to non-profits globally. The ultimate goal, though, is to get people talking about mental health, and to expose how far the world has to go to helping those in need. “Our film doesn’t answer questions, it asks them,” he said. “This is something that says, ‘Hey, this is a problem, let’s try to fix this.’” March 2016 - BELLO
Jean Watts Music As A Personal Revolution
WORDS BY BRENT LAMBERT PHOTOGRAPHER LESLIE ALEJANDRO
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There are two methods for venturing forth into one’s future. The first is a destiny-based philosophy which holds that a great destiny awaits each one of us, and no work is required -- just sit back and let time and life take you to your destination. The second philosophy, however, is far more noble. It’s the empirical philosophy, and holds that destiny is something one creates entirely on his or her own. This journey is made of thousands of small experiments each and every day which constantly deliver results that alter one’s direction in real time. If there’s one person who follows this latter philosophy it’s Jean Watts. Not content to be another product from the music industry’s cookie cutter mold, Jean is the kind of artist who is brave enough to chart her own course. And with a talent as deep and rich as hers, there’s no limit to the heights she will reach. We had the chance to catch up with Jean recently, where she discussed her exciting new music project, what powers her motivation, and why the greatest risk is taking no risk at all.
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BELLO: Last December you released your single ‘Spirit Animal’ which has a great Aztec sound. Your next single ‘Blow’ as well as your brand new EP are coming out soon. Will they have a similar sound as ‘Spirit Animal’ or something completely different? JEAN: ‘Spirit Animal’ was very pop, while the new songs have a much moodier sound to them, almost a popa-rythmic sound. BELLO: Your video for ‘Blow’ is also going to be released soon. How does the experience of performing for the camera compare to performing for a live audience? And how do the preparations for those two different kinds of performances compare or differ? JEAN: The biggest different is when I do a music video it’s much more of a performance where I get into the visuals and dancing, versus when I’m performing live it’s similar, but I’m more focused on my delivery, and on my breathing and timing -- it’s doing a lot of 43
multitasking at once. But there’s such a high when you perform live that you naturally just get into it. BELLO: Which type of performance -camera or live -- tends to have more improvised moments? JEAN: Well, for ‘Blow’ in particular, we didn’t have a lot of choreography, so it was all improvised. But when I’m performing live I like to know every step I’m doing beforehand and I make sure I practice enough that I know it by heart.
BELLO: Building a successful music career is a huge challenge that spans many years. When you look out across the world of music, who do you admire the most for the career he/she has built and why? JEAN: Oooh, that’s a good question. There’s always Beyoncé, of course, but I really do like that Lady Gaga fought for it on her own. She didn’t really have her father pushing her toward superstardom. I would say that both of these women kept getting denied, denied, denied -- past the point where even March 2016 - BELLO
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I would think about giving up -- and it really benefited them for sticking to it. And here they are now. BELLO: It’s been said that music is beyond language, and has the power to communicate with us in a way that normal language cannot. Can you 45
think of one song that has meant more to you throughout your life, more than any other? And what did you take from it that helped you expand your self discovery? JEAN: You know, one thing -- although it’s not a specific song -- but as I get older, one thing I really cling to is classical mu-
sic. When I was younger I really wanted to do scores of movies. There’s something about classical music and live instruments, especially as I get older, that really hits a certain spot which I feel is universal for everybody. That’s actually something I want to tie into my music. A sound that’s very cinematic and anthemic and timeless, but also modern. March 2016 - BELLO
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BELLO: So summer is right around the corner. What are your summer plans? JEAN: Releasing this EP, first of all. But I’m actually going to Coachella for the first time this summer, and I’m really excited about that. BELLO: Who are you most excited to see? JEAN: Well, it was Beyoncé, but now she’s having her babies. BELLO: But now Lady Gaga is filling in. JEAN: Yes, and we share the same choreographer, so that’s a huge opportunity for him. I also love the XX. BELLO: What’s your favorite song on XX’s new album? JEAN: I would say ‘On Hold.’ BELLO: Take a deep breath and think about how far you’ve come since you were a little girl. Now imagine you had the power to write your younger self a letter. What words of wisdom would you share with your 12-year-old self? JEAN: Whoa, that’s a really good question. Hmmm. I would definitely say to believe in myself and stay strong. And perhaps start getting ready and focused sooner. BELLO: Right now I’d like to give you the Twitter-Flip-Five where I take five of your Twitter posts and turn them into questions. First up, on March 10th you tweeted: “CRAVING ADVENTURE.” Describe to us the #1 ultimate Bucket List adventure of your dreams? JEAN: Oh my gosh, there’s so many. Well, I want to travel the entire world, so that’s in general. I really want to skydive. I also really want to go to London. I’ve never been there, and apparently I have a really big following there. So that’s definitely on my Bucket List this year. It’s very simple, but it’s huge for me right now. I also talk to a lot of people on my fan pages, in Italy for example, so it would really mean a lot to me
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to go over there and meet them in person. When I wrote that tweet in particular we were outdoors -- I was actually with my girlfriend -- and we were in Hawaii shooting my music video. We hiked, and found secret spots, and it was so amazing, and so spiritual and I absolutely loved it, so now I have this huge travel bug. BELLO: On March 9th you tweeted, “Happiness doesn’t result from what we get, but from what we give.” When was the last time someone did something for you that made you truly happy? JEAN: I was with my girlfriends the other night, and we were all taking about my music career, and my next video, and the things we’re collaborating on, and they gave me a lot of support. They were really building me up, and it was more than I could possibly hope for. My friends really see the true side of me. BELLO: On March 7th you tweeted, “I feel myself changing and I like it.” What was going on with you that day? JEAN: I realized how much my video for ‘Blow’ really inspired me. You want to make the right choices and you want to be yourself, but at that point I guess I came to a place where I no longer cared about some of the things I should be doing, and I decided I would just continue doing the things that I envisioned, and the things that felt right for me as an artist -- and I’m not afraid to say it as much as I was before. I’m more confident about those decisions now. BELLO: On March 4th you tweeted, “I love people who push me.” As a musician, who has pushed you the most in your discipline and evolution as an artist? JEAN: I would definitely say my business manager for sure. I like being pushed and having the best pulled out of me. For example, the video for ‘Blow’ has scenes that are insane. They don’t necessarily look like it at first glance, because they are so beautiful and angelic, but the kind of hiking we had to 49
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do, or having to swim with a dress on, or being shoved underwater to get those underwater shots. We had to go into a waterfall, and it was ice cold. The shot was so intense, and I would do anything to get shots like that. And even in the studio, there are colleagues who just kind of settle, whereas I want to just keep going harder and harder. I really attach myself to people who push me. BELLO: On February 7th you tweeted, “Life is all about taking risks. If you never take risks, then you’ll never know what you’re capable of.” What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken that paid off big time? JEAN: Moving to L.A. for sure. I was in a serious relationship -- we dated for four years. It was a toxic relationship, and my friends were very toxic, and there was something that sparked in me that told me I needed to take a bigger chance and separate myself. That’s when I moved to L.A. from Chicago, and I promised myself I would make myself the best person I could possibly be, and give myself a fair chance at doing what I love to do. That was a huge risk because I didn’t know anyone. I decided two weeks in advance, and it was the best decision I ever made.
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PHOTOGRAPHER LESLIE ALEJANDRO @LESLIEALEJANDRO CREATIVE DIRECTOR SOSA BRANDON @SHOTBYSOSA STYLIST PHILLIP T. MORRISON @THEABSOLUTEPHILLIPTMORRISON MAKEUP GRACE PHILLIPS USING MAC COSMETICS @GRACE_PHILLIPS HAIR SIENREE AT CELESTINE AGENCY USING AMERICAN ENGLISH @SIENREE
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Bello
STARRING
JEAN WATTS by Leslie Alejandro
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