ROCKET, Fall 2013: The Illusions Issue by ROCKET Magazine

ROCKET

THE ILLUSIONS ISSUE CONTENTS 05

Masthead

From the Editor

On Illusions FEATURES

SPANXXX

10.7oz Nikes

What’s Cookin,’ Good Lookin’? EDITORIALS

Cover Photo: Photographed by Danny Rosenberg Model: Crystal Sadrzadeh

Morris Chen

The Fairest Of Them All

Feed Me Diamonds

The Affair

Polarize

ROCKET Editor-in-Chief Gianna BaigĂŠs Parrilla Managing Editor Tara Oladimeji Art Director Jeremy Rellosa Features Editor Katie Sharp Beauty Editor Francesca Rizzo Style Editor Brenner Brinkley Video Editor Daniel Arsura Production Staff Abby Kahler, Kelsey Rook, Diba Ghanei Text Amirio Freeman, Rob Arcand, Kat Turk Photography Danny Rosenberg, Allison Shomaker Beauty Gladys Shaw, Ellen Penn Berry Fall 2013 Vol. IV, Issue 1

FROM THE EDITOR What we see is not always what we get. Illusions are part of the daily process through which we paint our own picture of reality. Precisely this is what ROCKET embodies. In the impressionistic and self-deceptive sense of the word, an illusion can have a powerfully manipulative grasp over any of life’s endeavors, no matter how unvarnished such endeavor may seem. ROCKET does its best to capture the potency of illusions by decomposing the portrayal of beauty, food, power, and gender. The makeup-barren/make-up laden “Fairest of Them All” presents a striking contrast between two versions of the same beauties. In an age where there are a variety of tools and procedures dedicated to aesthetic manipulation, the conventional standard of beauty has become an illusory game to deceive those who behold it. “Feed Me Diamonds” appeals to the gluttonous animal driving the food industry, which continuously strays us away from seeing the reckless nature behind our food choices. Along the same vain, “The Affair” tells a tragic story of romance between two material lovers and their impulsive attraction to material things. Consumerist bliss may seem like the answer, seducing the two with the powerful allure of its material things; but it fails to show itself as a solution. With “Polarize,” and insight from the talented Morris Chen, ROCKET takes on gender construction and its illusory nature. Altogether, this issue of ROCKET reflects a strong transition in the publication’s creative trajectory. With a new group of artistic visionaries, it continues to defy the standards for fashion-arts based publications. Further, with its themes on beauty, food, power, and gender, this magazine shows that there is nothing we cannot construct through attention to details. On the contrary, it is proof that unless we pay close attention to detail, we are stuck in a fool’s paradise, overlooking the very essence of what creates reality: illusions.

“

Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours. - Mary Baker Eddy

”

S PA N X X X By Amirio Freeman

For many of us, picking apart our bodies has become something of an illusion. We routinely stand in front of mirrors, stretch our skin, pull our fat, run fingers through our hair, and wonder why we cannot magically morph ourselves into something more desirable, more sexy. Or something resembling the magazine models and the beautiful people of Hollywood. Feeding off of these insecurities and our collective attempts at living up to impossible standards, an entire beauty industry has been created to sell us products that use illusion to provide the “magic” transformations that we want. Today, foundations can be bought to give skin an airbrushed quality, hair dyes can help to disguise signs of ag-

ing, and some eyeliners can give the appearance of bigger, brighter eyes. For the female crowd, specifically, a certain tool for altering the body has become increasingly sought after: Spanx. Before it became popular (and recently non-taboo) to slip on a pair of these elastic undergarments to erase every lump and bulge, women relied on other means of creating the illusion of a toned silhouette. Using rigid materials such as whalebone and horns, corsets appeared and were worn during the 16th century in Europe. However, as more natural, feminine lines began to be embraced and considered in vogue, corsets were abandoned and eventually fell out of favor by the end of the 18th century. Enter the girdle. Popular during the women’s rights movement of the 1920s, the girdle’s loose, light design reflected the freedoms that women were beginning to experience for the first time. Made from materials like cotton, silk, and Lycra, girdles comfortably gave a more active female population slimmer waists and flatter torsos. As hemlines began to rise and exposed legs became all the rage, pantyhose replaced girdles as the top undergarment must-have by the 1970s.

It was these three products— corsets,girldes, and pantyhose, that opened the door for Spanx. Or, to be more accurate, it could be said that corsets, girdles, pantyhose, and a pair of trousers opened the product’s proverbial door. Wanting to achieve a sleek look while wearing a pair of white pants to a party, a blonde and eccentric Floridian named Sara Blakely thought of two words: footless pantyhose. Grabbing scissors and removing the bottom seams from a pair of her control-top pantyhose, Blakely produced the first prototype of a product that would come to make her the world’s youngest female—and self-made—billionaire. And with only $5,000 to her name, alongside some experience as a standup comedian, Disney-World employee, and fax-machine salesperson, Blakely decided to turn her homemademade undergarment into a household name. undergarment into a household name. Enter, Spanx. Moving from Florida to Atlanta, Georgia, Blakely immediately began to devote herself to hours of extensive research. She patented her product, found a hosiery

manufacturer that agreed to produce it, and determined how to commercially package her self-created “footless pantyhose.” Soon, Blakely realized she needed an actual name for what she was developing. Knowing that popular brand names like Coca-Cola and Kodak have a “K” sound, she settled on “Spanx.” Now with a full-fledged product on her hands, Blakely’s big break came after a meeting with luxury retailer Neiman Marcus. It wasn’t long after showing her product to a representative that Spanx was on Neiman Marcus’ shelves. Since then, it has become a household name. From mentions on talk shows to advertisements in magazines, and worn by the likes of Oprah and Kim Kardashian, Spanx has reached “pushup bra status” in helping women to achieve the illusion of a shapely body. With over 200 sister products, the Spanx brand has been extended to include men as well. Wanting to revolutionize men’s undershirts, Blakely has introduced a line of Lycra-infused underclothing that hides all hints of a “beer belly.” Corsets, girdles, pantyhose, Spanx, and now … Manx?.

By Rob Arcand Gold souls. Beautifully handcrafted kangaroo-leather uppers. Handetched, no—no, hand-sculpted with the love of some distant Italian goddess. Airtight within that embossed rectangle, frozen beneath the fabric of the complementary shoe bag, was the first pair. The most flawless, chiseled creation of my entire fourteen years was in my hands. Carefully unsealing the box, I sit on my bed and do my best to calm my breathing. With my heart racing, eyes swelling and toes curling in ecstasy, I slowly lift the lid to the sky, letting the light sneak its first glimpse at perfection. This was it. The good life had finally arrived in a pair of size 6 1/2, 10.7 oz Nikes. Whether it’s through a fresh pair of Jordan IV’s or maybe some Brooks Brothers seersucker, we’ve all gotta dress ourselves in something. On a fundamental level, there’s something inside everyone that reinforces that, ‘Hey, you feel good when you look good’ mentality. But who defines what looks good? With so many different people working to define what they deem as “presentable,” or more largely, what tools they use to feel comfortable with the world around them, it’s endlessly fascinating to watch others dodge their way through the endless maze of consumerism, picking and choosing the trends that best reflect the values they want to project. Something as fundamental as identity is inherently defined, in part, by the consumerism of the fashion world. From the historic aura of the

suit as a status signifier to hoards of preteen girls in North Face jackets, so much of the public persona is established through its presentation. Pieces of clothing come to represent archetypes of the everyday. Father figures become a physical manifestation of the white-collar suit and tie long before we are of the age to recognize such stereotypes, just as nurses, policemen, judges, pilots and surgeons all become figures defined by their uniform long before we understand what these roles do. Clothing works to establish each of these roles and to reinforce their authority and value. And this is empowering! To the precarious kid in everyone desperate for identity in an overwhelming world, the idea that we can dress the part and present ourselves as we want through something as multifaceted as fashion is incredibly liberating. From that first pair of crisp black Nikes to the endless deployment of clothes in the everyday, so much of my personal relationship to the world is established by curating clothing as an extension of what I am or have the potential to be. The polarizing ability that clothing has to both project one’s own values and exhibit an ideal version of who we want to be allows limitless freedom because of our consumerism. Even though it has been an industry typically maligned for its superficiality, the freeing sensation such consumerism provides us with gives an illusion of meaning and identity to the masses in a way that no other illusion allows.

What’s Cookin,’ Good Lookin’? By Kat Turk The turkey lies dead on the table. Its head is gone, sliced neatly off its body. Every bone has been removed. What was once a moderately ugly bird is now nothing more than a hunk of meat, half-heartedly dumped on a blank plastic slab—a tabula rasa for food preparation. Its skin shrivels and shrinks away from the heat of the lamps above it, while the remains of its legs splay out at unnatural angles. It is not a particularly pleasing image. This will not be the case for long. People in white gloves begin to poke and prod at the turkey. They hold a torch to its skin, watching as its outer tissues brown to levels of photo-perfection. They make sure to leave the inside raw. One of them plunges a needle into the bird’s skin, pulling taut the thread to hold chunks of flesh together. “It’s flat,” they note.They proceed to stuff the fowl full of paper towels. Its insides might be gone, but on the outside, this is the perfect holiday meal. For the final touch, they microwave a water-soaked tampon and place it behind the bird, just out of sight. The steam it lets off almost makes it seem as if the turkey is fresh out of the oven. They begin to take photos. Snap. Snap. Snap. All the while, the turkey sits there.

A passing glance would be deceiving. Its skin is a warm brown, the color we imagine our meat should be. Its plumpness is flawless; it just sits there, waiting to be cut into. The steam above it draws our eyes near and makes our mouths water. On the outside, it’s beautiful. On the inside, it’s a mess of thawing meat, paper strips, and thread. The photos of this turkey will adorn the cover of every major food magazine, every advertisement, everything geared towards this year’s Thanksgiving. It will be beautiful, and thousands will attempt—and fail—to cook a turkey of that beauty. Theirs, however, will be edible. Happy Holidays.

MORRIS C H E N Old-school glamour and new-school LGBTQ affairs: Morris Chen talks about inspiration, identity, and the illusion of gender. By Katie Sharp, with interview help from Kat Turk Photographed by Danny Rosenberg

decides to wear nail polish one day. “He is subverting gender,” she says. “That may seem off, even in a negative way. But that just goes to show how easily these illusions of gender are created and manipulated.”

For Morris Chen, a lot of things are illusions. He sits behind a small cloud of smoke. Periodically, he lifts a thin, 1920s-style cigarette holder to his mouth, inhales, and breathes out softly. “There’s always something behind something else,” she says as she exhales*, placing her hand to the side of her lap. “For me,” he goes on, “gender, especially, is a very real illusion. It can seem very real, in the sense that in everyday life, we look at someone and the first thing we try to determine is their gender. But at the same time, I think it’s an illusion because [it] can easily be subverted by just a simple act of changing your clothing, changing your mannerisms.” And he elaborates on those small acts, using an example of a good-looking, masculine man who, all of a sudden,

Chen, a senior and Psychology and Gender/Women’s Studies double major, has a passion for LGBTQ issues. He is currently the co-president of the Lambda Alliance, as well as SA’s undersecretary for LGBTQ affairs. It was Chen’s freshman year as an international student when he decided to play more with gender. The college environment seemed to lend itself well to experimentation. “I’ve always been a more feminine person,” she says. “How do you really know sometimes when you are this person? You go through different experiences that give you different vocabularies, and [real life allows] you to describe what you’re feeling.” She mentions that it isn’t so much the actual school has helped him to experiment, but rather the people he has met and the classes he has taken along the way. “These experiments in my journey throughout college is more of that,” she elaborates. “Giving me vocabulary, letting me know how to describe how I feel inside, and giving me a way to look at things instead of just

understanding myself as a ‘misfit.’”

mastered the difficult art with ease.

Chen isn’t a misfit, but she certainly has her fun quirks. She tells us about her love for cartoons, especially Adventure Time and Courage the Cowardly Dog. She discusses elements of Buddhism and burlesque (but not together). And, with the delicate cigarette holder still in hand, she mentions her admiration for Audrey Hepburn and Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

“I have a tendency to put on a thick-ass eyeliner,” she laughs. “I didn’t have the opportunity to do make-up while growing up. So now that I can, I do more with it.”

“I’m a sucker for old glamour,” Chen says. She’s a sucker for winged eyeliner, too. After watching a lot of drag-specific make-up tutorials on YouTube, she has

Eyeliner or not, we can wear as much or as little make-up as we want. Chen reminds us that people are going to talk about you until the day you die—and in the end, does their talking really matter? Our identity is always a work in progress, he says. “I’m trying really hard not to think too much into what others think of me, and

just focus on me being me,” he explains. “I think I’m at a place where I’m comfortable with it. … I walk around campus almost every day, doing what I do. And if people give me a second look—whether in a good way or a bad way—whatever.” But what Chen does believe is that there are still many issues regarding individual identities that aren’t being addressed. Once he graduates, he stresses that he wants to have an impact on LGBTQ issues, either through activism, advocacy, or education. Whatever field he gets into, his passion is in the forefront. And, he explains, there is so much that goes unseen. “The most things that people see in the media nowadays, in regards to the LGBTQ community, are white, gay men that are buff and topless all the time, and lesbians being lesbians,” he says. “There is almost no visibility for bisexual people, for transsexual people. And trans people are, more than often, thrown under the bus when trying to work on this LGBT community.” Right now, she adds, there are a handful of issues that transgender people, specifically, face. “Gay and lesbians are now almost in a good place, at least on a legal level,” Chen says. “Same-sex marriage is the biggest deal that people talk about. But people should also be talking about education, and about homeless LGBT youth—especially LGBT of color… It is a big issue. If someone doesn’t have a roof over their heads, how can you [even begin to] talk about marriages and jobs?”

By crossing boundaries and subverting typical gender experiences, Chen says it can be a disconcerting thing for those who think that gender is a very fundamental, given aspect of life. Gender is such a personal experience, and a personal choice—but sometimes, it is difficult for others to accept that personal choice as it meets the experience of everyday life. Chen believes that taking classes is one way to learn more about gender and the LGBTQ community. However, in order to learn about the personal, it’s important to get a little personal. “One of the ways is also to read stories of these people, to know how they process, how they identify, how they come to terms with it, and how they define their own experience,” he says. “There’s a lot of different ways of being transgender, so there’s no one segue to [understanding] that.” And though reading is good, talking to someone is even better. “It’s easier to look at a person—in blood and flesh, listen to their story and learn—than to judge them from behind a screen, or from behind a book.” * Editor’s note: For the sake of this interview, personal pronouns were used interchangeably. Morris prefers both he/him and she/her.

The Fairest Of Them All Photographed by Allison Shomaker. Models: Brittany Liu, ZoĂŤ Powell, Amanda Wells, Keniona Jones

F E E D ME

DIAMONDS Photographed by Gianna BaigĂŠs Parrilla Models: Octavia Goodman, Brooke LaRue

THE AFFAIR

Photographed by Danny Rosenberg Models: ZoĂŤ Powell and Jimmy Hewitt

polarize polarize polarize polarize Photographed by Gianna BaigĂŠs Parrilla Models : Sarah Lohmann and Rebekah Lohmann

Fall 2013 Vol.IV, Issue 1 The College of William & Mary facebook.com./wmrocketmagazine magazine.rocket@gmail.com