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THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY WMROCKETMAGAZINE.COM MAGAZINE.ROCKET@GMAIL.COM
cover credits: photography by danny rosenberg beauty by ellen penn berry; style by isabella arias model: ellen penn berry
ROCKET
magazine magazine fa s hion art p hotogra p hy
FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 1 5
Kelsey Rook Editor-in-Chief BROOKE LARUE MANAGiNG EDITOR Danny rosenberg PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR GABI LEVI bookings director ISABELLA ARIAS style editor ELLEN PENN BERRY beauty editor SARAH COLLIER PRODUCTION DIRECTOR AMIRIO FREEMAN features editor vail prior art editor MADELEINE GOLDEN MARKETING DIRECTOR JONATHaN MERLINO, BENNIE SMITH, RICO XI PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM KYLE LOPEZ, SHIVA MINOVI, KATHY SHI, MAGGIE SULLIVAN style team ADEOLA ADESUYI, CLAIRE POWELL beauty team BRITTANY JOHNSON PRODUCTION TEAM CLARITY BIAN, HEATHER MCPHERSON, LARISSA SLONIEWSKY FEATURES TEAM REBECCA MUNNS, lillian zhao Art team CAROLINE CREASEY, SHAKERIA HICKS MARKETING TEAM
EDI T OR S NOTE
It started with a transition. Stimulated by the colorful arrival of autumn, the minds behind ROCKET Magazine contemplated the transformations from one season to another. It was the interaction of autumn’s warmth and winter’s cold that created the visual and subliminal effects that piqued our curiosity and inspired our Fall/Winter 2015 issue. There’s something mystical in the transition from autumn to winter, and it’s this dramatic juxtaposition that drives the following pages of fashion, art, and photography. This issue is ROCKET’s presentation of 2015 fashion and beauty, and beyond that, our interpretation of the sensory impacts of seasonal change. Throughout the issue, we experiment with color and shadows to illustrate the relationship between darkness and light – a reflection on the shorter days and longer nights of autumn. With the approach of winter, the tree line opens as leaves fall, and there is more negative space in nature than at any other time of year. You’ll find that our shoots focus on spaces where there are figures, colors, or details, but also where there are not. Though winter typically embodies death and endings, it is also the season that carries us into the new year. We set out to capture this duality through photo spreads that question if our characters are reaching the end of their story or if the fantasy is just beginning. While we recognize that the changes from autumn to winter can appear raw, threatening, and bleak, we found something sophisticated, enticing, and bright as fall fades to frost. The season may be winding down, but as far as this issue is concerned, you’re only on page 6…
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END OF LINE
credits Photography by danny rosenberg beauty by Ellen Penn Berry, Adeola Adesuyi, Claire Powell style by isabella arias, kyle lopez, shiva minovi, kathy shi, MAGGIE SULLIVAN models: meron begashaw, hannah bruzzio, alexandra cancio-bello, alana coleman, megan delbianco, alekhya nanduri
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T H E A DVE N T U RER ’ S G U IDE TO L OVE A N D S U RRE N DER
credits Photography by danny rosenberg beauty by Ellen Penn Berry, Adeola Adesuyi, Claire Powell style by isabella arias, shiva minovi, kyle lopez kathy shi, maggie sullivan models: ethan baker, chantal houglan
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U H O GH
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HAIR STORIES by Amirio Freeman
here is a specific kind of beauty and magic observed when listening to storytelling between Black women. A kind of beauty and magic that I experienced many times growing up. On porches, in beauty shops, and around kitchen tables blanketed by collard greens and fresh okra, I have heard Black women share stories that had a playfulness. A swelling and bursting of sweet, shade-throwing, side-eyeing, sentimental emotion. A banishment of restraint typically reserved for when the gaze of Whiteness is uninvited and left sulking at the door. I have heard Black women share stories with each other that have created spaces in which they could affirm each other’s lives and experiences. I have heard them tell stories about funerals. About good sex. About “ain’t shit and never gone be shit” on-and-off-again lovers. And, especially, about their hair. Rejecting and re-imagining larger narratives that suggest their curls and coils and waves are deviances from ideal beauty, femininity, and respectability, Black women tell stories about their God-given hair in a language of self-love, selfworth, and inner divinity. When one leans in more closely and listens more intently, the hair stories that Black women flood the atmosphere with also give voice and sound to a trauma that comes with surviving abusive, oppressive societies. Containing both warmth and hurt, the experience of being a woman and of having, caring for, and walking the Earth with Black hair is a messy and, ultimately, human one. ROCKET sat down with four students who agreed to share their words about this experience.
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A part of it is that Black women are so hypermasculinized compared to other women. I went to a predominantly white elementary school and there were all these conversations about how I weighed more than the other girls and how my hair was thicker and how my voice was deeper. And so, through my hair, I wanted to overcompensate and portray a femininity that other people didn’t see in me.
E b on y L a m b ert
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I don’t wanna get into my Marxist philosophy (laughs), but it’s definitely this objectification of an alien part of us. Our hair—it’s kind of out there. It’s like the color of our skin: there’s so much variation. And you can do so much with Black hair. So, I think that’s why there’s so much fascination with our hair and with our presence. Because I still think that being Black in America is foreign and alien for people who are not one of us.
Gabby Hibbert
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The first time I started questioning my Blackness in relation to my hair was when I read this Malcolm X quote. One where he’s talking about how relaxers are a tool to conform Black people to a white standard of beauty. I think it might have been an excerpt from his autobiography. Overall, the quote made me feel ashamed that I had a relaxer. I was like, ‘Oh my god! This whole time I’ve just been trying to be white with my straight hair? Is that really what I’ve been doing?’ And so I began to reassess my relationship to my hair.
J as m i n e L e e w a r d
It makes me feel a lot more beautiful knowing that this is my most natural state, when it comes to my skin and my hair. I love that I can’t run my fingers through my hair most days. It would take me 20 hours probably to detangle and I love that, too. It makes me feel good about myself, knowing that I’m the most healthy that I can be. This is me and this is how I popped out and this is how I’m gonna be.
Ashle y M a rtin
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B I F OC A L
credits Photography by danny rosenberg beauty by Ellen Penn Berry, Adeola Adesuyi, Claire Powell, Lillian Zhao style by isabella arias, kyle lopez, shiva minovi, kathy shi, MAGGIE SULLIVAN models: Sofia Andreoli, Emeka Egwuagu, Madison Fox, Gaby Ruzgas
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m at t e r o f g r ay c o n c e r n
credits Photography by jonathAn merlino beauty by Ellen Penn Berry, Adeola Adesuyi, Claire Powell style by isabella arias, kyle lopez, shiva minovi, kathy shi, MAGGIE SULLIVAN models: davion hutt, justin ober, marcus prater, terry tarpey, larry thurber, arthur zhong
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F I F TEE N MI N U TES
credits Photography by danny rosenberg beauty by Ellen Penn Berry, Adeola Adesuyi, Claire Powell style by isabella arias, kyle lopez, shiva minovi, kathy shi, MAGGIE SULLIVAN models: ghalia estaiteyeh, maddie fulham, laura macdonald
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ROCKET MAGAZINE fall / winter 2 0 1 5 V ol u me V i , I SSU E 1
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