sisterMAG 31 – Empire Violet and Melancholia – Section 1 by sisterMAG

SISTER-MAG.COM

& Melancholia

Empire Violet

EMPIRE

VIOLET

MELANCHOLIA

This year, colours are the foundation for all of our issues. Just like shades of blue and pink or orange and green inspired our last issues, this time sisterMAG dared to go for the non-colour greige and the seemingly difficult purple. Why is it difficult? Purple is known as THE COLOUR OF MELANCHOLIA AND JEALOUSY and one that many dislike. However, we experienced it as a multilayered colour, that inspired us to approach exciting topics such as melancholia in film and music, recipes on plums and berries, as well as our Empire and Dandy special. To kick off this new topic, our author Martina Klaric analyses purple in a small cultural history, with all kinds of different facets and funny details such as Barney the purple dinosaur or the meaning of a »PURPLE PATCH«. The shade »EMPIRE VIOLET« , part of the title of this section, immediately made us think of empire dresses, that first became popular during the French Revolution. And they meant their own little revolution in the world of fashion as they moved the female waist up under the breast and brought soft mousseline fabrics to the table. At the same time, Jane Austen wrote her still popular novels and one of THE male characters in literature and film was born: MR DARCY . Our former intern and avid supporter Ira turned out to be a big admirer and expert in the field and wrote a wonderful article about the phenomenon. Just in time for the beginning fall, listening to MUSIC AND PODCASTS is another focus in sisterMAG 31-1. Our new music

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writer Jayne Cash tells us how melancholia regularly follows the euphoria we experience during festival season and which artists we should listen to in these times. The phenomenon of podcasts has also gotten the sisterMAG team for a while – definitely since we were interviewed for the ONLINE MARKETING ROCKSTARS PODCAST in May. A seemingly anachronistic medium in times of digital snippets, the relatively long stories are becoming more and more popular by the minute. And there are constantly new and exciting formats, some of which we are happy to introduce you to here. And of course we would be even more happy if you would follow our own podcast »SISTERMAG RADIO «. Every two weeks we speak to our contributors, partners and friends about their careers, inspiration and much more. Just follow our accounts on Soundcloud or Apple Podcast! These first two weeks of September are particularly busy for the sisterMAG Team. Our schedule right now: MONDAY : Cover Shooting | WEDNESDAY : ara

Shooting with 12 shoe-loving influencers | THURSDAY : VICHY video shoot | FRIDAY : Best of Interior Award in Munich | SATURDAY : Canon Live Galleries in Munich | MONDAY, TUESDAY, FRIDAY: Shooting The League of Extraordinary Women for Lillet | FRIDAY : Vegan Coffee Throwdown at the Spreegold Store in Bikini Berlin Of course, we will take you along in our INSTAGRAM STORIES and would love to maybe even meet some of you in Munich or Berlin.

Your sisterMAGTeam

FOTO: LALE SISTER-MAG.COM

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MARKETING & ADMIN

TONI Marketing & Finance

VERA Content Management

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MELANCHOLIA

PA R T N E R S

ALEX Sales

CHRISTINA Content Management

O P E R AT I O N S

THEA Chief Editor & Design

SOPHIE Content Management

C R E AT I O N

LALE MARIE

Video & Design

FRANZISKA Content Management

Design & Creation

EVI Fashion

SONGIE Design

MEDEINE Video & Creation

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PAG E 66 – V S I TO R PAG E 100 – R U R A L A M E R I C A

TABLE OF CONTENT 31 SECTION1 03 05 08

46 MEL ANCHOLIA

EDITORIAL

TABLE OF CONTENT & TEAM

BEHIND THE COVER Idea and Shooting

CONTRIBUTORS

16 EMPIRE VIOLET

40 44

THE COLOUR PURPLE A short cultural history

RISE OF AN EMPIRE How the little white dress changed fashion

DANDIES Fashion is a religion

MELANCHOLIA IN FILM What did Hamlet, Werther, and Mrs Dalloway have in common? BETWEEN EUPHORIA & MELANCHOLIA The bittersweet festival hangover VSITOR Come to stay PODCAST SPECIAL 6 interesting formats FLOWER IPHONE CASE as DIY A SUMMER STORY A weekend with Canon & sisterMAG on Fehmarn

MR. DARCY and the 21st century

PRODUCT COLLAGE

102 FALL INTERIOR INSPIRATIONS

Empire Purple & Melancholia

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RURAL AMERICA Rural America through the lens of photographers

#31

THE COVER PAG E 24 - R I S E O F A N E M P I R E

PHOTOS Oh Hedwig MAKEUP & HAIR Patricia Heck

MODEL Mia OUTFIT Evi Neubauer

PAG E 94 - C A N O N

Our partner features are labelled with their logo on top of the page. Thanks to Canon as the partner of this issue who made it possible to create sisterMAG.

COVER -

Behind the scenes

The origin for the cover idea was a shop window decoration in Munich. We were inspired by these oversized fashion illustrations, which inspired us to our cover

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Photographer Oh_Hedwig and Fashion Director Evi at work Virginia Romo designed three different versions of our cover lady for us

The team (Evi, Mia, Saski, Patricia) after done work 9

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The elaborate cover dress in the making. Several layers of paintwork were applied by Evi to the fabric over several day.

Through the various layers slowly the colour world of our issue, violet and greige, developed.

Our cover model Mia in her finished outfit. For some settings, a turban complemented the look.

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CONTRIBUTORS TEXT Jayne Cash

jaynecash.com Hilary Davidson

sydney.academia.edu Barbara Eichhammer

die-kleine-schreibecke.de Ira Häussler

PROOF Stefanie Kießling

@kiesslingS Alex Kords

kords.net Christian Naethler

@iamvolta Dr. Michael Neubauer

Martina Klaric

TRANSLATION Ira Häussler Alex Kords

kords.net Christian Naethler

@iamvolta Tanja Timmer

@tanjastweets Franziska Winterling

@ buchberuehrung

@franziefliegt

sisterMAG Team

MODEL Mia

HAIR & MAKEUP Patricia Heck

patriciaheck.de

PHOTO & VIDEO Saskia Bauermeister

oh hedwig.com Jennifer Fey

JenniferFeyPhotography Jim Henderson

ILLUSTRATION Nicole Xu

nicole-xu.com

STYLING Evi Neubauer

e.com/evin

Virginia Romo

jimhendersonphoto.com Listastofan Mik Matter Robert Meinel

virginiaromo.com

Cris Santos

cristophersantos.com Kristian Thacker

kristianthacker.com SISTER-MAG.COM

sisterMAG Team

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DIY-VIDEOS

PODCAST

mit

Mia

sisterMAG-DIY HANDYHÃ&#x153;LLE

mit

sisterMAG-DIY SCHMUCKDOSE

Eyecandy

mit

Onn

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S TA Y I N T O U C H !

Follow along with our colour stories and daily news from the sisterMAG office easily on Instagram! You can find magazine contents, many behind-the-scenes and snapshots by our contributors. And of course, giveaways, invitations and other exclusive activities can be found on Instagam as well on @SISTER_MAG

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TEXT MARTINA KLARIC

T H E CO L O U R

A SHORT C U LT U R A L H I S TO R Y When the fading yellow rays of the dying sunlight touch the dark deep blues of the night dusk they draw a veil of delicate purple over a world descending into night. Suddenly everything becomes sweettempered gentleness and calm – an almost rapturous tranquillity, an intoxicating state of incredulity in which this world and the world beyond seem to almost touch. It is where dreams start to take shape.

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Beholding purple can leave you overcome with feelings of longing and melancholy. Pop musicians pay tribute to this stylized »Hollywood sky«, invoking its shocking magic. You’d be forgiven for thinking it sounds a little loopy – because it is! It’s the power of colours. The emotional and psychological effects of colour perception are a recognized phenomenon. Certain colours stir certain emotions. So let’s examine what exactly it is that purple does to us.

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I T M AY J U S T B E T H E H A R D E S T CO LO U R TO DEFINE: PURPLE – OR V I O L E T – COV E R S A N ALMOST INNUMERABLE AMOUNT OF SHADES ON THE

Violet, which gets I T O N LY FO L LOW S T H AT T H E its name from SY M B O L I S M CO N N E CT E D the viola flower TO T H E CO LO U R V I O L E T I S is recreated by S I M I L A R LY E X T E N S I V E – mixing blue and A N D R I C H A N D VA R I E D I N red. But whether that makes it a I T S H I S TO R Y . blueish red or a reddish blue is a somewhat contentious issue. Technically it also depends on the ratio in which blue and red pigments are blended. And that’s the crux of the matter as violet covers a range of distinctly different shades on the colour palette between which no distinction is actually made in common parlance. Take periwinkle, boysenberry, aubergine, mulberry, lavender, mauve, magenta or purple. Even shocking pink and powder pink are part of the purple family. And if you add a dollop of white to your red and blue you’ll get lilac (which also gets its name from the flower). None of which actually helps understand why lilac and violet have come to be used synonymously in common parlance. CO LO U R S P E CT R U M .

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In keeping with its heterogeneous nuances, violet has also acquired a wide range of symbolic meanings throughout cultural history. Because it is so hard to accurately define, lilac – or violet – has long been linked to anything mystical, secretive and enigmatic. By combining contrary even opposing basic colours – the fiery-terrestrial red and the blue of the parky sky – it has become the epitome of a transgression into the supernatural. What a thought! For centuries purple was won from the secretion of snails, making it a costly as it was dear and precious and therefore the ultimate sign of power in Antiquity as well as the Middle Ages, when it was adopted by many noble and royal families. The mysticism attached to it provided an ideal means to project opulence and a monarchical position.

Violet is associated with deep spirituality because its intense blend of colours – metaphorically speaking – is a manifestation of the earthly and the divine combined. Which is also why it is still the main colour of both advent and the Passion of Jesus, i.e. Easter. It has also retained its importance in liturgy: cardinals, the highest ranks of clerics within the Catholic church, wear striking purple gowns as a symbol of their exclusivity and dignity. The Evangelical Church in Germany has even named violet its official colour. But purple is by no means just a Christian colour: Buddhism and the Indian Chakra culture also attribute a transcendental meaning to it. It represents a way of opening your mind and thoughts within practices of mediation. T H E CO N N OTAT I O N O F LITERAL TRANSGRESSION,

O F T E N CO N N E CT E D TO P R O F U N D I T Y A N D SACRALITY,

purple still symbolizes humility, repentance and contemplation within the Catholic church today.

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i.e. the crossing of borders, is also why the early feminist movement opted for this particular range on the spectrum with their now legendary »purple dungarees« crossing overalls,

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3 1

THE PURPLE MILKA COW BARNEY

Purple is the official colour of the chocolate brand Milka. It is not a common colour in brand marketing and makes the chocolate both an exception and very memorable at the same time. The disassociating effect of a purple cow is supposed to underline the originality of Milka products.

The six-foot T-Rex is every child’s favourite dinosaur, but why exactly is he purple? Well, while the official reason is proprietary information not disclosed by PBS, many people believe purple was chosen because it helps develop imagination in children.

» P U R P L E PATC H «

»PURPLE RAIN«

In British English, the term purple patch is used to refer to a period of life with much success and/or increased good luck harking back to the colour's magical associations.

In Prince’s song (possibly) about the end of the world, the blue of the sky mixes with a very graphic terrestrial kind of red, i.e. blood, creating purple rain.

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» V I O L E T I S A S S O C I AT E D W I T H D E E P S P I R I T U A L I T Y B E CA U S E O F I T S I N T E N S E B L E N D O F CO LO U R S – M E TA P H O R I CA L LY S P E A K I N G – I S A M A N I F E S TAT I O N O F T H E E A R T H LY A N D T H E D I V I N E CO M B I N E D «

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an unfashionable, typically male item of clothing evoking the logic of independence and selfdetermination with purple and thereby transforming it into a symbol of female equality. In blending red with its typically male association and blue and its traditionally female qualities, violet in itself symbolises an androgynous symbioses. Now that’s clever!

PHOTO: JURI KRALEMANN

FROM THIS, THE S H A D E S FO U N D T H E I R WAY S T R A I G H T I N TO M A I N S T R E A M FA S H I O N

MARTINA KLARIC is a literary scholar and blogger. She lives by the sea and has a special penchant for unusual subject matters.

of the 1980s in which violet symbolized exceptionality, individuality and anything that was original and alternative. And what part does purple play in today’s fashion? Well, definitely not a big one. What a pity! FAR REMOVED FROM ALL THESE ASSOCIATIONS AND CODED MEANINGS, WE CAN STILL EXPERIENCE PURPLE AS A DELIGHTFULLY SEDUCTIVE AND SENSUAL SHADE. WE ONLY NEED TO TURN TO NATURE: JUST THINK OF THE BEAUTY OF A HYACINTH, THE SWEETNESS OF A VIOLA, OR THE ALLURE OF A LILAC IN BLOOM; ITS INTOXICATING SCENT AND OUR SUBJECTION TO ITS CHARM. O, PURPLE, YOU ARE SUCH A MARVEL!

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LITTLE

WHITE DRESS

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F O •

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N A

P M E

• E IR

H OW T H E L I T T L E W H I T E D R E S S C H A N G E D FA S H I O N

After the French Revolution, fashion witnessed another kind of revolution. Over a few short years, women’s waistlines rose from their natural place to right under the bust. It was the most rapid style change fashion had ever known. But what caused this upwards leap? And why did the »little white dress« become fashion’s favourite for 30 years?

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[1] Promenade in Kensington Gardens. July 1804 - Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings. London: HMSO, 1964 SISTER-MAG.COM

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Text: Hilary Davidson

n 1796 a group of anonymous tailors published a book on cutting clothing. They complained of fashion’s quick transition: »In 1793,… we were wont to cut waists a full nine inches long from under the arm down to the hip… in the year 1796 we have been obliged to cut them but three inches in the same place«. These professionals recorded the birth of the ‘Empire’ line as women’s waistlines made an extraordinary leap up towards the bosom. For the next 25 years or so, skirts floated well above the natural waist [1].

Muslin

LET THEM WEAR

Historians have debated many reasons why this fashion revolution came about. First, it accompanied the rise of cotton as a desirable textile. As early as 1782, Marie-Antoinette and her friends scandalised the French

[2]

Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

court by wearing a cotton muslin gown, gathered like women’s shifts or chemises - an early form of underwear styling. A wide sash tied around the dress created a visual illusion of a high waist. Painters immortalised this new »chemise a la reine«. These portraits of court favourites like the Duchesse de Polignac [2] mark the first outlying signs of the simple, frilled, soft, washable, pure white muslin dress that was the epitome of empire style. After France deposed their monarchy, the simple, democratic fabric

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became a symbol of a new egalitarian spirit in France, and across Europe. Marie-Antoinette, rebelling against the silken ostentation of French court taste, ironically contributed to the fashions born from her downfall.

Taste

IN ANTIQUE

But other cultural factors were at play in women’s dress. Through the 18th century, people had rediscovered the classical antiquity of ancient Greece SISTER-MAG.COM

and Rome in art, archaeology and culture. Wealthy families undertook a Grand Tour across Europe to visit the founding sites of Western civilisation. A mania for the perfections of classical form took hold of aesthetics, which included imitating the attire of marble statues. Travellers in Naples, including Goethe, marvelled at Emma, Lady Hamilton, performing ‘attitudes’ inspired by Roman friezes [3]. Beautiful, wealthy, elegant, and clad only in draperies, she inspired Europe’s fashion leaders to adopt neo-classical styles on their return home.

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Barely THERE,

[4] Madame Récamier painted by Jacques-Louis David in 1800.

By 1800, no stylish woman would consider wearing a waistline any lower than under her newly emphasised bosom. So prevalent was this style amongst the classically inspired beauties of Napoleon’s court that the cut has gone down in history as the “Empire” line, after he became emperor in 1804. Sheer, light muslin fabrics imported from India were essential to this neoclassical air. They draped around the figure with a transparency in direct contrast to the stiff, solid fabrics of the previous century. In extreme cases women could appear nearly naked, at least in the eye of their contemporaries. Portraits of Madame Récamier show her delicate skin shining through layers of fine muslin, and often the hint of a nipple [4].

New natural N AT U R E I S T H E

Philosophically, thinkers advocated a return to their idea of »nature«, and to the natural body. As the empire style became established, women’s stays (corsets) lost their earlier hard, conical form, crammed with whalebone stiffening. By 1799, corsets allowed for the natural form of two separate breasts, and ran with the curves and swells of female bodies instead of imposing a geometric shape. The new fashion’s straight skirts echoed antique columns, clung to hips and thighs, and suggested the woman under the gown for the first time since the Middle Ages.

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[5]

Style

UNIVERSAL

Such avant garde fashion was the exception, however. Empress Josephine made splendid use of luxury empire line gowns to convey beauty and power in her stunning wardrobe, some of which survives in the Chateau de Malmaison [5]. Most women across Europe adopted the high waist and tubular skirts in the early 19th century, but in more modest textiles such as printed cottons or light silks. Daily wear was a little bulkier, a little less elegant, and more sturdy than the ideals of fashion plates and aristocratic SISTER-MAG.COM

portraits. Empire line dresses in museum collections show a certain anxiety about the new waistline for everyday women. Dressmakers re-sewed the skirt higher up to follow fashion, but for years they left the old long back hidden on the inside of the gown â&#x20AC;&#x201C; just in case waists dropped again. It was clear by about 1802 that the look was here to stay.

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Fashion A FOREVER

The empire line started to fall as Napoleon fell, defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The styleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s swansong was some exceptionally tiny bodices in evening wear of the 1810s using as little as five centimetres of fabric. As the 1820s approached, waistbands went downwards again and hourglass figures became the new normal. After its first dominance, the empire line got its name during the styleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s revival in the 1910s, just as Europe was about to go to war again. It had become a fashion classic. 31

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hilary Davidson is a fashion historian and curator, which means shoes and Vogue are a tax deduction. She lives and works between Sydney and London and is currently finishing a book on British Regency fashion for Yale University Press.

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Dandies

FASHION IS A RELIGION Text: Ira HÃ¤ussler SISTER-MAG.COM

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The belief that only women can be fashionistas is profoundly untrue – men have been addicted to beautiful, flamboyant clothes for centuries. sisterMAG writer Ira Haussler took a closer look at these so called »dandies« for us. Clothes make the man, and even more importantly: Clothes make the dandy. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a dandy is »a man unduly concerned with looking stylish and fashionable.« But in reality, there is much more to the strikingly flamboyant dressers than meets the eye. True dandyism is an art form; its followers call it a true religion. Dandy and author Nathaniel Adams goes so far as to describe it as a special kind of mental disorder – in the best sense, of course. Even Thomas Carlyle wrote in 1834: While other dress to live, dandies

live to dress. They live for inventing new characters through their clothes and enjoy being the centre of attention, especially as unusually welldressed men of the 21st century. On the inside, most dandies prefer to remain at the margins of society, and many are outsiders despite their highly intellectual way of living. Defining themselves by their eccentricity, dandies live for their own pleasure. Their style reveals itself in many details, such as the embroidered inscription of Adams‘ coat: »Looking up at the stars I know quite well, for all they care I can go to hell.«

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George Brummell is known to be THE dandy. Allegedly, he spent five hours a day to get dressed, changed his underwear multiple times a day, polished his boots with champagne and even had his gloves made at two different factories (one for the thumbs and another one for the rest of the hand, in case you were wondering). He brought wigs and frilly French

GEORGE BRYAN »BEAU« BRUMMELL (1778 – 1840)

We combed through history on our search for the most flamboyant and famous dandies and found plenty of odd and amusing stories.

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LORD BYRON (1788 – 1824)

styles out of fashion and had a huge dressing room filled with clean-cut, modern suits in muted colours which he wore with ties and starched collars. Towards the end of his life, he had to flee from his British home to get away from the huge debts he had accumulated through his extravagant lifestyle. His

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influence on culture remained high despite his death in poverty, and even Virginia Woolf wrote about his antics. By the way: Beau Brummell could also be credited as the inventor of the #glamsquad: No less than three hairdressers coiffed his locks multiple times a day.

Dandy George Gordon Noel Byron is known to have seen himself, Napoleon and Beau Brummell as the greatest living men of their time, Brummell being his idol and the greatest of them all. Next to his writing, which made him one of the most covetable young stars of London’s high society, he was famous for his affairs with married women (one of them was his half-sister). Several contemporaries believed him to be slightly insane, and his lover Lady Caroline described him as »mad, bad and dangerous to know.«

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BENJAMIN DISRAELI (1804 – 1881) As a young man looking for an entry to the noble society, even Britain’s late prime minister Benjamin Disraeli was a dandy. Admiring the likes of Count d’Orsay (another dandy who also inspired Lord Byron) and Brummell, he was famous for his own colourful kind of dandyism and favoured striped pants, brocaded waistcoats with golden chains and heaps of rings on every finger.

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OSCAR WILDE (1854 – 1900)

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Irish writer Oscar Wilde wasn’t only a dandy himself, he also created some of the most important typical dandies in the history of literature, like Lord Henry Wotton (»The picture of Dorian Gray«). During his time, Wilde was mocked for his »female« way of living and stayed quite lonely despite his professional success.

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CHUCK BASS (*1991) »Defining themselves by their eccentricity, dandies live for their own pleasure.« photo: Anamendi - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

Even with his good looks and bank accounts filled with money, Chuck Bass from »Gossip Girl« is quite a lonely character. In his wellcut and often colourful suits,

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he embodies the daring but classical nature of a 21st century dandy – always well dressed, even in a suit made of sequins.

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BOOK RECOMMENDATION The dandy movement is the opposite of conformity, normcore and mass markets. These 57 portrayed men pay attention to their individuality and appreciate the fine art of living. And they all share a slight obsession with »dandyism.« They do it for themselves, not for others.

I AM DANDY Rose Callahan & Nathaniel Adams Gestalten Verlag, Berlin

Photographer Rose Callahan and author Nathaniel »Natty« Adams document the sophisticated life of modern dandies with an eye for details and lots of empathy. Their portraits show more than outfits, accessories and homes, they capture the lifestyle of the dandies as a whole while still being humorous and fun.

About the Author Ira Häussler regularly writes, translates and layouts for us at the sisterMAG office. She prefers working with a cup of tea and at least one dog close by. 39

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TEXT IRA HÃ&#x201E;USSLER ILLUSTRATION NICOLE XU

y c r a D . r M & A N D T H E 2 1 S T C EN T U RY

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A timeless character

As the days get colder and shorter, there are few things nicer than to cosy up on the sofa with a cup of tea and a nice book or movie. One of the most popular choices for a rainy day is JANE AUSTEN’s »Pride and Prejudice« (it is more than 200 years old and has been sold over 20 million times). Whether you choose to read the book, watch the film, mini-series or one of its countless spin-offs like »CLUELESS« or even »PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES,« the story at the heart of the phenomenon remains a most loved one. COLIN FIRTH, who played both the »CLASSIC« MR. DARCY in the BBC mini-series of 1995 and the »Pride and Prejudice«-inspired Mark Darcy in »BRIDGET JONES,« surely did his part to make the brooding gentleman so popular. But for which other reasons is Mr. Darcy’s character so incredibly fascinating? The beginning of the famous relationship between Lizzy Bennet and Mr. Darcy is rather frosty and

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not very romantic. Unsurprisingly, given the novel’s title, pride, social prejudice and complicated relatives keep the two from getting to know each other better until Lizzy learns how Mr. Darcy has helped her and her loved ones in multiple situations – without ever taking credit for it. She goes from resenting his arrogance to resenting her own prejudice against the rich bachelor and changes her opinion of him. Even though the story is 200 years old, their relationship turns out to be an incredibly modern one since Darcy doesn’t only love Lizzy but also sees her as a true equal and even respects her aversion towards him. In many ways, Elizabeth Bennet is a truly modern woman: She repeatedly chooses her freedom and true love over financial security and stays true to her own ideals despite the expectation of the typical 19th century society around her. She values her own

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intelligence, loyalty and integrity far more than a beautiful appearance and ultimately, these are the principles she shares with Darcy and upon which they build their relationship. The both learn to accept the others' flaws, find a deep connection in their common values and choose their own definition of what makes life worth living over that of the society around them. Similarly to famous stories like »BEAUTY AND THE BEAST,« »BRIDGET JONES« or even the musical »GREASE,« the story revolves around the search for true love, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the protagonists. Mark Darcy from »Bridget Jones,« the Beast and Danny Zuko are all slightly rough diamonds who fall in love with their heroine because she defies any social expectations to be

true to what she believes in. The three women learn to overcome the obstacles they are met with and use their journey to grow as characters. While the typical Prince Charminglike Mr. Darcy is often dismissed as a »girl's dream« and considered to be unrealistically romantic and unattainable in real life, the centre of all of these love stories is the not at all old-fashioned or sexist search for a true partner in crime to go through life with. This (not inherently female) wish is represented in couples like Lizzy and Darcy because they both respect and cherish each other equally. They are so incredibly fascinating because even though they are strong enough to work as individuals, they choose to be with each other – a truly timeless quality.

Ira Häussler regularly writes, translates and layouts for us at the sisterMAG office. She prefers working with a cup of tea and at least one dog close by.

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You must know... surely, you must know, it was all for you - MR. DARCY

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Empire Purple & Melancholia sM NÂ°31 September 2017

15 16

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- MELANCHOLIA -

in Film

Text: Barbara Eichhammer

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What did Hamlet, Werther, and Mrs Dalloway have in common? As literary protagonists, they all gained cult status as suffering melancholics. Not only literature, but also cinema uses the melancholic state of mind as a popular theme. In a short overview of melancholic film, we will sketch the cinematic representation of this Âťdisease to deathÂŤ (as Kierkegaard called it) in the new millennium.

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- W H AT I S -

? a i l o h c n a l e M Melancholia (in Greek, »melas« = black, and »chole« = bile) denotes a state of sadness, lugubriousness and wistfulness. A typical character trait of a melancholic is his isolation from the outside world. Melancholy was already a concept in ancient and premodern medicine. For the Greek physician Hippokrates, melancholy was one of the four temperaments matching the four humours, caused by an abundance of black bile. Whereas in the Middle Ages the church considered melancholia as one of the deadly sins, it soon became an accepted phenomenon during

the Enlightenment. It was seen as a positive state of refusal, which could be expressed creatively in the arts. During the Romantic Age in the 18th century, the cultural myth of the mad genius came into being, making melancholia the basis of the artist’s creative work. Well-known melancholics included Lord Byron, the Bronte sisters, and van Gogh. Since the emergence of the cinema, the medium film has been concerned with the depiction of melancholic state of mind, whether it be after personal or cultural upheavals, such as globalization.

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r o f d o o M e h t n I Love WO N G K A R -WA I Falling rain on the streets of Hong Kong, a lonesome stranger clouded in cigarette smoke, and the sounds of Nat King Cole â&#x20AC;&#x201C; due to its poetic narrative style, Wong KarWaiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s film In the Mood for Love has gained globally-acclaimed cult status when it comes to the depiction of melancholia in film. The episodic scenes depict the life of two strangers amid the urban jungle of Hong Kong during the 60s, a time before the SISTER-MAG.COM

Cultural Revolution and its changes in Chinese society. Melancholia is shown here in line with Sigmund Freud as a pathological mourning about the disintegration of a pulsating Hong Kong. When editor-inchief Chow moves with his wife into a new apartment in Hong Kong, he gets to know Li-Zhen, because their spouses seem to have an illicit affair. They soon become close friends. Symbols of vanitas seem to be prevalent in the film: close-ups of clocks, falling rain, or rising cigarette smoke refer to the transience of life. Even more obvious are the visual signals that construct the protagonists as melancholic. Time and again, both are shown in the classical pose of melancholic

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contemplation. Thus, the spectator sees Mowan Chow sitting at his desk, deep in thoughts, clouded in cigarette smoke, leaning his head to his hand. His face turns into a shadowy silhouette, a literal »facies nigra« due to the composition of light; a painterly effect which Albrecht Dürer

Melencolia, Albrecht Dürer

MELANCHOLIA

already used for the visualisation of »black bile« in his Melencolia (1514). What is so special about Wong Kar-Wai’s aesthetics of melancholia are the recurrent gliding slow motions, which show melancholy as a disturbance of temporal perception. Those slowmotion sequences turn even a simple walk to a soup kitchen into a poetic ritual. The protagonists are often shown in slow motion accompanied solely by the wistful music of the soundtrack. Thus, the narrative is characterised by a slowing of time – one of the main characteristics of melancholic perception, according to psychoanalysts Erwin Straus and Ludwig Binswanger. While for a melancholic subjective time seems to stand still, objective »world time« moves on.

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The Hours

S T E P H E N DA L D R Y

"A woman ’s whole . y a d le g in s a in e f li Just one day. And in that day, her whole life." Virginia Woolf in The Hours SISTER-MAG.COM

The Hours imagines a single day in the lives of three women in three different epochs: Virginia Woolf in 1923 (Richmond, England), Laura Brown in 1951 (Los Angeles, USA), and Clarissa Vaughan in 2001 (New York, USA). Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway (1925) – originally titled The Hours – constitutes the synthesizing element of the three disparate narrative strands. Like its pretext, Mrs. Dalloway, the film is structured through the mutual intertwinement of temporal layers: Diegetic present, past and 54

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future are playfully entangled, so that the ‘slice of life’ narration gives clues and refers beyond the happenings of this single day in June. While the film shows us Virginia Woolf working on her first sentence for the novel, Laura Brown is reading Mrs. Dalloway and Clarissa Vaughn is reenacting it, The Hours turns into a postmodern re-writing of the book. Melancholia is presented here in the sense of Soren Kierkegaard as a »disease to death«. The film refers to the romantic myth of the author as a mad genius who cannot but express her depression in art. Novelist Virginia Woolf is shown as exemplary sufferer before her suicide, while Laura is attempting to take her life because she is suffocated by the gender conventions of suburbia. Stephen Daldry depicts this lugubriousness as a literary stream of consciousness. The

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three narratives are portrayed with recourse to well-known Hollywood genres. The Hours depicts the Roaring Twenting according to the convention of the heritage film (such as Downton Abbey): picturesque landscape shots in pastel colours alternate with sombre scenes in the country house. In contrast to that, the narrative of the postwar years uses the colour excess of Hollywood melodrama. The depressing life in the suburbs is conveyed in yellow, red and purple. The New York of 2001 is presented with the help of dystopian urban locations. A dull colour palette employs the conventions of urban noir, known from filmic representations of the city post 9/11 such as in CSI: New York. A cool colour palette including ice blues, silver, grey and purple is used to show urban gloominess.

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Lost in Translation

SOFIA COPPOLA Sofia Coppola's film Lost in Translation is a film about the melancholy in times of postmodern globalization. Ageing Hollywood actor Bob Harris (Bill Murray) came to Tokyo to make a commercial for whisky. Young American Charlotte lives in the same hotel, when she accompanies her husband on his business trip. Both are immersed by the neon lights of Tokyo nightlife,

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foreign language, and Japanese pop songs. They spend one week more or less separately together in the foreign city. Japan’s capital turns into the evocative setting where the cultural differences of orient and occident collide. Melancholy is shown as a deep experience of loneliness, which results from the clash of cultures. The film’s very production mode is per se a melancholic flashback to the heyday of the cinema: Filmed on celluloid (not digitally), Coppola wanted to achieve a nostalgic feeling of pastness in her images. Interestingly, the film poster portrays Bob in a modern version of the classical pose of melancholic contemplation similar to Rodin’s 'The Thinker', deep in thoughts in his hotel room. The Japanese hotel signifies as a transit space, an anonymous non-place where travellers can reside but not feel at home. Since they cannot sleep at night, Bob

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and Charlotte meet in the hotel bar, the stereotypical place for the lonesomeness and emptiness of a modern melancholic. Malfunctioning communication despite advanced technologies becomes one of the central themes of the film. Interestingly, melancholia in Lost in Translation is also enacted with recourse to elements of the romantic comedy. In comic scenes of slapstick, Bill Murray also makes the spectators laugh about the clash of cultures.

About the Author Barbara Eichhammer has a degree in cultural studies. She is a writer as well as the editor of the blog »The Little Wedding Corner« where she writes about modern weddings. SISTERMAG 31 | 09 / 2017

The bittersweet

FESTIVAL HANGOVER

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Text: Jayne Cash

Between

euphoria & melancholia Absolute silence. The rising sun blinds me and hurts my tired eyes. I'm in a wasteland. A wasteland full of garbage, depleted egos and existences, embracing alcoholics, and myself somehow in the middle of it all. The last spark of euphoria threatens to fly. It feels like Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m slipping into a void... it has arrived: the bittersweet festival hangover.

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This invaluable moment Everything started with such promise. That moment in which I’m overcome by the festival mood and the sun shines in my face and I feel as if I could fly is simply priceless. I am fresh and innocent, full of energy and anticipation, undecided which act I want to see first. It doesn’t matter – let’s go! I jump into the crowd, surrounded by pretty and cheerful people, and can’t stop grinning. I have a cool SISTER-MAG.COM

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beer in my hand and, just when I think it couldn’t be any better, my favourite band plays my favourite song. I'm floating on cloud nine.

festival laughing, cuddling, and without worry. I've hardly ever felt freer than in this moment...

The best night of my life

The morning after

The beer has changed into a gin and tonic and I’ve lost my friends in the mayhem. Nevermind! The dancing continues – at the very front, with eyes closed and a wide grin. Suddenly I am jostled, and while I turn around in fright, I suddenly lock eyes. For a millisecond, time stands still. There he is. My festival flirt. And as I try to find the right words, he takes the first step and dances with me. The uncertainty disappears, and soon I will spend the most beautiful hours of the

Sleep? Overrated! I crawl into my tent at dawn and look forward to a few hours of peaceful rest. But there’s a problem, of course. I am surrounded by thousands of enthusiastic people on a huge campsite, and there’s simply no room for rest here. There’s a different after-hour at every corner. I tell myself that staying up all night and still having enough energy for the next day can easily be remedied by a coffee or two. I watch the weary people around me as the day’s first rays of sun

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reveal themselves. I already can taste the beer.

Onto the second round And there it is again – this feeling of weightlessness. I am among thousands of people with my friends beside me. I laugh, dance, sing, am joyous, and all the others around me feel exactly the same. This group vibe makes for a heavy dose of euphoria, but there’s a feeling of melancholia creeping in while I'm at the bar waiting for my drink, recognizing that tomorrow it’s all over. In this moment, I see yesterday’s festival flirt who recognizes me and comes over with a smile and a wave. We have a pleasant chat but part ways again without thinking of exchanging phone numbers. After all, we will

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be back home tomorrow, we will never see each other again, and we’ll be in our daily routines. I quickly erase this thought, grab my gin and tonic, and plunge myself into the jubilant crowd, to savour every moment, feel the beat in my chest, and forget everything around me. And so I dance into the sunset ...

All good things come to an end... Now, as I sit alone on my bed, staring in disbelief at the wall, the memories of the last 48 hours are fading away gradually, and reality sinks in faster than I wished. The only thing that remains is this bittersweet melancholy, which is nurtured by the euphoria of the past days and the melancholy of their passing.

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PL AYLIST

Melancholia

ABBY

Alt-J

Halo

Dancing in the Moonlight

Stereo Honey

Like Elephants

Hot Dreams

The Kills

Where no one knows your name

Holiday

Will you dive

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Monkey 23

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Photo: Robert Meinel

www.jaynecash.com jayne_cash I am Jayne Cash from Berlin and love nothing more than discovering and sharing new music. I regularly cover concerts, festivals, my favourite songs, and insider tips on my Blog . Everything is combined with personal stories, experiences, and emotions that have emerged from the music.

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COME TO STAY:

VSITOR LEA MARIA FRIES AND DAVID KOCH ARE NO LONGER MERELY VISITORS IN THE MUSIC SCENE. WHEN THE DUO MOVED FROM LUCERNE TO BERLIN FOR THE RELEASE OF THEIR FIRST EP IN 2015, THEIR PATH IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS WAS OPENED. TOURS THROUGH EUROPE FOLLOWED, AND IN MARCH 2016, THEY VENTURED TO ICELAND TOGETHER WITH DRUMMER VALENTIN LIECHTI TO RECORD THEIR SECOND EP. »HOLAKÒT« FEATURES FIVE SONGS THAT PERFECTLY REFLECT THE NORDIC ISLAND NATION’S MOOD. IT’S GLOOMY, FOGGY, AND SPHERICAL, WITH A STRONG FEMALE VOICE THAT DOMINATES THE MELANCHOLIC WORK. WE FIND THEIR SOUND PERFECT FOR OUR EDITION AND LOOK FORWARD TO THEIR DEBUT ALBUM IN 2018. UNTIL THEN, WE ASKED SINGER LEA OUR MOST BURNING QUESTIONS. INTERVIEW CHRISTINA RÜCKER

PHOTO: LISTASTOFAN

Q. DEAR LEA, WHO IS VSITOR AND HOW DID YOUR BAND COME TO BE?

We met a few years ago during our studies in Switzerland. We soon realized that we have a very similar appreciation of music. We began to exchange our own music, continued writing together, and explored the core of the resulting sound. And so Vsitor was born. We are all very close and experience a lot together. This also has an influence on our music. Despite many electronic instruments, the music is warm and emotional. Q. WHERE DID THE NAME VSITOR COME FROM?

Vsitor stands for contemporary pop music. We are all very active musicians and our respective influences flow through the band. Valentin is a producer and loves the Berlin club scene. David is an audio researcher and DIY artist; many of our electronic instruments are hand-built, which makes our sound unique. I am mostly involved with lyrics and songwriting. All these aspects melt into Vsitor and contribute to our own sound. We also love to be on

stage, and I think audiences see that through our intense, energetic, and direct concerts. Q. WHO ARE YOUR MUSIC IDOLS?

Artists who make honest music; music free from commercial backgrounds and constraints. Musicians who have developed their own voice through their experiences and their being. That inspires us. And they can be found in all genres! Our sources of inspiration can also be found in other areas, such as books, films, or nature. We are always listening. When was the last time you heard the rustle of the trees?

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PHOTO: LISTASTOFAN

Q. YOU RECORDED YOUR CURRENT ALBUM, »HOLAKÒT,« IN ICELAND. HOW DID THIS INFLUENCE YOUR RECORDINGS? AND WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE WORD »HOLAKÒT?«

Now the three of us are always on the road, working together, all of which started in Iceland. »Holakòt« was the house where we spent the first week. This is where we selected the first drafts we had brought and made the first recordings, before we spent the second week in the studio in Reykjavik. Holakòt means something along the lines of »hut on the hill.« And that's exactly how it looked, right in the middle of nowhere.

The nature in Iceland is simply immense. This volcanic island is full of life and always in motion. Geysers, active volcanoes, hot springs – we felt extremely connected with nature, and found it very easy to root ourselves here. This grounding is also found in the recording. Iceland has welded us together. Those two weeks formed a true band – an organism – out of us. Before, we were rather a copywriting/ producer duo and a drummer.

»I BELIEVE THAT IF WE ALWAYS DO WHAT WE LOVE, EVERYTHING ELSE WILL FALL INTO PLACE.« 69

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Q. WOMEN DON’T ALWAYS HAVE IT EASY IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. LEA, WHAT SORT OF PREJUDICE HAVE YOU ENCOUNTERED? HOW DID YOU HANDLE IT?

Yes, that's true. The music industry is still a world dominated by men. In my immediate musical and professional environment, I am fortunate enough to work with wonderful male colleagues. And yet I often hear the words, »Oh, you're a singer, do you also play a real instrument?« Or I notice how sometimes I’m not taken seriously until I arrive at the soundcheck before a show and »prove« my understanding and ability to work with and talk about audio, frequencies, and technology. But sometimes you have to prove your skills and earn respect first before it’s FOTO: MIK MATTER given to you. There are certain prejudices and cliches to defeat. Q. MELANCHOLIA HOVERS THROUGHOUT YOUR MUSIC. WHAT This can be very discouraging, MAKES YOU HAPPY? and also creates a certain Personally, I am happy with little pressure that you have to deal things like good food, talking with. I often manage this well, but not always. And when I notice with friends, or a nice glass of wine. But what really makes that my performance suffers me happy is spending time in or is restricted as a result, it is nature. Strolling through the especially annoying.

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LISTEN TO THE NEW HOLAKÒT EP 

woods, hiking, sitting in my Q. WHAT ARE YOUR MUSICAL GOALS? parents’ beautiful garden, or The most important thing for riding my father’s horses. (I grew us is to keep moving. I think up in Swiss countryside, which is movement is the power of deeply anchored in me.) I refuel creativity. There should always in this country setting. My work, be progress. I believe that if of which Valentin and David are we always do what we love, a big part, also makes me very everything else will fall into happy. We are all very committed place. We are currently working and love the daily work our intensively on our debut album, music entails. so we took a break from live For example, I was in the studio concerts. Once the album is one day, then at a wonderful out, however, we of course want concert in the evening. to play as many concerts as Surrounded by good friends, possible. We love to be on tour I thought about that evening together. You experience so many again and realized I really need beautiful and crazy things that nothing more than music and inspire you again for new songs. good people around me. I am totally satisfied and very happy whenever this realization hits me /vsitor again. And that's what all of us www.vsitor.com are doing.

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BOSS GIRL CREATIVE Taylor

ROLE MODELS Isabelle & David

PODCAST SISTER-MAG.COM

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If we ask our friends what theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re listening to these days, the answer is often not their favourite band or new song, but a podcast. Be it while walking, cleaning, or falling asleep, everyone seems to have caught the podcast fever! And sisterMAG is no exception. Every two weeks we talk to friends, contributors, and creatives about their work and inspiration on sisterMAG Radio. Of course, we can still remember the radio days of our childhood, but where does the current podcast trend come from?

WOMEN IN TECH Espree Devora

The United States are a leader in the field, where the most popular podcasts garner several million downloads per episode and independent labels effortlessly produce and market the audio pieces.

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Podcasts are also indispensable for wellestablished media companies such as NPR and USA TODAY – from feature-length reports to talk shows to interviews. One of the most popular genres of American podcasts, which perhaps even triggered the trend, has not yet made it to Germany: true crime podcasts. They investigate true murders and crimes in great detail with spellbinding narration. One pioneer is journalist Sarah Koenig, whose podcast »Serial« meticulously portrays a new person and their story over the course of a season. It may still take a while until these pieces arrive in Germany, but there is already a great selection of exciting interviews and personalities. That's why we asked podcasters from all around the world what they like about the format, which are their favourite podcasts, and who they would love to have in front of their mic.

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1. role models

Photo: Jennifer Fey

ld fe n e n n o S e ll e b a with Is & David Noel rolemodels.co

When and why did you start the podcast?

ROLEMODELS

Isa: We launched the podcast in May 2017 as an extension of the Role

ROLEMODELS

Models event series. The intimacy of the events format translated very

_ROLEMODELS

well into the podcast format and offers even more time and space to

ROLEMODELS

get deeper into topics and to get to know our guests on a different level.

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I'm a fan of long interview formats. They allow me to dive deep into a topic and get a more nuanced image of a pers on, far from the t s fa of ts x te d te la u m r fo pre media. David: With the podcast, we now have a new platform that gives international role models a way to inspire audiences. And we can also spread their ideas and brands globally.

of guests, in which successful women from a variety of sectors such as business, media, art, and politics speak openly about their career, their style of leadership, and experiences.

What is your podcast about and how did you arrive at this topic?

What do you like about podcasts and which ones are your favourites?

David: Similar to the events, the podcast is about capturing and sharing the stories and experiences of our role model guests to inspire the next generation of leaders. We want to create access to these authentic stories by selecting a diverse range

David: I'm a fan of long interview formats. These allow me to dive deep into a topic and get a more nuanced image of a person, far from the preformulated texts of fast media. Every time it feels like I am entering a new small world for an hour or two and build a kind of

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connection with the person, which is remarkable. Podcasts are also very good at being a reference for understanding parallel topics. My current favorites are: Hotel Matze, The Broad Experience, and The Ezra Klein Show. Isa: I can only agree with David. Last year, I discovered my love for podcasts, from societal issues to guidebooks. I especially enjoy taking in their content on my many travels.

When and where do you listen to podcasts? David: My audio consumption has changed greatly in recent years. At the moment I listen to 90% podcasts and 10% music. The years before, the relationship was exactly the opposite. I listen to 3 or 4 episodes a day, while I’m cycling, doing sports, travelling,

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or in evening instead of watching television. Isa: I still read more than I listen to podcasts. But when I do, it’s usually when I'm out and about, walking home from the office or while I’m cleaning.

Is there someone you would like to interview most in your podcast, or a specific topic you want to cover? David: My dream guests are the former First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, the astronaut Anousheh Ansari, Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario, and tennis icon Serena Williams. Isa: Oh yes, Michelle Obama. I would like to interview Beyoncé, Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Malala, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Emma Watson. And Angela Merkel, of course. It’s a long list.

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2. boss girl creative with Taylor

about »how to blog« for several years. I discovered podcasting in the fall of 2014 and had a light bulb moment about how I could extend my blogging series further – through a podcast. About 6 months later, I had the Boss Girl Creative podcast.

bossgirlcreative.com

B O S S G I R LC R E AT I V E

When did you start making your podcast and why? Boss Girl Creative podcast launched with 3 episodes on July 1, 2015. I had been blogging for 7 years at this point and had been publishing a series on my blog (called #bloggingedumacation)

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What is your podcast about and how did you find your topic? My podcast teaches the whats, whys & hows of blogging, business and being a creative entrepreneur. As mentioned above, it was born

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out of a blogging series on my blog which had over 40 lessons at the launch of my podcast. I found podcasting fascinating – being able to get into someone's ears and let them hear me teach and my passion for teaching – and I knew I could really help my fellow Boss Girls learn how to grow as bloggers and online business women. What do you like about podcasts and which are your favorites? I absolutely LOVE podcasts. I love being able to listen as I'm doing other things. Some require my focus and some are just for fun. A few of my favorites include: theNewsWorthy by Erica Mandy, The Biz Chix Podcast, She Creates Business, ProBlogger Podcast, Biz Women Rock! with Katie Krimitsos, ShePodcasts, Amplify: Social Media and Blogging Podcast, The Fearless Launching Show with Anne Samoilov.

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When and where do you listen to podcasts? I listen in the car or sitting at my desk. And I listen throughout my work day. Is there somebody who you would love to interview in your podcast or a topic that you are hoping to cover? I've already had the opportunity to interview some incredible Boss Girls in the over 2 years of my podcast journey. I recently launched a series on my podcast, the Nitty Gritty Interview Blogger Interview Series, and I pitched some incredibly successful Boss Girl bloggers and was blown out of the water at the response. It never ever hurts to ask – you just have to ask!

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3. women in tech mit Espree Devora When did you start making your podcast and why?

What is your podcast about and how did you find your topic?

I started producing podcasts in 2014 because I was moderating panels and I wanted to be able to share the insights and inspiration of speakers who spoke on stage beyond the conference room and into the ears of 1000s. Plus, I thought podcasting is a wonderful way to connect people to each other when they typically wouldn't have discovered each other on their own. I consider myself an artist and I feel like I am painting audio.

I have three podcasts; »WOMEN IN TECH,« »WEARELATECH« and

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»HELLO CUSTOMER.« On »WEARELATECH,« we spotlight Los Angeles tech and startup companies so that listeners can immediately integrate into the LA tech culture. »ON WOMEN IN TECH,« we celebrate women in tech around the world and share their stories of achievement so that listeners

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womenintechshow.com WOMENINTECHSHOW

can learn resources and methods to achieve themselves. We want people walking away feeling, »If she can do it, so can I.« We call it »actionable empowerment.« On »HELLO CUSTOMER,« we interview large brands like Zappos and Levis, who deliver extraordinary customer experience to discover how we can improve customer connectivity within our businesses. What do you like about podcasts and which are your favorites? I love the storytelling. It's incredible that I can do mundane tasks like washing dishes or driving and be entertained and/or learn at the same time. My favorite podcasts are Death, Sex & Money, StartUp, Unqualified and WTF. I even like Snooki's podcast (that girl from the MTV show »Jersey Shore«) but shhhhhh: Don't tell anyone ;-)

When and where do you listen to podcasts? I listen to podcasts on my iPhone. Usually, I am at home doing chores or on the road commuting. Is there somebody who you would love to interview in your podcast or a topic that you are hoping to cover? I would love to interview Jessica Alba and/or Sophia Amoroso. They are both dynamic women in business, fearless leaders, inspiring, health-conscious. Most importantly, they make space in their life for health and to develop family.

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Nr.1F l o w e r

iPhone Case b y s i s t e r M AG

For BOTANICALS Magazine's »The Botanical Way« we spent the last summer days putting together three DIYs with blossoms and leaves to capture the sunny season for grey fall days. You can find the instructions for a botanical bag and blossom clips here . 1.

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Our DIY Videos on Facebook and Yo u t u b e !

E B I R C S SUB NOW!

M AT E R I A L S

Dried flowers Transparent nail polish

iPhone case (for example on Amazon ) INSTRUCTIONS

1. Collect a few flowers and leaves. Dry and press them in a book for approximately 10 days. 2. Take the transparent nail polish and cover the plants with it.

3. Glue the plants in a nice composition inside the iPhone case. 4. Afterwards, cover everything with transparent nail polish again.

W at c h Video!

5. Let dry for 10 minutes and everything is finished!

SISTERMAG 31 | 09 / 2017

A WEEKEND WITH CANON AND SISTERMAG ON FEHMARN

The wind blows into the colourful fabric, fills it with air, and makes it rise into the sky. The kites hang like large, colourful bats over the horizon, bound to the sea by a few thin ropes. At their base are surfers, who are looking upwards as they’re carried across the waves – ever faster, ever more free, ever higher, almost weightless. They prepare for takeoff, leave the water, turn in the air, lose the board for a moment

TEXT: FRANZI WINTERLING PHOTOS: CRIS SANTOS

& LALE

under their feet; the kite seems to tilt in the air. And then they land, sometimes light-footed on the board, other times with a great splash in the waves. There’s a moment of disorientation before they re-embark and are strung along the water again. We were fascinated by these athletes during our weekend at

#livefort he story

THE CANON EOS M10 ACCOMPANIES SISTERMAG

the

TO FEHMARN

Mercedes-Benz

KITESURF

WORLD

CUP. We would always

return to the beach to catch the Strapless Freestyle competitions â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this is where tricks are executed without being fastened to the kite. We were able to capture everything on camera since the

sisterMAG team was on the island of FEHMARN with two wellequipped photographers and the CANON EOS M10. Between backpacks full of equipment and heavy lenses, the lightweight compact camera proved to be

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PROMO

»Mixed with the air of the sea and sand in our shoes, we could not have envisioned a more appropriate backdrop…«

perfect for capturing spontaneous moments – be it during the competition on the water, among the surfers on the beach, or in a crowd of spellbound onlookers. There was so much to discover on the World Cup grounds.

The event stood as a true symbol of summer: The lightest and most innovative surfboards standing

next to kites in all colours of the rainbow, a slip'n slide where beginners could test their board skills, food stalls, beach chairs, recliners, and hammocks were all part of the equation. Mixed with the air of the sea and sand in our shoes, we could not have envisioned a more appropriate backdrop to capture our summer

FRIENDSHIP INSTEAD OF COMPETITION - THE SURFERS HAD FUN TOGETHER

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+ Canon EOS M10 Balck + 1545mm IS STM Lense 383,00 â&#x201A;¬ BUY THE NEW CM10

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PROMO

AT CANON'S SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY

moments and stories. A lot of WORKSHOP inspiration was found in the CANON LIVE GALLERY , which was fittingly located in the Fehmarn sand. Under Canon’s campaign motto »LIVE FOR THE STORY,« the pictures transported us to the summer moments of others – from Lisbon to Mexico to Ireland, there were no limits to the wanderlust and feelings of home and culture. We especially liked that the summer stories weren’t finished yet, as every day a new »PHOTO OF THE DAY« taken by an attendee of the Kitsurf World Cup would be presented in the digital picture frame. The Canon stand handed out the necessary photo equipment SISTER-MAG.COM

NEITHER WIND NOR RAIN COULDN'T KEEP US FROM CAPTURING THE EVENT

and offered small workshops to guests in order to learn how to use it. After a short introduction, we put our new expertise into practice: At the beach and among the kites and surfers, where a mixture of excitement, concentration, and, above all, a lot of enthusiasm told the most beautiful summer stories to cherish for a lifetime.

If you would like to experience the Canon Live Galleries for yourself and perhaps even become a part of the exhibition with your summer moment, you will have the chance to do so at the Street Life Festival in Munich on the 9th and 10th of September. And if you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make it to Munich, you can follow the sisterMAG team and influencers @herz.und. blut, @vickyheiler, @frei_ style and @dani_nanaa throughout the gallery on Saturday.

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RURAL AMERICA Thoughts of the USA often evoke images of great, dazzling cities – New York City, Los Angeles, Washington DC – or breathtaking natural spectacles like the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone. But what is actually between all these superlatives and highlights? The expansive »Rural America.« These regions and states differ greatly too, of course, but far from the large cities you’ll find mostly vast fields and small towns. They are idyllic and tranquil, surrounded by the bright colours of the

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Indian Summer and with a rocking chair on the porch. Sometimes the sight of gas stations, dilapidated homes and frightening poverty creates a feeling of loneliness and abandonment. We got in touch with artists and photographers who have captured these very different aspects and views of Rural America. We asked them what this landscape means to them and which of their works best represent the mood of these oft-forgotten areas â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with very different results!

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ď&#x192;&#x2022; Travelling across the United States, which is predominantly rural, is almost entirely done by car. While Amtrak does exist, it does not provide service to more than a small fraction of the country. Once you cross over the Mississippi River when heading west, the land starts to open up. Only on smaller state roads and U.S. Routes will you really see an America that is unique. If you follow the Interstate Highway roads you will constantly be bombarded by an experience that has been homogenized for easy consumption. On this particular road, Colorado 14 between Fort Collins and Sterling, Colorado, you could easily see 20 miles or more in any given direction. Had the day not been overcast, the Rocky Mountains would have been faintly visible along the horizon despite being almost a hundred kilometres away. SISTER-MAG.COM

Kristian Thacker

Q. Where did you grow up, in a city or a rural area? How do you think that influenced your attitude towards rural areas as well as your art?

I grew up in a small town in West Virginia named St. Marys. Growing up in West Virginia, which is a populated yet mostly rural state, was a major influence on my work. Specifically, I grew up in an area referred to as the Mid-Ohio Valley. This section of the Ohio Valley, which follows the Ohio River, was a major industrial center in the country at one point. While the industrial presence has declined 94

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since the late 70s, its effects and presence are a constant in the region. Until recently the industrial sites were mostly situated next to the Ohio River or its subsidiaries, but with the increase in hydraulic fracturing drilling techniques in the last 10 years, pumping stations, »cracker« plants, and pipelines have been built. Q. When thinking of rural America, which are three words that come to your mind to describe it?

Vast, awe, untamed.

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The railroad provided the first rapid transit and transportation of goods across the country. While the passenger rail system in the United States is lacking when compared to the railroads of Europe, the railroad companies in the U.S. still provide one of the fastest and most economical modes of transporting goods. The railroads also serve as a reminder of the retreat of industry across the country. Defunct railroad lines can be found in many places where industry once fourished but has since faded away.

Q. When did you start photographing rural America? Was it with a certain purpose in mind?

Since I have always lived in the rural regions of America, it follows that my personal work features rural settings. 95

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Q. Which areas do you show in your work? How did you choose them?

Most of the work that I shoot is close to where I am living at the time. I’ve moved several times in the last six years so my work changes with the locale. I’ve lived mostly in West Virginia, though for a time I was travelling to Colorado frequently. Now, my travels are mostly within the confines of Appalachia, specifically West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Q. What are positive and negative things that you see about rural America? How did you incorporate them in your pictures?

I could go on all day about the positive and negative aspects of rural America. The greatest benefit in living in a rural town or area is the privacy and quiet. If you’re fortunate enough to own more than a few acres and your own home, then you can go about your days however you see fit. However, you do sacrifice having certain amenities closeby but it’s a choice that each individual has to make on their own. I’ve lived in handful of cities and I lived in the Washington, D.C., Metro Area

for almost 15 years. While my freelance work often takes me to the city, I doubt I will ever live in one again unless an amazing work opportunity presents itself. Q. Can you show us three of your works that, to you, capture the essence of rural America and tell us why?

On a rare occasion you can capture a fragment of what a particular region of the rural parts of the

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United States looks like, but really it must be experienced in person as photographs will always fall short. www.kristianthacker.com Even with population growth and industrialization, bucolic scenes such as this are not uncommon. This scene off of U.S. Route 250 in Highland County, Virginia is one of those. While Highland County is situated in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. it is still one of the least heavily populated county east of the Mississippi River.

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»Since I have always lived in the rural regions of America, it follows that my personal work features rural settings.«

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SISTERMAG 31 | 09 / 2017

 Living in rural America: loneliness and self-reliance or community and strong friendships? Either can be equally accurate when describing and capturing the countryside.

Jim Henderson

Q. Where did you grow up, in a city or a rural area? How do you think that influenced your attitude towards rural areas as well as your art?

I grew up in the heart of the midwest – Iowa and Minnesota. My parents grew up farming and my dad sold farm machinery his entire life but we lived in townnot so I was actually more of a »city kid« and knew very little about farming growing up. I started to become much more involved with farmers and rural America when I was an art director and creative director at a large SISTER-MAG.COM

Minneapolis ad agency and worked on several large agriculturalbased accounts like Syngenta and Cargill. For over 20 years I created print and TV commercials on these accounts and was fortunate enough to travel the country and the world to many rural locations, meeting real, working people and casting them to be in the ads as well. Spending time with these amazing, good-hearted people was truly some of the best times I had in my agency life.

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Q. When thinking of rural America, which are three words that come to your mind to describe it?

Humble. The people I meet are usually not much into talking about themselves. And conversely, they are usually not overly impressed by what you do. They just quietly go about their business and give you the facts without bragging or boasting. Genuine. They are who they are and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t try to be anything else. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m always amazed how warm, friendly and honest these folks are, yet also direct and to the point.

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Family. This is definitely a hugely important aspect of rural life. Most are involved in farming because of their parents and grandparents and take the responsibility of passing down this way of life to their kids as an honor. They usually have cousins, uncles, and others that farm as well and there is a closeness between them that is unique to rural areas. Q. When did you start photographing rural America? Was it with a certain purpose in mind?

I did not pick up a camera until 2009 when I left the ad agency I had worked at for over 20 years as

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www.jimhendersonphoto.com Passing it on to the next generation: Whether it is crops or a family business, hope often lies within the children. Will they stay and take rural America to a new era? Or will they leave, move to the big cities, and try to forget about their roots and heritage? 

an art director/creative director. With my background on working on agricultural accounts and some images I had taken of some wild horses in North Dakota that summer, I started getting projects to shoot for agriculture-related clients and it took off from there. I enjoy the challenge of trying to capture the honesty and also the beauty of rural life and I love spending time out on the land. Q. Which areas do you show in your work? How did you choose them?

Most of my rural images have been for jobs I have been contracted to shoot. But I also go out and shoot personal projects on my own. The best projects are the ones where I’m free to just search for those real, authentic moments that tell the farming and ranching way of life in an honest way.

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Q. Your photographs create a rather idyllic image of rural America. Was that a conscious decision, and what are positive and negative things that you see about rural America?

I just try to capture what I feel is an interesting perspective on the people or the land. Sometimes it does almost feel idyllic with the crops and sky, and other times it’s more harsh, worn and real life. I don’t consciously look for either – just what interests me or tells the story best. That’s pretty much a reflection of farming and rural life; one day it’s wonderfully rewarding and the next day you face incredibly difficult challenges.

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»I enjoy the challenge of trying to capture the honesty and also the beauty of rural life…«

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PHOTOS LALE

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"LIFE STARTS ALL OVER AGAIN WHEN IT GETS CRISP IN THE FALL." – F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

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IMPRINT

SISTERMAG – JOURNAL FOR THE DIGITAL LADY w w w. s i st e r - m a g . co m Chief Editor

Theresa Neubauer

Operations

Christina Rücker, Vera Schönfeld, Sophie Siekmann, Franziska Winterling

Fashion

Eva-Maria Neubauer (Fashion Dir.)

Design

Theresa Neubauer (Art Dir.), Marie Darme, Medeine Pranskunaite, Lale Tütüncübaşı, Songie Yoon

Illustration

Virginia Romo, Nicole Xu

Contributing Editors (Text)

Jayne Cash, Hilary Davidson, Barbara Eichhammer, Ira Häussler, Martina Klaric

Contributing Editors (Photo)

Saskia Bauermeister, Jennifer Fey, Jim Henderson, Listastofan, Robert Meinel, Cris Santos, Kristian Thacker, sisterMAG Team

Video Translation Final Proof

Medeine Pranskunaite, Lale Tütüncübaşı Ira Häussler, Alexander Kords, Christian Naethler, Tanja Timmer, Franziska Winterling Stefanie Kiessling, Alexander Kords, Christian Naethler, Dr. Michael Neubauer

Published by Carry-On Publishing GmbH, Gustav-Meyer-Allee 25, 13355 Berlin, Germany. Re-use of content is only allowed with written permission of the publisher. There is no liability for unsolicited manuscripts and photographs. The Carry-On Publishing GmbH assumes no liability or guarantee for the accuracy, currency and completeness of the information provided. All information is provided without warranty. Contact: mail@sister-mag.com Management

Antonia Sutter, Theresa Neubauer, Alex Sutter

Sales

Alex Sutter (Sales Dir.)

Marketing

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Antonia Sutter (Marketing Dir.)

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SI ST ER M AG 31 SE CT IO N 2

Underneath the Plumtree

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