the intimacy issue
PHOTO CREDIT
NOVEMBER 2014 NO. 25
CONTENTS 2 • MASTHEAD
3 • CONTRIBUTORS 4 • LETTER FROM THE EDITOR 5 • PLEASURES
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SHOOT: STOLEN MOMENTS STITCH goes behind the scenes in this shoot of small, secret moments, with an eye on the intimacy in the everyday.
Check out a few of our favorite things, from Chelsea boot wellies to a high-impact lip color.
6 • DISCONNECTED
If social media’s supposed to bridge the gap, why do things still feel so distant?
7 • THE EVOLUTION OF UNDERGARMENTS
Brush up on your knicker knowledge with a timeline of our favorite lingerie trends, from the Middle Ages to modern day.
21 • CLOSET CONFESSIONS
Five STITCH staffers invite us into their wardrobes—and things get personal.
27 • THE CHANGE-UP Will the new movement in men’s fashion make way for more interrelationship wardrobe swapping?
29 • LESSONS IN LEATHER Step inside the Chicago museum that celebrates sexual subculture and fetishized fashions.
45 • LAST WORD Luke Zhang decodes the discomfort of post-sex sleepovers.
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SHOOT: INTIMACY Models Patrick Lueg and Alye Miller showcase this season’s laid-back lingerie.
G
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us! know o t t EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Cathaleen Chen & Rachel Nussbaum
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MANAGING EDITORS Lauren Myers & Luke Zhang
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CREATIVE DIRECTOR Alaura Hernandez
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PRINT EDITOR Helen Zook DESIGN EDITORS Jen White & Drew Dain
DESIGN TEAM Florence Fu, Marlene Lengthang, Kaylah Sosa, Susan Chen, Heiwon Shin, Manon Blackman, Jason Yuan Having so much mo re style flexi bility a coat and than just snow boo ts.
ONLINE EDITORS Erica Witte & Lizzey Johnson
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PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Alix Kramer SITTINGS EDITOR Josh Aronson So many ne campus co w faces on m the bliss o bined with f reuniting with old ones!
CO-DIRECTORS OF PHOTOSHOOTS Sarah Spellings & Beatrice Hagney STREET PHOTOGRAPHER Sean Su
MULTIMEDIA TEAM Tara Sennott, Cecilia Marshall, Lily Allen, Emmy Kappes, Zahra Haider, Zachary Laurence, Arianna Brockington, Victoria Zapater STYLING TEAM Lilly Scheerer, Jason Yuan, Amber Cline, Isabel Seidel, Madeline Kaufman, Rocio Mendez-Rozo, Tori Latham STAFF WRITERS Mackenzie Broderick, Dylan Storey, Steffanee Wang, Luke Zhang, Steven Bennett, Lauren Myers, Sarah Spellings, Therese Kaltenecker, Ellen Lawrence, Kelsey Packer, Matthew Choi, Rachel Lefferts, Rose McBride I feel like the be st and most int eresting classes are in the fall--a nd then the registr ar drops the ba ll for the next tw o quarters.
DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL MEDIA Chelsea Ferguson
MARKETING TEAM Morgan Osborn, Ariel Matluck, Alexandra Menell, Casey Doherty, Shelton Taylor, Alex Milinazzo, Lauren Goldstein, Abby Gardner SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM Caro Diaz, Andrea Zhang, Naomi Stevenson, Lindsey Spohler
The ivy on Deeri ng Library changin g colors.
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CONTRIBUTORS: STAFF SPOTLIGHTS
CASEY DOHERTY
MANON BLACKMAN
MARKETING
DESIGN
Sophomore • Communciation Studies
Freshman • Journalism
ALAURA HERNANDEZ CREATIVE DIRECTOR Junior • Journalism/History Worst laundry day outfit? An oversized t-shirt from my middle school emo days and athletic shorts. Favorite undergarment item? Sheer strappy bra and high-waisted panty set with cutouts and garters from VS. First screenname? poodlesrule93...I really liked poodles?
Worst laundry day outfit? Mirrored RayBan aviators and a leather baseball cap Favorite undergarment item? Hanky Panky thongs forever. I love all the colors and patterns, but you can never go wrong with sheer black lace First screenname? caseydilla.
Worst laundry day outfit? Athletic clothes that probably don’t match! Favorite undergarment item? Bralettes! So sexy yet so comfortable. First screenname? mlmb41796, and it hasn’t changed since.
SARAH SPELLINGS
TORI LATHAM
HELEN ZOOK
CO-DIRECTOR OF PHOTOSHOOTS
STYLING
PRINT EDITOR
Sophomore • Journalism/ International Studies/IMC
Senior • Magazine Journalism
Worst laundry day outfit? I typically do my laundry at night, so whatever pajamas I happen to be wearing. Last time it was a matching leopard set. Favorite undergarment item? A wireless, light pink floral bra that I basically never wear but is so pretty to look at when I open my drawers. First screenname? bookworm717... so typical of an English major
Worst laundry day outfit? Some variation of tapered sweatpants, a T-shirt, and a floorlength sweater. No socks. Favorite undergarment item? The one, the only, Hanky Panky. First screenname? PolosNpearls16. I wore doubled up Lacoste shirts with popped collars regularly. It was a dark time.
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ALAURA HERNANDEZ
Worst laundry day outfit? Texas flag shorts and a PINK sweatshirt. Favorite undergarment item? Either my long-line burgundy lace bra or my strappy back navy and black one. First screenname? dietcoke179... to be honest I’d probably choose the same thing today.
Sophomore • Journalism/English
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
LE LIT (1983) HENRI TOULOUSE-LAUTREC
I
t’s easy to distinguish between love and sex, and amidst the wild, drunken jungle that is college hookup culture, we’re more than happy to draw that line as bold, big and loud as possible. But there’s a common denominator between love, sex and the rest that we often forget about—intimacy. We share these little moments of closeness with lovers, significant others, friends and sometimes, even with strangers. It could be a kiss, or a second of loaded silence. It could be a passing gaze or the sense of community when a group of strangers share an odd happening (Yik Yak’s anonymity-intimacy hybrid, for example). More poetically, Pablo Neruda once wrote about the intimacy of two people closing their eyes at the same time. In this issue of STITCH, we looked for intimacy in the banal, and we found it in some frisky business (page 29). We found it in stealing our boyfriend’s shirt and egging them on to do the same (page 21). And à la Neruda, we found it in sleeping next to someone (page 45). So go on, kick off your shoes. We invite you to get intimate with our edition on intimacy (not in the Playboy way), and maybe, just maybe, you’ll be inspired to rethink your next exchange of the flesh.
WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Yours, Rachel & Cat
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PLEASURES: STITCH’S PICKS COZY PLAID SCARF, $29.95,GAP
CHELSEA RAIN BOOTS, $68, J.CREW.COM
PHOENIX RISING BATH BOMB, $6.95, LUSH
STATEMENT NECKLACE, $50, JCREW.COM
SCULPTING CONTOUR TRIO, $21, SEPHORA
LIPSTICK IN BOMBSHELL EXPLOSION, $7.79, COVERGIRL.COM
ALAURA HERNANDEZ
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fashionbeautyentertainment WWW.STITCHFASHION.COM UPDATED DAILY
disconnected Does intimacy still exist in the age of social media? By Lizzey Johnson
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hen I was younger, I assumed my college homecomings would model Lindsay Lohan’s return from camp in The Parent Trap. My hair blowing flawlessly in the wind, I would divulge details from my quarter while my father tells me, “it’s good to hear your voice, kid.” I would prance up the cobblestone steps of my vineyard home to fresh berries and a housekeeper with a coarse voice and a killer sense of humor. This is certainly not my experience (but I do fly into San Francisco International). My hair doesn’t fare well in the wind, so we usually keep the windows up; the friendliest greeting comes from my French bulldog. But the most tangible difference is not the texture of our front steps or my lack of a vineyard. Rather, it’s the fact that once we hit the highway from the airport, a distinct silence pervades the air. Collectively, we realize I have nothing to share. Why? Because I’ve been sharing everything —
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through texts, Skype calls, Snapchats and Facebook posts — every day since we said goodbye. It’s objective to say technology has changed the nature of relationships. Lindsay didn’t pull out a pink Razr to whine to her dad when she got sent to Camp Walden’s isolation cabin. The ramifications of social media are two-fold. On one hand, society is more connected than ever. Technology offers limitless ways to stay in touch with friends and family, and these ways are arguably more “intimate” than ever — we can see faces, share screens and even forward health statistics to overbearing parents. On the other hand, these abilities detract from our in-person experiences. The excitement of getting to tell someone breaking news when they come home is often forgone in favor of delivering it sooner, virtually. When was the last time you spotted a group of people talking without a single cell phone in sight? Technological multitasking has become an accepted and omnipresent practice in almost every conversation. This dichotomy is particularly present in romantic relationships. My mother always used to say she liked the more mysterious guys. She dated the ones who were always busy, who kept her on her toes. In her collegiate years, mystery was inevitable.
Cell phones were nonexistent and people posted photos in their scrapbooks, not to their Facebooks. Not knowing someone’s every single move was a natural consequence of a less technological society. Now social media serves as a common catalyst to meeting people. Apps like Friendsy and Tinder use virtual culture to forge relationships over the internet. They offer hypothetical merits: chances to expand your network and discover someone you like is interested in you. The problem lies in the lack of transparency. Online, we can curate our lives exactly as we want them to look. Our photos, comments, statuses and activity cohesively tell the story we want them to tell. An Instagram caption is worth a thousand words. Tinder and Friendsy allow you to perfect your profile (which photos and information make you most attractive). This creates a discrepancy between the people we’re interested in and what they become when a casual swipe right turns into a physical encounter. Social media strips us of the one feeling traditionally considered the most intimate: touch. If “intimacy” implies an experience we can only have in person, is virtual intimacy even possible? Intimacy is defined as something “private and personal;” doesn’t that conflict with social media?
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THE EVOLUTION OF UNDERGARMENTS A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE MOMENTS, FROM THE INVENTION OF THE GARTER BELT TO THE RESURGENCE OF THE GRANNY PANTY. By Mackenzie Broderick
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ome of us wear lingerie, some of us shove it into the depths of our closets and some of us have a hard time even pronouncing the word. The definition of sexy has changed over time, and along so has the aesthetic of our undergarments.
1100s STOCKINGS were invented around the Middle Ages, but before the invention of elastic. Back in the day, they were held up with ribbon ties or garters. While also practical in an age before central heating, stockings have always been considered titillating, especially when covering a gentle lady’s ankle.
WHO WORE IT BEST? Louis XIV, the Sun King. Just look at those shapely legs.
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1800s (Claude Lefebvre)
Believe it or not, UNDERWEAR wasn’t invented until very, very recently—like, mid-19th century recently. So the answer to that age-old question of what exactly men wore beneath their kilts (and women beneath their skirts, petticoats and kirtles)? Absolutely nothing.
1940 GARTER BELTS came to be the stylish and pennysaving alternative to girdles for teens and young women, keeping stockings in place with elastic strips and snaps. Combined with the lined stockings of the era, garters created a classic look for the iconic pin-up girl.
WHO WORE IT BEST? Bettie Page, the original vamp and one of the first models for Playboy magazine, wins this round. A sex symbol of the ‘50s, the Queen of Curves modeled all types of lingerie as well as nothing at all.
(Jean-Leon Germome)
WHO WORE IT BEST? Hard to choose just one, but we’ve got to go with Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, who met Julius Caesar after being unrolled from a carpet.
1914
CORSETS went in and out of fashion from the 1400s up until the 19th-century. With the growing feminist movement and increasing number of women entering the workforce, corsets became cumbersome and fell out of fashion. Bras as we know them today were first patented in America in 1914, by Mary Phelps Jacob.
WHO WORE IT BEST? Jacob herself, known later in life as Caresse Crosby. After three husbands, numerous affairs and a bra patent, the woman learned a thing or two about lingerie. Such vast knowledge deserves some recognition.
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1983 In American cinema and television, censorship codes prohibited showing a woman’s navel until 1983. Many tricks were employed by shows like I Dream of Jeannie, Gilligan’s Island and Star Trek to make their scantily-clad stars appear “decent”—FLESH-TONED STICKERS, jewelry, high-waisted bottoms and long shirts were all used to hide the belly button. Cher, always a woman to challenge fashion norms, bared her navel in 1977 on her CBS comedy show and later faced criticism from network censors. WHO WORE IT BEST? We hate to leave Risky Businessera Tom Cruise hanging, but David Beckham, man of many tattoos, impeccable statue and Posh Spice, wins hands down. We can’t all look like him, but we can all look at him. Happily and forever.
2014 And then there’s the return of the ever-iconic TIGHTY-WHITEY. With a social media campaign spurred by the hashtag #mycalvins on Instagram and a steamy Super Bowl commercial comparing the male body to a welloiled machine, Calvin Klein is singlehandedly bringing back the brief. 11 • STITCHFASHION.COM • NOVEMBER 2014
WHO WORE IT BEST? While Hollywood now hosts a cavalcade of toned tummies, perhaps one of the most famous six packs was (and still is) flaunted by Halle Berry during her stint as James Bond’s Die Another Day love interest. Now that high-slung silhouettes are back in style, who knows what the future will hold?
1990 The BRAZILIAN BIKINI entered the American consciousness in the ‘70s, and since then we’ve been seeing a lot more cheek. Although it started with a swimwear trend, the look has spread into underwear territory. The (often visible) G-string gained influence in the ‘90s, and continued to ride above waistlines into the early 2000s.
WHO WORE IT BEST? Rose McGowan turned up to the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards in perhaps one of the most overexposed ensembles of all time, braless in a mesh and chain-link dress (if you can call it that) and an entirely visible leopard-print thong. Would you expect anything less from Marilyn Manson’s former fling?
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getting intimate Directors: Sarah Spellings and Beatrice Hagney Photographer: Victoria Zapater Editor: Alaura Hernandez Models: Patrick Lueg and Alye Miller Hair & Makeup: Rocio Mendez-Rozo, Tori Latham, Maddy Kaufman Set Assistants: Amber Cline, Isabel Seidel
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On Alye Shirt: Rook On Pat Shirt: H&M
Above Nightgown: Victoria’s Secret Opposite Sweater: Brandi Melville Bra: Aerie Shorts: Aerie
Pat Jeans: Hollister Alye Shirt: Ralph Lauren Bra: Victoria’s Secret
Shirt: Ralph Lauren Bra: Victoria’s Secret Socks: Stylist’s own (similar available at Envy Evanston)
Alye Shirt: Ralph Lauren Bra: Victoria’s Secret Socks: stylist’s own Pat Shirt: H&M Jeans: Hollister
Nightgown: Victoria’s Secret
Closet Confessions The stories behind STITCH staffers’ most prized possessions
By Rose McBride Photos by Emily Kappes
C
lothing and accessories can be symbols for important people or events, the stories of our lives, if you will. Upon seeing or wearing a particular item of clothing, we can be transported to a remarkable time with cherished friends. Clothes can make us smile at a happy memory, or grimace at a bad one. These emotionally evocative articles carry a sense of intimacy, something triggered by a close relationship with the former owner or a meaningful occasion tied to the item of clothing. A family heirloom, a gift from a significant other, a memento from a memorable event. Our most treasured items almost always carry a special significance, so in the interest of learning about our fellow man and woman, the heart of all fashion journalism, we asked five STITCH staffers to share the stories of their most intimate garment.
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Cathaleen Chen YEAR: Senior MAJOR: Journalism STITCH TEAM: Co-Editor-in-Chief “I’m from China and I go back occasionally. When we were visiting one time before I started college, my mom was going through her box of old jewelry and found this ring. She tried it on and it didn’t fit her anymore, so I tried it on and just never took it off. My dad gave it to her when she had me. I wear it every day.”
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Matthew Choi YEAR: Freshman MAJOR: Journalism STITCH TEAM: Editorial “This was a gift from my host family in France; I spent 10 months there in high school. One time my host parents saw that I really liked a jacket by Chanel in a store window. They remembered, and for Christmas they got me this Chanel Eau de Toilette, which was a really sweet gift. I didn’t want to run out of it, so I sprayed it onto my scarf. Every time it would rub against my neck, I would smell it. Now whenever I wear it, it kind of takes me back.” 23 • STITCHFASHION.COM • NOVEMBER 2014
Alix Kramer YEAR: Sophomore MAJOR: Journalism STITCH TEAM: Photo Editor “This was a graduation present from my grandmother because it was my great-grandfather’s ring, which is surprising because he must have had really small fingers. It says AB because his name was Alex Brown, and I was named Alix after him. I have never taken it off except to shower and go to the gym. I lost it at the beach once and my whole family looked in the sand for 30 minutes. We recovered it, but that was terrifying. It fits perfectly.” NOVEMBER 2014 • STITCHFASHION.COM • 24
Emily Kappes YEAR: Freshman MAJOR: Biology STITCH TEAM: Photo “This sweater was my mom’s in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s. She went to nursing school at Northwestern, so before I left for school she gave me this and said, ‘I may not have had the sweater when I went to Northwestern, but it’s for you to think of me.’”
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Diana Armacanqui YEAR: Sophomore MAJOR: Economics and Environmental Science STITCH TEAM: Co-Director of Social Media “This summer I had an internship in the Dominican Republic and at my favorite home stay, my señora, Maritza, was a spicy Dominican lady. She knew how much I loved this top of hers, so on the last day she gave it to me and told me that whenever I wore it I had to think of her. And every time I wear it now, I think of the three fresh mangoes she picked for me every breakfast, the hours we would sit on her back porch watching kids play baseball in the setting sun and how all of her neighbors stopped by our house daily because everyone simply loved being in her presence. I try to channel a little Maritza whenever I wear it!”
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THE CHANGE-UP WHY THE RISE OF ANDROGYNOUS MENSWEAR GIVES A NEW MEANING TO “WHAT’S MINE IS YOURS. By Therese Kaltenecker
PIXABAY
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ew images portray subtle intimacy as effectively as that of a woman wearing her boyfriend’s button down. Borrowing from your significant other’s closet is the penultimate symbol of comfort in your relationship, even sparking the development of a clothing category, the “boyfriend jean.” And corporations profiting off of emotional connotations? That’s when you know a trend has really hit home. Women in menswear is nothing new–since the trailblazing days of Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, featuring Diane Keaton in baggy, pleated pants and a starched, collared shirt, androgyny has been a runway repeat. But in a noticeable omission, this fashion fluidity has yet to cross over to menswear. Instead, men’s collections follow a tailored formula, oscillating between sartorial cuts and muted colors. Since the renunciation of flamboyancy and the embrace of masculinity in men’s fashion at the beginning of the nineteenth century, designs for dudes have remained rather static. Yet an air of rebellion has invaded the runway, with a few designers questioning the heteronormative, gender-conforming confines of men’s fashion in their Spring/Summer 2015 collections. Jonathan Anderson presented tunics, crop tops and offthe-shoulder blouses for his British label J.W. Anderson. U.K. designer Craig Green showed off breezy tunics and bodycon tops with cut-outs. Just a season before, his menswear collection featured brightly colored, floor-length tunics and skirts. In Green’s words, he isn’t abandoning masculinity, but rather, “romanticizing” it. Even Kanye’s on board: West announced plans last spring to design a skirt line for men, echoing the sentiment that skirts shouldn’t exist within the boundaries of femininity. In the bigger picture sense, this new genre of gender bending reflects the slow-but-steady acceptance of gender neutrality, the clothing equivalent of gender-neutral restrooms. Less another name for women as men, androgyny is becoming a two-way street, a label for people who don’t want to confine themselves within traditional roles. But for all the bathroom-activism, slow-butsteady is unfortunately still the name of the game.
“This new genre of gender bending reflects the slowbut-steady acceptance of gender neutrality, the clothing equivalent of gender-neutral restrooms.” Green noted in an interview with T Magazine that although these pieces appeared on the runway, they won’t necessarily show up on the streets for some time. Prada debuted sheer knits for its men’s Spring/Summer 2015 collection, but boyfriends probably will not be hankering to borrow their girlfriends’ sheer Topshop blouses. Could this dismissal of gender norms find a haven at Northwestern? Is it occurring among Northwestern men? In my search for an answer to these questions, I came across only a few male-identifying and male sex-typed individuals at NU who incorporate womenswear into their wardrobes. Treyvon Thomas, a sophomore Communications major, doesn’t wear any women’s clothing, but does partake in another feminine-typed activity; he paints his nails. But he’s not trying to push gender boundaries. His at-home manicures began on a whim and he continues simply “because it’s really relaxing.” This inhibition suggests the inching of an important psychological shift in gender differentiation. It seems fewer college-aged kids ascribe activities to a gender binary, or at least they’re less likely to shy away from opposing gender-typed activities. For now, not many Northwestern men seem willing to incorporate a form-fitting knit or curve-hugging silhouette into their wardrobes, but this movement’s rejection of gender norms could be the impetus for a largerscale revolution in the years to follow. In fifteen years, maybe men will be the ones lounging around in their girlfriends’ blouses—or maybe a shirt will be a shirt, will be a shirt. NOVEMBER 2014 • STITCHFASHION.COM • 28
THE ROGERS PARK MUSEUM THAT’S TEACHING A NEW KIND OF SEX ED. By Steffanee Wang
PHOTO CREDIT
LESSONS IN LEATHER
“You need to ring a doorbell to get in. And when you’re in, you’re immediately bombarded by the slinky melodies of oldschool pornography music. There is a sexual energy and an ever-present awareness of what your eyes are looking at: the proud, pronounced and exposing murals of Dom “Etienne” Orejudos, the supple and worn seats of a red leather spanking bench, the gleam of a sterling silver dildo—and suddenly the secrets hidden in the boxes underneath beds are now put on the wall for everyone to see.”
I
t doesn’t look like what you’d expect. For a museum, it’s quite small. The exterior is matte black with beige brick and a flat top. Small flags printed with a cowboy hat hang on opposite ends of the building. Those, and the large LA&M letters painted above the main doors, are the only indications that you’ve arrived at the right place. It’s minimalistic. Discrete. In retrospect, the outer walls serve as an appropriate shell, suitably separating the outside world from the contents within. The Leather Archives & Museum is the first of its kind: a space dedicated to the history and preservation of “leather” culture—an underground lifestyle that, until the emergence of the internet and social media, was primarily practiced in isolated communities. The umbrella term, “leather,” has come to encompass Sadomasochism (S&M), BDSM, kink, fetishism and the like. What was considered taboo in the late 1900s has emerged today in both popular culture and the peripherals of the public eye. Co-founded in 1991 by Chuck Renslow and Tony DeBassé, the Leather Archives & Museum emerged from a need to preserve the lives of the people engaged in such “leather” culture. Around the 1980s, in the midst of the AIDS epidemic, many of the participants, the majority being gay men, were losing their lives from the disease.
“Uninformed family members who didn’t know [the deceased person] was into leather sex or fetishism would go through their stuff and find magazines, books, letters, photographs and sex toys, and they would be in shock,” says Rick Storer, the Executive Director of the LA&M. “And they were throwing them away. There needed to be a place for things like that to go.” So the artifacts came here. Uniforms, costumes, whips, chains, handcuffs, dildos, photographs, paintings, VHS tapes, movies—they all found a home on the walls and cupboards of the Leather Archives & Museum. The collection is vast, and the content is varied. The museum covers all the different forms of sexuality and faces of fetishism, from pin-up queen Bettie Page to dominatrix Mistress Angelica. There are exhibits focused on lesbian, gay and heterosexual pornography. There’s a display on body modification and a replica of a sex dungeon. It’s a look into a lifestyle that was threatened to be lost. Today it functions as that, and more. Serving the general Chicago population, the museum also acts as a safe space for education and exposure—a way to let people know that “they don’t have to have the sex they learned about in their seventh grade health class,” Storer says. “You’ll see artifacts and exhibits that might be able to start a conversation or dialogue,” Storer
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says. “Maybe if sex life was starting to get boring for a couple, they could come to a place like this and get new ideas.” But a walk through this museum is different than browsing the shelves of a sketchy store for a new toy. It’s different than being inspired by Fifty Shades of Grey to buy fetish paraphernalia. Storer says LA&M—although the displays are sexy and erotic—strives to distance itself from the usual “sex museum,” which oftentimes consists of just a “little display in the back of a sex shop that really doesn’t get a lot of attention.” “Our goal was to make this a legitimate archives and library museum that thinks about leather and fetish and sexuality in a serious way,” Storer says. “So while the exhibits in the Leather Archives are definitely provocative, we also use professional standards and bright lighting, and we care for the artifacts as you would any other historical object.” And while the erotic elements are still there, “safety quizzes” separate the whips from the chains along the wall. The dialogue of a film documenting the history of pornography mingles with the more sensual sounds of a porno playing in an adjacent exhibit. Historical recounts accompany the explicit art hung on the walls. ”These are sexual objects and sexual artifacts,” Storer says. “We want to display them in an environment that’s appropriate.” When it comes to the Leather Archives & Museum, society’s struggle in keeping sexuality either private or exposed comes to the forefront. There‘s a feeling of being watched while roaming the empty exhibits, of being acutely aware (and slightly embarrassed) that you’re staring at a mannequin in leather chaps. But there’s also an utter nakedness in the artifacts in which they are presented and observed—a realization that the photos, art, videos, sounds, toys and clothing were once the personal objects of average people. Nothing is held back once inside; but first, you must walk through the unassuming front doors, stepping from the public into the intimate. NOVEMBER 2014 • STITCHFASHION.COM • 31
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STOLEN MOMENTS Photos BY SEAN SU DIRECTED BY BEATRICE HAGNEY & SARAH SPELLINGS MODELS Rachel Conley, Grant Rindner, & Udita Persaud
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PHOTO CREDIT
ON GRANT SHIRT: J. CREW PANTS: URBAN OUTFITTERS SUNGLASSES: RAY BAN SHOES: Sid Mashburn BRACELETS: model’S OWN
ON UDITA SHIRT: H&M TRENCH COAT: GAP 35 • STITCHFASHION.COM • NOVEMBER 2014
SHIRT: GAP PANTS: URBAN OUTFITTERS BLAZER: URBAN OUTFITTERS SHOES: Sid Mashburn BRACELETS: model’s OWN BOW TIE: BROOKS BROTHERS
PHOTO CREDIT
ON RACHEL SHIRT: LUSH EARRINGS: model’s OWN 37 • STITCHFASHION.COM • WILDCAT WELCOME 2014
SHIRT: J. CREW SUNGLASSES: RAY-BAN NOVEMBER 2014 • STITCHFASHION.COM • 38
SWEATER: NASTY GAL SKIRT: TOPSHOP BRACELET & RING: vintage
DRESS: HARPER EARRINGS: BAUBLE BAR NECKLACE: VINTAGE
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PHOTO CREDIT
ON GRANT SHIRT: GAP JACKET: ZARA PANTS: URBAN OUTFITTERS BELT: COLE HAAN
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SWEATER: URBAN OUTFITTERS NECKLACE: URBAN OUTFITTERS
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are you gonna
stay the night? A LAST WORD ON WHAT HAPPENS IN THE AFTERMATH. By Luke Zhang
PHOTO CREDIT
L
CAMILLE BLACKMAN
et’s talk about sex. Whether you do it sparingly, every other night, or never at all, it’s a defining point of a relationship. Amidst the college hookup scene, sex often dominates the situation. It’s in this act that people search for a type of intimacy that creates an atmosphere of connection from one person to another. On the simplest level, this explains why some people hold out on sex until after a few dates. But others don’t hold out— and I don’t judge. However there is (in my opinion) something more intimate than sex: the part that happens after. Recently, I learned that any two people have a gravitational pull towards each other. I think it goes without saying that this pull is felt much more extensively in the dark, lying side-by-side. When the playful camaraderie is over, the darkness and silence that ensues suggests something more than what just occurred. A line is crossed when someone sleeps over after sex—and that’s widely agreed upon, at least on this campus. An unspoken expectation arises, as if the post-coitus act of sleeping in the same bed screams, “I want more.” More what? Sex? Feelings? There’s sleeping next to a friend and there’s sleeping next to a friend with benefits. In most cases, the former is harmless, truly without strings, while the latter implies an expectation. Why? Vulnerability. It’s the bane of everyone’s existence. Sleeping is such an innocent, primal act—perhaps the height of susceptibility. Physically, you’re trapped. And mentally, you’re entirely uninhibited.
Sharing this experience with somebody after an intense, physical connection can be strange. Are you expected to say goodnight (or good job)? A friend once told me, “There’s a cuddle limit after sex. Ten minutes, and you need to be on your way out.” And another said she would rather walk back home in the middle of the night than stay at the scene of the hookup. That tacit book of post-sex rules has yet to be fully dissected by any great philosopher, much less the average college student. Even seeing your fling on Sheridan Road ignites that gravitational pull, especially when you both share that look of understanding—unless, of course, you happen to be engrossed in a nonexistent text message on your iPhone. Perhaps the reason we ignore this electricity with our friends is because we’re willing to recognize its presence and expose our vulnerabilities. When we discover the opportunity for intimacy after sex, we have the option to avoid the inevitable, to stop the relationship before it even begins. Being intimate with someone you aren’t sexually involved with implies friendship. Being intimate with a hookup implies something much more. In an ideal world, sex would be the physical embodiment of intimacy in a relationship. Yet, we naturally view it in a variety of ways from a one-night stand to an economic purchase. It’s made clear in these instances that “It’s sex, not love.” When you’re finally comfortable with sleeping over, you’re embracing intimacy. And that’s what makes sleeping next to the one you love so damn sexy.
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