The WALK Fall/Winter 2020/21 by The WALK

FALL / W INTER 2 02 0 /21

Anna Jellinek Editor-in-Chief

Ania Swider, Bela Betsch Creative Directors

Claire Marucci, Gracelynn Wan Design Directors

Krishna Sivakumar

Pia Singh

Chae Kim, Lindsey Randall, Amanda Simpson

Finance Director

Video Director

Social Media Directors

Bebe Hodges

Emily Liu, Grace Wu

Kennedy Benjamin, Olivia de Rezende

Editorial Director

Operations Directors

Marketing Directors

Sky Karasik

Bella Ozomaro

Photography Director

Website Director

EDITORIAL

Fashion Editor Celine Okcu • Features Editor Eliana Waxman • People Editor Karen Pan Copy Editors Bella Ozomaro, Rebecca Redlich, Hannah Zhao • Writers Emily Liu, Mehek Boparai, Addie Brown, Aakruiti Ganeshan, Lucas

Brienza, Madeline Muldoon, Grace Holden, Navya Janga, Rebecca Redlich PHOTOGRAPHY

Photographers Oceania Eshraghi, Shirley Yang, Nathaly De La Paz, Gracelynn Wan, Erica Xin, Tessa Xie, Sudeep Solanki Bhargava,

Shinyoung Hailey Noh, Julia Deng, Adrianna Brusie, Jasmine Sun, Elisa Zhang, Elizabeth Lemieux, Christy Wu, Sarah Rex VIDEO

Videographers Savannah Stone, Brian Nguyen

DESIGN

Assistant Art Director Catherine Liu Layout Designers Chelsea Cheng, Sharon Kuo, Jane Dwares

Illustrators Jessi Olarsch, Catherine Liu, Isabel An, Vivienne Chen, Margaux Games, Jane Dwares

ST YLING & BEAUT Y

Fashion Director Paolo Nasr • Beauty Director Giovanni Sena • Apparel Coordinator Bela Betsch

Apparel Stylists Samantha Braffman, Jen Ahn, Ania Swider, Amy Win, Bo Ku, Ally Pisacane, Annie Ma, Megha Raman, Ellen Manford, Cecily Nishimura, Yanet Wossenseged, Vincent Paik, Christina Wittingham • Beauty Stylists Emily Yang, Nicole Ng, Keri Alexandera Zhang, Aaila Rasheed, Olivia de Rezende

FINANCE

Senior Corporate Sponsorship Chairs June Perteet, Ana Hallman, Odyssia Sifounaki, Tram Tran, Amanda Corporate Sponsorship Chairs Rebecca Yang, Niva Baniya, Rithu Rajagopala, Eliza Penn, Vivian Wang, Eric Kim, Paige Hosbein, Zaria

Dancer

OPERATIONS

Social Chairs Michelle Mahecha Perez, Catherine Liu, Erik Mucollari • Merch Designers Misheel Soyol-Erdene, Yanling Sun, Christina

Wittingham, Elizabeth Powell THE WALK ONLINE

Copyright © 2020 The WALK Magazine. All rights reserved. Stories edited by the editorial staff will carry bylines of the original author. Unless noted otherwise, all content is produced by The WALK teams. Please report corrections to thewalkmag@gmail.com. We will post corrections on our website, at www.thewalkmag.com. The University of Pennsylvania’s premier fashion magazine, The WALK was founded in 2006 as a student initiative and continues to be a student fueled organization. The WALK Online was launched in 2010 as a sister to the print edition. The WALK aims to satisfy our community’s widely-demanded fashion fix year-round. To get involved or learn about advertising and partnership opportunities, please contact us at thewalkmag@gmail.com.

Web Managing Editor Lana Salloum • Web Manager JooChan Shin Fashion Editors Bebe Hodges, Eunice Chong • Health & Beauty Editor Lana Salloum • Culture Editor Karynton Crawford • Website Creative Director Julia Deng • Fashion Writers Emma Sheldon, Jamie Song, Sarah Jeon, Navya Janga, Adelyn Chen, Grace Holden • Health & Beauty Writers Natalie McTigue • Culture Writers Rebecca Yang, Rekha Marar, Sia-Linda Lebbie, Hannah Bernstein • Beauty Stylists Nicole Ng, Hannah Lee • Apparel Stylists Alice Zhao, Amanda Cohn, Shawn Byabato • Photographers/Videographers Erica Xin, Sean Sidi

MARKETING

Brand Outreach Coordinators Anna Callahan, Sofia Graziano, Sofia de la Sierra Event Coordinators Caroline Kaplan, Eliza Penn, Ava Cruz, Solunma Nwankwo, Giselle Wagner

SOCIAL MEDIA

Engagement Managers Brooke Price, Stella Hung • Content Producers Oceania Eshraghi, Rithu Rajagopala, Lynda Pham, Maya Sherwood, Jaya Krishnan, Mahaa Ayub, Hansie Wang • Photographer Dina Ley

The WALK Magazine

Fall/Winter 2020/21

The Connected Issue

New Classics PHOTO ESSAY

Masks: Essential, But a Social Obstacle Navigating interactions through a piece of cloth

Wearing Your Vote Exploring the role of campaign merchandise and designer partnerships in the political world.

Cover Look: CONNECTION The Connected Issue would not have been complete without a digital shoot pushing the bounds of what we can create while we’re physically separated. This issue’s cover look features Myahn Walker (C’22) in a self-directed shoot over Zoom. See Network Connections for more of our models’ at-home looks.

The Ever-Growing Influencer Space and Its Next Target: The Fashion Industry The role of an influencer as a rule breaker

Network Connection PHOTO ESSAY

Heart to Heart A Q&A with the creators of “Heart to Heart: The Lived Experiences of Two Young Black Women” podcast

Democratizing Art Is the Surest Way to Protect It: An Argument for the Public Domain

Saving The Arts: Why is the public domain so important?

i hate you, i love you: an homage to flying Goodbye aviophobia, hello travel

Show and Tell PHOTO ESSAY: Lua Beckman (C’22) shares her artwork and crochet with The WALK in an at-home shoot

Reflecting on the Rebirth of the Mirror Selfie Staying safe and “seen” in our new reality

Big Men, Little Rep

How plus-sized men continue to be largely underrepresented in American fashion

The WALK Magazine

Fall/Winter 2020/21

The Connected Issue

online

THE WALK Letter from the

Editor

hen the idea for the Connected issue came to be, I’ll admit it seemed obvious. It didn’t feel far off to predict “connection” to become the next “unprecedented,” a word that has become so commonplace it almost always evokes an eye roll. Yet for a word that’s become ubiquitous as we keep a pause (should I succumb to calling it a full-stop at this point?) on life as we know it, “connection” isn’t as replaceable as one might think. Enter: The WALK’s Fall/Winter 2020/21 edition: The Connected Issue. Connection is both tangible and intangible. It is both utilitarian and emotional. It is human and technological. In watching this issue unfold, I was inspired in witnessing an idea take so many forms both on and off the page. Connection is practically every-day; we connect to wifi, log onto Zoom, refresh our social media feeds without much thought. And yet, it is simultaneously highly personal: We seek connection to others (platonically, romantically, and otherwise) and to the social movements and political campaigns important to us. It’s been an absolute pleasure to work with such a creative group and have the opportunity to make something to share with our readers. Throughout this issue, the team explores connection in a multitude of ways. Our cover shoot, “Network Connection”, shot completely over Zoom, marks a creative divergence from the typical mundanity of our everyday virtual interactions. In “Heart to Heart” Bebe Hodges speaks with Brea Watkins (C’22) and Kim Collins about their podcast “Heart to Heart: The Lived Experiences of Two Young Black Women” started as an outlet to share their experiences as Black women and help listeners feel heard. Rebecca Redlich’s “i hate you, i love you: an homage to flying”

The WALK Magazine

Fall/Winter 2020/21

H IG H L IG H TS T H IS FA L L

Top Left. What’s in a name? In defense of knock-off culture by Grace Holden Top Right. Blending Style and Sustainability in Sneakers by Lola Thrower Middle Left. Megan Thee Stallion: ‘Protect Black Women’ Shouldn’t Be A Controversial Thing To Say by Rekha Marar Middle Right. When Appreciation Becomes Appropriation by Jamie Song Bottom Left. TikTok: Our Biggest Fashion Influencer by Jamie Song Bottom Right. Deliria by Julia Deng

discusses her nostalgia for once-despicable-butnow-somehow-desirable connecting flights. Though connection is perhaps a bit elusive and often highly personal, I hope you find our collection of articles and photos relatable—and maybe leave these pages feeling a bit more connected. A special thank you to The WALK team, who rallied across the country and around the globe to bring this edition to life. Thank you to our contributors and models for helping us in that undertaking, and, of course, thank you for reading. I hope to connect with you IRL very soon. All my best,

Anna Jellinek Editor-in-Chief

The Connected Issue

The WALK Magazine

NEW CLASSIC

Fall/Winter 2020/21

The Connected Issue

The WALK Magazine

Fall/Winter 2020/21

The Connected Issue

The WALK Magazine

Fall/Winter 2020/21

The Connected Issue

Directed and styled by Ania Swider, Bela Betsch. Photographed by Christy Wu. Modeled by Tyler Daniels, Tomasz Tabernacki, Eliza Roessler, Nihal Kotragouda, Julian Zambrano.

The WALK Magazine

Fall/Winter 2020/21

The Connected Issue

However, this much-needed safety comes at a price: our ability to express ourselves using facial expressions. Smiles not only serve as a tool to elevate our mood and release endorphins, but they are also a valuable indicator to those around us. They invite interaction and demonstrate our friendliness and warmth. Without our smiles, we lose our ability to easily portray to others that we aren’t hostile. The days of offering a reassuring smile to a neighbor or cashier are behind us, at least for the time being, replaced by a 7x4 inch cloth.

SO WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT THIS? Though the obstacles raised when our smiles are covered aren’t completely maneuverable, there are ways that we can express our friendliness to one another without our mouths being visible.

MAKE MORE OF AN EFFORT TO LAUGH AUDIBLY AND SPEAK OUR EMOTIONS. While masks may inhibit some of our body language, we can still express ourselves through language. You just might need to be more cognisant to do so. EMBRACE THE DUCHENNE SMILE. The Duchenne smile is an expression that communicates true enjoyment and utilizes parts of the face other than the mouth. Duchenne smiles reach the eyes, which, fortunately, are not concealed by masks. These smiles are also recognizable to others as a reflection of genuine happiness.

USE EYE CONTACT AND NODDING.

MASKS: A GUIDE TO NAVIGATING INTERACTIONS THROUGH A PIECE OF CLOTH When reflecting upon life during a pandemic, perhaps the most quintessential feature is the use of masks. As people worldwide began to exit their quarantines and re-enter the public sphere, masks were added to the list of excursion essentials, apace with car keys and cell phones. As you walk down the street you’ll find them in different colors and styles, whether it be the customary powder-blue disposables, reliable N95s or cloth masks in various patterns. Masks have become a new form of self-expression during what has become our lamentable and peculiar new reality.

The WALK Magazine

Fall/Winter 2020/21

Essential, but a Social Obstacle BY: MADELINE MULDOON ILLUSTRATION BY: VIVIENNE CHEN There is no denying that wearing a mask is vital during the pandemic. COVID-19 primarily spreads through respiratory droplets — without a mask, our risk of contracting the novel coronavirus skyrockets. We must wear masks to protect ourselves and those around us, regardless of whether or not one feels sick. According to the CDC, those who are asymptomatic or presymptomatic are estimated to account for over 50% of transmissions. Masks provide us with safety, without which we likely couldn’t walk in public at all, and they are here to stay for quite some time.

We learn at a young age the importance of maintaining eye contact in a conversation, but, during the pandemic, eye contact and head movements are critical for demonstrating to others that we are listening and care about what they have to say.

EXPRESSING YOURSELF THROUGH YOUR MASK A desirable upside to mask-wearing is that it has provided us with a new accessory to have fun with. Whether by deliberately pairing your mask with your outfit or flirting with various prints and fabrics, you can style your mask in a way that is unique to you.

The pandemic has taught us to take nothing for granted. We have lost many of the opportunities that we would usually have to interact with one another, whether it be in class or at social gatherings. Communication now primarily takes place via Zoom or Facetime — conversations, hugs and face-to-face interaction have been replaced by digital imitation. Among these everyday interactions that we formerly took for granted is our ability to smile at one another, whether that be to our mailman, neighbor or a classmate that we never even realized we had a relationship with until now. And while the methods posed in this piece are not perfect, they can still salvage some of what is lost when our smiles are covered.

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WEARING YOUR VOTE: A Trend That Dominated the 2020 Presidential Election

BY: GRACE HOLDEN

Above: 19 of America’s Top Designers pose in their “Believe in Better ” merchandise designs for the Biden-Harris campaign, from Vogue.com

The WALK Magazine

A view from abroad on campaign merchandise and designer partnerships in the political world: an exploration of its origins, its design and its role in a new frontier of protest fashion.

Fall/Winter 2020/21

hile I observed the spectacle and drama of the U.S. presidential race unfold from my home in England, I was shocked, captivated and horrified by many things in the weeks leading up to November 3rd. But what particularly stood out, as I obsessively refreshed news feeds, was the ubiquity of campaign merchandise. The idea of wearing your vote — literally displaying your political loyalties across your chest — is perhaps a uniquely American phenomenon. As elite fashion designers, like Vera Wang and Tory Burch, partner with Biden’s campaign, high fashion seemingly has a new role: operating as an indispensable tool for disseminating ideas during election periods.

This begs the question of how campaign merchandise as we know it today came into existence, how it became so entwined with political races in the U.S. and what has motivated some of the world’s most influential designers to partner with political candidates. It is worth mentioning that the role of campaign merchandise in the most recent election has been significant in ways uncharted in its long history. This was an election that will be remembered as, among other things, the election that took place amidst an era of uncertainty and isolation — it has been anything but a normal election year. Yet, from a six-foot distance, political attire and campaign merchandise prevailed as a quick way to connect with strangers and friends alike. Immediate solidarity can be found in spotting someone who shares your political views and ethos. Campaign merchandise, and thus fashion itself, has unified Americans: walking six feet apart yet toward the same political ends. Conversely, campaign merchandise can be a symbol of defiance, a risk taken in the face of derision, for those existing in spaces dominated by political opponents. Whichever way you look at it, the 2020 election has sparked political controversies which have filtered down into the realm of fashion.

Of course, campaign merchandise is not unique to the 2020 presidential race. From buttons demonstrating allegiance to George Washington to official presidential baby onepieces, campaign merchandise is a fixture of American politics. Throughout the 19th century, silk ribbons, tied around a hatband or fastened to a jacket, best fit the modern definition of campaign merchandise. Actual clothing as a display of political leanings was confined to parades until well after 1920, when women won the right to vote, as the first examples of campaign wear, in its modern sense, were marketed toward women. For example, Dwight Eisenhower’s nickname “Ike” was plastered on dresses during his 1953 campaign, and paper dresses decorated with the word “Nixon,” rose to prominence in 1968. Thus, politicized fashion as we know it emerged slowly over the twentieth century, driven forward by both a marketing and a financial benefit for candidates. Ultimately, campaign wear engenders a civic spirit surrounding election periods and has done so since the birth of the nation itself.

Above: (From left to right) Brass buttons sold as souvenirs of Washington’s inauguration; 1860 Lincoln silk ribbon; 1956 Eisenhower Ike dress; 1968 Nixon paper dress

Selling merchandise in the online domain and designer merchandise collaborations can be traced back to Barack Obama’s 2008 Runway for Change initiative, the brainchild of Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour. New to the political scene, Wintour worked with campaign officials to gather contributions from 25 designers on a Runway for Change website. For the very first time, high fashion coalesced with the presidential campaign in the form of patriotic designer wear available for purchase, setting in motion a new role for fashion during election periods. It’s perhaps the model from which subsequent Democrat-designer collaborations emerged. Since then, fashion merchandising and designer partnerships have been inextricably linked with marketing for and promoting political candidates. Much evolved from fledgling 2008-era websites, today, merch sites for the GOP and Democratic presidential candidates have a substantial body of products on sale. Donald Trump’s merchandise website — not merely a couple of gimmicky slogan tees — offers a vast range of products, with the apparel tab split into “Men,” “Women,” “Youth” and “Accessories. The infamous MAGA hat — an undeniable marketing marvel — is available in a range of different colors. On the other end of the spectrum, Joe Biden’s campaign website includes collections ranging from “Biden/ Harris” to the “Pride” collection; even the word “collection” evokes thoughts of elite fashion houses. Fashion is now a tool for proliferating political messages on a scale that has never been seen before.

The Connected Issue

The most recent and significant intersection of fashion and politics has been the backing of the Biden-Harris bid by 19 of America’s top designers. The Believe in Better collection features a diverse group of talented designers, including the likes of Tory Burch, Vera Wang, Gabriela Hearst and Edie Parker. Aurora James created a sweatshirt with a vintage look that reads “We Make The Difference. Black Women For Biden/Harris 2020” for the collection, while Joe Perez delivered a tie-dye faux-concert tee and Victor Glemaud a Biden/Harris bucket hat. The designers were mobilized by the current political climate as well as a belief that fashion could help unite Biden supporters and win the election. Joseph Altuzarra’s contribution particularly speaks to the pride designers share in supporting the Biden-Harris bid. On his Instagram, Altuzarra said he “was interested in bringing back the bandana as a piece of political messaging,” referencing the 1970s use of the bandana as a way for gay men to silently communicate. Altuzarra’s two bandanas link this symbol of solidarity from the ’70s to the unifying effect of campaign merchandise in our modern era of isolation. Civic-minded hope and belief in a healing new leadership is a common motivation among the designers who took up arms to create pieces for the Believe in Better collection. All 19 designers have created pieces ranging from $40 to $60, a marker of affordability that is not insignificant. Such prices put designer clothing within the budget of the average American voter, incentivising purchase of the pieces. In this way, involvement of normal Americans is encouraged in both the realm of political processes and the often alien world of high fashion.

Such cooperation between designers and politicians, funnily enough, subverts everything I personally held to be true about fashion. When I think of fashion and its relationship with politics, I think first of defiance, rejecting orthodoxy and blurring lines. I think of designers as artists rising against “the man” and the institutions which maintain patriarchy and injustice — all via the medium of clothing. There is something interesting to be said about 19 designers conforming to the structures of political campaigning and using fashion to push the agenda of a political party. Rather than being boundary pushers, they are operating within the boundaries themselves. I would argue that this is simply a necessary and new iteration of protest fashion. Fashion, with all its rebellious roots, remains true to itself by working against an administration that has wounded the soul of the nation, in the words of Biden campaigners. Yet, there remain distinctions to be made between campaign merchandise and the looks revered on the catwalk. It is the beholder of haute couture who is tasked with unraveling the nuances and implicit political statements seen on catwalks. When contrasted to this, there’s definitely a certain charm in the manner of campaign merchandise to purposefully and unapologetically state allegiances without the need for subtleties. What you see is what you get with campaign merchandise, constructing a new and accessible face for protest fashion. Even if designer-politician partnerships are unheard of in my home country, fashion as a lens through which to criticize the established political order is something that is universally understood among the fashion community. I will continue to look on in fascination at Americans on TV, enthusiastically kitted out in the slogans of their preferred political candidates; yet, I can respect the American appetite for wearing their vote. With its deeprooted history, its burgeoning role in protest fashion and, most recently, its ability to offer political community and solidarity from a safe distance, this is an election phenomenon that’s here to stay.

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ON INSTAGRAM THIS ISSUE

Left: Joseph Altuzarra wearing one of his bandanas from the Believe in Better collection

The WALK Magazine

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The Ever-Growing Influencer Space And Its Next Target: The Fashion Industry

unfiltered photos of themselves in Aerie products to social media. Furthermore, after Victoria’s Secret saw a major decline in sales after 2017, the lingerie company decided to hire their first plus-sized model in October of 2019 as a result of a growing emphasis on body positivity among influencers and consumers. Not only are influencers affecting the fashion industry from a bottom-up approach,

but fashion houses have also started to meet the masses through user-generated platforms like TikTok. Before the pandemic, fashion houses left the app untouched. But with the huge growth of influencers and their followers, especially during the pandemic, luxury brands like Louis Vuitton are beginning to join TikTok. And according to Maryleigh Bliss, the Vice President of Ypulse, a marketing firm

specializing in Gen Z consumers, the reason is clear: “the growth of TikTok among the next generation of shoppers has been enormous.” TikTok has given the world a new way of branding itself. It is a platform where people are able to challenge the rigid social constructs that are being broken down by some of your biggest role models.

BY LUCAS BRIENZA C’24 ILLUSTRATION BY MARGAUX GAMES C’22

How content creators are challenging an elitist fashion industry.

Informality of Fashion

TikTok influencers are invading the fashion industry. Both Addison Rae and Dixie D’Amelio, top TikTok creators, have earned front-row seats to Chanel fashion shows. Content creators proved their knowledge of and interest in the fashion industry with the viral #GucciModelChallenge. And luxury brands have strategically aligned themselves with young, fresh superstars like Charli D’Amelio — who filmed a behind-the-scenes video with Prada models — and Emma Chamberlain — who is a marketing partner for Louis Vuitton. But the growing influence that TikTok and other user-generated content platforms have on the fashion industry speaks to a seismic shift away from the industry’s elitist, exclusionary approach of the past. “Anyone can be an influencer,” said DJ Lilli, a Danish DJ and TikTok influencer born Lilli Gmoller, in an October 2020 interview with The WALK. The beauty of TikTok is that no one needs a publicist or an agent to become an online sensation. And if anyone can be an influencer, then anyone can transform an industry historically dominated by elite fashion houses to reflect the demands of everyday people.

The WALK Magazine

Fall/Winter 2020/21

Social Media Butterflies or Fashion Gurus?

Not only can anyone influence the industry thanks to the popularity of social media apps like TikTok, but usergenerated content enables a more authentic representation of fashion. Influencers aren’t separate from the masses; rather, they rise from them, especially because of the fast rate at which someone can gain a large following. When looking at influencers like Addison Rae, these people are not from famous families like the Hadids or the Jenners. After all, Rae was just a freshman at Louisiana State University before joining TikTok. The silver lining of the influencer space is that they are creating content for people who could just as easily be their friends rather than their fans. “I don’t want to just be the DJ. I want to share my life and my thoughts so people can connect with me,” DJ Lilli said, referring to her TikTok presence. For content creators like DJ Lilli, their influence is a way to stay connected and real with other users. Furthermore, unlike many of the sculpted models we see on advertisements from big fashion houses, influencers like DJ Lilli exhibit an unfiltered lifestyle instead of pictureperfect, model-like behavior. DJ Lilli, who

gained over 500 thousand followers on TikTok in just 6 weeks, credits much of her success to her visual authenticity. DJ Lilli spoke about this aspect of TikTok when referring to Emma Chamberlain, who she said “is destroying that perfect persona,” expected of people in the media. Chamberlain, a prominent, 19-year-old YouTuber and influencer, is the antithesis of a new generation built on unrealistic beauty standards. She uses her YouTube channel as a means to explore a more everyday style of fashion rather than emphasizing fantastical, vogueish outfits. As the idea of perfection continues to be evaluated, Gen-Z influencers on social media have reinforced the concept that a thigh gap or size-zero waist no longer makes you a role model. Thanks to influencers, we can witness a tangible, measured change in the industry. In response to influencer rhetoric that celebrates plus-size bodies, some brands changed their marketing tactics. For example, Aerie began emphasizing ethicality as well as plus-sized clothing through their campaign and hashtag, AerieReal. This campaign celebrated “real women,” encouraging consumers to upload

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FROM THEIR HEARTS TO YOUR EARS

BREA: All of the social justice issues that were happening

in June, specifically the killing of George Floyd, and all the people who reached out to us afterward spurred us to make the podcast. We wanted to create a streamlined place to channel all of our feelings and experiences and let our voices be heard for what feels like the first time.

A Q&A WITH THE CREATORS OF “HEART TO HEART: THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF TWO YOUNG BLACK WOMEN” PODCAST

KIM: June 2020 was a big turning point in that a lot more

people were actually open to really deeply understanding the racial inequity in this country and really trying to look at the killing of George Floyd and so many others beyond this singular incident as a systemic issue. I think we both felt that people will be more open to hearing what we have to say.

BY: BEBE HODGES

These two college-aged creators open up about their racialized experiences as Black women in a new podcast.

rom 276 miles away, Brea Watkins (C’22) and Kim Collins, a junior at Brown University, sit in their respective student housing and call into Anchor, a podcasting software company. Watkins’ friendly voice transmits a hello to Collins and to “all our listeners,” to whom she welcomes to their weekly podcast “Heart to Heart: The Lived Experiences of Two Young Black Women.” For the next 30 minutes, Watkins and Collins delve into their topic of the week, which range from colorism to the importance of voting to influencer responsibility, but regularly analyzed through their own experiences. Watkins and Collins launched “Heart to Heart” in June of 2020, weeks after George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed in Minneapolis police custody. Amid Black Lives Matter protests and nationwide discussions on systemic racism, Collins and Watkins created a podcast that explores racial issues and, in later episodes, other social topics as well. To explain an issue, the content creators cite reputable articles and define academic vocabulary. To humanize an issue, Collins and Watkins often point to stories from their own lives. Watkins and Collins grew up in Westchester County in New York and became “inseparable” in high school. In their roughly 60-person classes, they were often two of fewer than ten Black students; they confessed to each other the hardships that they faced, consoled each other and coped with laughter. This same vulnerability, mixed with witty humor, is apparent in their episodes, making the listener feel like they are eavesdropping on a conversation between friends. Although Watkins, who majors in environmental studies at Penn, and Collins, who studies Africana studies and public policy on the pre-law track at Brown, now live hundreds of miles apart, they are connected by a passion for equality. In a series of Zoom interviews, the two collegeaged content creators discussed the goals for their podcast, a need for Black female voices and stories to become more mainstream and the Black Lives Matter movement. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The WALK Magazine

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Why did you two set out to make a podcast? And why did you feel that June 2020 was the right time to do so?

What did you two want the podcast to be? BREA: We wanted it to be a safe space for ourselves but also

a safe space for other Black women and young women our age. Something that got us through all of our experiences was knowing that we weren’t alone. We weren’t alone because we had each other but also because we knew that so many other girls like us were experiencing the same microaggressions, the same little comments, the same out of place feelings. KIM: I remember being in high school and wishing that we

had a bigger group of Black girls who we could communicate all of these feelings to. A podcast may not give you physical friends, but it does give you somebody to help you understand that everything you’re feeling is normal. When nobody’s talking about it, you don’t feel like what you’re going through is normal.

Were you inspired by any Black female content creators? BREA: I mean, the Black content creators I follow are more in a

lifestyle space. And I think, honestly, the lack of representation inspired me more than a specific Black influencer.

KIM: Yeah, I agree. I think we saw ourselves as filling a needed

gap.

“We weren’t alone because we had each other but also because we knew that so many other girls like us were experiencing the same microaggressions, the same little comments, the same out of place feelings.”

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KIM: There were some episodes where we talked about

In my research, I struggled to find content creators that had similar backgrounds as yourselves, meaning that they’re also Black, female, college-aged students. So in that sense, as content creators, you two are unique. But also, like what you two had mentioned, you are unique in terms of what you discuss — your experiences as Black women.

how, especially in high school, we felt like people really held us to a different standard. That took the form of people complimenting us and thinking that we were perfect— BREA: —Treating us very gingerly and very delicately. We

experienced that with a specific teacher. For everyone else, if they didn’t understand something, that teacher would say, ‘You guys got it. Figure it out.’ But if we had a question, she’d say, ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t explain it correctly. Well, I’ll help you through it.’ That’s not blatantly mean or racist, but it is so informed by race.

KIM: One thing that is really frustrating for both Brea and

myself is that people aren’t really talking about the hardhitting topics that need to be talked about. Of course, you do have some content creators of color who have touched on these things, but Brea and I really want it to become normal. BREA: I think that it’s important that we have this platform

I think our stories do a good job of explaining the nuances of racism. It’s not like people are telling us to go to the back of the bus mostly — even though we have a story about that. We are expressing that how people treat us is very varied and very weird.

because there are not a lot of people like us who are highlighted. It’s important that we see normal Black girls represented in the media. For so long, the people I’ve watched on YouTube are quote-unquote ‘normal white girls,’ who make their coffee in the morning and go to SoulCycle. And that’s all fine and dandy, but there are like no Black people in that sphere. That’s not our content. But, I want people to see that not only do we talk about the hard issues, but we’re also normal girls. I think that sometimes you have to be one thing as a Black girl on the internet. I hope that we can break a bunch of barriers by talking about important issues but also by talking about our feelings, making jokes and having fun conversations on the podcast.

In this interview and in your podcast, you two have shared examples of how your high school peers treated you differently because of race. Have any of those students responded to your podcast?

BREA: Yes, we have received messages from people

apologizing for being bystanders. That was really shocking to hear. You make yourself comfortable with the idea that you’ll never get an apology, or you’ll never get an acknowledgement for things that you’ve gone through. So to then get that after you share experiences brought some peace to some old wounds. KIM: When we share our stories, we don’t provide the most

You two have spoken about wanting to educate listeners. Have you heard back from any listeners saying that you two have given them the tools to discuss issues centered around race?

BREA: Especially in the first season, when we were focusing

on our personal stories, we got a lot of messages from people talking about how the podcast really helped them find the vocabulary to look back at their own actions critically.

What I think we do well is we really aren’t coming into the podcast judgment-based. We’re just sharing our experiences and letting people know the ins-and-outs of things and how we felt. I think that helps people take away the shame and actually hear what we’re saying and be like, ‘Oh, okay, that’s the term. I’ve done that before. I want to work on that.’

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detailed accounts of what happened because we never want to call people out. But some of the people who have messaged us and apologized haven’t even been associated with incidents that we share.

It’s interesting to see how sometimes in moments of stepping up and being an ally, people knew in their heart, they didn’t do it. And then, when we kind of called it out, people, who we weren’t even expecting to contact us, contacted us and apologized. I think it shows that deep down a lot of people know and understand how they should be an ally or how they should be stepping up for the right cause but have been scared to do it. I think us sharing these stories has, hopefully, lit a fire under some of these people and helped them realize that not saying anything is also saying a lot.

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I want to pivot and talk about The Black Lives Matter movement. In a lot of the mainstream discourse I’ve consumed, “Black Lives Matter” is discussed in the context of police brutality and the killing of young, Black, unarmed men. This is, of course, so important to discuss, but it leaves out others issues that you two bring up in your podcast. So, I just want to talk about, for you two what does Black Lives Matter mean and how do you express that in “Heart to Heart?”

KIM: I think our answer to that question really shines through

so many different episodes. For us, it’s, number one, an acknowledgement that gender and sexuality also have to be incorporated into the Black lives that we’re lifting up. A lot of people have actually adopted the term, ‘All Black Lives Matter,’ to indicate that we have to look at issues specific to Black women, or Black transgender people or whoever it may be. We have to look at the intersectionality of the Black Lives Matter movement in terms of what policies we advocate for and the faces that we decide to put at the front of this movement. The movement is not just about police brutality. It’s about economic justice. It’s about housing justice. It’s about so many different things. In my own personal studies at school, I do work surrounding Black female incarceration because so many of these intersectional experiences and stories are left out.

“Heart to Heart” covers such a wide variety of issues that are complex and intersectional. What is the main message that you want your listeners to take away from the podcast?

BREA: The first phrase that comes to mind, which I think

“If you start to just focus on one certain set of individuals, you create other inequalities within this movement that’s supposed to be about equity.”

goes for everyone but especially Black women, is that this is a safe space. Everything we do is for us, by us. If other people want to hear it and educate themselves, they are definitely free to listen. But for Black women, we’re talking about things that historically just aren’t talked about, and we’re creating a space for us that we can have and find comfort in. KIM: I always want people to walk away with more

questions and more topics to dive into. I want it to be a constant learning process.

I never want people to listen to our episode and think, ‘Okay, I’m done. I listened to a podcast episode about Black feminism, and now I know everything.’ It’s an introduction to more topics and conversations that we want continued. Because, again, if you continue those conversations, then we achieve the aim of trying to get this discourse into our normal, mainstream conversation.

If you start to just focus on one certain set of individuals, you create other inequalities within this movement that’s supposed to be about equity. BREA: I think that there’s environmental justice as well,

which is what I focus on in my major. And like Kim said, the last thing we want to do in a movement about equality is create more inequality. The fact that we need to have a separate ‘Say-Her-Name’ hashtag in addition to the ‘Black-Lives-Matter’ hashtag already shows that we’re recreating gender inequality within a movement that’s supposed to be for everyone. I think that our podcast, because it focuses on stories from two Black young women, plays a small part to try to combat the mainstream narrative.

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“Heart to Heart: The Lived Experiences of Two Young Black Women” is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all other podcast-listening platforms.

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Democratizing Art Is The Surest Way To Protect It: An Argument for the Public Domain WHY WE NEED TO LET ART BE FREE TO ENSURE ITS CONSISTENT VALUE. As esoteric as the concept may seem, copyright law is more relevant than you think. Anyone who spent their preteen years uploading content to their YouTube channel, complete with a Neon Trees track blaring in the background, only to have their video or sound removed can vouch for that. Copyright law fundamentally affects the way we consume and appropriate artistic content by literally putting a price on art. At its core, copyright law intends to incentivize creativity by allowing creators to profit off temporary monopolies of their work. In the U.S., there is only one realm of art that is truly free — works in the public domain. Content in the public domain is not protected by copyright law and is therefore readily available and accessible for no monetary compensation. There are four ways by which works arrive in the public domain, the most common of which is expiration of copyright. However, copyright durations in the United States are lengthy and controversial. In 1976, Congress overhauled the copyright system, granting creators a copyright period of up to 75 years. This kept iconic copyrighted works, such as Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Disney’s original “Steamboat Willie” short, out of the reach of the public domain until the late ’90s. However, after intense lobbying from the entertainment industry, the period was extended in 1998 to up to 95 years. The bill responsible for this extension, the Copyright Term Extension Act, was nicknamed the Mickey Mouse Protection Act as an homage to the corporate lobbyists behind it. The most likely motivator for such sizable copyright periods is predictably viridescent. Corporations’ owners and estate holders profit from keeping their works out of the public domain. Senator Hank Brown (R-Colo.) addressed this in his remarks on the 1998 bill proposal, stating “the real incentive here is for corporate owners that

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bought copyrights to lobby Congress for another 20 years of revenue — not for creators who will be long dead once this term extension takes hold.” Corporate owners and estates have offered their own explanations for extending copyright periods. The Walt Disney Corporation staged an aggressive campaign to retain control of their copyrighted works, spending hundreds of thousands on lobbying efforts. In 1998, they claimed that their support for copyright extension was “a matter of giving American entertainment the same rights that the European Union gave to European companies.” Disney is by no means alone — The Gershwin estate has long been campaigning to extend copyrights on Gershwin’s opera “Porgy and Bess.” Marc Gershwin, the nephew of the famed composer, said his concerns are culturally oriented. “The monetary part is important, but if works of art are in the public domain, you can take them and do whatever you want with them,” Gershwin told the New York Times in 1998, “...Someone could turn ‘Porgy and Bess’ into rap music.” Gershwin’s comments are in poor taste — largely because “Porgy and Bess” is already mired in issues of stereotyping and cultural appropriation. “The work of the Gershwin brothers drew on African American musical traditions. What could be more appropriate?” wrote Steve Zeitlin of the New York Times. However, his remarks point to a larger trend of cultural elitism in the arguments for copyright extension periods. Paul Heald, a law professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, conducted a 2012 empirical study on copyright domain periods and found three commonly cited arguments against the public domain. First, that non-copyrighted works didn’t receive enough distribution and, second, that they would be overly distributed. Obviously, these claims are oxymoronic: works cannot simultaneously be over-and underused. The third argument was that these works would be debased through relation to pornographic material.

Ultimately, Heald and his colleagues found no pattern validating any of these claims, concluding that “The real motivation... was keeping financial control over works with residual popularity.” Tying the cultural merits of art to its financial value seems especially flawed here because it curbs the very innovation that copyright law is supposed to facilitate. The arts are a symbiotic field — works consistently inspire one another to sustain value. Many works we regard as staples began as imitations of something else. Though it is reasonable to have a period wherein creators can profit off their labor, the laborious duration of these periods reflect their disingenuous intentions. Beyond artistic proliferation and innovation, the public domain seeks to preserve arts and culture: works in this domain can be freely restored and digitized. As such, the 1998 extension act meant the literal death of some works, as film and audio originals disintegrated beyond repair. In an interview with the university’s newspaper, Duke law professor Jennifer Jenkins said “The problem is that only maybe one percent of works are still generating any income… so for those 99 percent of works, no one got any benefit.”

While thousands of films created in the early twentieth century have decayed, a majority of the remaining ones are in a precarious position. These orphan films have uncontactable copyright owners and sit on the precipice of decay. They cannot be restored or digitized, because they’re not in the public domain. The Museum of Modern Art alone contains around 6,500 orphaned films. Some also contend that restrictive copyright laws inhibit freedom of expression, infringing upon First Amendment rights. In an Amicus Brief to Eldred v. Ashcroft, the Free Software Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes computer user freedom, said “The making of new works by the criticism, imitation, revision, and rearrangement of existing material is the hallmark of literate culture in all the arts and sciences.” It would not be hyperbolic, then, to characterize the public domain as a fundamental artistic right. Art should be held distinct from corporate financial motives as best as possible. Obviously, total separation is impossible. However, we can prioritize cultural proliferation and preservation over monetary incentives by giving the public domain more legislative significance. If the public domain were to be treated as sacrosanct, creativity would truly know no bounds.

BY ILL AAKR US TR UTI G AT IO ANE N B SH YI SA AN C ’ BE L A 22. NW ’24 .

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i hate you, i love you: an homage to flying The desire to “getaway” is becoming increasingly prevalent due to the sedentary aspect of our lives within this global epidemic.

BY REBECCA REDLICH C’23

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Connecting flight n. 1. the most abysmal, stress-inducing form of transportation.

You shove your way off the stuffy plane, gearing up to sprint through a maze of terminals in an unfamiliar airport in a city you can’t quite remember the name of. As you make your way to Gate 32, the loudspeaker crackles to life. “Gate 32 has been moved to 24,” a voice announces mockingly, as if it takes pleasure in watching travelers run aimlessly in circles. You quickly pivot and sprint in the other direction, baggage flying behind you. After bumping into a few too many people, you reach the gate just in time to board your connecting flight dead last. It is only once you settle into your middle seat in the back row, still breathing heavily, that you realize you are missing one of your bags… Many frequent flyers can vividly imagine an experience similar to this disastrous one. But, in my opinion, the pandemonium is worth every bead of sweat and every piece of lost luggage. The pandemic has upended many of our lives and substantially limited travel. Many people won’t risk being locked in an enclosed space with little to no air circulation for more than a couple of minutes. Personally, the restrictions on flying have triggered a strong sense of wanderlust. Channeling Joni Mitchell in “Big Yellow Taxi,” “you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.” It was a shock, realizing that I truly miss airports. Despite being an avid flyer previous to the pandemic, as an aviophobe, I have never been the greatest fan of airports. Be that as it may, due to COVID-19, I have begun to appreciate both the journey — airplane travel — and the place where those journeys begin and end — airports. The paradoxically ubiquitous yet unique elements of airports and airplanes are noteworthy. There is something quite curious about a group of people of all different ages, genders, ethnicities and backgrounds stuck together in an enclosed tin can thousands of feet up in the air, for hours on end, with nothing in common except the desire to

get from point A to point B. And as for airports, the international arrival gate is a dichotomy: public yet intimate. Families, friends, and lovers reunite inevitably surrounded by strangers. As travelers walk through the double doors, they are often greeted with a shower of kisses, hugs, flowers and tears. Regardless of whether they are returning home or beginning their time abroad, they have all reached their destination. But what transpires when there is no destination? There is a new kind of flight offered in parts of Southeast Asia — specifically, Brunei, Taiwan and Japan. The airplanes lift off and fly around in circles for a few hours, before landing at the same airport from which they departed. Tickets for these flights, coined “flights to nowhere,” are sought after and often sell out in minutes. You might wonder, why undergo the pain of air travel, with its cramped seating, unpleasant food and the risk of contracting coronavirus, without the enticement of a destination? Passengers continue to buy tickets for this peculiar experience because it functions as a getaway in an environment where habitual air travel has been halted. Benjamin IIaquinto, a professor of tourism at Hong Kong University told Fortune in October, “when you’re at an airport, even though it’s really boring, there is something exciting about it… there’s some sense of anticipation about being in those places that are quite ordinary.” The “flights to nowhere” allow us to escape. Whether that means escaping our dysfunctional families, hectic jobs or the depression-inducing reality, I trust that roaming around above the clouds can fulfill feelings of wanderlust until foreign travel reemerges. You see, it’s all about perspective. Give me a middle seat, a connecting flight, some turbulence and a lost suitcase, and I’ll call it paradise. Right now, I would embrace all of these inconveniences just for a taste of travel.

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Show and Tell 42

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SHO W A N D T ELL | SHO W A N D TE L L | SH O W A N D T E LL | SHO W A N D

SHO W A N D T E L L | SHO W A N D TE L L | SHO W A ND T E LL | SHO W A N D

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Directed and styled by Ania Swider. Photographed by Sky Karasik. Modeled by Lua Beckman, Sam Braffman, Sandra Rigberg.

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Reflecting on the Rebirth of the Mirror Selfie BY: MEHEK BOPARAI

A look at how the mirror selfie has become an active tool for social media content, even when our social lives are limited. On the Internet, what matters most is not how we look but who looks at us. Social media has heightened our desire to be seen by our peers. We post pictures of ourselves to prove that we are interesting enough to take up virtual real estate on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. As we age and become more sophisticated, our carefully curated online personas have to match this development. Brunch photos in the city, dinner parties in your first apartment, your favorite coffee shop order — these have all amalgamated to represent your internet brand: a polished reflection of your real life.

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However, real-life has taken a pause. With the rise of COVID-19, most of 2020’s warmer months were spent locked away in the confines of our own bedrooms, where we obsessively refreshed our social media feed to see content from others, who were isolated in their own homes. In this pandemic era, we struggle to curate our personas because there is less material to work with, i.e. the regularly scheduled coffee shop pic or the museum art montage are no longer possible. When all else failed, people turned to the one consistent factor: the mirror.

More specifically, the mirror selfie. Unlike social distancing, mirror selfies have been around for over a century; the first documented image within an image comes from a young unidentified woman who used her Kodak Brownie in 1913 to snap a pic of her reflection. Today, the mirror selfie is a consistent thread in the fabric of online photos often used to document one’s outfit of the day (OOTD) or as a background for polls on social media stories. Celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner have made headlines for their clean-cut mirror-selfie aesthetic, donning nude-colored activewear or no clothes at all. This is what makes the mirror selfie so powerful: you have full control of how you look. Where you place your phone, how much of your face you display, what sits in the background to frame the shot — all of these are individual, aesthetic choices that work in tandem to curate your ’gram.

After lockdown orders went into effect in March in several states across the United States, it was only a matter of time before mirror selfies increased in frequency. They have exploded all over social media, allowing people to still feel ‘seen’ — whether it be in their loungewear, silk pajamas, denim jeans, or Sunday best. The mirror selfie bridges us together — it represents the truth that we are all living the same reality of confinement, battling a global crisis together by remaining indoors. What sets the mirror selfie apart from other photos is the way the mirror acts as a second screen between the audience and the subject. Rather than simply taking a photo of your face or your body, you use the mirror as a medium. It is your own reflection that becomes the content, and the content is delivered on a sheet of glass instead of through a camera lens. The mirror is the only one to see you slowly change even when you feel stagnant. Life trickles by much slower in quarantine, but you are still growing up. Maybe you are trying new makeup techniques or changing your style, testdriving a different pattern or modeling your new sunglasses. It is the mirror that helps you grow into yourself, even when you fail to notice. Although you use the mirror’s reflection to display your selfie, there is still a unique aspect of intimacy inherent to this format. The mirror selfie is an invitation into our homes to show others how we see ourselves (and in turn, how we want others to see us). When we can no longer take a picture of ourselves drinking a cocktail at happy hour, the mirror is the only thing left to observe us. As the year concludes, the pandemic has become (albeit regrettably) an instilled reality. The world is slowly waking up as outdoor brunches, happy hours and beach holidays are beginning to reappear on social media feeds across the world. Yet, behind the closed doors of our homes, where masks are not required, one thing remains permanent: we will always have our mirrors to perceive us when no one else is there.

ILLUSTRATION BY CHELSEA CHENG

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Big Men— —Little Rep

“Never in a million years would I have considered myself a sex symbol,”

BY: NAVYA JANGA

A look at the recent emergence of plus-sized men in modeling and retail and the movement for increased representation

hen Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty launched a menswear collection in collaboration with Christian Combs in early October 2020, it was all the internet could talk about. While the launch was much anticipated by fans, the initial acclaim wasn’t all due to the clothes themselves. The line went viral because of the model Steven G. (full name: Green), a plus-sized male model who donned a pair of Savage X Boxers for the website.

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“Never in a million years would I have considered myself a sex symbol,” said Steven G. in an October 2020 interview with In The Know. In fact, when Rihanna’s lingerie brand reached out to him, Steven told the Guardian that he doubted they actually wanted him as a model — he “even asked if [he] needed to send pics to check to make sure they still wanted to use him.” Steven’s initial hesitancy and doubt was not misplaced. It speaks to the long history of the lack of representation of plus-sized men in the world of fashion, even though they are more reflective of the average American male. According to measurements provided by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the size of the average adult U.S. male roughly ranges from an XL - 2XL. Yet, male models are typically between a size S - M.

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This lack of representation has serious repercussions. A study conducted by the Florida House Experience found that almost 78% of men did not think of their bodies favorably compared to images in the media. Researchers have shown that American men are just as likely as women to feel unsatisfied with their physiques. As the average American man continues to grow in size over time, it’s more imperative than ever that they see more models that look like them. The impact of representation is apparent in the deeply personal response, echoed by many other men, that came from Twitter user Cody Jacob in response to seeing Steven G. modelling the Savage X line. “Never in my adult life have I seen a male model that has a similar body to mine. I feel… almost emotional? Like I finally can buy something I saw and want and KNOW it was made for people like me in mind,” Jacob wrote in an October 2020 tweet. Granted, Steven G. is not the first plussized male model nor is Savage X Fenty the first brand to hire one. Nonetheless, the modeling and retail industries have historically excluded this demographic. In fact, while the plus-sized women’s clothing store market is valued at 9.7 billion dollars in America, the plus-sized men’s clothing store market is valued at 949.6 million dollars — only 9.79% of the women’s market. This stands despite the average American man and woman being similar sizes, respective to their gender measurements. In 2013, retailer Destination XL (DXL) quickly grew into one of the largest men’s plussize retailers in America, becoming a megastore that finally gave bigger men more clothing options. The CEO of the company at the time, David Levin, recounted to The Business Journals about how he “had several instances of men crying when they [came] into the store for the first time,” thanking him for implementing the plus-sized friendly changes. “They’ve been treated poorly as consumers, they never had anything like this.”

Mainstream retailers were slow to pick up on including plus-sized men in their collections. It wasn’t until 2017 that online retailer ASOS became the first brand among fast-fashion to launch a dedicated plus-size menswear section. Nick Eley, ASOS’s head of menswear design, said to Bustle Digital Group that “plus and tall clothing has often been basic.” In the design of the ASOS launch, Eley had a simple philosophy: for the clothes to have “the same look and feel as the rest of [the ASOS] clothing, but just made larger.” The modeling industry has recently begun to make progress in plus-sized male representation as well. The first big break for plus-sized male models came from IMG Models, an international leader in talent discovery and model management. IMG established their Brawn division in 2016 with inaugural model

“I thought it was gonna be something for me but it became something so much bigger. Now it’s been highlighted in an industry that has slept on this demographic.”

Zach Miko. The agency has secured their “Big & Tall” male models to work with brands across the globe, including Express, Nordstrom and Tommy Hilfiger. According to the company, the Brawn division saw a 15 percent revenue growth in 2018 over 2017, and its models’ bookings were up 62 percent from the year prior. As for Steven, he revealed his biggest takeaway from his viral fame in an exclusive with Byrdie: “The impact that this [made] on other men. [People] have just been reaching out saying ‘Hey, I love that you took the initiative to

be that representation that we really needed.’ So, it wasn’t even about me. I thought it was gonna be something for me but it became something so much bigger. Now it’s been highlighted in an industry that has slept on this demographic.” In the same interview, he left words of advice to all the men out there who continue to feel underrepresented and unseen. “Focus on being confident because I feel like a lot of people who are a bigger size lack confidence so they don’t even attempt to do the things that they desire to do…There’s a lot more opportunity in the industry for brawn men, men XL or above than we realize. We are still fashion consumers.” Photos from Bridge Models.

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