Contrast S/S2024 - Distortion Issue by Vassar Contrast

Contrast

VOL. 18 Issue 2

Spring 2024

3 2 29 12 21 VASSAR ALUM TAKES ON VOGUE 25 contributions 40

Dear Readers,

Letter from The editor

Here in your hands lies the newest issue of Contrast. An editorial compilation, a disruptive zine, an amateur production, … Call it whatever seems fit. This issue submits to no particular framework; our sole proposition is that you indulge yourself in this tactile euphoria, and freely explore the fluidity of fashion.

Thus, the title: Distortion Issue.

This semester, we allowed ourselves to dive deep into our intrusive thoughts. In celebration of quiet luxury’s even quieter exit, we contemplated the intricacies of chaos. Namely, how the sheer concept of messiness endorses expressive minds, activates the agency to wear one’s personhood, and thus propels forward the long overdue democratization of fashion. Through nail art, water as a staple element, grungy narratives, and glowy visuals, we approached the primordial neutrality of fashion’s vast seas, the lack of an undisputed beauty against a formulaic atrocity, and the ontological absence of a universal good in relation to an absolute evil. Situating ourselves within both unconventional oddities and familiar aesthetics, we hope to advocate for the life-making potential of creative expression.

In further exploring the liquidity of fashion, we present our annual fashion show, through which we hope to es-

tablish and, thereupon, deconstruct the binary of distortion and clarity. We intend to demonstrate a symbiotic relationship, in which one quote-unquote “extreme” exists only in relation to the other. To bind together what’s typically considered polar opposites, we employ a visual progression of change, which, hopefully, will reintroduce the world of fashion as an interconnected web.

Here is where I finally conclude my pretentious yapping. I hope you enjoy this issue in whatever way you desire, and that you can find at least one fractal of inspiration in our work, although I’m so very sure you’ll find much more than that. Tear this copy apart and repurpose its derivative shreds into a dozen new zines, for all I care. Engage with us in this discourse, tread this graceful marsh of a mess.

Embody fluidity, embody distortion.

Embody you.

xoxo, Angelica Zhiyu Luo

WATER & FASHION A TREND THAT WILL NEVER EVAPORATE

“I’m just a California girl,” Kim Kardashian told fashion designer Thierry Mugler in a meeting between the two in preparation for the 2019 Met Gala. To Mugler, California didn’t evoke the image of sprawling vineyards, the Golden Gate Bridge, or even the Hollywood Hills, but rather the luxurious beaches of Malibu. Thus, Kim K’s world-famous wet dress was born. Wrought out of silk organza and silicone, the dress was embellished with tens of thousands of sequins and embroidered with Parisian crystals, which the designer used to reflect light and color, making it appear as if the media personality had just stepped out of the ocean. While fans squabbled over Kim’s ridiculously tiny waist, the wet dress itself shook the fash-

ion world. The details were stunning, and it was hailed as a brilliant homage to fashion’s most influential element.

Since its rise to prominence, the fashion industry has drooled over the natural world, with luxury brands all the way down to fast fashion companies looking to inorganic resources for inspiration. The visual concept of water has bubbled to the top of the elemental muses, and its influence can be seen in the flow of fabrics, the theme behind collections, and the visuals of numerous fashion shows. Take the Fendi show in the summer of 2016, when the models strutted across a glass runway built over Rome’s iconic Trevi fountain, creating the illusion that the women were walking on

water. Then, a couple of years later, Saint Laurent staged a show at the base of the Eiffel Tower, and the models glided down a catwalk of shallow water, five-inch heels kicking up droplets that dampened the hems of their skirts and pants. And of course, we can’t discuss water and fashion without mentioning Iris Van Herpen’s 2011 Spring collection which intended to capture water in its various, mobile forms. An onlooker without any knowledge of Van Herpen or her designs would be astounded by the iconic splash dress: clear acrylic material heated and shaped into a ring of shining droplets, frozen in midair, circling the dress as if the model had just broken through a suspended sheet of liquid.

EMMA RAFF

Water isn’t just some year-long fashion trend nor is it one comprehensive aesthetic: it has roused and dominated fashion design for decades, and the world continues to be awed by its visual power. In recent years, with the uprising of fast fashion, social media influencers, and categorical “cores,” water has broken into the mainstream aesthetics, including mermaid-core, aquatic-core, and ocean-core. Social media platforms are chock-full of people sporting the “wet hair look,” seashell earrings, and iridescent eyeshadow. This return of sheer, pastel fabrics and pearl-like embellishments is no surprise considering the recent comeback of 90s fashion. Thirty years ago, designers like Chanel, Rabanne, and Blumarine were hitting the runway with looks that featured the aquatic aesthetic: translucent, blue materials, pearly accessories, and even sea creature motifs. In the last couple of years, a new category of visual appeal has captured the attention of the public: dream-core gets its name from its surrealist appearance, straddling the line between abstract and simplistic—think The Twilight Zone meets Beetlejuice. While dream-core fashion usually embraces bright pastels and bold, contradicting patterns, the aesthetic is ultimately defined by the emotional reac-

tion it elicits. Dream-core is eerie, it’s distorted, yet it’s somewhat nostalgic and familiar. Here, we return to our beloved muse. Water is not only a source of inspiration for fashion designers but possesses the unique ability to alter perception, to bend and refract light as it jumps from one medium to the next; once familiar shapes and colors become distorted beneath its surface. Water can also alter the mood of a photoshoot depending on its form, whether it be located in a tranquil stream or an ominous, murky pond.

For Vogue Singapore’s 2022 cover shoot, photographer Zhang Ahuei creates an environment that speaks to the intent of the dream-core aesthetic: a model lies in a pool of dark water surrounded by menacing black boulders, the white sheets of her sheer chiffon dress blossoming around her like a tail. The images are both enchanting and unsettling—the flow of the dress becomes one with the sea. While water has been embodied by dozens of trends, aesthetics, and luxury designers, its visual allure continues to amaze fashionistas around the world. Cow print, soccer jerseys, and skinny jeans have come into the fashion world and left in a hurry, but water is one style that will never die. So much more than an idea or an aesthetic, water is the inspiration and the message.

GRUNGE 11

CONTRAST x VC Royalty GRUNGE

I believe it was Vivienne Westwood who said fashion should be lively, intellectual, and sexy. The Grand Dame of punk fashion, Westwood revolutionized the punk and grunge aesthetics both on the runway and in the bars and clubs of London’s underground queer culture. It is within these club cultures that fashion aesthetics are born, but they are also places where people of all types gather and forget themselves under a haze of unmentionable substances. While Vassar may not have as eventful of club scenes, there is a group on our campus that is equally lively, intellectual, and sexy.

It is Contrast’s great pleasure to introduce our collaboration with VC Royalty, Vassar’s one and only drag org. A special thanks must be given to the models who volunteered their time to be a part of the magazine. But it is more than just a collaboration. Doing a shoot inspired by grunge looks from Canadian Brand DSquared2, who themselves draw inspiration from Westwood, requires queer representation. It is essential to acknowledge how the queer community, from drag queens to club kids, have impacted not just the grunge aesthetic, but fashion as a whole. VC Royalty keeps this aesthetic, and the world of drag alive and thriving at Vassar. And in times when drag is being mercilessly attacked, it is essential to support these artists, and give credit to the queer innovators from which commercial fashion houses adopt their looks. With that, I will let the pictures speak for themselves, and I extend a further thank you to VC Royalty for their support and participation.

-Wyatt Keleshian, Editor

ROYALTY ROYALTY ROYALTY ROYALTY ROYALTY

ROYALTY ROYALTY ROYALTY

FASHION FIGUREHEADS: #1

Emilia VOn Lillen BrockmeYER

PHOTOS, LAYOUT AND INTERVIEW BY FALLON DERN

On the day she was named Emilia Von Lillen Brockmeyer ’26, dressing plainly was out of the question. Between her polite demeanor, intellect and aforementioned title, Brockmeyer was destined to be some kind of regal. Her wardrobe is just the cherry on top. Her closet’s modern design juxtaposes hoop skirts, frills, lace and ornate patterns, creating a capsule of Gothic and Lolita fashion. However, Brockmeyer wasn’t always the owner of a Victorian woman’s dream wardrobe. Rather than start her fashion journey adhering to a particular aesthetic, Brockmeyer began with breaking the rules of another; her Episcopalian school’s dress code.

“I had to do the button down and pleated skirt thing for a while,” Brockmeyer remembers. “I got really bored with it, so I started slightly breaking the dress code each day. I was a good student and I never got in trouble, but I would wear certain colors you weren’t supposed to wear, commit to being emo by throwing in black pieces, and try out different pleated skirts that looked like the uniform but weren’t. I actually read the dress code statement and was like, ‘Yeah, I can make this work.’ Whether I broke the rules or not is still up in the air, but I bent them, definitely.”

Ironically, despite attending a college without a dress code, Brockmeyer still wears her own variation of pleated skirts and button downs. She opts for blouses rather than tee shirts, and long, hoop skirts rather than pants.

“It is definitely nice like coming to Vassar and being able to wear whatever,” Brockmeyer says. “I know I can dress up everyday and not dress up in the confines of something rigid. My real style can come forward, and I can explore new styles too.”

Given that Brockmeyer’s style has developed from historical influences and elements of European and Asian cultures, American trends were never really her primary source of inspiration. Despite this, she still takes from everywhere, even doubling back to magazines and influencers whose previous looks she may not have agreed with.

“It took a while to learn what looked good on me,” Brockmeyer said. “I’d see things on other people and acknowledge, ‘That looks good on them!’ Then, that would form a clearer image in my head. This also changes as I get older. Recently, I feel like elongated torso looks have becomes super in fashion. I was always a huge high waisted fan, but low key, the drop long waist look is kind of cute! I do agree with the trends right now, so I feel that’s kind of nice. I don’t want to have a static image of me from when I was fourteen persist all the way until I’m like 60. It’s nice to change.”

Another key point of change for Brockmeyer comes with her makeup. Around campus, she can be seen wearing sharp black winged eyeliner that comes to a point in her inner eye corners, bright blush that compliments her fair skin and the occasional bold lip. It’s an exaggerated style that works well with her ornate outfits, and, like everything else, didn’t come automatically to her.

“For the longest time I did like to wear no makeup, just because I didn’t know how to,” Brockmeyer remembers. “When I got into emo stuff, all the cool girls are wearing eyeliner and smokey eyeshadow. Then, I started learning how to do a simple cat-eye, and I’d practice every day. Then, I got bored of that. I’d add something else. I’d add another thing. It kind of just went on and on like that until I found a vague style that I like for just like daily use. Always, lots of eyeliner. I’m a big fan. I’ve always liked drawing, and drawing on my face is the same thing. I like to go for what’s fun or what I think may look good with my outfit.”

Now, with her aesthetic in peak form, Brockmeyer faces every day at Vassar with the intent to look as good as she wants to feel.

“I feel like dressing up makes me feel better about myself every day,” Brockmeyer says. “I always tell myself, even if it’s harsh, if I can’t look my best one day, I just can’t look my worst. If that’s the case, I’ll sometimes feel bad about myself. I’ll be like, ‘Oh my god, like, why do I even leave my room?’ Dressing up is fun! I get to feel like a character in my own life. It makes the day better for me.”

While Brockmeyer is one of few Vassar students who adhere to a Victorian inspired wardrobe on a daily basis, she has been made aware of how curious other students are of her fashion, and has no intention to gatekeep her clothes. Brockmeyer is the first to provide a store recommendation for anyone looking into her style, advice on how to get into makeup and insight on her routines. Brockmeyer says Vassar has given her a community of inquisitive fashion ingenues, some of whom have become her closest friends.

“Fashion has become a big way to make friends for me,” Brockmeyer says. “You know people that are on the same wavelength as you if they like your outfit. One of the first friends I met here, on move-in day, stood in the elevator with me and told me her name and that she loved my outfit. She told me where she lived and that we should hang out, and we did. We still hang out to this day, and she’s one of my best friends here. That’s really special, to have people talk about how we dress up and put ourselves together. Vassar’s a nice place to appreciate that.”

Since my mother first told me envy is the thief of joy, I have understood such a proverb to be the truth. Despite this, though, I can’t help but stare at Madison Yeon ’27’s wardrobe and turn green. Furs, pastels and vintage Juicy Couture pour out of her closet, providing a literal and metaphorical door into the mind of one of the freshman class’s best dressers. The meticulous curation of a Tokyo vintage shop is the everyday for Yeon. When prompted to describe her style in three words, she responded coolly: Stuff. I. Like.

“I was watching this video on Harajuku fashion, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s so cool. How do they do that?’” Yeon remembers. “One of the things that they said was to put stuff that you like on your body, toy around, make it look good, that kind of stuff. Wear whatever you want to show it off: keychains, plushies, all of that.”

Harajuku fashion, rather than adhering to a particular aesthetic, conglomerates many elements of Japanese fashion and art. Within Harajuku fashion there are subcategories for more particular aesthetics, whether that be a more gothic style or a sweeter, cuter sense of fashion. Like many who express themselves through this outlet, Yeon doesn’t identify with any one aesthetic.

“That’s the kind of philosophy I have,” Yeon says. “Instead of like, trying to curate a certain aesthetic or something like that. I just buy pieces that I personally like, and then I show it off.

To me, that’s cool.”

of that crazy, weird and kind of wonderful content,” Yeon says. “Mariana was really into that ‘Gothic Lolita’ style, and I was also realizing that Lolita is so pretty and cute. I’d look at her style, and incorporate that into my style, and she’d do the same. It felt like, at least in Washington, it was mainly like the two of us kind of bouncing ideas off each other. She comes up with cool stuff. I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s kind of cool. Let me see if I can do that.’”

Since arriving at Vassar, Yeon has observed that many students here have their own sense of personal style, and that she feels more comfortable experimenting with fashion and allowing herself to be perceived.

Yeon said she first discovered her personal style between eighth and ninth grade through watching videos on fashion and modeling online. After years of wearing what she describes as “the ugliest combination of sweatpants and sweaters,” Yeon began designing a wardrobe based on various trends she saw online. She credits her childhood best friend, Mariana, for helping her come into her own style. In public, they’d adhere to what Yeon calls the ‘Seattle aesthetic,’ (natural colors, North Face and dressing for comfort), and in private, they’d brainstorm how clothes make them look and feel.

“We went deep into the online world

“I didn’t really like standing out a lot in high school,” Yeon remembers. ”I didn’t wear anything that would be out of the ordinary or strange. Now, I really have a desire for myself to look and feel good. I just like going out and feeling like I am putting myself together. I like looking in the mirror and being like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s a nice outfit.’ I like to feel like that as often as possible.”

Every day, Yeon executes her particular philosophy on fashion, brought together by Harajuku influences, the internet, anime and the electronic dance music she blasts in her headphones. While she collages clothing onto itself and decorates her outfits with charms and metal and bright colors, she believes fashion can be much more simple than that. Her advice to Contrast readers: Stop trying to be unique.

“Finding your own personal style is also looking at what other people do and taking pieces of what you like from them,” Yeon says. “There’s a lot of designers and content creators who I observe and whose clothing combinations I really enjoy. I can adopt that and try to do that with my own wardrobe, but if I don’t like something else, I leave it alone. I think taking bits and pieces of whatever you find is creating your own personal expression. When I was younger, I thought being unique meant I couldn’t do what other people did. Now, I really think that having your own unique style is looking at what you like and making it your own. In any sense, what you like is what makes you you.”

MADISON YEON

PHOTOS, LAYOUT AND INTERVIEW BY

FALLON DERN

FASHION FIGUREHEADS: #2 24

Vassar Alum Takes on Vogue

AlumniFashion

by Sadie Hammarhead & Willow Grote

Mars, a recent Vassar alum, went from WFQS major to runway model overnight, kickstarting their career as a face of Vogue Forces of Fashion. This immediate immersion into the world of high fashion not only came to their own surprise, but spread throughout the Vassar community, as a Vogue instagram post circulated around campus. Having participated in numerous student organizations and events, one of which included walking in the 2023 Contrast Fashion Show, students were fascinated seeing their counterpart rise in the modeling world so quickly and publicly. Mars sat down with us to explain what this experience was like for them, how they got there, and what it means for their future.

S: Can you give us some background on your modeling journey?

M: Basically, I’ve been modeling since I was fourteen cause I got picked up by this creepy guy on the street—it was in a Brandy Melville actually, and he had a really cute dog and I was petting his dog and he was like, “Do you wanna be a model?” and I was like, “Yeah I do!”

[Once at Vassar] I talked to my agency in LA, or like my “mother agency,” the first agency I signed with, and they set me up with some interviews with some agencies, and I interviewed with six agencies and I got rejected from every single one of them. Absolutely all of them. But I had missed one interview because it was snowing in Poughkeepsie, because I had stayed there over spring break by myself to do these interviews. It was so sad, I was like alone in my house, but yeah, so I’d missed this one interview with Ford, and then like school had started up again, it was no longer spring break, and I got an email from my agency in LA and they were like, “Ford really wants to meet with you,” and so I went back in and there’s like this incredibly gay fifty-ish year old man who’s like, “Hello! I love you!”

After graduating Vassar in 2023, Mars looked to expand their modeling career and auditioned for the Vogue Open Casting class of ‘23.

M: I sent out my little video, and they were like, “We like you a lot, we think it’s cool that you’re nonbinary because that makes you diverse, and this is about diversity.” They were like, “We’re allowed to have one white person if they’re queer,” is I think basically the gist. They were like, “You get to be white if you’re something else as well.” They were like, “Oh, you’re a waitress? Oh, we like that. You’re

poor.” I was like, “Okay, yeah, I will take a free flight to London. That’ll be fun.”

[The day of my first runway show, during which Vogue filmed my “Day In A Life” video,] was the most insane day of my entire fucking life. I woke up at 5:30 in the morning so that I could get ready enough so that it looked like I looked hot when I woke up. So I did concealer and I put on what I would like people to think that I sleep in, and then the camera crew came to the door- my agency booked me a hotel room with no windows, it was this weird sad little box. No tea to them, they were working on my budget, I was paying for it, so I was like “okay, that’s fine.” So they came in, and it was really early, and I really did a terrible job. It was fine. I don’t want to self-deprecate too much. But watching it, I was like—there were so many things that I wanted to do and say that I didn’t, and it was a whole thing, but I did that and it was really cool in the morning ‘cause I had a whole team telling me where to go. It was all really confusing, but I had a camera crew and an interviewer helping me through the whole process.

It was a very stressful day. I started crying at one point, and shoved the camera out of my face, because someone was blow drying my hair, someone was doing my makeup, and they were trying to ask me interview questions all at the same time and I’d been getting my hair and/or makeup done and I’d been getting interviewed for the past seven hours straight and I was like, “I’m going to kill someone,” and they all got really weird because they were British and they were like, “You’re expressing emotions openly in a public space,” and I was like, “I feel so ashamed

right now, and famous people were there and I was crying and Paloma Elsesser’s just chilling in the corner. But that was that day, it was very fun, I accidentally stood behind Annie Lennox, like right in the front of the stage. No one’s allowed to look at the video of my walk from that, it didn’t happen.

I got to go to this party before the Forces of Fashion [panel] and Pat McGrath remembered who I was. It was crazy, she stopped her conversation and was like ,“Mars, how are you?” And I got to talk to Anok Yai about her weirdest runway experiences and we sat next to each other at dinner at this Michelin star restaurant and I was like, “Who am I right now?” So I did that, and then after that it was a lot of building up my book. I kind of had a really big start, and then I was like, “Oh, I don’t have a foundation yet,” so I started going into the agency once

a week and doing test shoots two to three times a week. I got to know my agents, they’re very nice, they’re both gay, opposite directions.

It’s been wild, I don’t really know what’s going on. I’ve also been working at Trader Joes—I live in two very different worlds.

S: What is something that the fashion/modeling industry has taught you that you don’t think you could’ve learned elsewhere?

M: It’s a lot of self advocacy, because you have an agent, and I love my agents and I really trust them, but agents work for an agency at the end of the day, and yes they kind of also work for you, but they’re also working with a lot of other people and so you do have to be on top of your shit and fight for your paycheck. I didn’t get paid for six months. It’s crazy out here, and that is not uncommon,

that’s actually pretty good.

S: How does your personal style interact with the clothes that you model in?

M: That’s interesting, because the things I model in versus the things I have to wear as a model are very different. The things I have to wear to castings I hate. They make me wear skinny jeans and it makes me want to die. And they have me in these little boots, and I don’t like the little boots. But I wear the little boots because I can walk good in them but it’s very not that. The clothes I get to wear in shoots and stuff are so fun, and a lot of the time they’re not my personal style, but I don’t really care because they’re style.

S: What do you think the future of the modeling industry is?

M: I think it could go in two directions, because there’s definitely been a move and a push to diversify and move forward in that. But I think there’s also been steps back. I think five or so years ago there were huge steps made towards increases in plus size modeling, and more plus size models being shown on runways, in campaigns. That was at the forefront, if you wanted to be a good company, you had a plus size model in your campaign. And then you look at the runway shows from two

years ago, and everyone’s a fucking super tall twig... it’s like, “Oh, so we did that, and now you’re just doing what fits your aesthetic again.”

It feels performative, and the things that aren’t performative, the things that are genuine, are being overshadowed by the performance, because when a small queer brand shows a runway show full of disabled people and queer people and

“...the things that are genuine are being overshadowed by the performance...”

people of color and varied size, no one pays attention, but when Louis Vuitton does it, we’re so excited, because they have an audience.

S: Who’s your favorite designer?

M: Right now, honestly, it’s Collina Strada, in terms of personal style. I really like the distressed aesthetic that she’s going for; I really like the mission of the brand. When I was talking about people who were doing true diversity, I think she’s one

of the few people who’s actually demonstrating that, and really does the work to not only represent diverse people and bodies, but to actually uplift those people as people, not as garment holders, but being like, “Look at these wonderful people that I’ve put in these wonderful clothes.” She was just featured in the Women Dressing Women exhibition at The Met, I was so obsessed with that, and I was so excited that she was in it. And it was really cool to get to work with her as well. I think she encompasses a little bit more of a Gen Z style that is exciting to see come out in the fashion world when there’s so many, cause I feel like the idea of fashion houses is really cool, but it does also kind of create a film to build on, and when they bring in new designers they do something new with it. But I think having a blank slate and starting a brand new is really cool and it’s a really good way to get a fresh, interesting perspective that’s not tied to the roots of a brand, but is still tied to the history of fashion.

Throughout our interview, it became clear that Mars’ fastrack to the top of the modeling industry is a reflection of their warmth, creative strength, and self-advocacy. We’re proud to say that they walked Contrast’s runway only a year before they walked Vogue’s.

Our Obsession with Mini Canvases:

Angelica -

My fixation with nail art began two decades ago. My mother had grown fond of glossy lacquers and despite combatting a nine-to-five at some god-awful finance corporation (which I don’t think survived 2008), she eagerly collected manicure magazines. Mind you, I was born and raised in East Asia, where the early Y2K nail world was dominated by Shibuya and Harajuku gyaru’s. Due to the proliferation of this aesthetic, I also became helplessly enchanted by leopard print, minuscule hibiscus portraits, and faux Swarovski’s. My nail beds weren’t much bigger than your average apple seed, but that never stopped me from nothing. And when my mom frequented a salon and I never failed to always tagged along. By the time my little fingers were adorned with pearly pink lacquer, my mom would have just gotten to shaping. They didn’t even bother to charge for my sets. After all, entertaining four-year-old me required only the slimmest droplet of OPI.

This went on for a bit and I had gone through an entire spectrum of pink before the salon closed down (also in 2008). What did not wane was my bi-monthly urge to get something done to my stubby, brittle nails. Over the years, I have tried out a good dozen salons, and as technicians worked meticulously to clone my inspo-pics, I watched carefully, and sometimes too intensely, to the point where I would be commanded to relax. Thinking back, I was probably a pain to have – I asked too many technical questions and requested even more redo’s.

By the time I sponged whatever manicure knowledge I had at hand (pun intended), I was sent, by an admittance letter, to Poughkeepsie, where nail salons are plentiful. That and the overdue awakening of financial responsibility birthed my new persona – an amateur nail technician. I self-trained tirelessly with Keeping Up With the Kardashian streaming in the background, invested a good fortune in this learning curve, and burned my skin with UV lamps from practicing too frequently. Occasionally, I challenge

myself by doing sets for friends and photoshoots like this one. My “clients” often come with varying aesthetics, jaw-dropping anecdotes, and a tender eagerness to overshare, all of which I endorse in every way possible. I have the most fun filling tiny canvases with tinier trinkets, collecting emotional babbles, and diving deep into my creative space – undisturbed, unbothered. To my current self, nail art has become so much more than a pastime or a stagnant memory; it’s a living journal of creativity and affective growth, and I foresee so many new entries to come.

Nail Narratives

Narratives

Hello, I’m Cher Mei, a sophomore nail tech from Queens, NY. I began doing nails in high school for school events, and last year, I decided to open a nail station from my dorm room. I have had the privilege of doing nails on so many amazing students. I owe a special thanks to the Vassar Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program (VIE), a program that works with students who have entrepreneurial desires, whether they are beginning a business or launching an app, the VIE has a database of Vassar alums that serve as mentors, provide open office hours, host pitch competitions, and give talks. My business is under Cher Studios LLC, and I see small businesses such as mine promoting community building and teaching entrepreneurship in a liberal arts institution.

Last year, I spent school breaks at Vassar, taking my practical and written exams to obtain a NYS Nail License. Starting this business has taught me so much about customer service, being a small business owner, beauty entrepreneurship, marketing, and social media. Additionally, it provides a creative, open, and feminine environment for myself as well as for other students. Not only is this an amazing creative outlet, but it also allows me to own my own business and interact with wonderful people that I may not have otherwise met during my time here. An interaction I cherish is one I had with an alumni, Arielle LaPiano, about my motives for beginning my business and helped me better craft a vision for my brand. I am centered around accessibility at the forefront with hopes of beginning to run some trials towards sustainability nail practices utilizing the Vassar Innovation Lab’s 3D and resin printers. In the future, I plan on expanding my business to include different beauty services and cater to students’s interests, such as tooth gems. Being a small business owner also entails keeping up with social media and nail art trends. My favorites of this year are junk nails, which are a full nail full of charms, and nails with chrome accents that add an edgy look to any design. Thanks so much for your support <3 @ Vassar Students and more is definitely to come!