Vassar Contrast Spring/Summer 2023

C ONTRAST

X

AFrican Students Union

We are excited to present you with the historic 17th edition of Contrast. For the first time in Contrast’s history, The african Students union is featured on the cover. Our collaboartion took place over the course of several weeks and culminated in with our shoot in Beauty Up, a beauty supply store in downtown poughkeepsie. We were also able to collaborate on an african fashion show along side contrast’s annual show. elsewhere we continued our series of firsts by recontexualizing sports and diving into the surreal.

we hope you enjoy and shoutout to Beauty Up!

- nick

Lamp Shades

Recession, sucession, QUiet Luxury

Impersonal Red Carpet

ASU Collaboration

Vassar camp

Jewelery on Red Carpet

Fashion in Motion

Contributors

lamp Shades

Maya Page & Jade HSIN

and Quiet Luxury

With the fourth season of Succession airing, Gwenyth Paltrow’s sultry courtroom style, and my TikTok for you page instructing me how to dress like “Old Money,” I got to thinking about how fashion trends have slowly started turning since the pandemic from screaming logomania maximalism to the so called “quiet luxury.” Quiet luxury is a staunchly minimalist style that focuses on quality of the clothes, solid and muted colors, and heavy tailoring. Think Ralph Lauren and your rich New England aunt’s beige cashmere sweaters. This fashion philosophy comes from the saying “money talks but wealth whispers.” The fashion world has turned away from garish, obvious displays of wealth, to more silent, if you know you know luxury statements.

The cause of this drastic flip in trends has to do with the onset of the recession. With recessions, people are not going to be spending as much, thus it is more fiscally responsible to buy better quality pieces that can go

with everything and be worn forever as opposed to buying a new wardrobe every season based on microtrends. I also think that people don’t want to be flaunting designer labels in a time of economic downturn, as it can be viewed as tone deaf and out of touch. Recently, we have been seeing a lot of discussion surrounding brands such as The Row, Loro Piana, and Brunello Cuncinelli. These fashion houses are known for their amazing quality and minimal designs, and eye popping prices. Loro Piana especially is known for their excellent wools and cashmeres, which are some of the best in the world. And no family loves these brands more than the Roy family in the hit HBO show Succession.

A fashion statement that has become synonymous with the show is the $1195 all black cashmere Loro Piana baseball cap. At first glance, this hat looks as though it was bought at your average mall kiosk. But according to the Italian fashion house’s website, it is “made from The Gift of Kings® — Loro Piana’s exclusive selection of the world’s finest wool.” There are no logos and

Wyatt Keleshian

no marketing. It is a statement of wealth to those who recognize it and completely unassuming for us plebeians who don’t. To people with serious money, it is not Chanel, Dior, or Louis Vuitton that are a display of wealth, but the custom suits, million dollar watches, and $7000 cashmere sweaters that silently complement their obscene fortunes. To them, the logos and monograms of the most famous designer brands are simply too bourgeois for their tastes. Anna Wintor once said that “Armani dresses the wife and Versace dresses the mistress.” In the same manner, Gucci dresses the nouveau-riche while Brunello Cucinelli dresses generational wealth.

Zara, H&M, and Uniqlo all have collections that emulate this “old money” style, so what is the point of spending thousands of dollars on unlabeled, basic clothes. The answer is: because why not? When someone has that much money to burn, it becomes not about the quality or the style, but to prove to everyone else that they can afford to buy a $1000 baseball cap and wear golfing. So in that way, this quiet luxury fallacy is just that, a fallacy. The price tags of these items scream money more than Versace sneakers. Although trying to be understated, the baseball hat is practically an exclamation point over the head of the investment banker, financié wearing it. It screams I have oil money. It shouts aristocracy. While this all may seem so outlandish to our bourgeois sensibilities, this is the reality of the generational wealthy. They want to fly under the radar as much as possible, especially during recessions, where much more scrutiny is given to

their fortunes.

The quiet luxury aesthetic shows how pop culture, the economy, and social media are an overwhelming influence on how we dress. This makes sense. Recessions permeate

our lives, change our spending patterns, and thus affect how we dress. Pop culture, such as TV shows, enthrall us, we obsessively watch them, and therefore of course they will impact how we present ourselves, giving us a standard to dress to. So the quiet luxury style becomes more than just a style, but a microcosm of class philosophy, popular culture, and economics. It shows that fashion is not separate from the politics of our world, but deeply intertwined with every aspect of our lives.

Red Carpet

Lindasy Shih

The Grammys. The Oscars. The Emmys. These names signal accomplishment for an artist, whether that’s on a record or on a screen. The question “Who should we nominate” only goes hand in hand with another question: “Who are you wearing?” The red carpet has always been a spectacle to behold. Designers clamor for chances to dress the attending celebrities in custom gowns, suits, and other ensembles meant to captivate and stun audiences, thus cementing their status as fashion icons. In recent years, however, the red carpet has become somewhat of a lackluster parade of “safe” looks. Crowd-pleasers, if you will. Red carpet fashion has become boring, and frankly, disappointing, lacking any personality. “Experimental” doesn’t have a place in anybody’s vocabulary, especially regarding their wardrobe choices. Daring ensembles have faded into near obscurity, leaving audiences with bland and uninspired looks that ultimately fail on the carpet. Boundary pushing seems to have also been relegated to the sidelines, causing celebrities and stylists to veer toward such “safe” fashion choices. In the past, the red carpet was used to showcase inventive, inspiring fashion. How can such

a precedent be disregarded in this day and age? There’s no singular answer to this growing emphasis on conformity. Most glaringly obvious is the rise of social media. With the rise of social media, celebrities and stylists are exposed to a near-constant stream of commentary – whether it be positive or negative. Everyone’s eyes are on everyone else all the time. Due to the all-seeing nature of social media, celebrities turn to “safe” looks for fear of online criticism. Stylists and celebrities choose classic silhouettes and colors, which become predictable and repetitive. Stale, even. Fashion houses also contribute to the loss of personality on the red carpet;

designers have shifted to focus on creating wearable pieces for commercial success, rather than embracing the avant-garde. It would be ignorant not to address the fact that awards shows are still dominated by white people with the industry’s ideal bodies. Progress has been made, but there is still much to do in terms of representation of different body types, races, and genders. Designers don’t design for diversity – they don’t create inclusive fashion that would stun on a diverse range of people. Fashion houses are not dedicated to creating fashion-forward designs, and are lagging behind in a sense. If designers started to design outside of these arbitrary boundaries of beauty, they would create innovative pieces

that flatter people who don’t fit the fashion industry’s mold.

The 2018 Met Gala (theme: “Heavenly Bodies”) was a prime example of how fashion houses use the red carpet as a platform for promotion. While some outfits stunned with their creativity, more often than not, celebrities relied on more traditional looks from established designers. This pattern not only reinforced the theme of conformity but also served as a way for designers to promote their brand and capitalize on the Met Gala’s popularity. At the 2019 Academy Awards, monochromatic gowns (particularly white gowns) dominated the red carpet. Yes, Lady Gaga dared to wear a statement-making look, but others opted for more conservative looks that were forgettable and lacked personality. The pattern continues

into the 2020 Golden Globes. At the Golden Globes, celebrities displayed a sea of black, white, and neutral color palettes. Few celebrities ventured into bolder hues. Again, there were some standout moments (namely Billy Porter’s feathered suit), but overall, the attendees underwhelmed. The trend in sameness is, again, in part due to the fact that celebrities choose the safety of established fashion houses instead of taking risks by exploring lesser-known designers. These choices in attire further perpetuate the cycle of conformity and commercial gain for these established designers. Outfits end up looking like cookie-cutter copies of one another, lacking originality. Possibly due to the pandemic, the 2021 Academy Awards continued the trend of conformity. While there were some stunning looks, many celebrities still stayed in the “safe” zone with understated colors and the same silhouettes. It wasn’t surprising, given the past few years of red carpet fashion, but it was still disappointing to see a lack of excitement and creativity. Take two all-black ensembles, for example – Cher at the 1988 Oscars and Olivia Rodrigo at the 2023 Grammys. No, I’m not talking about the Cher look with the feather headdress (though, it is iconic). I’m talking about the beaded sheer wonder that she wore when she won Best Actress for Moonstruck. Cher’s “revenge dress” (as it is called) was floorlength, low-cut, and sheer. It was a

provocative and elegant take on a traditional black dress. In other words, it showed Cher’s personality through its exquisite beadwork and ruching. It was bold. It was daring. It was so very Cher – designed to make a statement and grab attention, exuding confidence. She was looking to stand out. Rodrigo, however, was looking to fit in at this year’s Grammys. Her sense of style typically plays with vintage and contemporary elements, combining to create an edgy, youthful eclecticism. It often reflects her personality and artistic vision. At this year’s Grammys, I was disappointed by her look. Her Miu Miu ensemble featured similar elements to Cher’s in that both were sheer and followed the natural shape of the body. Although, Rodrigo’s dress had too few details, going too far towards minimalist. She also didn’t accessorize very much, save for a big Elsa Peretti bean (which I do love, just not here). Black is always a safe option, but in this case, Rodrigo played it a little too safe. That’s not to say that it’s an objectively bad look, but it’s not particularly enthralling.

Red carpet fashion has lost its luster. Predictability is becoming the norm for celebrities and stylists. This lackluster parade emphasizes conformity rather than showcasing innovation and pushing the boundaries

of formal attire. In order to break this cycle of banality, designers must expand and create fashion that shatters fashion’s homogenous standards. Stylists should take risks with lesser-known designers instead of relying on contracts with designer monopolies. Embracing uniqueness is the only way the red carpet can recover from years of lifeless monotony.

SU A

Haley Whetstone

The Board of the African Students Union Takes us Through Africa’s Regions With Clothing. Special Thanks to Beauty Up for helping us tell this story

Pierangelis Valerio

My outfit is from South Africa and it’s traditionally worn by single Zulu women. Its multiple components : a black and white Zulu skirt, a beaded necklace and finger bracelets meant that it took me a bit longer to get ready. But in that time, I felt and saw the interacted beadwork and sleek triangle patterns come together to really represent Zulu culture through clothing. The necklace remains my favorite piece of the set as the subtle weight it placed on my chest and its diamond pattern made me feel absolutely beautiful and confident. I will say, I did personalize my outfit by wearing the finger bracelets around my ankles instead. They kept unclasping around my wrists! So i figured that the black and white pattern would match perfect with my converse so I reworked things :) I’ve got to say, the final outfit captures my essence and my own relationship with the set.

Fanta Wague

Well, this outfit was made by a friend of the family who is a seamstress in Mali. I would definitely say it stands out from most Malian clothing. Outfits are usually made out of basin or bogolan but this is more of a cotton fabric, making it lightweight. It allows for such a large range of motion. In addition to this, the bright orange and yellow are very unique. I definitely love the way the colors contrast with my skin. This is the perfect outfit for Eid or other major celebrations! I enjoy wearing my traditional clothing as it makes Mali feel closer than an entire ocean away.

Benjamin K0di

My piece is a black tribal shirt made of kitenge fabric, laced with white designs of various African instruments and animals. I got it from my older cousin’s closet, who originally got it gifted to him by his mother who bought it directly from a clothing market in Nairobi, Kenya. This piece’s significance holds for me is that it was worn during multiple graduations in the past, so it’s almost as if the piece contains the essence of success, which is given to me when I put it on. Lastly, what I like about this piece is how beautiful the white designs sit on the black background.

Marissa Desir

My outfit is from West Africa, specifically Mali. It’s a two-piece, rather than a dress, which is one of the things I love about it. To me, this outfit perfectly symbolizes the traditional clothing and beauty that appears in Mali. Like the bottom, it’s a wraparound skirt, a piece of clothing that is commonly worn. Or the stunning patterns, from the one printed on the fabric itself to the intricate overlapping diamond shapes that create the sleeves. Even, the headwrap! From my crown to my heels, the outfit does exactly what it’s supposed to: Make Me Feel Like A Queen.

Mariam Eshetu

The dress I’m wearing is an Ethiopian Habesha Kemis. The dress is made from cotton and comes in various shades of white and beige with colorful embroideries around the wrists and down the center of the dress. It’s typically accompanied by a head scarf called a netela with similar embroidery. A habesha kemis is worn on holidays, formal events and ceremonies. I received this dress as a gift from my mother so it has a lot of sentimental value to me. This is the first habesha kemis I’ve had with an elastic waistband, making it more form fitting and from my perspective more comfortable to wear. I also love the vibrancy of the colors in the embroidery.

Fatima Osman

For the photo shoot, I wore a Moroccan kaftan that I got from a friend. I really loved the patterns and flowiness of the piece. It reminded me of a Somali baati when I first got it which was really special to me. Both are light garments perfect for a summer day. The kaftan was also really breathable which was wonderful since the weather was so hot and sunny. I really enjoyed being able to walk down the street and feel the breeze with the kaftan on.

Camp Vassar

I begin with a contradiction. Vassar is fashionable. But being fashionable is outdated. It seems as though being unfashionable on purpose is the style. Dresses over jeans. Soccer jerseys over ruffles. Things tied to our waists and in our hair. Either fifty layers or no clothes at all. It’s kitsch. It’s campy. It’s nonetheless Vassar. What is both the most stylish, in the very name of the word, is not stylish at all. What makes an outfit good is not its upholding of high-fashion values, but in its direct attack on taste. I should be clear: I do not mean that everything is ugly. Quite the contrary. However, I do think that things are bad. Intentionally. And it is in this bad-ness, a particular sect of camp, that we get the Vassar Camp.

As Susan Sontag writes in her manifesto Notes on Camp, “Pure camp is always naïve.” Vassar Camp, by definition, is

also naive. Those who wear nightgowns over jeans do so with the intention of dressing well. Breaking all aesthetic rules on purpose. Yet just because one breaks rules does not make one stylish. It does however, make them camp. Vassar is full of rule breakers. We break stereotypes by being stereotypes. We shatter gender, class, and order. Feminine men. Masculine Women. Everyone in between. What is so camp is not our actual style, but the naive belief that we are the most stylish student body to ever exist. It is our own self confidence that is camp. The ability to walk in the quad in nothing but a sheer slip dress has nothing to do with truly breaking the grounds of fashion, but to break all the means of society. Our camp-ness stems not from good

taste, but from inherently bad taste. Perhaps it is our youth, our c’est la vie attitude. But I believe it to be our naivité. It is no secret that we are a bubble. A nucleus of the intellectual elite. For many years, Vassar was a symbol of the bourgeois, well-behaved elite of America’s finest families. The Rockefellers, Roosevelts, Kennedys. Yet now we are a whore-house of queer thought, progressive ideas, and most importantly, we are pushing the boundaries of what it means to be an elite institution. And part of that is our style. I see it as a reaction against elitism. By breaking the rules of traditional tastes and aesthetics, we break the stereotype of the prudely rigid bourgeois. We have become

Wyatt Keleshian

a vestige of gayness. At Vassar, it is fashionable to be gay.

Sontag writes: “Not all homosexuals have Camp taste. But homosexuals, by and large, constitute the vanguard –and the most articulate audience– of Camp.” By becoming a beacon of queer culture, Vassar is again breaking another one of its stereotypes. Queer culture plays a dominant part in Vassar’s culture. Today the two are inseparable. And we are camp. While it is not (most) of our intentions to be camp, we are whether we like it or not. Camp is built off of gay culture and BIPOC culture. And at a predominantly white institution that likes to pretend it is more progressive than it actually is, being kitsch, being tacky, being drab-

Our bad taste is what makes us happy. And that is camp. Vassar camp does not care what you look like. People do not care what you wear. You walk around campus with your nipples out, no one bats an eye. We are a utopia of fashion and disfashion. The models of NYFW co-exist with the grunge and the goth. Vassar camp is not a unified style. But a collage of everything, put together in a 1,000 acre campus. Perhaps it is a resistance against normalcy. Perhaps it is pure immaturity. But it is definitely our naivité that allows us to wear what ever the fuck we wear, and think we look good. It is our undeniable awfulness that makes us camp. Vassar camp is awful. That is the point. Good style is to have no style at all but to be confident in what you are wearing. “It’s good because it is awful” concludes Susan Sontag. And I conclude with this:

It’s not camp because it’s ugly. It’s camp because you think it looks good.

by, is Vassar Camp. A man wearing a dress is not camp. It is intentional. Wearing a soccer jersey and a crochet skirt and thinking that you have good style, that is camp. It is our naive self confidence that we are at the forefront of style that makes us camp. By no means am I saying to stop doing these things. I’m not going to tell you what to wear, and regardless no one would listen to me even if I did.

But we are a stereotype of ourselves. And that is camp.

THE ABSENCE OF JEWLERY ON THE RED CARPET

Abigail Strauss

Red carpets often act as a second runway for brands, allowing them to showcase designs on high-profile clients for brand visibility. These carpets also act as a placement opportunity to showcase their archived looks that are rarely seen by the public. In past years, this tool has been used by numerous brands both clothing and accessory-wise. Yet, a new trend is emerging, with jewelry being cut from the necks of celebrities. - the so-called disappearing necklace. For jewelry brands such as Cartier, Tiffany, and co, etc, these opportunities are extremely important as they rarely display their jewels on the runway. Given the press that necklaces can bring due to their jaw-dropping prices, their disappearance spells the loss of press for the celebrities who once wore them. So why would stylists leave them out? If we look at the recent Golden Globes many celebrities such as Margot Robbie

sported high necklines, eliminating the opportunity for displaying spectacular jewels as seen in seasons past. Higher necklines can also make larger earrings look oversized and steal attention away from the celebrity they are supposed to accentuate. Others, however, had the same low-cut dresses that once begged for a necklace to be considered complete. At the 2022 SAG awards, Selena Gomez donned a Bulgari necklace worth over a million dollars, making major headlines, and boosting her press time. At the 2023 Golden Globes, no such necklace could be seen, despite her off-the-shoulder dress by Valentino, her neck was left completely bare, and she wasn’t the only one. Milly Alcock, Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon, wore a host of Cartier jewelry to complete her ensemble for the July 2022 world premiere, yet fast forward to this year’s Golden Globes and her neck becomes bare. Some actors seem to have started the trend sooner, with Sydney Sweeney arriving sans necklace to numerous events in 2022 such as the Euphora season two premiere. Before this, she wore dazzling statement jewelry, donning a show-stopping diamond necklace for the 2019 Harper’s Bazaar party which, arguably, overshadowed her Rosario mini dress. The issue of overshadowing is but one of the hypothesized reasons for the absence of jewelry on the red carpet. Without large necklaces, the outfits celebrities model can receive more focus from the press. In addition, some stylists claim that large necklaces are commonly used by aged clients, as many of the necklace designs are vintage. Leaving the neck bare with only the dress to complement can therefore create a more minimalistic, clean, and youthful look, The pandemic may also be a contributor to this phenomenon. At the beginning of the pandemic, a disastrous ‘Imagine’ cover was posted, with celebrities such as Gal Gadot and Will Ferrell among others singing snippets of John Lennon’s song from inside their gilded mansions. This post received strong backlash, with those

who participated being called out for their hypocrisy and flaunting of wealth at a time when so many were struggling. Necklaces that cost millions of dollars and come with their security details send a similar message, a flaunting of wealth at the worst possible time. Luckily for necklace lovers, like all trends, bare necks and minimalistic jewelry will likely be replaced with the same necklaces the trend forced away. The current prediction is that as we return to normal in a post-pandemic world, the red carpet will do the same, bringing back jewelry fit for royalty.

Exec Board

EdiTOR IN CHIEF

Nicholas Gayle

h

Managing Editor

Frances Walker Fox

h

pHOTO

Jade Hsin

Mareme Fall

Lily Tarrant

Willow Grote

Gwen Ma h

STYLE

Carissa Kolcun

Lily Tarrant

Willow Grote

Yasmin Mohamed

BEAUTY

Carissa Kolcun

Yasmin Mohamed

h

fILM

Jade Hsin

Mareme Fall

h

Layout

Freddie von Siemens

Gwen Ma

Emilia von Lilien-Brockmeyer

Katherine Startsev

Frances Walker Fox h

eDITORIAL & Media

Anjali Krishna

Henryk Kessel

Julia Colon

Wyatt Keleshian

Contributors

Writers

Abigail Straus

Lindsay Shih

Wyatt Keleshian

h

Photographers

Haley Whetstone

Maya Page

Abigail Strauss

Gwen Ma

Jade Hsin

Mareme Fall

h

Models

Leta Blades

Avery Naif

Talia Roman

Carissa Kolcun

Sophia Baliey

ASU EXec Board

Fanta Wague

Mariam Eshetu

Pierangelis Valerio

Fatima Osman

Marissa Desir

Benjamin Kodi

h

Beauty Up

h