Passing The Torch: A final letter from one of our editors

Heres how I'm really doing

I am at my parent's house, with my mom's closet as a resource to pass time making outfits as a fashion enthusiast does best. I don't own an iPhone or a DSLR to do the most elaborate DIY photoshoots, and all of my dressy clothes are back at my dorm. I only packed essentials, not know how long this pandemic would last.

This work-from-home order has given me time to think about my senior year as a whole, including my time being Editor in Chief. Heres what I've learned:

Rebuilding a magazine from the ground up is just as challenging as starting from scratch. Essentially, with the fashion-focused vision we implemented, it was like starting from scratch. It is our responsibility to keep the essence of the original agenda our predecessors have carved out for is while still allowing Nu View to rebrand ourselves as for fashions majors by fashion majors. There have been setbacks, both COVID and non-COVID related, that make the fact that I'm graduating bittersweet. I wish I had more time to continue my role in helping the magazine be even better, but I am so grateful for how far we've come since September. Our team has grown from two seniors with a blueprint to a team of creatives that all contributed to building the foundation of this new vision. All these roles have contributed to the continuing success of Nu View and the opportunities will only go up from there with the projects they have in store for this year.

I am thankful for the way Nu View has given me many outlets to express myself. In even the toughest times, the highlight of my day was directing photoshoots and organizing the monthly themes. Our Instagram page would be my daily inspiration. What's great about being in Nu View is you can create art through fashion by being a stylist and having your model be your canvas. I'm grateful I got to lead a magazine that is dedicated to showing the art of this business. Vivienne Westwood once said, "fashion is very important. It is life-enhancing and, like everything that gives pleasure, it is worth doing well.” and Nu View highlights and celebrates those who do it well.

XOXO,

Fire is Catching

The world right now is being consumed by an epidemic and the widespread panic is causing mass hysteria; fire is catching.

If the histories of art and fashion have taught us anything, it’s that life is reflected in art. In the 20’s we had the prohibition and how did people respond? Rebellion. The prohibition birthed the age of the flappers. Women shortening their skirts, cutting their hair, and wearing their wealth in terms of pearls and other fine jewels for the world to see. In other words, modesty was just a 7 letter word. The prohibition in the 20’s also gave birth to organized crime and in the 30’s men started dressing like mobsters from The Godfather. In the late 50’s and throughout the 60’s, Space Age fashion was primarily due to the influence of the Space Race and the Cold War. In the 90’s hip-hop and rap music started growing in popularity in response to all of the racial injustice and police brutality. What makes the music significant was the fact that it was actually about something, struggles and strife, it gave people an outlet for all of that anger. And because fashion imitates life, we also started to see what is now known today as hip-hop fashion. Due to the influence of Tupac, Easy E, Dr. Dre, N.W.A, and MC Hammer, jeans were worn low and baggy, midriffs were exposed, snapbacks were worn backwards, and every man on the planet owned a couple of wife-beaters and a gold chain. People were also wearing substantially less color compared to the 80’s. The dark times paralleled what people wore.

Now with 2020 surrounding the coronavirus, how will fashion respond? By exercising a form of modesty: turtlenecks and long sleeves in the summer, high-waisted skinny jeans without rips, and shoes that come up higher on our ankles exposing less skin? Or maybe the addition of long silky Aubrey Hepburn Breakfast-at-Tiffany’s-hand-gloves and Billie Eilish mouth-masks?

xoxo,

- Don and Sofia

Fashion Is No Joke

In honor of April Fool’s month, we at Nu View wanted to take some time and talk about something that isn’t a joke…fashion.

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“[fashion]: because your personality isn’t the first thing people see.” - Anonymous

Sartorial fashion has an intimate relationship with the physical body and, by extension, the personal identity of an individual, that is why there is a greater attention paid to apparel fashion. But, there is fashion all around us, there are fashions in furniture, there is fashion in automobiles, and in various other things in addition to just clothing. Fashion encompasses the way in which things are made; to “fashion” something is to make it in a particular form. The definition of fashion is "the cultural construction of the embodied identity;" it is also defined as a “prevailing style of dress or behavior at any given moment in time,” meaning, fashion is characterized by change.

Why is fashion important?

Fashion is seen as a vain, frivolous, and ephemeral industry by those who do not understand its importance to the world, and more importantly, its impact on us as human beings. Clothing is vital to our most basic needs of warmth and protection, but it is also a form of self-expression, it’s how we present ourselves to the world. Fashion is very personal; it allows you to choose how you wish to reveal yourself to the world all around you and it is a way of communicating without saying a word. When we are young, we are taught not to judge a book by its cover, yet it’s practically human nature to do so, I would even go so far as to say it’s an impulse or a habit. Basically, when people first look at you the first thing they see is how you are dressed and your style is the first words you speak to someone - so what are you trying to say?

What does fashion say about us?

The manner in which somebody chooses to dress themselves also says a lot about that person as an individual. What’s important to them - faith and modesty, how they spend their money – expensive watches and designer brands, how much they care about their appearance – shined shoes and shirts without wrinkles, as well as the content of their character – how they carry themselves. The best part about fashion and what makes it truly unique is the way you look is completely up to you; you have complete control over everything and you decide what to put on your body, when it comes to fashion there are no limitations.

Fashion is no joke.

The fashion industry is an incredibly large industry with an astoundingly wide-reach. How large? It’s the second largest worldwide economic activity for intensity trade, it’s a $3 trillion dollar industry employing well over 57 million people, 80 percent of which are women. In fact, the fashion industry is one of very few where women shine and are the majority.

Lately, this industry like many others has been really overwhelmed by COVID-19, but proof that the fashion industry is a force to be reckoned with lies in how people have reacted, by using apparel as a means of protecting themselves from this virus and by using apparel as a way to raise funds for combating this pandemic. So, to all the anti-fashionists and naysayers that fail to see the importance and the vitality of this industry – can you see it now?

“I've decided fashion can be two things. It can be as simple as something you put on to make yourself feel beautiful, or as dynamic as something illustrative of culture, time and its transformations,” - Anna Wintour. To society, to the economy, to each and every single one of us – fashion matters. Faster than anything else, what we wear reflects who we want to be and tells a story of who we are, and if all we are is just stories in the end, might as well make it a good one.

xoxo,

- Don and Sofia