Color. There are vibrant colors, light, shades, arts, colorful personalities and expressions popping out from the pages. Color is the first thing I saw when I tried to skim through the pages of the two magazines that Alex Yang, the writing director of Forward Magazine and a third-year communications major, handed me as he walked into the room.
Among the many fashion clubs at UCLA, Forward is a relatively young one founded in 2023. Just like how their magazines are feeling — Forward is vibrant, diverse, inclusive and full of colors.
“Having fun is a big part of our identity,” the writing director said, “and we do not want to take ourselves too seriously.”
Josselyn Rondon, a fourth-year student double majoring in public affairs and Chicano Studies, the current creative director and co-director of Forward, said that Forward’s style tends to be more artsy and expressive, compared to the clean, plain straight-cut style.
Forward is made up of multiple committees: editorial, graphics, writing and styling and modeling being a part of the photoshoots, Rondon said, and they are dependent on each other.
Photoshoots start with pitch, Rondon said. Once the team is able to put forward the concepts they want for a photoshoot after viewing the general member submissions, which usually happens in winter, the creative director said, the photographers will be assigned to photoshoots. Based on the photographer’s creative vision, casting calls will be sent out to models; the modeling and styling directors supervise the fitting process and the final pieces will be given to the graphics committee for creating their magazine, Rondon said.
The magazine is Forward’s annual print, the co-president said. If some of the stylists’ works are not picked due to unfitness to the annual theme, they still get a chance to be featured in the lookbook, Rondon said. The creative director added that they hold an annual launch party for the publications to celebrate a year of hard work.
As the writing director, Yang said that he helps edit the articles in the magazine. Since the theme of this year is intersection, they have a lot of articles about how different art forms relate to fashion, the writing director said, and they are going to start working on blog posts for their website as well.
At the beginning of the fall quarter, Forward will open up the modeling application; they will then select the ones that fit, Jesille Jackson, the current modeling director and a second-year aerospace engineering student, said.
Jackson joined Forward as a model at first. In her first photoshoot experience, she was a little awkward and stiff, Jackson said, but the Forward team members were highly encouraging and supportive of her finding the most comfortable and confident side of her to showcase.
This experience became the nourishment for the modeling director to hold workshops for models to learn about and explore poses, styles and ways to present themselves now. Chemistry is important between models and the shoots, and the connection between the artistic expression through clothes and the model themselves can be an intimate thing, Jackson said. For the photoshoots, they would like the models to sign up for the one they are excited about and willing to be a part of, the modeling director said, as they do not want the models to feel forced; however, they will also make sure every model gets a chance to get involved in the photoshoot.
In fact, inclusiveness is highly emphasized at Forward, Rondon said. With the expansion of the members, Forward has progressed to be more diverse and open, the co-president said. People may have the impression that the fashion industry nowadays is exclusive, pretentious and gate-keeping, Yang said, but many of the members started with zero experience with fashion.
Forward prides itself on the newcomer, Rondon said. The creative director said that her fashion knowledge is self-taught and joining Forward feels like a big step in the right direction. Yang said that the art he first got into was music, rather than fashion, and his fashion influences come from some of his favorite artists. Forward strives to be a fashion space for everybody, the writing director said.
For this year, Forward is also planning on a Met Gala, where all designers can get to showcase their works no matter if they fit into the annual theme of the magazine, Yang and Rondon said. Jackson also mentioned that in next year’s model recruitment, they will prioritize diversifying the model group, especially recruiting male models, as a result of their lacking appearance that some shoots are in need of.
Openness, diversity, expression and freedom are what truly make Forward colorful.
“I felt almost at home and even though we are a fashion club, I don’t have to look good 24/7,” Jackson said, “I feel comfortable in my own skin because there’s people that are always reassuring …[Forward] has definitely been my highlight.”
