PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICO KARTEL | FASHION AND STORY BY ISRAEL MEJIA
LEIOMY MALDONADO IS STARTING TO GET IRRITABLE. I really can’t blame her, because I am too. It’s been a long, humid day, and our mouths have been masked for hours. We are in a studio on one of those eerily abandoned streets in Brooklyn, nearing the end of our shoot for this story. I remind her that we have one more shot before we can all go back to our mask-free homes. She takes a deep breath, lowers herself to the ground, seduces the camera and just like that, we’re back in business.
TRUTH BE TOLD, once you get to know Leiomy and the life that has led her to this moment, you would come to understand that anyone who can survive what she has, can endure anything. But keep in mind, she is only made of flesh and blood like you and I, therefore allowed to feel whatever emotion she is going through. In order to truly familiarize yourself with her, you have to look beyond what you see on your screen.
Beyond the virtuoso Ballroom performances on YouTube ( 5 Elements of Vogue; Hand Performance, Catwalk, Duckwalk, Spins and Dips, and Floor Performances); beyond the exquisite costumes worn on HBO Max’s “Legendary”; and beyond the her impeccable reputation as a worldwide Ballroom pioneer and icon, she manages to stay true to herself. If you can just peek past all of the aforementioned, you will find a woman who is constantly making herself laugh, and spending as much time as she can with her grandmother.
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by Israel Mejia
I can’t fault Lauren Auder for being a few minutes late to our scheduled video call. Short of breath as she logs on, she informs me she just came back from a walk. It seems we all have been finding our individual way of keeping some sort of normalcy during our current climate. Lauren quickly brushes her vibrant, curly red hair from her face and politely smiles as I ask her how she is, almost unsure as to how to answer my question. Understandable.
With the excitement of her third EP, 5 Songs for the Dysphoric, being released the day after our conversation, one could imagine how a 22-year-old would feel. Surely there is a mixture of curiosity and apprehensiveness, gifting to the world a piece of art during a global pandemic. Lauren already has two previous projects under her belt, along with collaborations with Caroline Polachek, going on tour with Christine and the Queens, and having modeled for Gucci and Celine under Heidi Slimane. As she’s done far more than her peers at this point, it’s no surprise she seems a bit unfazed by her own prowess. Read more
by Israel Mejia
Photography by Henry Lou | Fashion by John Tan
jacket KARL LAGERFELD PARIS
Moving is never painless. Packing, taping boxes, opening said boxes to pull out a hastily tucked away phone charger — it’s cumbersome. But moving coasts is even trickier, especially in the middle of a global pandemic. Tyler Barnhardt figured out the logistics and seamlessly transplanted his life from New York to Los Angeles. For the 27-year-old actor, moving involved Amtrak, face masks and a patient girlfriend.
Tyler knows his limits and readily admits them throughout our conversation. He is currently crashing at co-star Ross Butler’s house in LA, as his apartment, which he has only seen through a Virtual Reality tour, is still not move-in ready. After leaving Brooklyn, Tyler and his girlfriend, casting agent Adriana Schaps, decided to spend a week in Miami. “It was an amazing experience because when you go on vacation with your significant other’s parents, you’re on your best behavior. But when you’re going through a pandemic and you’re together 24/7 for four months, it’s impossible to be on your best behavior.” After settling in for the long haul he shifted his perspective from vacation mode to, as he describes it, “Is this just my life now? I need to get out of here and have some purpose in the world because I just feel nothing.” Read more
Photography by Faisal Mohammed | Fashion by Israel Mejia
The scene: an early 80s evening at Studio 54. We step out with none other than Ms. Grace Jones as our wingman; “Pull Up to the Bumper” and get ready to party
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Washed ashore to a strange new world, the siren is far from home.
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by Israel Mejia
Aquaria smells like an alien. I quietly ask her what perfume she’s wearing, as we sit across from each other having dinner one cold March evening in the Lower East Side. It was surprisingly packed for a weeknight at Russ & Daughter’s. The question seemed to throw her off, only for the fact that she had just finished going on a rant about an Instagram homebody who had recently accused her of copying her housewife look. After a quizzical look, she answers that it’s her favorite scent, the ever so popular “Alien” by Thierry Mugler. It makes sense that she would wear a perfume that almost perfectly seems to define who she is: different.
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A princess rescues herself, taking her destiny into her own hands.
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Despite their countless contributions to various aspects of society, black women in America are all too often shorted of the respect they deserve. We head up to Harlem – a neighborhood known for its history of commemorating black culture – to celebrate black beauty, strength, and resilience.
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Us Americans love to protest, and that certainly comes through in our style. Street fashion in the big city is more dynamic and bold than ever before; take to the streets and disrupt the establishment.
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