Student-run fashion magazine pushing boundaries and spreading messages of inclusivity in Pullman

PULLMAN, WASH – (Murrow News 8) A student-run fashion magazine has pushed boundaries and spread messages of inclusivity in Pullman.

“Growing up, I’ve always been very in touch with my feminine side. It’s made me question things in my own life…but no, it’s just me. I’m just in touch with myself, and I wear what I want to wear and do what I want to do,” Jansen Garside said, editor-in-chief of the Washington State University fashion magazine LUXE.

A main concept in this year’s issue of LUXE explored the boundaries between genders, an idea that hit home for many LUXE members.

“To see this trend of femininity and masculinity blurring the lines where we are moving away from that like stereotypical alpha male – like you can only wear a t-shirt and jeans type of archetype for men – I think it’s really important,” Garside said.

“I think it could really help get that message out there especially to our small community here in Pullman,” Garside said, “which is pretty cut off from a lot of new cultural ideas in society.”

Creating the spring issue of LUXE gathered a motley crew of photographers, writers, and creatives. In addition to including concepts about gender and culture, the magazine was inspired by the roots of fashion.

“I felt challenged. It was a different setting for me – I’ve never shot in a house – and so doing that was really fun and working with animals was also really fun,” Shane Petrus said, senior photo editor of LUXE.

“It’s called the immortal issue because it’s an allude to the immortality of fashion and how, not only have we gone back to a lot of the different fashion trends of the past, but how they’re continued to live on and how they’re rooted in historical events or in culture or even in pop culture…and how they still continue today,” Petrus said.

LUXE is currently being edited and will be printed for distribution in May.

“I think seeing other people’s work and their creativity come to life has been very inspirational to me. I felt honored to be a way to bring people together to form that community in LUXE,” Garside said.