The Great American Simulation
Life as One Big RPG
The “simulation hypothesis” tells us that what we know as reality isn’t necessarily “real,” and we may likely be characters in one big MMORPG, actors in the grand alien auteur’s magnum opus. With continued advancements in quantum computing, the nearly decades-old idea seems only more and more viable. Elon Musk told Joe Rogan on his September podcast that we are now “most likely in a simulation,” while computer scientists and physicists continue to search for evidentiary bugs in the program running it.
This version of history makes us all stars in the movie of our life, avatars in our own unique predestined storyline. If we are naively existing in a video game, but are unable to tell the difference, how much does the truth matter? Our physical reality is increasingly digitized, and the next generation will likely spend most of their lives online.
Here TORSO documents the everyday in The American Suburbia simulation. The first-love story, a trip to the local market, a day at the pool, the unreal reality of fashion-forward youth living life earnestly and unaware, in the sim. Afterall, we accept the reality of the world with which we're presented. It's as simple as that.
Feeling Seoul Intuiting the City with Juun. J, Gentle Monster, and Maison Margiela Numerology is the study of the divine relationship between numbers, and corresponding qualities or events. The number 29 breaks down to the master number 11 (2+9), symbolizing higher intuition and spiritual insight, supernatural abilities, increased empathy and sensitivity. For their first SSENSE editorial, photographer Min Hyunwoo traces the perimeters of the streets, public spaces—shops, food stands, alleys—intuitive additions to the civic topography. 
John Yuyi’s Chameleon Heart Mutable Emotions with Gucci, Ambush, and Versace A lump in your throat. A heavy chest. An elevator in your stomach. A tightness in your neck. In what parts of your body do you carry your emotions? The physical anatomy becomes a vessel for its internal, stirring ephemera, just as color connotes it. What color is joy? What mood is Miu Miu ? Is focus halfway between anger and serenity? Melancholy synonymous with romance? From Balenciaga to Gucci , John Yuyi shows that a spectrum of feelings extends itself equally to our outsides. 
Mel Ottenberg Wants To Know: Are We Having Fun? The Creative Director Of Interview Magazine On Taking Risks And Styling Rihanna For The Stage “Large American male.” That’s how Mel Ottenberg, the cheeky-clever, vanguard fashion stylist identifies. Ottenberg is one of those born originators who seems never to keep an idea for himself and whose personal style choices are as simple and unchanging as his public output is wild and creative; today, he is wearing tailored Levi’s and a vintage Champion sweatshirt he bought in Japan. “I’m a beefy thick guy,” he says.