The High School Standard
SSENSE
Oct 26 2019
Photographer Danko Steiner Glorifies Youth’s Hesitant Faith
For his latest SSENSE editorial, photographer Danko Steiner reimagines the classic high school portrait. Corporate shoulders stage the imminent burden of structure, paired with the rebelliousness of buffed leather boots. Set against a blanched background, the items are coaxed to life as one might a sensitive subject. Owning awkwardness is almost better than having none. The tension of being a spot-lit muse is a balancing act, setting out to blur the lines of a new standard.
The Sacai Century Tiffany Godoy Visits the Studio of Chitose Abe, a Designer Who Reflects “the Multidimensionality of Women” Chitose Abe’s world is one of intuitive balance, and this outlook has served her well. Over the last few years her Sacai shows have become Paris Fashion Week must-sees, her clothing a staple of striking, off-beat, 21st century femininity. Her design language is complex and sophisticated, reflecting, as she puts it, “the multidimensionality of modern women.” She has just launched a new line of bags, and earlier this year her menswear line made its runway debut. 
These Earrings Are Loud New Icons: Ambush's Silver SSS Record Earrings Connect the Dots Between Jamaican Sound Systems and Early Human Exploration Ötzi the Iceman was murdered more than 5,000 years ago while trekking the icy peaks of the Alps. He had 61 tattoos and pierced ears. In modern day Iran, the walls of the palace at Persepolis are carved with men wearing earrings. In Egypt, in a pharaoh’s tomb, a pair of earrings he might have worn as a child lay interred with him for millennia. Our bodies, it seems, have never quite been articulate enough in communicating who we are. 
Sky Blue Sky Teenage Photographer Myles Hall Captures the Abandon of a Lazy Afternoon Whoever said youth is wasted on the young knew the frantic feeling of wanting desperately to grow into something, only to grow out of it. Silhouettes of confusion mark the backdrop of young adulthood. But this outward appearance of confusion can be deceiving. Those who are suspended in these moments of transition move freely through the world. The dandelion seed knows that it travels through the air faster than a rock in the gutter.