Dear readers,

I’ll admit it — I didn’t really think about fashion in high school, but I fell for the allure of reinventing myself in New York. I wanted to be like one of those cool, aesthetic New York City girls. I wanted to start making friends who knew about fashion and makeup and trends and being cool. I craved that “college glow up” more than even I understood. I wanted to leave high school behind.

But when I tried talking to those cool, aesthetic New York City girls, I never knew what to say to them. I didn’t really want to do cool, aesthetic city girl things. I’m kind of just a loser at heart. Even if I tried to dress differently, I wasn’t that much different from how I was back in high school. I didn’t want to go out on Friday nights — I just wanted to stay in and binge read “One Piece.”

In the end, I gave up on following an aesthetic. My search for friends that like “One Piece” still continues, by the way. But the extent of my fashion knowledge remains quite minimal. So I have so much appreciation for the incredible WSN writers who attended fashion shows and covered them beautifully. Special shoutout to Ella Sabrina Malabanan’s story of her top five runway picks and Yanel Siqueiros’ fall trend predictions — how do you guys understand what’s going on?

My thanks goes out to everyone who contributed to this issue, but a special thanks to my incredible co-editor Karina Rower and Beauty & Style Editor Annie Emans for taking charge of this issue and bringing it to fruition. I’m so grateful to have been able to contribute to this issue. 

I’m so proud of what we created, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did!

— Mikaylah Du, Under the Arch Editor