TCS x CUCFS Magazine
We are really excited to announce a collaborative, limited edition print magazine to be released at the Cambridge University Fashion Show. TCS wants to highlight student creativity and activism, and this magazine speaks to both. For years, CUCFS’s incredible show has highlighted extraordinary feats of design and raised money for charity through doing it. This year the show will support Winter Comfort, a charity which provides food, clothing and shelter for homeless people in Cambridge.
The theme for this year’s show is ‘Lost in Between’. Our magazine will explore what this means through opinion pieces, interviews, and fashion editorials. What do you feel lost in between? Childhood and adulthood? Procrastination and decisiveness? Joy and fear? The past and the future? Hate and love? We want to know. I sat down with the magazine’s editor-in-chief Anna Chan to ask her more about fashion, the magazine, and how to get involved.
Anna, tell me about your vision for the magazine.
I’m envisioning something glossy and high quality that you’d find on the racks of a bookstore in the cool neighbourhood of a city. Think i-D or Interview Magazine, or independent publications like System or Viscose. I want each page to make you curious, and want to spend time looking at it or reading through it. We’ll feature editorial photoshoots alongside cultural and fashion journalism. I want style and attitude, good writing and good design.
How would you describe the word ‘style’?
I honestly think style is something everyone possesses, because we all make choices about clothing that not everyone else makes. Even small things like the width of trousers, how many layers we wear in the winter, what colours we think are too bold to wear on the street. Style conditioned largely by practical circumstances like weather or occupation still constitutes style in my eyes.
Recently, I’ve been thinking about what Rian Phin said about personal style and the tangible aspects of it: how much space you want to take up (like wearing baggy clothes or platforms) and what sounds you make (like shoes clip-clopping while you walk). She also spoke about how you can reconstruct identity through style without buying new clothes or even wearing existing items in a different way. Rather, it’s consciously thinking about who you are and what you want to say through clothing, and forming different attachments to it. Inner work and understanding why you make your fashion choices constitutes the main project of personal style. Understanding that was revolutionary to me.
If you could only wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I think I’m in a stage of my life where that is my worst nightmare - I think getting dressed every morning is a precious small act of creativity to me. I kind of enjoy instability and changeability right now. But if I had to decide, it’d be classic wide-legged black trousers, a gorgeous pleated or frilly top, and then a sleek black jacket with wide sleeves and a high collar. And maybe my black tabi ballet heels and a fun bag. I love colour and pattern but unfortunately I also believe in black as being incredibly chic when the shape and construction of the clothes are perfect.
What does the fashion show’s theme [Lost in Between ] mean to you?
It encapsulates the process of growing up to me, contending with expectations about who you should be and attempting to define new ones. There’s always a yearning for weightlessness, transcendence and ease, and I think ‘Lost in Between’ says that the answer is to free yourself of any ideas of “should”, that finding yourself can be done through seeking out ambiguity. Like running down a road emptied of cars on a foggy, misty night.
What’s your most treasured item of clothing?
I’ve made a habit of taking my grandma’s unwanted clothes for myself, but her blue and emerald floral qipao stands out to me as my most treasured. The craftsmanship and fabric are just gorgeous, and the figure-hugging silhouette really makes me feel connected to an abstract imagination of who my grandma was when she was younger and wore this dress. I also love the history of the qipao as a modernist, feminist invention of the early 1900s.
What kind of writing and art are you looking for in the magazine?
I’m looking for all types, really. In one sentence: original ideas I couldn’t have come up with myself in a million years. I want the magazine to be driven and shaped by the contributors, so be ambitious, unconventional, silly, pretentious, funny, jarring, extravagant, obscure, controversial - whatever! I encourage both analytical long-form journalistic writing and casual listicles or style guides, as well as sit-down interviews or fun Q&As. Feel free to write about fashion and culture in general, not just the charity fashion show or in response to ‘Lost in Between’. I also want to feature gorgeous illustrations and artwork if anyone’s interested in contributing!
Who can pitch a piece?
Anyone! I want your ideas, and your attitude.
How do you pitch a piece?
Send a 150-300 word pitch for each idea, detailing your intended subject, tone and form.
Thank you Anna! Please get in touch with Anna (asc76@cam.ac.uk) or us (tcs@cambridgesu.co.uk) if you’d like to get involved.