This story is part of Image's October. Abundance theme, reveling in indulgence, maximalism and the delightfully impractical.
When I was a teenager I meticulously decorated my bedrooms. There was the crescent moon lamp that hung on the wall next to my bed in a heaven of lipsticks and makeup brushes that I cut out of issues of Allure and Elle. The other wall was completely covered in pictures of friends and family, which I tacked up with blue tack, taking out the ladder once I reached the ceiling. Above my desk, I made an imaginary city with magazine cutouts in which the right half of George Clooney's face formed an irregular skyscraper. In college, I hung paper seahorses from the ceiling and wrote handwritten poems that I taped under the window next to my bed. It was never too much, or rather, it was never enough. I wanted to climb those walls and be seen.
Since then, I've strived to carry this maximalist spirit with me into adulthood, and for a long time I was made to feel like something of a rebel in a world of so many clean, neutral lines. But the trend is changing, as perhaps some have finally realized that elegance actually requires having personality.
(Elisa Wouk Almino)
The stories in this issue delight in indulgence and self-expression, from wearing multiple styles of makeup in one day and dressing in seemingly contradictory patterns to eating with useless but beautiful cutlery and baking towering multicolored cakes. These stories emanate from a time in our lives when being practical was not the most important thing. They embrace abundance, the most comforting of luxuries.
This one goes to Jess, whose designs have imbued each issue with a generous and overflowing spirit.
Logo image of Georgina Treviño For the times
