Visually, fashion is becoming increasingly more diverse. If the CFDA won’t call you out on an all-white model cast, Twitter will. Last season, to mixed reception, Gucci released an all-black campaign inspired by 60s soul. Last week Pirelli reimagined Alice in Wonderland with all black models. Runways and editorials don’t always reflect what’s happening behind the scenes, but things are changing, and not just at British Vogue. Parsons grad Alexis Noelle Barnett has just launched a magazine for — and solely by — young black creatives. Issue 00 of Neu Neu features game-changing, Tumblr-gen cool kids including candy-haired muse/stylist Brittany Byrd, model musicians Selah and Zuri Marley, trans Bronx rapper Quay Dash, rising R&B star Ian Isiah, L.A. designer James Flemons, Brazilian photographer June Canedo, and flamboyant Arkansas rhyme spitter Kari Faux.
“People are so obsessed with this word ‘culture’ but where do these ideas and trends come from?” Alexis wants to know. “It’s black kids in the hood and black kids on Twitter. Neu Neu is a reflection of the current state of culture, from the perspective of the people who are actually deciding what’s cool and actually influencing culture.” Alexis developed Neu Neu as her ambitious, inclusive, and often disruptive Parsons thesis. It’s a platform for showcasing young black creativity, but also the diversity within it. As Issue 00 becomes available for pre-order online, Alexis tells i-D about making the magazine her 15-year-old self would have wanted to see.
Why did you decide to launch Neu Neu?
Growing up as a black girl who loves fashion, I subscribed to all these major fashion publications, and felt this weird disconnect when flipping through them. Black women weren’t only not on the cover of the magazines, but they also weren’t being credited as working behind the scenes. Now black men and women do exist in fashion. We’re moving to a space where diversity is a bigger focus, so we’re being represented a lot more, but it’s more for the sake of tokenism. You have this great luxury brand that did this all black campaign, but why is everyone who benefitted from this campaign white and European?
What were you doing before launching the magazine?
I study strategic design and management. My major was a little bit more business-oriented, but of course it’s Parsons, so there was a lot of focus on the design industry. I moved to New York about a year ago, but I lived in Paris for the first three years of my undergrand. While I was there I was really into photography, so I was doing a lot of Paris fashion coverage as well.
Neu Neu represents people of color from all over — not just California and New York. I really love June Canedo’s Texas beauty story. Why is it important to showcase the diversity of black cultures?
The theme of the first issue was all about multiplicity within blackness. The goal for all the content for this issue was to show the diversity within us. June actually presented that idea of going to Texas and taking those portraits based on her boyfriend’s experience of being in Austin. The percentage of black people is so small and black-owned businesses are being pushed out. I approached this issue with the idea of, “What would I want the 15-year-old black me to know about the current state of fashion, art, and music?” I wanted to showcase some of the subcultures within blackness — I guess you could say the regional cultures.
You have some really big-name interviews and collaborators. How did you approach them?
They’re a combination of friends and people whose work I’ve admired for a long time. June and Arielle [Bobb-Willis] are people I followed on Tumblr for a while, and are both people of color who are so amazing and I wanted to share that. Then there’s someone like Brittany. I met her at Parsons over a year ago. She’s interesting and such a big name and has such a huge presence now because she’s the muse of one of the most popular rappers of today. I approached it like, “I know you, but your online presence is a little elusive, so I want you to have the opportunity to tell people about you — not you as Lil Uzi Vert’s muse.” A lot of black kids just want their work to be shown, so it was just a matter of reaching out.
How is the internet and social media making it easier for young black creatives to get their work showcased, and be adequately compensated for it?
Social media is amazing when it comes to giving young artists of color a platform to use their voices to fight back against misrepresentation. There are also so many young artists of color who are not being given opportunities, and the internet is allowing young kids — especially young black kids — to get some of the recognition that they deserve. When I was in Paris I was doing a lot of fashion photography, and Tumblr really helped me to get my work out there. Especially now that print is dying — says the girl who just launched a magazine! — the internet is an opportunity to create our own spaces within the internet and elevate us even more.
What is next for Neu Neu?
In September we’re going to start gearing up for the next issue and making it even bigger than it is right now. We’re launching our website, and we’re trying to get the print issue in stores, to make it more accessible for people around the world. This was Issue 00, and I view it almost as a prototype for what a magazine that’s 100% produced by black creatives could look like. Issue One is going to be bigger and better. Ultimately my goal is not to separate black artists but to create a space for accurate representation. This a real “for us, by us” moment, so there’s no way for your experience to be told unless it’s by us.
“Neu Neu” Issue 00 is available for pre-order here.
Credits
Text Hannah Ongley
Images courtesy of Neu Neu