Fighting for fashion and the arts may be tutu-less, but it’s certainly not hopeless
By Shelley Brown
June 5, 2010 10:15 p.m.
This is my first and last column for the Daily Bruin, and I just so happen to be writing it deliriously tired from a combination of journalism internships and editing for Arts & Entertainment. It is probably better this way, as I cannot imagine attempting to sum up my experience on the paper in an entirely serious state of mind ““ that just isn’t how things are done in the Arts & Entertainment section.
This year alone, I have indulged my every fashion whim through the Lifestyle beat, managed to spoof Lady Gaga in a film that will surely prevent me from ever seeking public office and most importantly, have connected with irreplaceable people who are arguably as eccentric as I am.
So now, as I prepare to enter a work world where I will not be greeted by “Mamu!” in the morning, where writers won’t lavish me with love in the form of dining hall swipes, and I cannot wear a tutu to the office without being questioned, I am enormously grateful for the opportunity to have been “Shellbear,” “Shelton” and a founding member of “A&E&Cuddle.”
In all seriousness, however, the arts can be a dangerous business. It seems that in these times when pragmatism rules, I have dreamt up an impractical dream. I have chosen to pursue journalism in a time when print is being declared post-mortem.
Worse still, my interest lies in fashion journalism, notoriously stigmatized as the most frivolous writing of all. I could very well be doomed to a diet of ramen, dreaming of describing Chanel tweed while folding discount sweaters in a bargain basement.
But I am proud to be labeled “whipped cream,” however sardonically, in a black coffee economy. If not for one thing, I might now, on the eve of my graduation from UCLA, fear my precious English degree was for naught. I might fear that I had read all there was to read and slaved away in the claustrophobic Daily Bruin office for three years for nothing ““ that my editing, researching, interviewing (and at times, crying) over Arts & Entertainment stories would only amount to fond college memories.
However, I have courage. To claim to be courageous when one only desires to write about the arts in general and clothing in particular may seem self-righteous, and surely, there are nobler pursuits.
It must be said, though, that belief in a dream, no matter how outlandish or socially dismissed, is always noble no matter what. In an age in which newspapers are becoming obsolete, when magazines are disappearing, I am actively attempting to thrust myself into the business, to get a foot, maybe even just a pedicured toe, in the door.
It is moments such as the FAST Fashion show, where the lights are blaring and the music is drilling a hole through my head, and I am confronted with a display of such unadulterated passion that it truly occurs to me how much I love what I do.
Perhaps the best part about this kind of epiphany is that it is not rare in this line of work. Countless times, whether interviewing an aspiring artist or an accomplished performer or reading a brilliantly worded phrase by a writer, it has occurred to me the kind of overwhelming talent I have been fortunate enough to witness here.
Really, it all comes down to needs: the nagging need to write, the impassioned need to contribute to something larger than myself and the very practical (if I may use such a word) need to believe beautiful things, whatever their embodiment, are still possible.
Brown was an assistant A&E editor for 2009-2010 and an A&E contributor for 2008-2009.
