S412 Fashion
Column 05
Dearest readers,
The submissions we received and photos we took in the past week were just so perfect!! We couldn’t think of any better way to bring them to life than to revive the iconic J-14 Magazine, probably many of our introductions into the world of FANDOM!
J-14 was a monthly magazine for pre-teens and teenagers, featuring celebrity gossip, fashion, quizzes, and more, that launched in 1998. Unfortunately discontinued in 2024, J-14, along with a general decline in magazine publications, made us wonder if there is any space left for teen style media. The cultural gap between children and teens is widening, young girls especially are affected by this continuing shift. Play makeup and My Little Pony is replaced with salicylic acid and YouTube reels. (It’s not all doom, though. They still have KATSEYE.)
Something that still gives us hope is WYouth, a new print and social media magazine by W. Their first print came out in September, and it will publish biannually. The idea for the magazine came from the modern lack of media aimed for preteens, and their first promotional material was based on what celebrities like Dominic Fike, Tyler the Creator, Sofia Coppola, and Justin Bieber were doing when they were kids and teenagers. Their first publication had Chari XCX interviewed by Clairo, Romy Mars with puppies, Chase Infiniti, Chloë Sevigny and more. I hope it revives some of the spirit of J-14, which no matter how blinding to look at entertained me so much as a kid.
For this week's blog, we’re looking back at our obsessions from past to present, and giving you the teen mag experience one last time.
BIEBER FEVER
By Sophia
Justin Bieber is the first celebrity I remember being a FAN of. Sitting on my mom’s computer as a child, I was consumed by JB music videos, interviews, parodies and memes, really just anything I could find with my limited tech skills. Nothing particularly drew me to him, besides his signature purple and the fact that a lot of my friends liked him. Showing off my magazines and merchandise was a highlight of my childhood, I even had a Justin Bieber toothbrush.
Attending S412 last week, I learned that many of you had a similar obsession. Liv went to see him on tour, and Madds got to MEET HIM!!!
Story from Madds (@madds.alley): My mom worked in radio for the majority of her career. She was the host of the morning show at various stations across central Pennsylvania. In the Early 2000s she worked at FM97, and artists would go on radio tours to promote their new music. When Justin Bieber was promoting what I think was his first album, he did a tour that stopped at my mom’s station. I have no idea why she brought me that day, I probably didn’t have preschool or something.
I remember there being a ton of teen girls lined up to see him, and I was on the other side of the room coloring on the floor. When he got there everyone started freaking out because you know, it’s prime Justin Bieber you gotta. My mom says that he apparently noticed that his options on what to do were to entertain screaming teens, talk to the adults, or hang out with me. Apparently he chose to color with me. At one point, entirely to get a rise out of the fans, he jokingly started trying to ask me to be his “girlfriend”. I apparently ignored him multiple times, and then proceeded to yell no at him and make him color with me again or something.
Bieber Expertise from Sophia Carithers…
Justin kind of fell off for me by the time I left second grade. Little me was horrified when I saw that he was arrested for egging a house. My JB cardboard cutout was quickly donated, mainly because it really scared me at night.
However, Justin Bieber has become a trend setter in other ways in modern day fandom. His relationship with his wife, Hailey, brings in a lot of attention and scrutiny, and I hear his voice on my TikTok at least twice a day. It’s not clocking to you that he’s standing on business!! His Coachella set in April reached 64.9 million views in just 12 hours, becoming the most-Googled and most-streamed performance in Coachella history. In the 90 minute set, the first time Bieber had performed in the U.S. since 2022, he scrolled through his laptop, took song requests from fans, and screened footage of his most viral moments throughout his 19-year career. He played his 2012 hit, Beauty and A Beat, and it landed at #1 on the Worldwide Apple Music Song Chart following Coachella, the first time this 14 year old song has been #1. Bieber has proved to be a standout in fandom culture, even through his ups and downs you can truly never cool down Bieber Fever!
I C Ur shorts
By Lee ⋆☆｡
The 2020’s saw a rise in popularity for many things – brainrot, Love Island and indie rock. One very special standout was Phoebe Bridgers. Although at this point her career has spanned over a decade, with her bridging into other art mediums such as film (Primetime 2026) , Bridgers has been one of the leading voices of indie and we are simply Never Going Back!
Between the formation of Boygenius, multiple tours, grammy nominations and a recent album, Phoebe has also been releasing some pretty cute merchandise, such as these shorts!!! And you know what Blake, ICU! Sophomore Blake Torster is spotted here in these adorable shorts, similar to the Juicy Couture bottoms of the 90s and early 2000s, sporting the singer and actresses’ name instead. Bought at a show at Asbury Park, New Jersey, this special beach show was quite a standout for the attendees. Although Blake has seen Bridger’s twice, this spot was especially special not only as the place where he purchased these beautiful shorts, but the stop where she performed Waiting Room, one of my own personal favorites. So many things to be jealous of! We’re in Love with these shorts!!!
☠︎︎ Q&A With Lee and Blake ☠︎︎
Q: For you, what was the best song she performed?
A: The best song was Moon Song because it was a full moon.
Q: Did she perform anything else that stood out to you?
A: She also did a cover of Stolen Car by Bruce Springsteen because it was
at the Stone Pony, which is where Springsteen started his career.
Q: Out of all the merchandise, what made you drawn to these shorts?
A: I chose the shorts because of the writing on the back. I don’t have any shorts like that so I wanted to have a standout piece in my closet. I also loved the skulls on it.
Q: Was there anything else from the tour that you wish you got?
A: Honestly, another pair of the shorts because I’m scared of these getting ruined one day.
Q: Where do you wear the shorts the most?
A: I usually wear those shorts the most around the house or to the gym simply because of how comfortable they are. They are so light and the material is super soft.
Blake Torster STUNS in his Phoebe Shorts, as I’m spotted admiring.
Photographs by Audrey
FANDO-MAN-IA With Marlowe and Julia
Nobody I know reads more comics than Marlowe and Julia. Julia is partial to DC comics, particularly Batman. She just finished a Teen Titans omnibus, or, a single volume that combines numerous separate works into one book. She got into Batman and DC comics in childhood, when she watched the Batman animated series with her dad. Marlowe, on the other hand, prefers manga but she and Julia both watch anime, like Neon Genesis Evanagelion. Both girls love rock music as well, and went together to see Stone Temple Pilots over this past summer. Originally, Marlowe’s top three bands were Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Soundgarden, but when Julia started talking about STP, she quickly urged me to replace soundgarden on her list. Julia likes rock music just as much, but is especially passionate about the Beatles. (Her favorite member is George, for anyone wondering.)
I asked Marlowe and Julia if being in fandoms with male dominated audiences had disillusioned them. Neither of them said they were deterred, but both gave me insight. Marlowe told me that at a lot of metal shows, in the pit, a lot of guys will go just to hit girls or to start a fight– that it can get scary. That as a girl, sometimes you just want to have fun and be in the pit!! She did say though, that some shows have started to have girls-only push pits as a way to get around the issue. Julia told me that within comics, especially American comics, the protagonist, stories, and audience are almost always male and the story will often fail the Bechdel Test. Vintage comics in particular are notorious for their sexism, in which female characters act as if they’ve been “lobotomized”, because no girl in real life would make their choices. In Teen Titans comics, Starfire (who Julia asserts as the most powerful in the group aside from Raven), falls in love with Robin and is obsessed with him even though Robin treats her badly. Male self-insert characters are noted as a nuisance as well. On the brighter side, Neon Genesis Evangelion was brought up again after this topic as an example of a show with lots of complex female characters– going along with the show’s theme of nuance in human identity.
Both Julia and Marlowe gave me a tour of their shared room with posters all over the walls, a DVD/VCR player, a vinyl setup, and a totally expansive physical media collection. If there are any fangirls, these two are definitely True Blue.
Let’s Do the Time Warp Again!
Genevieve and Ayla (@emo_granola_ & @aayla.torress)
Genevieve saw RHPS for the first time in 2025, in the Music Box Theater in Chicago. It was 420 themed.
Last year, Genevieve brought Alya to her first show, the JCCP at the Rowhouse Hollywood.
The Rocky Horror Picture show (1975) is the longest running release in theatrical history. Since its release it has attracted a cult following where fans give themselves over to absolute pleasure. Each October, it brings back the same following alongside a new generation of film-lovers and weirdos, becoming a tradition to revisit Frankenfurter’s castle.
I was introduced to RHPS by my mom when I was 13. She brought me to a local showing, at the Pajama Factory in Williamsport, and I’ve attended almost every year since. Last year, I wasn’t able to go to my show back home, which made me quite sad. I went to a few shows around here, but they just weren’t quite the same as the stage show that introduced me to Rocky Horror.
After attending for the first time, I made all my friends watch the movie, and the next Halloween they came with me to see it live at the Pajama Factory. In middle and early high-school, it was my favorite night of the year. My friends and I were able to dress as weird, flashy, and queer as we wanted without really standing out at all, besides our age compared to the rest of the audience.
This year, me and my friends are going to be Columbia, Frankenfurter, and Magenta for Halloween. My best friend from home, Caitlyn, who saw Rocky Horror with me for the first time in 2023, will be Magenta. My friend Blake, who I brought to see it for the first time last year, will be Dr. Frankenfurter, a perfect tribute to Tim Curry after he passed away in August. This has been my dream costume since I was 13, I love seeing the fandom expand as I introduce the film to my friends. Growing up and getting to see the film’s continuous impact in fashion, pop culture, and my personal life as I watch all my friends fall in love with it, has brought back the excitement I felt when I first sat in front of that stage. While I have a loving and accepting community now, one that I dreamed of when I was young, it’s like doing the Time Warp brings me back into my 13 year old self, and it always feels as freeing as it was the first time.
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