Adolescence

There is a specific moment in-between childhood and womanhood in being a female teenager I’ve been drawn to visually for years. Attracted to coexisting opposites (which prove to not always be a contradiction) and impossible to categorise states I find here a particularly interesting mix: awakening adult sexuality & child-like cluelessness, the need of self-expression together with the need to hide, wanting care and to be independent, wishing to belong while you really don’t, playfulness & nostalgia, loss & gain. The magic and vulnerability of that moment while being submitted to the ruthlessness of pop cultural body image and social expectations. And all that with a hardly ever visible to the girl beauty, and very visible awkwardness. Adolescence, possibly the most tormented stage in human growth. Emily Evans created an amazing story of longing for childhood not to end: she mixed upcoming season adult pieces with footwear manufactured for performance artists and kid’s accessories. Styled as is if a child would put them on for comfort and play, worn by her daughters in the country in Cambridgeshire, was a spectacle in itself. As a small kid Emily wanted to run away with the circus and resented going back to school when summer ends, I envied a fictional character of a young girl taken by Peter Pan to different world. We both longed for an alternative reality, dipped in melancholy and fear when facing inevitable change. Clothing is a selection by Vivienne Westwood, Genevieve Sweeney, Markus Lupfer, Katie Anne McGuigan, Shiori Suzuki and Isabella Mars. Photography: Joanna Kudryńska / @joanna_kudrynska Styling: Emily Evans / @mrsemilyevans Hair: Karoliina Saunders / @karoliinasaunders