Groups of people dressed to the nines walked toward Shannon Hall in Memorial Union, with crazed eyes and excited expressions for the one and only Tavi Gevinson.
The 18-year-old Illinois native came to speak at UW-Madison on Tuesday night to a group of aspirational listeners. She did not focus on her success as the founder and editor-in-chief of Rookie, but instead Gevinson spoke to the fangirl in us all.
With many examples of books, bands and writers, Gevinson credited her own creativity to those who came before and inspired her.
“Most of my world is a composite of the worlds of others,” Gevinson said.
The audience filled with those who have followed the teen’s career since she was 11-years-old were not confused by her confession to a lack of originality, but rather inspired by it. By what Gevinson has learned through others, she has created a name for herself, and encouraged others to do the same.
“I don’t think not feeling special should make you feel like a failure,” Gevinson expressed.
Instead, she told the people looking up at her to view the world as “an object of desire,” in which to not feel incapable, but to be excited by.
Gevinson told those who identify as fangirls to identify with what makes them a fan. Instead of hiding behind one’s obsession with One Direction, take time to realize what about a person makes them that way. This in turn allows people to understand the idea of personal identity, rather than the collective.
Not being original does not correlate with not being good enough; however, take what you love and use it to inspire something within yourself.
“I don’t know what I believe,” Gevinson said, “but I definitely believe in building a mountain of what you love.”
And for the audience that night, it was definitely Tavi Gevinson.