You heard it here first, there’s a new org on campus! And it’s UNT’s first and only fashion magazine club. It’s called Nu View [new view]. Nu View is a student-run exclusively-fashion magazine under UNT’s branch of Merchandising Incorporated, or Merch Inc. for short. Starting this year, the magazine is also partnering with UNT’s branch of The Fashion Society. The Fashion Society, like Merch Inc., are two very well-known organizations with branches at different universities spread all over the United States. The two organizations, but especially Merchandising Incorporated, are also very well respected in the fashion industry and will “give you a leg-up on your competition when it comes to interviewing for a job in the industry,” says current president of Merch Inc. Mariah Brown. Nu View was founded by Maia Wilson in 2013. It was strictly a blog then, in an era where blogs were new and exciting. As a result, Nu View was getting thousands of views per article. But now we are in a new era where blogs are a dime-a-dozen and fashion magazines don’t really exist. These days, even the top fashion magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar aren’t actually fashion magazines, they’re lifestyle magazines with a large fashion section. Nu View will be different. Nu View is now under the direction of editor’s-in-chief Don Davis and Sofia Greaves, and they’re bringing fashion blogs back to their roots. What will set Nu View apart from every other fashion magazine is its exclusively-fashion content and its unique perspective. Those popular fashion magazines that I mentioned earlier are saturated with topics that do not completely pertain to fashion. That’s why Nu View’s content is 100% strictly and only fashion and written from the perspective of people who not only love fashion and the industry, but are studying it at the university level, so they know what they’re talking about! It’s the perfect organization to join for people that not only want to one day work for and run, but change magazines like Vogue, Teen Vogue, and Elle, to make them fashion again. Nu View operates just like a real magazine; collaborative, with the entire staff works in unison. The writers work with the illustrators, graphic designers, and photographers, and the photographers work with the social media team and spread designers, all to create this amazing magazine that will be doing its first print launch early next year. Nu View needs a nu team– after a 2-year hiatus due to questionable leadership, Nu View is back and better than ever! The three directors, Don Davis (editor-in-chief), Sofia Greaves (editor-in-chief), and Creative Director Saarah Rahman, have been working tirelessly on the magazine since the summer, the application to join the staff have recently just opened and already the staff is at approximately 30 members, and they’re not done yet. They’re not stopping until the organization is 100 members strong, because it takes a village and these directors are ambitious. Here are all the positions:
Writers/Style Bloggers:
Nu View writers write about the history of fashion, interview prominent people in the fashion industry, write trend reports, product reviews, and written forms of clothing hauls. They cover fashion shows, inform their readers about fashion internship opportunities, give style advice, write color stories and fashion forecasting pieces, discuss fashions influence in and on the music industry and politics, and write about how different cultures influence the fashion industry. Nu View’s goal is to restore the relevance of magazines and blogs, and to return today’s millennials back to the age of “reading for fun.” That starts by writing articles that this generation will actually want to read, and introducing them to a blog and a magazine that has more to offer them than a ton of pictures with one sentence underneath. In addition to bi-weekly staff meetings, Nu View writers have monthly pitch meetings where they discuss different article ideas that fit the theme of that particular month. The editors-in-chief decide the theme about a month prior and talk about it in the form of what’s known as an editor’s letter. October’s theme is ‘SELF,’ and the editor’s letter addresses exactly what ‘self’ means, and the irony of choosing a theme like ‘self’ during a month where everyone dresses up as someone else. The two editors work together on the editor’s letter and they have collaborated on several other articles together. It’s not uncommon to have more than one writer have the same idea for an article, that’s why Nu View encourages the writers to collaborate even amongst themselves, and in the journalism world that is uncommon. To really push the collaborative agenda, the writers also work in tangent with the magazine’s PR team to make sure their article is all over the magazine’s social media platforms and gets as many views as possible. They also work closely with the photography and art teams for original images within their articles.
Artistic Directors:
The artistic team is a catch-all umbrella term that includes fashion illustrators, graphic designers, web designers, and spread designers. They work closely with the magazines creative director to execute the vision of the editors-in-chiefs in implementing Nu View’s website and print magazine. It’s their job to help create any additional visuals needed on the website or social media platforms by either drawing illustrations or organizing small still-shot photoshoots and/or videoshoots with the photography and videography teams. They make sure the website looks up to par and constantly looks for ways to increase the website’s overall design and features, and assist the head directors in giving input for best platform, layout, and design for the magazine as well as the print version of the magazine on issuu.com. Issuu.com is a digital publishing platform that will allow people to see a sneak preview of the magazine before they buy the physical copy next spring.
Photographers/Videographers:
Nu View has an amazing photography team with the most cutting-edge concepts using the most innovative techniques. They have an entire tab on the magazine’s website dedicated to show casing their work, so check out the LookBook tab on Nu View’s website. In addition to their work being featured on the website, their work is also featured on Nu View’s Instagram, in several articles written by the writing team, and all over the magazine. Nu View’s photographers and videographers work very closely with the creative director to come up with concepts for all of Nu View’s big photoshoots and videoshoots. The bigger photoshoots consist of an elaborate theme and the entire photography team working together in unison to ensure that the creative director’s vision comes to fruition. The smaller editorial photoshoots are more individually based, the concepts and visions are up to them, and their work gets published on the website under the previously mentioned LookBook tab. Here’s how the photography and videography team collaborate: members of the photography team work with the PR team to upload their pictures to all Nu View’s social media platforms and provide them with alternative necessary visuals if need be. In addition to working with the PR team, they collaborate with the writing team, some of the photos they take for individual projects will be featured throughout the writing teams’ articles, which means even more exposure for them. The videographer’s big projects involve shooting promo videos for the organizations more big events, an example being the magazine’s launch parties and fashion shows. Like the photography team, smaller projects for the videographers are individually based, and the concept is completely up to them. Once the final product is finished, it goes up on the website and all over social media.
Modeling Team:
Nu View wants to change what the world defines as “beautiful.” They showcase a diverse in every sense of the word group of people to be featured in their magazine: any size, any race or ethnicity, any gender. Nu View models work with the photographers and videographers to put together content for both the web and print versions of the magazine and their social media. The big projects consist of all the models working together in one photoshoot and occur approximately one-to-two times per month. Smaller photoshoots feature a handful of models or just one model, and everything is arranged by the photographer. Nu View staff models are also used to shoot all of their promo videos and walk in Merchandise Inc.’s annual fashion shows, as well as, other local fashion shows because it’s a great opportunity, and more exposure for Nu View. Some of Nu View’s other teams also need models for their projects, i.e., the social media team, the team in charge of the YouTube channel, or the Broadcast Media team in charge of Nu View’s Podcast. The Merchandising Team:
The merchandising team is another umbrella term that encompasses stylists and designers for Nu View. It was re-named because they will be responsible for more than just styling the looks for Nu View’s photoshoots and videoshoots. In addition to that, the merchandising team now works extremely closely with the creative director and editors-in-chief on the magazine since the magazine is now exclusively fashion. Themes, ideas, and concepts will need to be discussed in excruciating detail and the merchandising team will be a big part of helping out with all the fashion aspects. The merchandising team will also work in tangent with the PR team to assist with social media content, specifically the “Trend of the Day” segment, and any other segments the PR team needs help with. Other merchandising team responsibilities include designing a Nu View staff t-shirt, (that people will actually want to wear) styling for Merchandising Inc.’s annual fashion show, and handing out style cards with Nu View’s contact information on them to college fashionista’s, (male or female) so they, and their amazing sense of fashion can be featured in the print magazine. The Public Relations Team:
In addition to Nu View’s fantastic writers and innovative photographers, they also have a great PR team that runs all their social media from Facebook and Instagram, to Twitter and Pinterest. Nu View’s Instagram is the ultimate fashion blog! A new trend is posted daily on the Instagram Story in a segment called “Trend of the Day”. Other segments include “StreetStyleSaturday,” which features street wear from fashion week, “MondayMustHave,” which features designer items that we simply must have, “SundayRunway,” which features some of the best runway looks from couture shows, and that’s only half of their segments, a few others include “TextureTuesday,” “OnWednesdaysWeWearPink,” and a brand new segment featured on their story which is a guy’s edition of “Trend of the Day.” During each month for one entire week, the PR team, with assistance from the merchandising team, creates a trend of the day post geared towards men. This segment on the surface may appear to be exclusively for men, but in all actuality it’s for girls to help their boyfriends dress a little better, basketball shorts and a graphic tee with their favorite video game on it isn’t cutting it anymore. What I love personally about Nu Views Instagram feed is their color scheme and how diverse their posts are. They feature editorial fashion photography, images of the perfect cities to live in for people who love fashion or who want to work in the industry, quotes by famous people from the fashion industry like Coco Chanel, mood boards and collages, fashion illustrations, and a variety of clothing items from jackets and jewelry, to shoes and handbags. Nu View has the perfect combination of things every day people wear, i.e., OOTD’s, haute couture, runway, and high-fashion. Their Instagram alone keeps you more up-to-date on all things fashion than anything else ever could. But, with all that being said, Nu View’s Public Relations team is responsible for a lot more than just social media, although that clearly is a huge and time-consuming part of it. The PR team will play a very large role in planning all of Nu View’s events, from the magazines launch parties, to whatever event that they as a team decide to create. Their primary objective is to get Nu View’s name out there; advertising, creating flyers, speaking to classes, and social media are all big parts of that.
YouTube Personalities:
A YouTube channel and a podcast are all a part of the new Nu View. The directors of the organization want to take it to the next level, make it more than just a blog, so, why not take advantage of the popularity of YouTube channels and put a whole new twist on it. It’s no secret that YouTube personalities get paid a lot of money for their content, whether it’s in the form of sponsored videos, or company’s sending influencers items to review. The financial aspect of it is what makes it a little hard to trust that they are giving an honest review, because when someone’s paying you for a review, they’re going to want their money’s worth, which means not just any review, but a good review. YouTubers also tend to have a lot more disposable income, so they’re able to buy Gucci belts and the new Balenciaga’s on a whim. There also isn’t a lot of diversity in their videos. Occasionally YouTubers bring one or two friends on with them, and more often than not, those friends look exactly like them in terms of race and clothing size. What if there was a YouTube channel where none of that was the case. Nu View has started their very own YouTube channel where the content will be primarily fashion based, just like the magazine, and involves a group of DIVERSE people: any race, any size, and any gender. How the logistics work is all of the videos are filmed in small groups, the YouTube personality team in total consists of any number divisible by 3, from there, they are divided into groups of 3 and each group will post one video a month a set amount of days apart from each of the other groups. For example, if there are 12 people a part of the YouTube team, they will be split into 4 groups of 3, and each group will be assigned a number 1 through 4, group 1 will post their video the first week of the month, group 2 will post their video the second week of the month, and so on and so forth, then the next month the process starts all over again. Each month the groups change so everyone gets the opportunity to work with everyone, it also keeps things interesting for us viewers. On Nu View’s YouTube channel you can expect to see clothing hauls, behind the scenes videos of what really goes on at fashion shows and photoshoots, live interviews with prominent people in the DFW area, thrifting videos, shopping challenges, “get ready with me videos” and my personal favorite trying-on-everything-in-my-closet videos.
Broadcast Media Team:
The Broadcast Media team is in charge of Nu View’s podcast. Their job consists of coming up with fashion-related content that is both informative and highly engaging for the podcast. As stated before the content is strictly fashion-based, so topics discussed during the ‘episodes’ may include, but are not limited to: fashion week, red carpet events and premieres, designers, apparel stores, emerging trends, or the fashion industry as a whole. Similar to the YouTube channel team, the team working on the podcast in total will consist of a number divisible by 3. The group will then be split into groups of 3 and each group will be responsible for coming up with content for their assigned week. Each group will air one episode a month and the episode has to be a minimum of 1 hour long. The following month each member of the group will be assigned a whole new group, so everyone gets a chance to work with everyone on the podcast team. Episodes will air starting next month in November on Soundcloud.
Interested? One of the cool things about this organization is that the application is available all year around, including summers, and there isn’t a deadline to apply, but the sooner you do the sooner you can join the staff and be a part of the org. To apply, email nuviewmagazine@gmail.com