FIT student launches body positive magazine
BY GABE HERMAN
A student at the Fashion Institute
of Technology in Chelsea has
started a new fashion magazine
that presents untouched photos and
aims to portray more diverse issues in
the fashion world.
The bi-annual, digital magazine is
called NOEMI (pronounced “no Amy”)
and can be found at https://www.thenoemimagazine.
com/. It was founded
by 20-year-old Megan Morgante, who
grew up in Westchester and loved reading
fashion magazines, she said, and
stills reads them a lot. But she said she
was left feeling bad because she didn’t
look like the women in the magazines,
and said she was curvier than the models.
“After reading every issue came new
disappointments with it,” Morgante
said. “When I didn’t see girls that
looked like me, I was left with a lot
of negative thoughts and body images
that were really dangerous for my wellbeing.”
Young people can be easily infl uenced
by retouched images, she said,
and deserve better than an edited version
of what’s expected of them.
“I wanted to showcase the realness
and rawness of the fashion industry,”
she said, “and I wanted to fi ll that gap
for readers who are not typically represented.”
Megan Morgante, founder and editor of NOEMI.
The fi rst issue, which came
out in October and is the Fall/Winter
2019 issue, includes diverse representations
PHOTO GRAPHY BY JUDE RISBERG
of races, sizes and sexualities,
Morgante noted.
“I want the readers to see some sort
of refl ection of themselves,” she said. “I
want them to really resonate with something.”
She added, “I believe there’s no
true defi nition of what beauty is, and
with this I want to illustrate that beauty
is from what’s within a person.”
It wasn’t easy starting a magazine
from scratch, especially since Morgante
does the journalism, fashion styling,
graphic designs, and public relations.
“It was so challenging,” she said.
There are still growing pains and
struggles to get the magazine’s name
out there, she said, and there were hundreds
of rejections from talent, designers
and photographers in trying to put
together the fi rst issue.
She kept reaching out and eventually
found people who agreed to be in the
issue, including YouTube star Margot
Lee; fashion infl uencer and businesswoman
Katie Sturino, who runs a blog
for plus-size fashion called “The 12ish
Style”; and teenage author Carrie Berk,
who is an anti-bullying activist and entrepreneur.
Morgante moved to New York City in
early 2019 to study at FIT. She’s majoring
in advertising and marketing communications,
and is on pace to graduate
next year.
“I love living here and taking advantage
of everything the city has to offer,”
she said.
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