Editor's Note: The Identity Issue

Welcome to the Identity Issue! In this issue, we explore the complexities of what identity means in 2023, whether that means changing, reinventing, or even losing who you are. 

In Beauty 3.0, writer Mattie Kahn explores the ramifications of being able to choose how we represent ourselves physically online. Will the Real Taylor Swift Please Stand Up introduces us to some young women who've been able to cash in on looking exactly like the pop star—but at what cost? Fashion, of course, can play a huge role in how we express or even reinvent ourselves (see below for some pieces that I'm loving right now...I'm embracing fun classics for spring!). I'm particularly excited about the designers Fashion Director Sara Holzman spotlights in our fashion editorial (above), shot by Lelanie Foster: independent designers growing their labels and new-guard creative directors shaking up house codes. 

Finally, since we made an entire digital issue and print magazine (which is on newsstands March 7!) centered around the idea of who we are, I wanted to share the identities of some of the people who actually worked on it. Inspired by a prompt tied to Ernest Hemingway lore, I asked contributors to our Identity Issue to tell me their story in six words. Even our cover star, Kerry Washington—who is newly “prioritizing myself as the lead character of my own story,” as she tells writer Jessica Herndon—tackled my question. Put on the spot during our shoot, though, Washington came up with seven words, exclaiming, “You’ll just have to accept it!” 

I decided to let her get away with it, because that’s just who I am.

Meet our contributors