In celebration of young women who explore their own sexuality as a huge way they relate to their world, we present our Generation Bombshell issue. And we’re celebrating that, because it’s rare that anybody else does. Growing up is hard, growing up as a girl is hard, and growing up in the public eye is so difficult most of us can not fathom it. Instead, there’s a larger focus on using energy to make girls who are just trying to figure all this shit out, feel really bad. At 18, Kylie Jenner owns multiple companies, manages the largest public Snapchat following to date, responds to an obscene public obsession with her body, family and relationships, and still manages to get out of bed in the morning. Applause for you, Kylie—it takes a strong woman to grow up into the girl that you are. Our other cover girl, Zendaya, has also established herself as a (very stylish) businesswoman, and as a young woman invested not only in standing up for herself, but in being held fully accountable for her own statements and actions. The idea isn’t that you’ll always make the right choice, or even wear the right thing. Take it from our girls in this issue: you’ll mess up, but it’ll be okay. If it doesn’t feel possible, that’s also okay—just focus on getting out of bed in the morning.
Rocio is a Dominican-American visual artist based in the Bronx. Often using fantastical visual representations of herself, Rocio depicts the fullness of Black female identity. Through the use of bold colors, rainbows and bolded texts, Rocio channels her emotions through the visual medium production. She uses large stars to honor the younger child she was.
When you take a look at Elena Rose, you get major Marilyn Monroe doppleganger deja vu—but mixed with some serious Latina edginess and boss bitch vibes. You might not ever believe that, like so many of us, Elena Rose worried about not being “hot enough” when she was younger. “I felt like I didn’t look
A Galore girl can never forget her first boyband. Maybe you, like me, got introduced to The Backstreet Boys by your older cousins visiting from Europe and immediately developed an intense crush on Nick Carter before deciding to go for Aaron because the age difference was smaller. Perhaps you were a self-proclaimed Directioner, constantly arguing
Like many women who were born in the 90s, Kelsey Merritt once dreamed of strutting the Victoria’s Secret runway. Unlike many of the women born in the 90s, Kelsey Merritt’s dream actually became a reality. While the bi-coastal bombshell grew up in The Philippines totally unaware of the fashion industry, she fell into modeling with
