The name CHICK came about one night when we were watching Dawson’s Creek (a seminal classic) in Norah’s apartment, and Dawson's friend Pacey referred to a woman as a “chick.” “Ugh, I hate that word,” Squire grumbled, and thus the magazine was named. In a name, “CHICK” represents the ever-intersecting worlds within the magazine: overt girliness and unapologetic feminism, journalism that (hopefully) makes you think and digestible lifestyle columns. Spurred on by our own complicated ideas about feminism, fashion, and college—and our inability to keep any thoughts inside our heads—CHICK aims to capture a broader conversation about life as a young person in as many mediums as possible. CHICK means something to us, and we want it to mean something to you; a good magazine is a point of connection, a moment of inspiration or respite, a thought in your head articulated on the page. 

 

Before the dawn of social media, print magazines were a major influencer of fashion, trends, and social codes for young women. Unlike “fashion-tok” or celebrity news accounts, publications from the golden age of teen media were expressly artistic. As a genre of media, print magazines are a tangible experience, a capture of young life that lasts and makes space for revisiting and nostalgia—a beautiful thing in a world of ever-changing trends. Both Norah and Squire had toyed separately with the idea of creating a magazine before they met Sophomore year; Squire was inspired by the Rookie Yearbooks she read as a tween, which taught her diverse and nuanced lessons about what it means to “be a woman” at a pivitol time, and Norah was itching for a sort of grown-up American Girl Magazine where she could recapture her childhood sense of whimsy.

 

The CHICK website is our way of making sure that our physical magazines can be well-loved without being lost (and our concession that, okay, we are living in the 21st century). The “Blog” contains our published written pieces, and the “Past Issues” section contains all our past print issues. On this website and inside CHICK’s pages, you will find a hodgepodge of content: reviews, long-form journalism, art, poetry, photography, fashion pieces, and much more. Just as in your Notes App you’re likely to find a grocery list immediately followed by a poem about your deepest insecurities, in CHICK you will find the same. The magazine is ever-evolving, and changes with each new person who contributes to it, picks it up and reads it, or scrolls on this very website. Which is you! Thank you.