Editorial published in CONKER’s HOMECOMING, November issue in 2019.
This was another very exciting editorial to shoot. Mariana Mendez and Izzy Jagan were incredible models and worked so well together on the shoot. I wanted to create this sense of family and sibling-hood as the theme was ‘homecoming’. This sense of familiarity. The team definitely created this beautiful atmosphere and brought this concept into realisation.
I wanted to use fresh, blocked colours. A complete mashup of styles, textures and designs (as is customary with any of my styling work). I wanted this to also be reflected in the makeup too. The overall result was something magical, ethereal and comforting.
The photographer, the magazine and I are against excessive editing of bodies.
This editorial was also used for the HOMECOMING cover.
Please find the full editorial, my article write up, the CONKER cover image, and the spreads from CONKER below.
Credits
Publication: CONKER magazine
Photography and editing: REGA Photography
MUA: Monika Swiatek
Models: Izzy Jagan and Mariana Mendez
Clothing: Mary Benson London & Magdalene Celeste
Styling, words and concept: Cat van Maanen
Homecoming, full editorial
Homecoming, article write up
Homecoming, coming home. For this issue we asked you what ‘coming home’ meant to you, and the diversity of the answers was matched only by the intensity of everybody’s connection with the subject. Something that the late Dr. Maya Angelou once said has stuck with me. To paraphrase, she mentioned how, when faced with a daunting task or obstacle she mentally takes everyone who has ever loved her with her: “I bring everyone who has ever been kind to me with me,” she said. “Black, white, Asian, Spanish-speaking, Native American, gay, straight, everybody. I said, ‘Come on with me. I’m going on the stage. Come with me. I need
you now.’
That is the greatest and most reassuring reflection of what home means. To me, home is not a place, it’s the sanctuaries of intimacy, connection and vulnerability that we feel within ourselves and with those we surround ourselves with. These powerful connections cannot be swayed or broken by distance, age or even death. They remain eternal. They give us the ability to grow and love. Our relationship with ourselves is the most special. Silly though it may sound, sometimes if I can’t manage to say, “I love myself as I am”, I simply admit that I
am “house proud” – proud of my body for enabling me to be and to live.
Homecoming , spreads in CONKER, HOMECOMING. November ’19
Homecoming cover image
Cat van Maanen 