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A TASTE OF TASTE WITH...

Aaron Rose Philip

Aaron Rose Philip on Changing Her Hair A Lot, UGG Boots, The MoMA, and more.

April 10, 2023

Aaron Rose Philip
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Aaron Rose Philip is a Bronx-based model, artist, and author. A few years ago she made history as the first disabled model using a wheelchair to walk for a major luxury fashion brand with Moschino during New York Fashion Week. She’s since worked with major brands such as Collina Strada & Sephora and has even been interviewed by Naomi Campbell for Paper Mag. When Aaron was 14 years old she wrote a memoir about growing up with cerebral palsy titled “This Kid Can Fly: It’s About Ability (NOT Disability).” Lucky for us Aaron is here to tell us what she’s been into.

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Changing hair a lot
I am a girl who changes her hair a lot. I hadn’t been that kind of girl though, but now I am. I think that mood, artistry and life itself really informs my perspective on my personal self image and perception of beauty, so I’m always looking to appear differently or uniquely, or as a somewhat different version of myself. Hair to me, is the biggest tool and canvas in how to change one’s appearance - even more so than makeup. In 2019 there was a point where I bleached literally my entire scalp and eyebrows (as a lot of people are now doing in this present day)… My hair was in twists, and so I looked like this character from a cartoon or anime in a majestic way. Yassified Super Saiyan! I’d still been a highschooler then, and that was the most free I’d ever felt with my image up to that point. To me, that was a real testament to the power of hair. From that point on my life became a pipeline from wigs to eventually protective hairstyles and I lived for every second of it. I still do!
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Europe
Traveling as a disabled person is really quite daunting for a lot of reasons, mostly because of accessibility versus inaccessibility in countries outside of the US (most of the US itself outside of NYC is painfully inaccessible). Last year during fashion month in September was my first time traveling to Europe – I went to Milan with my dad and my agent and I had like, the absolute best time ever. Much to my surprise. I love Europe! I know every country has its nuances and its things going on that’s really important to actually understanding that country, but just to have a pleasant experience in terms of being a physically disabled trans woman who is Black in a new country like that, was really relieving and exhilarating. I even made a dear friend who is a fellow trans woman while being in Milan for that time. The Duomo was extremely lively, and I found out that I really like aperol spritzes and gelato. Their pasta is also simply elite. I hope this isn’t controversial to say in any way but I love England just as much as well! I have been able to be there the past two months for some very special experiences - included being able to speak and debate at the Oxford Union, at Oxford University! Everyone has been incredibly sweet and I love my modeling agency and my agents out there. I really love chips. Completely obsessed with chips… and I really enjoyed going to the Tate for the first time with my best friend and his boyfriend!
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The MoMA
The Museum of Modern Art is my all time favorite museum in the city and has been for as long as I can remember. That says a lot & holds a lot of weight because I’ve been going there and admiring it all since I was about 12 years old. I’d been a part of an extracurricular program for children with disabilities where I was there as a kid to immerse myself in all the different types of art that they had to offer. This was immeasurable for me as a young artist, and a disabled artist at that. That experience was my introduction to the MoMA, and since then I’d been hooked - for lack of better words. As a now 21 going on 22-year-old (by the time this comes out I’ll be 22), it is in my opinion, the most communal of all the museums in the city. You can be ratchet and free with your friends within the walls of the MoMA and enjoy and learn about any type of art or anything related to art there, and that’s literally just what is - you just kind of lose yourself there til doors close at 5:30.
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UGG boots
Currently, I am writing this while literally wearing my famous (lol I just say that) pair of black fuzzy UGG boots. UGGs are phenomenal, okay?! As a disabled woman - spending most of my time in a wheelchair constantly, throughout my life it’s been very hard for me to take footwear very seriously as I feel like nobody’s actually ever looking at my feet. Unless I’m walking runway, or shooting for a client… then people are observing my feet, perhaps. I really treasure my feet feeling comfortable on a day-to-day basis, and UGGs really deliver that for me! I don’t think that UGGs are ugly, I think that people are just bad at styling themselves and aren’t brave enough like me to wear UGGs with almost anything. Now now, I’m not saying I wear UGGs all the time because that is not at all true actually. What I am saying though - is to not sleep on UGGs.
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Bones and All
Bones and All by Luca Guadagnino is my favorite movie that I’ve seen in a very, very very long time. I saw it on Thanksgiving with my family in the movie theater. I knew what I was in for way ahead of seeing this film, and my family was not at all prepared for it, and that was definitely very funny to me! This film strengthened my already immense admiration and love for Taylor Russell. The ability to make something gross feel romantic, intimate and sweet is an art, and I think that Luca, Taylor and Timothée succeeded at that greatly. With flying colors, pretty much. It’s literally cannibalism, and they made it beautiful somehow & something completely worth watching. I also really enjoyed Chloë Sevigny’s presence in the film (she is my icon), and I think Mark Rylance is a genius. It was so damn good. And I understand that it’s an acquired taste.

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