When sophomore Lauren Junge came to Vanderbilt in the fall she noticed something was missing from campus: fashion.

After transferring from Sarah Lawrence College and immersing herself in Vandy culture by getting involved in many campus activities such as GlamourGals and Fashion for a Cause, Junge said she found there was no medium for communicating the fashion and culture that differentiates Vanderbilt.

Junge is spearheading Vanderbilt Fashion Quarterly, a new fashion and style magazine focused on the Vanderbilt community, to address this gap.

She said she decided to attempt to start what would become VFQ over Thanksgiving break after talking to her father, who owns Streamline Graphics Inc. She began working on the magazine soon after, writing an extensive 13-page proposal and preparing a presentation to give to the Vanderbilt Student Communications Inc. board. The new magazine was approved as a probationary division of VSC on Dec. 8.

Junge said she hopes VFQ will be a "platform for creativity" that unifies the student body. She said the magazine's goal is to be a resource for a wide variety of people.

"Creative people need two things, space to be creative in and rigid guidelines on how to be creative," said Junge, who also stressed the importance of student involvement in the magazine.

"Make it what you want, it's your publication," she said. "This should truly be a publication of the people, by the people and for the people."

Her belief that fashion is an important and universal facet of life at Vanderbilt is echoed in VFQ's mission statement: "Fashion transcends everyone at Vanderbilt from its students, professors, administrators, Greek life, sports teams and even the surrounding community. VFQ captures the style that is uniquely Vanderbilt."

After holding interest meetings in Sarratt Student Center and The Commons, VFQ is beginning to gain momentum by attracting over 60 interested students. More information can be found at the VFQ Web site: http://www.vfquarterly.com.