The Parkland shooting survivors are still just kids — and their fashion makes that very clear

The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas made their magazine cover debut on Thursday when five of them appeared on the front of Time. But that wasn’t the only appearance they’d be making before the weekend’s March For Our Lives. On Friday, Teen Vogue launched a couple of digital covers for their March issue, where Parkland‘s Emma González and Jaclyn Corin were joined by a handful of other young gun control advocates. Through numerous profiles, stories and videos, the students that make up the #NeverAgain movement are introduced to readers throughout the nation — and the casual styling choices made by both publications helped serve that purpose.

For Corine in particular, the 17-year-old stood out from her four peers, going barefoot on Time‘s cover. While the entire group looked super relaxed in their own choice of clothes, Corine took to Twitter to clear up the reason for her look, which was essentially no reason at all.

“To everyone wondering why I’m not wearing shoes in the cover: I didn’t feel like it,” she wrote, “plain and simple.” Going with whatever clothing made the students feel comfortable seemed to actually be the only styling direction given, according to the cover story’s writer Charlotte Alter.

Although each of the student activists appear to be wise beyond their years, it’s important to remember that they’re still kids, and the styling choices help to drive this home. Because they’re talking about adult topics, directing their messages to adults, and on public stages (controlled by adults), many have begun to view these teens as all grown-up. But thanks to creative assets, the group’s collective precociousness is slightly dissipated.

The same can be said for the multimedia assets filmed by Tyler Mitchell for Teen Vogue. In the main digital cover of the March issue, five young activists leading the March For Our Lives are seen getting off of a hallway floor and coming to the forefront of the screen, and the movement. The powerful clip features them all in their own choice of clothes — including one student, Natalie Barden, who’s wearing a Newtown swim team T-shirt — which the publication’s fashion director Rajni Jacques reiterated was an intentional choice.

“It was important to us that they all feel their most comfortable,” Jacques tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “We provided clothing options for our subjects to choose from — some opted to incorporate those pieces into their ensembles, some stayed in their own clothes, and others were dressed entirely by us.”

However, the other cover had some more fashion direction in order to send a strong message. “For one of the covers, it was important for them to be dressed in black to pop against the orange background which was a nod to the Wear Orange movement,” Jacques explains.

In the end, the main intent of both publications, is easily put into words by Jacques: “No matter the outfit, the point was clear: Our focus was the message of the two covers.”

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Who is Eryn Gilchrist, the 28-year-old challenging the Maine Republican who mocked Parkland students?
Students in Arkansas hit with detention for participating in walkout
‘I hope this isn’t the day I’ll have to use this’: Teacher gets real about carrying a ‘lockdown key’

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