The world will be a little less sweet without you.

When my mother got married she kept her career and maiden name, but what best encapsulates her as a classic Second Wave feminist is her wedding gown: a simple, waist-less, off-white dress that she wore to parties for years afterwards. For women like my Mom, who rejected restrictive post-war dresses along with restrictive post-war roles, fashion was considered a superficial frivolity, if it wasn’t outright ignored. When asked, she can only describe a handful of past outfits from memory, but their significance is increased by their small number. What makes the blue dress she packed for a trip to Portugal stand out more than the business suits she wore every day to the office?

Love, Loss and What I Wore, written by Nora and Delia Ephron, brings clothing to the foreground in order to recount women’s memories of growing up, hooking up, aging and discovering their identities. Based on the surprise bestseller by Ilene Beckerman, in which the author told the story of her life through drawings of memorable outfits along with tales from other women, the show is as much a party as a play, the gathering of the sisterhood to dish cathartically about the terrors of bras, change-rooms and over-stuffed purses.

The Toronto cast, seated in a row and dressed chicly in black, is made up of the friendly faces of Canadian TV. Louise Pitre portrays Beckerman, whose life stories and poster-sized illustrations provide the only narrative structure. Her gentle reminiscences are often overshadowed by the more risqué tales recounted by the other actors.

Mary Walsh’s raspy screams are perfect for the humiliation of a woman who bought a cutting-edge paper dress in the ’60s, only to get her period in the middle of a dinner party. Andrea Martin brought down the house with her rant for women who hate purses: describing the inevitable disorganization, Martin declares that “in a horrible, awful way, that handbag is you!” Charming Paula Brancati and Sharron Matthews round out the cast by representing the younger generation.

The play is often compared to ‘The Vagina Monologues’ and it’s interesting that the show which uses a taboo body part to comment on the female experience predated one which uses clothing for the same purpose. By examining grief through a story about housecoats and turning another about mini-skirts and boots into one about rape, ‘Love, Loss and What I Wore’ argues that clothing can be used in overcoming difficult experiences. Audiences may laugh knowingly at a chorus of mothers’ criticisms (“You’re going to wear that?”) but they walk away reflecting on the importance of dressing sensibly for their mother’s generation, or clothing’s role as a bonding ritual between mother and daughter.

It’s unsurprising, given the writers and the cast, that the play often focuses on the experiences of middle-aged women. At times the subject veers away from clothing and towards the aging process. A part during which Martin asks, “What happened to my arms?” as she jiggles her arm-fat, makes perfect sense when one learns that the play was also drawn from Nora Ephron’s book on aging, ‘I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being a Woman’.

The show could be criticized for not better reflecting the lives of women of different ages, races, classes and sexualities, but for women like my Mom, caught between their girdle-wearing mothers and thong-clad daughters, the play reminds them that our outer-wear can unlock the key to our inner selves. Or, as Martin says, sometimes your purse “is you!”

review by Max Mosher

photography by Taryn Pimento and Margo Foster

In my capacity as WORN’s Official Musician, I was invited by a reporter to compile the imaginary “WORN Fashion Journal Original Soundtrack Album.” Although excerpts of it may have appeared in Humber College’s newspaper, I thought that my full list might be of some interest to our blog readers.

The WORN soundtrack is a combination of songs that are popular at our events, popular in the office, or featured in the magazine. Ideally, dialogue from WORN appears between tracks (a la Pulp Fiction, and other 90s soundtracks).

Track Listing below!


1. You Can’t Hurry Love — The Supremes
This song is discretely quoted somewhere in almost every issue. A must.

2. Daddy Cool — Boney M
Filled the dance floor at every event we’ve had - and just look at their album covers.

3. He Hit Me and It Felt Like a Kiss — Hole
I don’t think Hole ever released this cover version officially, but it’s all over the internet. Courtney Love, sixties girl-groups, Carole King and feminist/post-feminist politics are all inextricably linked with WORN in numerous ways.

4. Let Me Kiss You — Nancy Sinatra
Ms. Sinatra has appeared in WORN a couple of times, but “Boots” is way too obvious. Her 2004 comeback album came out while Serah-Marie was concocting the idea for the journal, so it was an easy choice.

5. I Put a Spell on You — Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
I wrote a little piece on Jim Jarmusch’s personal style for issue 3. Screamin’ Jay comes up in Jarmusch’s films numerous times, and you can’t really question the fashion choices of a guy wearing a cartoon bone in his hair.

6. Spirit in the Sky — Norman Greenbaum
On the few occasions we’ve done fashion shows, we always use this as the music. Probably our ultimate runway choice.

7. I Believe When I Fall in Love — Stevie Wonder
It has figured prominently at the events we’ve thrown with Slowdance Night, and it’s a highlight of my and Serah-Marie’s wedding CD, which is always a popular door-prize at our Valentine’s events.

8. Warm Leatherette — Grace Jones
The spectre of Ms. Jones figures in WORN several times (see our “Cut to the Grace” photoshoot, issue 7). This cover of the Normal song always gets them dancing.

9. Gift & Seasonal — The Chorus Barloff
This is my band. This song is about your parents buying you clothes for Christmas.

10. Zebra Kiss — Donzelle
We featured her in issue 6, and I love the picture that accompanies this track on her MySpace.

11. Blue Suede Shoes — Elvis Presley
Sonya Topolnisky wrote an impassioned defense of the King’s jumpsuits for issue 6 so he has to feature on the soundtrack somewhere. I was tempted to choose more obscure clothing-related titles like “Big Boots” or “Something Blue” but, frankly, they suck. We want the WORN soundtrack to be listenable, so I went with the obvious choice.

12. Mercy Seat — Nick Cave
Personally, I can’t stand him, but Nick Cave’s an icon thats made an appearance in Worn (issue 1), so he’s got to be here somewhere. I think this song’s pretty okay.

13. Safety Dance — Men Without Hats
The band started in Montreal, as did WORN, and there’s an article about safety pins as fashion accessories in issue 2. Something by Television or Richard Hell would’ve been more appropriate, but people seem to associate this with safety pins for some reason, and it’s real popular at our events.

14. Je T’Aime…Moi, Non-Plus — Jane Birkin
Written by Serge Gainsbourg for Brigitte Bardot (and rejected). Sexy, stylish, atmospheric, campy and WORN.

15. Cherry Bomb — The Runaways
So many songs to choose from here, but this is the hit. Their manager, Kim Fowley was profiled in issue 3, but we really should do something about them specifically at some point. Just search youtube for old concert footage and be wowed. Narrowly beat out Joan Jett’s solo “Bad Reputation.”

16. Tear it Up — The Cramps
We did a feature on psychobilly fashion for issue 4. Members of Montreal band the Gutter Demons were featured, and I was really tempted to put them on the album. But Lux Interior passed away last year and I’m still a little devasted, so I went with the psychobilly grandparents. If you can track down a copy of the film “URGH!: A Music War” check out the incredible performance, with Lux wearing nothing but ill-fitting spandex pants and black mascara singing the entire song with the mic jammed in the back of his throat.

17. Just a Little Lovin’ — Dusty Springfield
The “Dusty in Memphis” album goes into the office cd player at least once a week.

18. King’s Lead Hat — Brian Eno
“ENOBOX II: Vocals” rarely goes a week without a spin, either.

19. Material Girl — Madonna
The title of our regular feature on fibres. Mandatory.

20. Gold — Spandau Ballet
The Material Girl Column in issue 6 is subtitled “Spandex Ballet,” a nod to these 80s crooners.

21. Grease — Frankie Valli
Coco & Laura’s sidebar on tanning lotion in issue 6 notes that “Greece is the Word.”

22. Paint it Black — Rolling Stones
Coco & Laura also note that black paint was once used as primitive sunburn protection.

23. Heart and Soul — Diane & The Javelins : We decided on the title “Art and Sole” for our collaboration with the Bata Shoe Museum and Keds very early on. This song got stuck in my head every time someone said the title. This is my favourite recording, found on most Joe Meek compilations.

24. Devil With the Blue Dress On — Shorty Long
Issue 9’s piece on vintage denim is titled “Devil With the Blue Jeans On.” Close enough.

25. Who Are You - -The Who
The subtitle of Gwen’s “Everything I Know About Fashion I Learned from My Mother” column in issue 9. Also, my Editor-in-Pants/spouse, Serah-Marie, calls this “Theme from CSI.” Good illustration of the differences a slight generation gap can create…

26. Hockey Night in Canada Theme — Dolores Claman
Really the only appropriate thing to listen to while perusing our Don Cherry piece in issue 10.

27. Norwegian Wood — The Beatles
Fashion designer Angie (and her line that shares the name with the Beatles song) is featured in issue 10.

28. After Hours — The Velvet Underground
The lyrics accentuate a photo-spread in issue 6, and Moe Tucker is a personal style-icon. This song can’t go anywhere but last on any album.

-Ted Kulczycky

Sonya, our New York editor and lady who knows her vintage, has opened an Etsy shop to sell off some of her gems! The Commissar Vintage shop looks pretty nifty already, and I’m not too shy to say I took my first crack at graphic design and did her banner and avatar. Go forth and shop!

xoxo,
Serah-Marie