Otiena Ellwand is a second-year journalism student at Ryerson University and an intern at CHEEK Magazine. She loves all kinds of design - from fashion to architecture - and she thirsts for adventure and seeks it not only in her own home of Toronto, but around the world. She has a unique, colourful, and inspiring sense of style. Otiena certainly doesn’t blend in, but that’s okay - she doesn’t want to.

How did you dress in elementary school? How about in high school?
In grade 4, I had an awesome pair of lime green platform shoes that I wore everyday… The Spice Girls influenced that decision! In high school my best friend and I paired odd combinations of things together. We tried to be creative with our clothes because it was fun and we wanted to stand out. A lot of the girls we went to high school with wore Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister so we sort of did it as a rebellion.

I have this bright yellow dress with little blue owls on it that I bought in Kensington Market. I wore it a lot in my teenage years; on dates, to school, to Greece, and I was made fun of mercilessly, but I didn’t care because it so perfectly represented my personality. I still wear it today and I still get made fun of although now it’s a little bit “cooler” to be seen sporting a vintage dress like that one.

You do a lot of traveling. Has this affected the way you see fashion?
I love traveling and every time I do, I try to pick up a few pieces that I feel either really represent the place, will remind me of it, or are just unique pieces that I won’t be able to find back home.

Last year I lived in Indonesia and dressing was tricky. It was extremely hot and I needed clothes that were comfortable, durable, that I was willing to get dirty, and most importantly, that covered me up because the majority of Indonesians are Muslim. I didn’t really care how I looked so I opted for baggy shirts and capris. I did get some beautifully patterned cloths, one of which I got made into a mermaid-shaped skirt. It isn’t really something I would wear in Canada, but in Indonesia I got a lot of compliments on it. It’s funny how the clothes that were fashionable there would never be fashionable here. They really like patterns and baubles. They have this traditional dyeing technique that makes a pattern called Batik and that’s what they wear for formal occasions. It is really something to see all of the men in these intricately patterned shirts instead of black dress suits.

Sometimes I have a lot of difficulty with having a fashionable image. I want to dress nicely, look and feel good, and indulge in fashion, but I also feel like I only feel those ways when I am ‘dressed up’ in makeup and nice clothes. Shouldn’t we feel all of those things even when we’re just looking exactly like ourselves without any of that stuff? As I adapt to where I am, so does my sense of fashion. Each scene differs from the next; I guess that’s the fun of fashion, after all.

Colour is a huge part of your personal style. Why do you think it’s important to wear colourful clothing and accessories?
I can’t help it, I’m just addicted to colour. Colour has always been apart of my wardrobe. I had a fascination with the colour turquoise and wanted that to be the colour of my wedding dress (hopefully my future partner won’t mind!). I have tried to put more black into my wardrobe because I hear that it is sophisticated, but really, black isn’t me. I’m an outgoing and positive person and colour is just another way I reflect that. If I’m going to live in a cold, sometimes ugly and grey place like Toronto, I best amuse myself with the colourful outfits I put together.

Oteina’s top ten favorite clothing stores in the world:

- Stephanie Fereiro

Liana Schmidt is a photographer whose work you may recognize from WORN’s “This Shit Ain’t Free” make-up column in every issue. Liana is also one half of Arianna, an art-duo, and she published an ever-charming book called Paper Dolls in 2007. Liana is a member of Toronto’s Mercer Union, and is helping organize this year’s OMG SWAP, a clothing swap where you can pay a $5 entrance fee and walk away with all you can carry. Watch out for expert hoarders - they may be violent.

You’re a part of Mercer Union, which promotes the production of art of all kinds. How does fashion fit in?

In a sense, fashion fits into Mercer’s culture because a lot of artists in and around the gallery can get especially creative with their clothing. On a more general level, fashion and art seem to influence each other and tend to be visual references from which we can look back on to define a particular time.

Can you tell us about the OMG SWAP? Why do you think it’s important to share and recycle clothing?

The OMG SWAP, conceived by Xenia Anemia of the Mercer Union board, is a fund-raising opportunity for the gallery and a community initiative; it’s also a great opportunity to socialize, cleanse your closet and find new pieces for spring. For a $5 entrance fee you can pillage a great deal of clothing and all leftover clothing will be donated to Sistering, a woman’s agency serving homeless, marginalized and low-income women in Toronto. Recycling clothing is an obvious inclination if you have ever seen the warehouses that vintage buyers pick from. There is a lot of excess clothing kicking around out there.

Many of your photographs are surreal and disturbing. What inspires this connection between fashion and the supernatural or dream-like?

Fashion is often otherworldly. Gareth Pugh and Alexander McQueen (R.I.P.), for example, have produced garments that err on the side of Science Fiction. he majority of the imagery I have done for WORN has come from Arianna, my collaboration with Erin Fraser. Our work comes from short attention spans, an interest in film and a bad sense of humour.

Do you think there is a difference is between “fashion photography” and photographs of people with nice clothing?

There is a difference. Fashion photography mainly serves to promote, whereas the latter encompasses a lot and suggests a more candid and documentary style - if you are referring to sites like Facehunter.

Where did you get the idea for your Paper Dolls book? How did you decide on what characters and outfits to include?

I wanted to put together a book project with the creative people around me and paper dolls seemed like a way to pay homage to my friends in a manner that perhaps only famous people are treated to. I asked subjects to bring a few outfits of their choice to my studio, where we sometimes improvised with materials lying around. I liked the idea that a stranger could have a lot of my friends cut out and lined up on their shelf. It’s weirdly intimate.

- Stephanie Fereiro

Nightwood is a stylish musical trio from Montreal, whose newest album, Carte Marina, is heavily inspired by all things nautical and dreamy. Amber, Jeremy, and Erin will be playing a free show at Toronto’s legendary Horseshoe Tavern on January 19, 2010. Here we talk to the girls of Nightwood about the importance of shopping local, band uniforms, and the best-dressed musicians of all time.

You’ve done some interesting alterations to garments in some of your videos. How do you feel these works fit in with your music?

Amber: The videos were fairly simple to make. We’d set up my laptop in a corner with a time-lapse application to record us while we were making stuff. It’s a bit magical to watch them afterward - we’re still pretty new to tailoring and sewing and so it’s like an extra high-five at the end of a project! We enjoy the creative control that comes with almost every aspect of being an independent band: designing album cover artwork, promoting ourselves - the whole bit. So same goes with our clothes! I must admit that a lot of why we ended up tailoring our clothes is that we can’t always afford to buy new ones- we really put almost all of our disposable income into the band and so tailoring, making, or thrifting our wardrobes is practical.

Erin: It would appear we’re somewhat obsessed with process! I tend to keep little NW mementos (set lists, scraps of paper with lyrics or song ideas, recordings of early versions of songs, etc.) and we even time-lapsed the entire making of our record, which Amber set to the song Bright Girls of Summer for the album’s first music video. I’ve found the process of making art to be artful in itself and am grateful for all the documentation!

What role, if any, does feminism play in your wardrobe choices?

Amber: Choosing what to wear so that I can do the things I want to do in my life can be considered feminist, I think. I really appreciate when independent designers add pockets to their creations in case I need carry stuff in them to pull a MacGyver move to get out of a tricky spot. In the past I used to confuse the reasons why I would dress up for a performance, for example, thinking I had to dress myself up to be more easy on the eyes of others. It’s exciting to think of stage clothes as being separate from my regular wardrobe and somehow an extension of the songs we play. I think that when I own that, I’m asserting myself as a human being and artist, and that’s pretty feminist.

Erin: Yep. Good one, Ambs! Except I find pockets in my purse to be more useful…!

Tell us a little about the process of your wardrobe selections.

Amber: I’ve recently purged a whole bunch of clothes from my closet and kept only the garments that I wear regularly, have sentimental value or are just awesome! This makes getting dressed way more fun and collage-like with all my materials spread out in front of me. Most of my stuff was thrifted sometime in the past ten years or was handed down to me from my mom or step-mother or claimed at one of the many clothing exchanges my buds have hosted. I got my sewing machine a few years ago and that’s been pretty revolutionary for me!

Erin: It’s gotta feel right. An outfit can feel right last Friday, but today it’s totally wrong. That’s why we must tour with a little variety, and why it’s totally acceptable to shake out yesterday’s outfit, disregard the smell and pull it back on.

How do outfit changes affect your live performances?

Amber: Outfit changes definitely help me mentally prepare for the stage. After sitting in the back of the vehicle for hours, schlepping gear into the venue and then soundchecking, it’s a lovely way to transition into a performance. I like to wear dark tights, little black leather boots and short vintage or vintage-inspired dresses on stage with red lipstick and my hair pinned to the side…sort of a Jane Austen-meets-riot grrrl-meets-”Gothic Lolita” thing. I like looking ultra feminine and playing up my (somewhat) small stature which makes it so much more fun to make heavy guitar sounds and belt out weirdo mystical lyrics! I definitely think that playing music with other people is profoundly human and it’s a privilege to share that with others - so dressing up for a performance (for me) is also a sign of respect for those who show up to a rock venue late at night in the middle of January.

Erin: Sometimes I leave the outfit I’ve planned in the car and don’t change from soundcheck to performance and on nights like these that’s just how I’m most at ease. But other times there is definitely something freeing in changing before a show and allowing yourself to shed a bit of your everyday identity.

On your current tour, are you doing anything interesting with clothing to match the themes of your new album, Carta Marina?

Amber: We’re not sure! We’re considering dressing up as sailors to go with our watery, ocean-y, stormy record and I am harboring not-so-secret fantasies of shouting out “swab the decks,” “beer! starboard!” and the like. But we’ll see. A lot of the lyrics on Carta Marina are dream-inspired as well so I also kind of want to dress up in this crazy, lizard-y sequin dress with lots of black eye-liner to play the part of a scaly mystic! Ha!

Erin: I’m not trying to match the album’s theme so much as I am trying to match Amber’s enthusiasm! We usually call each other before shows to make sure our outfits make sense together, like we all used to in fifth grade. We dress differently and our tastes differ, but I think our looks compliment each other somehow. I like when Amber shops for me- she can get me to try on stuff I wouldn’t dream of pulling off the rack but that winds up looking pretty fabulous on!

Bands used to frequently dress in coordinating outfits, but the practice is much less common now. What do you think about uniforms vs. street clothes in performance?

Amber: I think that it’s such a different world in pop music nowadays - a performer’s wardrobe can signal so many different things: who is backing them financially, which demographic they’re trying to target, whether they want to appear styled or unstyled. Street clothes and street style is so easily coopted by different industries including the music industry that I sometimes think of that kind of thing as a type of uniform, for example, “singer song-writer garb.” So it’s complicated. However, I do appreciate when performers make an effort with their appearance, especially folks whose music and performance is about spectacle, for example Lady Gaga, Gwar and M.I.A. It’s just fun! On the indie level (touring bands in Canada), I also appreciate it when folks have fun with their appearance and make an effort to entertain, for example folks like Gobble Gobble or tUnE-yArDs.

Erin: I wouldn’t oppose a uniform!

Do you think shopping locally is important?

Amber: Montreal is such an amazingly creative place - a bustling island city! - with so much local talent that I don’t feel like I need to look elsewhere for shopping. Also, we’re all a bunch of artists so supporting one another across disciplines just makes sense - it’s about creative solidarity.

Erin: We love shopping at Lustre for show outfits & accessories. The designer Yasmine Wasfy is really friendly and is always open to altering stuff for us on short notice! Angie Johnson’s Norwegian Wood designs are staples on our blog and I even got to wear one of Angie’s Elastic Harnesses in some of our recent press photos! Good friend and neighbour Lara Kaluza is a professional thrifter and has started selling her own designs as well. We’ve been thrift shopping with this lady and we envy her skills! We’re also big fans of complexgeometries!

Top ten best-dressed musicians, from past or present?

Marianne Faithfull
Natasha Kahn (Bat For Lashes)
David Bowie
Kazu Makino (Blonde Redhead)
M.I.A.
Betty Davis
Shirley Manson
PJ Harvey
Jimi Hendrix
Stevie Nicks

- Interview by Stephanie Fereiro
- Photography by Mike Rollo and Marilis Cardinal

Kirsty McKenzie designs imaginative clothing, which has been shown at Toronto’s Alternative Fashion week and can be found on her etsy. She also creates one of a kind costumes, favored by many creative musicians and performance artists.

What did you dress like in high school?
High school was kind of a confused time…started out in vintage tees, baggy pants with boxers and life jacket belts… then took a weird preppy/ but raver-ish style blend… then kinda 70s ghetto fab in my last year, with Fawcet hair, fur coats and distressed bell bottoms.

What are the biggest differences when you design costumes as opposed to a regular collection?
When I design costumes I try to reflect the artist(s), or band’s character/ persona, and have a very specific individual in mind. Costumes can stand alone, and aren’t always harmonizing with a group of designs. Costumes are usually more free and fun, and although my collections are somewhat cheeky at times, I usually go for a more luxurious evening feel, but often with a dark twist.

Who do you imagine to be the typical person who wears your designs?
The customer can be a musician, an eccentric, or simply someone who wants some special pieces. I have seen/dealt with customers of all ages almost - from early 20s to 60! My biggest customer of the moment is 48 and lives in Florida, and I recently made my mom’s dress and jacket for my sister’s wedding. I can totally do some more “toned down” designs, but I personally don’t believe in “dressing one’s age”.

What were some of the major influences behind your most recent collection?
Grace Jones and Siouxsie Sioux… Japan, flowers, Gothic punk, romance…it was aptly named PARADISE POISON - dripping with flowers and gems, and licked with a poisoned tongue. Music was a huge influence, and I mixed the music for my show combining Grace Jones vocals from her new album, layered over an 80s Ministry industrial beat.

What was your last Halloween costume?
Psycho Clown Nurse (nurse costume with crazy clown makeup, bloody gloves and needles!)

Kirsty’s Top Ten Fashion Designers
Issey Miyake
Zandra Rhodes
Vivienne Westwood
ThreeASFOUR
Christian Lacroix
Christian Dior
Jean Paul Gaultier
Alexander McQueen
Comme des Garcons
Yohji Yamamoto