Harriet M. Welsch.

Writer.

Spy.

Fashionista?

While anything “-ista” may not belong in Harriet’s lexicon, her undeniable flair for mixing basic nineties pieces with a mean middle part, spying accessories, and a penchant for primary colours made her one of my childhood style icons.

Now, let’s get one thing straight… I am referring mainly to the film adaptation of Louise Fitzhugh’s famous novel Harriet the Spy, starring a young and untainted Michelle Trachtenberg as the titular character and Rosie O’Donnell as Ole Golly. Harriet the Spy was one of those movies that made you kindred spirits with other kids who liked it. Not only did it come on a neon orange VHS tape(!!), but it was filmed in Toronto, making aspirations of similar sleuthing adventures seem fully plausible. Normally I am a total book over movie girl, but Harriet the movie was just… better. Feel free to contest this, but I have met several folks who agree and I think part of this owes to the spectacular styling in the film. The character of Harriet remains childlike but mature and she never becomes a caricature as is the case in so many children’s films.

So with this in mind, my pal and fellow Harriet fan Geneva and I set out to explore the alleyways of Bloor West Village Harriet-styles, taking photos as we went! (Of course we began our night with a viewing of the movie to get us into Harriet mode.)

Although Geneva and I didn’t end up on any roofs or trapped in rich ladies’ dumbwaiters, we did get kicked out of a laundromat and had a generally hilarious night.

For all other Harriet fans, here’s a list of top Harriet trends we noticed and tried to mimic; we were pleasantly surprised by how many of the pieces we already had in our closets:

1. Primary colours! (This contrasts interestingly with Harriet’s pals Sport and Janie, who tend to wear more purples and greens.)

2. Stripes, stripes, and more stripes!

3. The classic layered tee over long sleeves look (capitalize on this by mixing stripes and solid primary colours).

4. Converse.

5. Bulky hoodies.

6. Wide-legged red trousers. Sadly we couldn’t source any, but the real Harriet aficionado knows they are a key element to her look!

7. All sorts of spying accessories… think safety goggles, a classic black or black and white notebook, flashlight, compact, rope, binoculars, you name it!

8. A long yellow coat (see Geneva in my knee-length yellow mackintosh).

9. Wide black headbands.

10. Hair always parted in the middle and styled either in one long braid, a ponytail, or straight and down.

But the most important tip of all: maintain curiosity and poise under pressure! Like Harriet’s hero Mata Hari — circa the film with Greta Garbo, of course — Harriet proves any girl can be elegant under pressure.

Esmé Hogeveen

“Nancy Drew is as immaculate and self-possessed as a Miss America on tour. She is as cool as Mata Hari and as sweet as Betty Crocker.” - Bobbie Ann Mason

On a steaming hot Monday in Toronto’s High Park, a bunch of Wornettes and friends got together to pay tribute to 3 notorious girls who gather clues and solve crime, all in swishy skirts and lacy gloves. Issue 9 is starting to come together and I can shamelessly say I think it’s going to be the best pages yet, not the least of which is Esme Wornette’s brilliant adaptation of the Nancy Drew mysteries. Just a little sneak peek at how I spent my Monday…

Our make-up columnist Bella B. (who is quickly becoming our regular photoshoot make-up artist too) creates some dewy little ladies.

Events intern Chelsea got wrangled into being our George.

Esme’s darling little sister was our Bess.

Wearing comfy shoes for as long as possible!

Look at those cute plaid boots!

Sore feet!

Cast of lovelies, clockwise: cute blonde girl with bike who held a reflector screen, make-up artist Bella B., Chelsea as George, copyeditor Kate doubling as stylist assistant, Zoe as Nancy Drew, Simone as Bess, showrunner of the entire shoot Esme, photographer Lisa, brand new intern Valentina, (and me behind the camera).

Were you a fan of Nancy Drew fashion as a kid?

xoxo,
Serah-Marie

While recently in London, I stopped by the Victoria and Albert Museum for the recently concluded Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones. The exhibition featured a handpicked assortment of hats grouped by materials and styles (think “turbans”, “plastic”, “geometric” and “nature-inspired”) which Jones felt best illustrated the limitless sources of millinery inspiration.

Catering to the knowledgeable couture-wearer and the fashion-layman, the exhibition included hats worn by the fashion elite, such as several sported by Anna Piaggi, alongside famous cinematic caps, like Audrey Hepburn’s pink straw and silk bonnet from My Fair Lady. Some might say millinery is an oft-unappreciated art, but it was hard to believe that in a room full of people ooh-ing over beaded appliqué flowers and watching videos on top-hat construction. And as Jones – himself a legendary milliner for celebrities and designers alike – points out, when someone wears a fabulous hat, they command attention!

“A hat makes clothing identifiable, dramatic – and, most importantly, Fashion…It’s the cherry on the cake, the dot on the ‘i’, the exclamation mark, the fashion focus.” -Stephen Jones

Today hats are often sold in department stores, making the nostalgic allure of a hat shop (and those scrumptious hat boxes!) even more endearing. Milliners were originally supposed to recommend face-flattering hat styles to wealthy clientele who could swan around the showroom selecting fabrics. And fun fact: apparently Lilly Daché, a milliner in New York in the 30s even had colour coded celebrity fitting rooms: gold for blonds and silver for brunettes.

All this hat knowledge intake made me feel a bit giddy, and upon my return home, my sister and I decided to embark on a little headgear hunt of our own. Bottom-line: family is an EXCELLENT source for hats – vintage and contemporary alike…seriously, one man’s (or father’s specifically) Indian Jones fedora is another girl’s indie cap and grandmothers knew sunhats were cool even before skin cancer. As the summer heats up, I can’t wait to search out new wide brims, remembering “however, the cardinal rule of hat-buying, as French fashion editor Genevieve Dariaux noted, is to ‘take the one you fall in love with, which mysteriously ‘does something’ for you, which magically makes you feel more beautiful.’”

Amen to [t]hats!

- Esmé Hogeveen

Vivienne in her famous rocking horse shoes.

This biography chronicles Vivienne’s life from childhood to her sixties, documenting the inward and outward influences that helped shape her into the King’s Road punk, outrageous innovator, and renegade style icon she is known as today. As emphasized in the book, Vivienne always sought attention (declaring at the birth of sister, Olga that she would “‘dead her and put her in the dustbin’”) and adding provocative details to her school gymslips. This originality married with a nostalgic affection for traditional English textiles would become one of Vivienne’s trademarks, as seen in her Harris Tweed and Anglomania collections.

Vivienne was famously uninterested in trends, seeking to create what appealed to her own artistic sensibilities, causing immeasurable stress for those working with her. Her use of impractical fabrics and cuts made her designs “extremely complicated to manufacture, as she [rejected] any recognizable template or pattern”. In the business world, Vivienne’s companies dealt with constant financial mismanagement, largely stemming from employees taking advantage of her trust (or oversight, as the case may be) and swindling money.

Vivienne fought for recognition among her contemporaries, such as John Galliano (with whom she unsuccessfully competed to become Design Director of Dior in the mid-90s), Alexander McQueen and Jean-Paul Gaultier, many of whom restructured Vivienne’s original concepts, such as the corset and bustle, to be more commercially successful.

Naomi Campbell’s famous topple in 10 inch super-elevated lace-ups,
Anglomania gown, corset from A/W 90 Portrait collection.

An Unfashionable Life is fascinating for how it charts a woman who influenced latter 20th century fashion so deeply. Vivienne’s use of sloganned tee-shirts – a design concept which deserves partial accreditation to Malcolm McLaren – ranging from the provocative “naked cowboys shirt” to text based styles, such as, “The best accessory is a book” – reflect Vivienne and her followers’ reactions to mainstream fashion. When 80s power dressing meant androgynous pantsuits, Vivienne reintroduced the corset and celebrated the shape of a woman.

Vivienne was (and probably is) not easy to work with, but this book explores her unrelenting quest for personal satisfaction. Each collections has its own philosophy, and Vivienne’s mix of slapdash (sometimes even getting seamstresses and friends out from the audience to make adjustments, while allowing models to style themselves) and studied, has created a completely unique look. Although all her collections have not been critical successes, An Unfashionable Life provides a detailed and highly readable guide to the Westwood evolution. It provides array of perspectives, including those of her critics, to depict a designer who thrived off intentional and unintentional marriages between challenging the status quo and embracing her English roots.

famous Westwood attitude.

Highly recommended for those interested by Vivienne, the evolution of 60s street-style or contemporary fashion’s roots. Viv covered a lot of territory, and this book has the substance to match.

Vivienne Westwood – An Unfashionable Life by Jane Mulvagh, Harper Collins, 1998
review by Esmé Hogeveen