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

In the late 60s, Anton Perich ran an underground film program in Paris that screened the early works of Andy Warhol and Jonas Mekas. When he moved to New York City in the 1970s, he freelanced photography gigs for Interview Magazine and ran one of the very first ‘underground’ cable access shows. He was even an ‘early pioneer’ of digital art, having invented in the late ’70s an ‘electric painting machine’ that was a precursor to the ink-jet printer.

Mr. Perich’s most accessible legacy however, lies in is his YouTube channel, and the uploaded classic fashion show footage he shot during that hedonistic Loft Party/Studio 54 era (the above photo is a Perich — see Andy, Jerry, Paloma and Truman). The videos are shaky and even blurry at times, but don’t let that get in the way of your viewing pleasure. It’s a wonderful documentation of how ye old fashion show might have been presented — on a stage, minus the runway. Given the recent inclination for designers to eschew the typical Fashion Week presentation for more creative events and installations, it’s a wonderful reveal that the more things might change, the more they’ll stay the same (ie. let’s put on a show!).

There’s a Kenzo show where the models prance out in high leather boots, twirling with style to the deep disco and if you look closely, you might spot Jerry Hall, Iman, Patti Hansen (cause everyone was there). Perich even caught a few historical firsts, such as Issey Miyake’s 1975 FIT show (his first in NY). It’s high drama via fuzzy black and white video: models coolly stride out (oh my, is that Pat Cleveland?) to wailing Robert Fripp guitars and Kraftwerk blips (a perfect accompaniment for his billowing and transformative windcoat shapes).

My favourite footage? Grace Jones getting her hair cut. Srsly. It’s a quiet moment between performer and hair dresser that’s incredibly intimate. Get thee to Perich’s channel and watch it for yourself.

-Rea McNamara