We almost never do this at WORN, but Viktor and Rolf’s Spring 2010 collection was just so so so amazing, I can’t help it. The mix of peach, coral, and turquoise with harsh black lines and hints of structured menswear tailoring with billowing bias just blew my mind. Have I mentioned the gravity-defying tulle? I can’t stop watching the video - every time a model turns the corner and you’re hit with this wall of cross-sectioned tulle, my heart beats a little faster. What do you think?
hearts, Serah-Marie

So here I am, finally working at a real fashion magazine! It’s always been one of my dreams to become a fashion journalist; it’s right up there on my list of childhood aspirations, just below sorceress and rock star. Even so, while I know WORN isn’t your typical fashion publication, I was, at first, a little confused. How come no one has asked me to get them a latte yet? Why has no one thrown a coat on my desk? Where’s my trip to Paris? And why, may I ask, have I already gone into my third month of work without an obligatory song and dance number?

Then I remembered: like many of my childhood dreams, my ideas of what it’s like to work at a fashion magazine are based solely and solidly on what may not be the most realistic of representations. Mainly, movies.

Specifically, there are two films which, while separated by decades, present pretty much the same accepted ideas about the cut-throat world of fashion magazine employment, and which have formed my fashion fantasies: The Devil Wears Prada, and its eerily similar predecessor, Funny Face.

Both films start with the same premise: a young, bookish brunette falls into a hard-to-get gig at a fashion magazine by complete accident. She meets a demanding, influential fashion editor, who insists on a makeover. The bookish brunette resists but is eventually swayed by the glamour of the fashion industry, visits Paris, falls in love, and tries to come to terms with her new identity. This is standard stuff!

Funny Face was made in 1957, with Audrey Hepburn playing Jo, the bookish brunette who’s swept up into modeling by powerful and cranky Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson). In the fashion offices of “Quality” magazine, Maggie’s flock of fashion followers jump at her proclamation that pink will be the next big thing. They don’t hesitate to do a song and dance about it, each clad in a different pink suit. Later, Maggie gives advice to Jo about how to give a good press conference, with all the necessary doo-eee-ooohs included. Jo’s big conflict is reconciling her love of empathetic philosophy with her new love of running down big marble staircases in fancy dresses for her love interest and photographer played by Fred Astaire. In the end, she chooses fashion.

In the Devil Wears Prada, the bookish brunette is of course Andy (Anne Hathaway), whose naïveté is abused by the Anna Wintour stand-in Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). Although there’s technically no song and dance, Miranda’s office bends to her whims in the same manner. Andy gets sucked in not only with the extreme demands of the job, but with free makeovers and wardrobe perks.

So what about me? I’m relatively bookish, brunette, and here I am at a fashion magazine! But so far, my editor hasn’t asked me to get her any rare manuscripts, no one’s done any obligatory dancing (yet), and I haven’t had a makeover foisted upon me. Because of WORN’s creative content, as I’m sure you know, I get to stay in love with philosophy, and still feel the fashion-thrill equivalent of fancy-dress staircase descents. I can’t say I’m not a little relieved about these things, in what might be the first instance where I’m happier movies have turned out to be untrue.

I mean, I’m still going to Paris. Right?

-Alexandra

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I traveled to Europe for my first time this summer, specifically France and Amsterdam. Paris! The French Riviera! How should I pack?!!? Glamorous? Chic? Comfortable? I kept my wardrobe to a backpacking minimum: Birkenstocks, skirts and tee-shirts, but quickly discovered that most other tourists were not as practical-minded as I was.

I saw the above couple across the bustling Leidseplein in Amsterdam. This exceptional woman didn’t speak English so she couldn’t possibly have understood what I was going to do with her picture, but she couldn’t have been happier I asked to take it. These two were so special that as I took their photo two other people came up and asked to do the same. She wouldn’t let me leave until I took a picture with them. She sent me off with a kiss on each cheek.

I met this girl in Old Town in Nice. It was close to 40 degrees out and most people were slinking off the beach in their bathing suits. I loved that the heat didn’t deter her from dressing up. If I had been wearing her outfit on such a hot day all I would be able to think about would be sweat stains. I suppose the peek-a-boo back could be built-in air conditioning.

The lovely lady on the left works at Colette, a concept-store in Paris. The top floor of this two-story mecca does away with the usual retail clothing displays, and instead displays their impossibly beautiful and impossibly expensive goods on mannequins styled like art installations through the store. I assume that you have to ask for your size but with price tags in the hundreds and thousands of euros I wasn’t going to find out. I met the girl on the right in Amsterdam. Her cat eyes and funky outfit stood out among a sea of cotton tee-shirts, blue jeans and comfortable walking shoes.

Almost two years ago, our Coco traveled to France and prophesied about The Next Big Thing: the harem pant. Just as she guessed it, the trend has arrived in North America and is still going strong all over Paris. I loved that in the picture on the right, her boyfriend wasn’t uncomfortable being photographed holding his girlfriend’s purse.

I practically tackled the blonde girl as she strutted down the streets of Paris. She had just finished a photoshoot and was strolling with her photographer. He showed me some of the shots on his camera. There were lots of sexy motorcycle poses, and in that outfit sexy biker was clearly the obvious choice. I met the woman on the right in the Louvre. This LA chica was very cool about having her picture taken. With her amazing look I get the feeling she’s used to getting stopped on the street, or in museums.

I had a great time on my trip and even more fun talking to strangers. People watching is the best way to travel.

-Sarah P.

Hey all. I’m Sarah, one of Worn’s newest web interns. This is my first time working for a fashion publication and I am thrilled to be here. I graduated last year from the University of King’s College in Halifax, where I studied English and Journalism. I’m going back to school in the fall to do my masters in English at York University. Since graduation, I’ve spent the year writing about anything from insurance to woodworking. Worn is my first opportunity to really love what I’m doing and I can’t wait to get started.

I am dress obsessed. My love of fashion is genetic; a seed planted in my family tree by my grandmother. She currently has no fewer than five closets bursting at the seams. I raid these on a pretty regular basis. Whether it’s something she bought 30 years ago or five minutes before, I get such a thrill out of transforming her stuff into my own. My favourite is her 1970s long-sleeved, backless lace mini dress that I wore to a wedding this year. I’m not sure where I will go in life but I always want to work with creative and interesting people. That’s a big reason why I’m here. I’m so excited to be at Worn for issue nine.

My grandmother is pretty happy for me too.

My current inspirations:

The Weekness
Every day is a new inspiration for Angie and Christophe, the creators of The Weekness. This sartorial blog pokes good-natured fun at everything silly and great about fashion. Be sure to check out Tuesday SHOEday and Monday MANday.

Punky Style
Anyone who runs a vintage clothing store out of a repurposed 1954 vintage Bellwood Aloha trailer has got to have a great blog. Punky is a vintage-enthusiast in New England, who organizes massive clothing swaps in her home town. Her trailer-park turned clothing shore is called Haberdash.

Art + Culture
This site takes the interweb literally. You can sign up or just observe as over 600 users create a map of all things art and culture related. It’s a great place to start your research or learn something new about something you already love. Just like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, find connections between movements in fashion and architecture or follow members with similar interests to discover something new.

Montmartre’s Sketchbook
I was initially drawn to this blog because I am going to France this summer and I thought there would be interesting posts about the artist district in Paris. The blog is about Montmartre in name only, but there are beautiful pictures of fashion, art and life here.

Dead Sexy Mag
This is a new online magazine. It’s not a blog because it is actually set up like a flat magazine. You can scroll and click your way through their beautiful photo essays and articles. It is all about Toronto but just for now. They are planning to start Dead Sexy Mags in Berlin, Montreal, Portland, Rio de Janeiro, Seoul and Tel Aviv.