How did you dress in high school?
Terribly. I went to a private middle school where we all wore uniforms, so by the time I started high school I had no idea how to dress. First, I wore these baggy corduroys every day, plus lots of Emily Strange stuff. Then I got really into ska music - I thought I was the coolest kid ever, going to shows every weekend with ripped jeans, band t-shirts, and hair dyed black. It’s painful to look back on. Towards the end of high school I started to become interested in fashion, but still played it a bit safe - I had that “Audrey Hepburn, but edgier” phase that so many teen girls go through.

Who would you rather be trapped in a broken elevator with — Karl Lagerfield, Tyra Banks, or Lady Gaga?
Gaga. I’d use the time to get her to teach me the Bad Romance dance.

If you could dress like your favourite food what would it be?
This one time when I was a teenager, I stayed home sick from school and made layered jell-o with six different flavours. It’s not my favourite food per se, but I think it’d be pretty neato to translate into an outfit.

Last fashion related book or article you read. Was it good or bad?
It was a profile on Rodarte in the New Yorker. It was an alright read, but it didn’t really give me any new information and I didn’t agree with the author’s interpretation of their spring collection. I’m kind of a huge Rodarte fan - I read everything I can about them. Kate Mulleavy and I have the same favourite band, book and movie and that gives me the warm fuzzies.

What fashion blog do you think is underrated?
There are many, but lately I’ve been digging À l’Allure Garçonnière. Canadian ladies with intelligent musings on fashion? Yes please.

What fictional character has the best style?
Tie, between Pretty in Pink’s Duckie and Annie Hall. I like anybody - lady, gent, or other - who can rock a good vest.

What do you think about the relationship between fashion and conspicuous consumption?
Oh man - I think it would be hard to pretend that that relationship doesn’t exist, especially in a lot of mainstream fashion magazines. That being said, I’ve always been more interested in how people wear their clothes than the money spent on them (and I’m pretty sure that sentiment is shared amongst the Wornettes). I do tend to purchase my own clothing rather than making it (I’ve never been that handy with a sewing machine), but thanks to my university-student budget I’ve learned to become creative in finding thirty different ways to wear the same pair of jeans.

What movie’s costumes/clothes were better than their plot?
Would it be cliche to say Marie Antoinette? Yes? Ok, I’m going to go with Miranda July’s wardrobe in You and Me and Everyone We Know. Half the Worn staff tries to convince me I have no soul for disliking this movie, though it’s been a while since I’ve seen it so I should probably just give it another chance. For the record in every interview I’ve read with July she herself seems pretty cool - although all this is me straying from the original very simple question about the movie’s clothes. I liked those pink ballet shoes, let’s leave it at that.

What are your thoughts about this quote? “On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock.” – Thomas Jefferson
I’m not against the occasional swim with the current, but I think that really depends on where it is heading! I’m in the “do what feels right to you, everything else is incidental” camp.

Finish this sentence: There are two kinds of people in this world….
Those who can properly pronounce “Olivier Theyskens” and those who just sort of mumble his name when it comes up in conversation. I am in the latter category.

Since it was released in 1986, Pretty in Pink has become one of those iconic movies that’s been watched at many a slumber party or girls’ night across the globe. Amongst the many debates that the movie has brought up - Can two people from different sides of the track really fall in love? Was Molly Ringwald’s hybrid prom dress that much of an improvement over the original one? - there is one element that almost all the fans of the movie can agree on: Phil “Duckie” Dale was the stylish guy friend that we all wish existed in real life, both so we could befriend him and raid his wardrobe.

Played by a younger Jon Cryer (yes, that’s the guy from Two and a Half Men, but we’re trying to ignore that), Duckie manages to accomplish an impressive feat: standing out in a stylish cast that included Molly Ringwald’s turn as Andie, a thrift-store-junkie-turned-seamstress, and Annie Potts’s portrayal as the spiky haired record store employee named Iona.

The first part of Duckie that we see in the movie are his Chuck Taylor clad feet, strutting down the hall of his high school. As the camera pans out we are given full view of what can only be described as the Greatest Outfit of All Time Ever: black slacks, a floral print collared shirt, a chequered vest, a plaid blazer, a bolo tie, several rings and pins, teashades and a fedora. The average person would probably not be able to handle such an over the top (yet totally charming) mishmash of patterns and accessories but for Duckie it is just another Monday morning, and a preview of more amazing outfits to come in the movie.

He rides his bike while wearing a boater hat and a plaid shirt over a printed tee, a concoction not unfamiliar to a recent Marc Jacobs show. He successfully captures the hearts of many a teenage girl while performing a rousing lip synch of Otis Redding’s Try a Little Tenderness in a yellow sport coat and creepers:

Duckie was the sort of guy who was not afraid to stand out in a high school that was dominated by preppy kids. His clashing patterns and infinite layers of clothing leads me to believe that he and I share the same style philosophies when getting dressed in the morning; I can almost picture him pouring in front of his closet, deciding whether his newly thrifted vest would look better with his plaid or his floral shirt, but ultimately just not giving a damn about what the other kids (save Andie) think of him. After all, this is the kid who would wear suspenders and plaid pants to class, and a blue brocade suit and a bolo tie to prom.

Duckie’s “competition” in the movie in vying for the heart of Andie’s affections was Blane, the sort of fellow who would wear plain tee-shirts and coats. If this was not a fashion centered post I would go on about how Andie is stupid for picking somebody who probably didn’t even know who Otis Redding was over the epicness that is Duckie, but I will refrain going off on a tangent. Instead, I will point out that sartorially, Blane’s khaki ensembles aren’t half as cool as one of Duckie’s floral suspenders. Not that we’re advocating judging people based on their wardrobe choices, but if you were Andie who would you pick?

Thought so.

-Anna Fitz