Some people arrive on the scene; others explode. Originally hailing from Brooklyn, Halifax, model, photographer, designer and make-up artist Myles Sexton isn’t content doing just one thing. Along with redefining what it means to be a male model, he helps organize the monthly club nights called Sodom and is working on his own line of accessories. And, yes, that is his real name.

How did you dress in high school?

For the first year of high school I was a lost soul when it came to fashion. Then I adapted the emo-punk look. Lots of skin tight clothes and girls’ pants. Oh, and I can’t forget my Converse shoes where one foot would be black and the other would be the color matching my sweater. I really battled with trying to fit in and felt like I could only dress one way. There is so much pressure in high school for kids to look a way so they can be in a clique of kids who only buy from certain stores. It’s a freaking fashion jungle!

Describe the first time you wore make-up.

My parents had gone out for the day. I snuck into my mother’s make up bag and started applying eyeliner. Before I could even finish my lower water line I heard the door open. My parents had come home. So, I freaked out, turned on the shower to disguise what I was doing and put nail polish remover on a Q-tip and tried to get it off. I ended up burning the skin around my eye. When my mother asked about it, I told her I was scrubbing in the shower and the face cloth chafed my eyes.

The next day she gave me her concealer to hide the burn. I will never forget the moment of applying the concealer under my eye. By the time I was done the concealer was all over my entire face. I looked at myself in the mirror and for the first time felt beautiful. My teenage acne was no longer noticeable, my cheeks no longer red. I finally looked the way I already thought of myself. Since then I’ve seen make-up not as a means of concealing, but as a way of unleashing the real you.

Why did you want to become a model?

I am on a mission. I am not your typical beauty. I don’t have killer pecs or lumberjack arms. I am often mistaken for a lesbian. Growing up I always wished I had an idol to look up to. I found people who were small parts of who I wanted to be but never the whole package. I know I am not alone on this earth. I am sure there are men out there who feel the same way I do. So I started modeling so that I could be the man I wish existed when I was a child, who can wear make-up and be proud, and dress in whatever he feels like. Dress without gender! That is why I wanted to be a model.

How do people react to your photographs?

When I first started modeling people told me to butch it up. I tried that for about a year before I could not take it any more. I am sure they thought I was crazy. The response has really been 50/50. People often call me a drag queen but I don’t view it like that at all. I am still a man and always will be a man. I am just tired of the stereotype of a man. I think a man is a person who is proud to be himself, whoever that might be.

Describe some of the outfits you’ve designed.

My most recent number was a Marilyn Monroe-inspired dress in black, made entirely out of video tape. Another piece I made was a chicken wire studded blazer, inspired by Lady Gaga’s crystal dress. Also, I made a piece that looked like my head and upper body were being consumed by butterflies, inspired by the Alexander McQueen butterfly dress.

How is the world of fashion changing?

In many ways I think that fashion is becoming more accepting. For example, H&M and American Apparel have uni-sex lines. Still, in North America our fashion is pretty Western-looking. We have people living here from all over the world, yet you see very little from different cultures. This is the era of T-shirt and jeans, so my question is what is going to happen to haute couture?

What are your top five style inspirations?

The ancient Aztecs
The Blonds
Lady Gaga
Agyness Deyn
Jeffree Star
Andrej Pejic (I had to add a sixth!)

Max Mosher
Photography by Shaun Simpson, Brent McCombs and Morris Green

Robber opened its white-washed doors in April of 2009, and since then has been clothing Queen Street West in the frocks of Australian label Lover and the shoes of London’s F-Troupe (which just so happen to make a lovely cameo in Issue 12’s Bibliophilles photoshoot). Busy bringing emerging designers — from Seattle to Las Vegas — here to Toronto, co-owner Erin takes the time to talk to WORN about wedding attire, Philip Sparks, and Hamilton.

What was your first favourite outfit as a kid?
A dress I wore to my dad’s wedding when I was eight years old. I think it was the first time I got to choose my own special occasion outfit, and I really went for it — it was a white tank dress with a blue, green, and pink plaid tiered skirt, and bows in the same plaid all over the front. I found a photo from that day recently and I still think I looked great!

Tell me the story of how Robber came to be.
I was unhappy at my old job in Vancouver. I started talking to my roommate Robin about it and we came up with the idea of opening a store together. I was also thinking of moving back to Toronto and the kind of shop we would want didn’t really exist yet here, so it seemed perfect. We had both worked in fashion in the past and Robin has an MBA, which made the business side much easier — I definitely couldn’t have done any of that part on my own!

Do you think shopping independent is important?
Yes. I’m from a small town and that’s the kind of shopping I’m used to anyway, so I’m glad we can help create that same sense of community in our area of the city. I love that I can get everything I need within a few blocks of my house, and that most of it will be unique and different from what you’d get somewhere else. And when you shop at an independent business you’re also supporting all the designers, artists, writers, etc. that they carry, and helping ensure they are paid fairly for their work and can continue with their craft. I’m not a total hippie, and of course I still shop at big-box stores, but I certainly aspire not to.

Would you say that the clothing and accessories you carry at Robber reflect your own personal style, or do you aim to carry items that are fairly distinguished from your own wardrobe?
I think the store definitely reflects my personal style as well as Robin’s, and although those aren’t really the same, it makes for a nice balance. I’m usually drawn to more androgynous looks and she tends to like slightly girlier stuff, but we can agree on prints and colours that tie it all together. In our very first season we tried buying some items that neither one of us really loved, but that we thought would appeal to other customers, and that really didn’t work at all — they were all the pieces that were left at the end of the season.

What are your local fashion crushes?
Toronto has so many amazing designers and stores. Philip Sparks is a major fashion crush of mine — I’m so glad he started doing womenswear. I also really love our friend Jacque’s new jewelry line, Maude & Colette. I don’t get many chances to go to other stores, but when I can I like to check out Chasse Gardee, Rac, Mjolk and the little mini-mall that houses Silver Falls/Chosen/LAB Consignment. So many great people doing great things, I wish I could buy it all!

Tell me about your spring pop-up shop, Field Trip.
It was really the brainchild of the girls from Victoire in Ottawa. They were in Toronto a few months ago and we went out for dinner, and the next day they were heading to Hamilton for a few days. They were so excited about it and certain that they would fall in love with the city. We kept joking that they’d sign a lease over the weekend. The following week they e-mailed us and were like, “ummm no lease, but we found the perfect spot for a pop-up shop!” — they had the dates and everything all worked out. All of the shops involved know each other mainly from blogs and Twitter, and we’ve become real-life friends over the past few years, so it was really easy to put the list together. It’s great because we all have certain aesthetic similarities, but also a lot of variety in the kinds of things we make or carry. I think people can expect a really well-chosen selection of clothes and accessories from all of us, maybe some things they’ve seen before in our individual shops, but also some extra-special deals and exclusives that are for Hamilton only. Oh, and FUN, lots of that too!

Interview by Casie Brown
Photography by Samantha Walton

Montrealer Yuli Sato spends her time creating photographs of unseen other worlds with an assortment of thrifted vintage cameras. Yuli studies at Concordia University. Her photos are haunting but beautiful, often taking place in deserted snowy forests, upon grassy hilltops, or in empty indoor swimming pools. Yuli talks to WORN about butterfly clips, school uniforms and chai lattes.

What’s the last fashion publication you read?
Lula, but I haven’t actually looked through it thoroughly yet even though I got it a few months ago. I love the overall aesthetic; they’re not as concerned with showing the clothes in a commercial way and its general mood lures me in. I also dig the interviews.

How has your style changed since elementary school?
Quite a bit. I grew up in the ’90s, so I was obsessed with wearing those woven plastic necklaces. Platform sneakers and butterfly clips were also big for me. I think I was a little too young to really get the full effect of the ’90s, but my sister is three years older and was such a ’90s teen - it was so fantastic. She rocked bell-bottom jeans, cropped tanks and flannel.

I’ve been trying to move toward a more classic look lately, so I only buy things I know I will like in five or ten years, as opposed to something super trendy. If I ever feel like dressing a little crazy, I’ll shop at a thrift store so I don’t feel guilty if I don’t end up liking things in the long run. I just bought an amazing Navajo print blazer, a floral maxi dress, black maxi skirt, and a few giant men’s sweaters at Goodwill for less than $20.

How did attending a boarding school with uniforms affect your personal style?
There wasn’t much room for having fun and experimenting. It was so easy getting up and throwing on knee-high socks, a skirt, polo and blazer, but it definitely got boring after a while. It certainly made me appreciate fashion more - in my first year of university I wore a lot of crazy outfits to make up for lost time.

Heels or flats?
Heels if I could wear them every day. Alas, my feet cannot handle wearing heels so I suppose I’ll have to say flats, though I’m trying to train myself to wear heels at night so I don’t come home and collapse from foot pain.

If you had to dress like a lunchbox item, what would it be and what would you wear?
An extra large chai latte: all neutrals and maybe a light colored beret!

What is your favorite photo series? Why is it special?
“Ghost” from 2009. I wanted something creepy but still nostalgic and beautiful. It was a cold, November weekend and my good friend Amanda (the model in the series) and I went to my house on the Ottawa River and worked for two days straight, waking up at 7 a.m. to take photos by the river, then going over to our family friend’s place to shoot in their huge old house.

Where do you find inspiration for your photography?
At the moment I love photographers Annette Pehrsson and Hannah Davis. I’m also becoming interested in installation and environmental art - Andy Goldsworthy is an environmental artist from Britain whose film Rivers and Tides is just beautiful. I love the idea of art being transitory and I’m beginning to think of ways I can experiment with these ideas in my own work.

What role does fashion play in your work?
I want to get just the right amount of dreaminess, and clothes can either make it or break it. I want the viewer to immerse themselves in my photographs, and sometimes when the clothes are too over the top I find it distracting. As I deal with subjects surrounding childhood, nostalgia and girlhood, clothing is an important and considered contribution to the atmosphere I’m creating.

Interview by Alyssa Garrison
Photos by Yuli Sato

My crush on Anabela started somewhere between reading her blog, fieldguided, following her twitter, and browsing her flickr. We share many friends and live blocks away from each other in the same city, but, until early in this new year, we’d never met. Fieldguided became a regular read (even inspiring the title for the zebra photoshoot from issue 11) and filled with lovely photography, soft, clean design, and a distinct taste that is clearly all her own.

What did you wear when you where in high school?
I went to a Catholic high school and so most of the time I wore my school uniform, which was navy blue with white and pale blue, with a pair of buckled Doc Martens that I actually hated at the time but wish I still had. I’ve blocked a lot of it out, but I remember trying to dress like the girls from the band Lush in later high school. I wore a lot of shiny, satin clothing in 1996. Oh dear.

What are your local fashion store crushes?
My favourite is Robber, on Queen West. I love the aesthetic; I love loose dresses, I love clothing that is feminine and unpretentious. I appreciate that most of the clothing is made locally to the brand. When I want to invest in something I know I will love for years, I go there (I have worn an APC Madras dress I bought there in 2009 approximately three thousand times — or so it feels). I love the shoe selection at Chasse Gardée. For vintage, I like Silver Falls and Penny Arcade and the 69 Vintage Collective.

What literary characters have interesting style?
I have been reading a lot about the Mitfords on blogs lately, and I think me and others are attracted to the idea of their disheveled aristocrat style. I’ll go with “the Hons” in The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford. Also, since I’m going through a weird VC Andrews obsession, I have to admit that her descriptions of makeup, perfume, hair, and clothing have stayed with me since I first read those books at the age of 12. I can’t pin-point an exact style (except, I guess, “filthy rich New England lady”) but I loved luxuriating in her descriptions of fabrics and textures and clothing details, as well as dressing rituals. It’s possible that I’m remembering it all wrong, though.

Did you make any fashion-related new year’s resolutions? If so, what are they?
I didn’t make any resolutions per se but I have resolved over the past few months to stop buying fast fashion. I have too many items of clothing in my closet that I have worn once or not at all. I find that as long as I stay out of those stores, I won’t be tempted, but I am always tempted once the season changes, particularly around spring or fall. I have also decided to try to hammer down what my specific aesthetic is over the next little while, and to stay faithful to it. It’s really just about making better choices, and being less wasteful. I also want to save up for a pair of clog boots. I have wanted them since 2008! It’s time. I love wooden heels.

As a huge cat fan, do you have any favourite cat fashions?
Leah Goren makes really amazing hand-printed clothing and bags with cat faces — the tee-shirt is on my wish list for sure! I also have a Paul & Joe Sister cat-face sweater that I got on clearance for about $10 a few years ago that is pretty special. The little knitted face is adorable.

Nothing beats the United Bamboo 2010 calendar for fashion for cats. If only I could get my calico, Pony, into that peach blouse and black skirt!

- Serah-Marie