Summer 2021
CURLY COLOURED HAIR TIPS JADE JEWELLERY SNEAKER COLLECTING
INDIGENOUS DESIGN’S new CHAMPION
SUPERMODEL
FERNANDA LY $5.99 DISPL AY UNTI L AUG . 9
ON
#STOPASIANHATE
Discover... VOILA! 16 NEWS
20 JEWELLERY 101
A trippy Fendi collab, Andy Warhol wigs at the Art Gallery of Ontario, new Canadian designer shops and more.
Jade is said to have supernatural powers, and Chinese imperial elites were buried in whole suits of it. For the rest of us, earrings or a pendant will do just fine.
18 SEEING STARS Hailey Bieber, J.Lo and Gigi Hadid are among the fans of this Canadian eyewear brand.
22 WRIST ACTION The futurism trend that hit the watch world in the ’70s is back with digital displays and tech-inspired styling.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LILY & LILAC. BLAZER, $3,716, NINA RICCI. FACE MASK, PRICE UPON REQUEST, SCHIAPARELLI. EARRINGS, $310, NINON.
SUMMER 2021
62
SUMMER 2021
What’s Inside 24 #BIGMOOD Odessa Paloma Parker offers ways to find gratitude in the great outdoors.
Ryerson University professor Riley Kucheran grew up in a small community in Ontario. But his ideas for changing the fashion world are vast.
28 DETAILS Jennifer Younger draws on her Tlingit heritage for jewellery that honours the past but looks to the future.
30 MERCH The pastel of the season, summer’s hottest denim, slip-on sandals and chic designer diversions.
38 FASHION X RBC Dreaming of a fashion trip to Paris? We’ve got tips on how to save for it and what to do when you get there.
40 ROAD TRIP
76
You don’t have to venture far for a refreshing change of scene. Four styleminded Canadians share their favourite picnic spots, ice cream parlours and other motoring musts.
PHOTOGRAPHY: (THIS PAGE) NATASHA GERSCHON; (OPPOSITE PAGE) CALIXTE-BEA BY ESTHER “QUEEN ESIE” CALIXTE-BEA. (THIS PAGE) LEFT: ANORAK, $450, MOOSE KNUCKLES. TOP, $2,655, PANTS, $1,040, AND SHOES, $1,000, GIVENCHY. HAT, $5, IN SHOES. RIGHT: JUMPSUIT, $4,875, AND SHOES, $1,250, HERMÈS. SUNGLASSES, $615, DITA.
26 GET TO KNOW
20 CANVAS 50 ACTIVISM Montreal-based artist Esther Calixte-Bea is challenging unattainable beauty standards by championing female body hair.
52 SHELFIE The Kaia Gerber-Marc Jacobs connection, Helen Mirren on why she’s makeup mad, even during the pandemic, and more.
54 TEXTURE TALK Colouring super-curly hair can require extra care. We asked the experts how to get the best results.
56 REGIMENS Thanks to performers like Beyoncé, R&B artist TiKA feels pressured to deliver more than just music. Here is how she does it.
50
58 ICON The world’s most famous fragrance is turning 100. Tynan Sinks looks into the legacy of Chanel No. 5.
INSPO
76 TREND
96 ESSAY
Bold monochromatic colours are the best way to make a standout style statement this summer.
Writer Lynn Crosbie gave up heels many years ago for good reason: an encounter with danger that forced her to run barefoot.
62 COVER STORY Supermodel Fernanda Ly has more cause for anxiety than many in COVID times, but she’s doing her best to focus on the silver linings.
92 COLLECTING Toronto artist Briony Douglas shares the results of her sneaker obsession and how she gets her kicks.
98 ♥ IT FOREVER A temptation with till-deathdo-us-part potential.
On the Cover Blazer, $2,945, cardigan, $975, bra, price upon request, shorts, $975, bike shorts, $275, bag, $1,925, necklace, $500, bracelet, $700, Versace.
editor-in-Chief bernadette morra CreatiVe & Fashion DireCtor
george antonopoulos Fashion neWs DireCtor
Digital DireCtor
beauty DireCtor
odessa paloma parker
Jennifer berry
natasha boateng (on leave)
aCting Fashion eDitor
assoCiate art DireCtor
aCting beauty DireCtor
elaine Jyll regio
danielle campbell
souzan michael galway
ProDuCtion eDitor
CoPy eDitors/ProoFreaDers
Contributing Western eDitor
lindsay cooper
marjorie dunham-landry Jane fielding
Joy pecknold
Vanessa baudner, Jacqueline benn schuppe, laurie brookins, pierina carlin, mishal cazmi, chris cook, lynn crosbie, beka shane denter, Kayleen dicuangco, caitlin doherty, neil franklyn, nyabel gatkuoth, natasha gerschon, tomomi gonzalez, eliza grossman, ben Jones, Kyla, daVian lain, danielle levasseur, lily & lilac, sarah mariotti, elina ogawa, anjli patel, lucia perna, sabrina rinaldi, tynan sinks, allie smith, stephen, ingrie williams, clara young
Contributors
publiSher Ken hunt V.P. Content & CreatiVe
maryam sanati sPeCial ProJeCts
charlotte herrold Managing DireCtor, sales tracy miller (tracy.miller@stjoseph.com) sales Manager, FASHION deidre marinelli (deidre.marinelli@stjoseph.com) ProDuCtion Manager caroline potter
St. JoSeph CommuniCationS, media Group ChairMan tony gagliano ViCe-Chair John gagliano PresiDent anD Publisher, sJC MeDia Ken hunt s.V.P. reVenue, sJM MeDia lynn chambers V.P. strategy duncan clark V.P. oPerations anD teChnology sean mccluskey DireCtor, CustoMer suCCess terry smith Managing DireCtor, branDeD Content sasha emmons Managing DireCtor, Marketing nadine silverthorne Managing DireCtor, ConsuMer reVenue allan yue Managing DireCtor, researCh anD ConsuMer insights clarence poirier Marketing DireCtor Jessika J. fink Controller dora brenndorfer fa s h i o n m ag a z i n e 1 5 b e n to n r oa d, to r o n to, o n m 6 m 3 g 2 p h o n e 41 6 - 2 4 8 - 4 8 6 8 m o n t r e a l o f f i c e 3 p l ac e V i l l e m a r i e , s u i t e 4 0 0, m o n t r e a l , Q c h 3 b 2 e 3 p h o n e 5 1 4 - 2 8 4 - 2 5 5 2 fa X 5 1 4 - 2 8 4 - 4 4 9 2 f a s h i o n m a g a z i n e s u m m e r 2 0 2 1 · V o l u m e 5 6 i s s u e 5 · p r i n t i n g : s t . J o s e p h p r i n t i n g · d a t e o f i s s u e : m ay 2 0 2 1 subscr i p tion inQu ir ies: 8 3 3-6 32-08 3 3
f a s h i o n m a g a z i n e a n n u a l s u b s c r i p t i o n p r i c e : $ 1 5 . 9 5 p l u s h s t ( 8 i s s u e s , p u b l i s h e d w i n t e r , m a r c h , a p r i l , m ay, s u m m e r , s e p t e m b e r , o c t o b e r a n d n o V e m b e r ) . s i n g l e c o p i e s : $ 5 . 9 9 . u n i t e d s tat e s , o n e y e a r : $ 2 2 . 9 5 . a l l o t h e r c o u n t r i e s : $ 2 7. 9 5 . t o c h a n g e y o u r s u b s c r i p t i o n a d d r e s s , p l e a s e s e n d y o u r n e w a n d o l d a d d r e s s e s t o : s u b s c r i p t i o n d e p a r t m e n t , f a s h i o n m a g a z i n e , p. o . b o X 1 1 9 , s t n . m a i n , a l l i s t o n , o n l 9 r 1 t 9 , a t l e a s t s i X w e e K s i n a d V a n c e . t h e p u b l i s h e r a c c e p t s n o r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r a d V e r t i s e r c l a i m s o r u n s o l i c i t e d m a n u s c r i p t s , t r a n s p a r e n c i e s o r o t h e r m at e r i a l s . n o p a r t o f t h i s m a g a z i n e m ay b e r e p r o d u c e d i n a n y f o r m w i t h o u t t h e w r i t t e n p e r m i s s i o n o f t h e p u b l i s h e r . c o p y r i g h t 2 0 2 1 s t. J o s e p h m e d i a i n c . a l l r i g h t s r e s e r V e d . w e a c K n o w l e d g e t h e f i n a n c i a l s u p p o r t o f t h e g o V e r n m e n t o f c a n a d a . c i r c u l at i o n a u d i t e d b y a l l i a n c e f o r a u d i t e d m e d i a . p u b l i c at i o n s m a i l a g r e e m e n t n o . 4 2 4 9 4 5 1 2 . r e t u r n u n d e l i V e r a b l e c a n a d i a n a d d r e s s e s t o p. o . b o X 1 1 9 , s t n . m a i n , a l l i s t o n , o n l 9 r 1 t 9 . f a s h i o n m a g a z i n e i s d i s t r i b u t e d b y c o m a g m a r K e t i n g g r o u p. i s s n 1 4 9 6 - 5 7 8 X .
for every ton of paper used on FASHION’s behalf, st. Joseph communications will contribute to the planting of a tree through GrandTrees.
editor's letter
FASHION
PhotograPhy by george antonoPoulos. toP, $3,400, Pants, $3,600, and shoes, Price uPon request, hermès.
it’s hard to imagine anyone hating Fernanda ly. The supermodel comes off as sweet, smart and sociable in her YouTube videos and her conversation with FASHION contributor Mishal Cazmi (“Urban Heat,” page 62). In 2015, during Ly’s first Paris Fashion Week, Nicolas Ghesquière fell so head over heels for the Australia-born model that he signed her for a fiveseason Louis Vuitton runway exclusive. The rest of the fashion world soon became just as smitten, and Ly has been working steadily ever since. There is no logic to the hate that has resulted in the verbal and physical abuse of Asians by complete strangers in public places. And that is why we invited Ly to be our Summer-issue cover star. We wanted to ask how one of the most in-demand models today is faring during this disturbing time. And while Ly hasn’t been attacked per se, she is no stranger to racism and is acutely aware that she could easily be a target for violence. As she tells Cazmi, simply stepping outside her New York apartment is “very scary.” It wasn’t an encounter with racial hate that prompted Lynn Crosbie to give up heels (“Treading Carefully,” page 96). Towering over people made her feel strong, writes Crosbie, until she needed a quick escape from trouble and felt trapped. Her flats of choice became Dr. Martens, but Crosbie observes how the sneaker trend that has taken hold these past few years has an added upside: It’s footwear that allows women to run like hell when the need arises. You don’t have to convince Briony Douglas of the benefits of sneakers (“Getting Her Kicks,” page 92). The Toronto-based visual artist is a serious collector, packing her home with prizes such as Melody Ehsani’s Wmns Air Jordan 1 Mid “Fearless” style and the Rick Owens “Dunks” that prompted a cease-and-desist order from Nike. One of Douglas’s recent commissions is also a shoe: a nearly-2.5-metre Stan Smith sneaker sculpture made from close to 10,000 bottle caps. Collecting can produce satisfaction on many levels: There’s the successful hunt for a long-coveted piece, the ownership of something rare that others admire, the privilege of stewarding a piece that will ultimately be passed along and the documentation of a certain point in history through objects. Collections can even gain cultural significance, which is why so many wind up in museums. But amassing treasures requires consumption, an issue that Riley Kucheran is very plugged into. In his chat with fashion news director Odessa Paloma Parker (page 26), the Ryerson University professor calls himself “anti-capitalist and probably anti-fashion, too.” So what’s a guy like that doing teaching in a fashion school? Read his thought-provoking interview to find out. Finally, Tynan Sinks takes a close look at Chanel No. 5, which turns 100 this year (“Scents of Time,” page 58). Whenever I see that iconic bottle, I am reminded of my mother sitting at her vanity as she performed her morning makeup ritual in a cloud of cigarette smoke. A dab of Chanel No. 5 was always the final touch, Bernadette Morra, Editor-in-Chief to obscure any traces of tobacco. @bernadettemorra If only the hate in some people’s hearts could be cured as easily. letters@fashionmagazine.com
summer 2021
13
aqua bomb
Instant Blast of Aqua! The true cream-aqua bomb Experience explosive hydration with this lightweight gel-cream that boosts hydration levels by 70% for a smooth, glowing appearance.
Dermatologist tested
Over 4 million units sold worldwide
avon.ca
@belifcanada
VOILA!
TEXT BY ODESSA PALOMA PARKER. PHOTOGRAPHY: CLOTHING COURTESY OF MIU MIU; BACKGROUND VIA ISTOCK.
PEOPLE • PIECES • PERSPECTIVES
BLUE CRUSH For its new Upcycled by Miu Miu collection, the Italian brand has teamed up with Levi Strauss & Co. to present an elevated take on the notion of “refreshed” garments—and second chances have never looked so quintessentially cool. A variety of denim workwear pieces from the 1980s and ’90s, including trucker jackets and jeans, have been detailed with distinctly Miu Miu motifs like hand-done leather patchwork and crystal and pearl embellishments. These one-of-a-kind pieces will be snapped up quickly, so you’d better get moving.
VOILA!
NEWS
Swirl Guide A
s part of Fendi’s FF Vertigo capsule collection—which sees the brand’s logo reimagined with a psychedelic slant— creative Sarah Coleman was tapped to give a further twist to the Italian house’s updated monogram for a selection of items. You’ll find pieces like the Peekaboo X-Tote and Baguette 1997 splashed with the wavy fish-eye lens look of Coleman’s contribution to the collection (which additionally offers a range of readyto-wear children’s goods and lifestyle wares, such as a skateboard). An assortment of watches boasts the playful ’70s-meets-’90s FF Vertigo motif as well—giving “time warp” an entirely new, and chic, meaning.
16
SUMMER 2021
TEXT BY ODESSA PALOMA PARKER. PHOTOGRAPHY: (THIS PAGE) FENDI COURTESY OF FENDI; WARHOL BY ANDY WARHOL, SELF PORTRAIT 1986. ACRYLIC PAINT AND SCREEN-PRINT ON CANVAS, 203.2 X 203.2 CM. PRESENTED BY JANET WOLFSON DE BOTTON, 1996. TATE © 2020 THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR THE VISUAL ARTS, INC/SOCAN (2021). PHOTO: © TATE, LONDON 2021; (OPPOSITE PAGE) @WATCHINGNEWYORK BY JOHNNY CIRILLO/CIRILLO PHOTOGRAPHY.
FRIGHT TAKE Proffering highlights from the prolific 40-year span of Andy Warhol’s multidisciplinary output, an eponymous new exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario will showcase works from self-portraits to the pop art progenitor’s renderings of the famous (Marilyn Monroe) and the famously mundane (cans of Campbell’s soup). Also included will be a trio of wigs, the likes of which played an integral role in how Warhol examined and personally explored the notions of identity and disguise. Initially wearing wigs to mask his thinning hair, Warhol began using them as a way to play with his persona, dyeing and styling them with his real hair exposed underneath. The tonsorial toppers—of which Warhol was said to own over a hundred—were handmade by Paul Bochicchio of the legendary Hairpieces by Paul, a boîte once located in Midtown Manhattan. That’s wigging out in quite a luxe way. Andy Warhol runs from July 17 to October 24.
news
VOILA!
SHOPTALK Despite a tumultuous year for fashion creatives around the world, here’s a heartening Canadian update: the recent arrival of three independent boutiques in Ontario and Quebec. Toronto-based Ellie Mae’s flagship space in the city’s Summerhill neighbourhood boasts not only her locally produced creations but also Ellie’s Vintage Closet—a curated selection of one-of-akind items like covetable concert, sports and graphic tees. (There’s also an in-store café for a moment of repose.) To the west, in Oakville, Ont., is the imaginative Anu Raina’s inaugural shop. Within it lives a range of the designer’s signature printed scarves—with artwork done by Raina herself—as well as ready-to-wear pieces from current and previous seasons. And to the east, Montreal’s Heirloom and jewellery artisan Alexandre Bergeron have teamed up to open a boutique that features both brands’ assortment of fanciful handmade wares. And each month, a different independent creative will pop up in the space to exhibit or sell their work. Several reasons to celebrate after all.
Clockwise from top left: Pieces from Ellie Mae, Alexandre Bergeron, Anu Raina and Heirloom
K TO
in
gn
r yo k
TI K
O
: @watch
ew
H
A KE TT
Photographer Johnny Cirillo satisfies our appetite for intriguing street style with his candid shots of people going about their day on the sidewalks of the Big Apple. He has captured a chilled-out roller skater wearing an iridescent fanny pack and Hello Kitty face mask and a flamboyant musician who adorned their guitar with an oversized multi-hued scarf—just average New Yorkers who look anything but ordinary. And the authenticity of their ensembles—something that’s often missing in hyper-polished fashion week images, in which those posing are paid to wear certain pieces—is endlessly endearing.
summer 2021
17
VOILA!
DESIGN
T S N E U O I S Q I V
Doris Ngie, founder of celeb-favoured eyewear brand Amavii, has set her sights on a more inclusive industry. By ODESSA PALOMA PARKER
S 18
SUMMER 2021
een on the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Hailey Bieber and Gigi Hadid, Amavii is a standout name in the eyewear game—but not simply because of its celebrity fans. Launched by Toronto-raised entrepreneur Doris Ngie, the brand sets itself apart thanks to its use of novel materials as well as its attention to customers who have long been overlooked.
DESIGN
VOILA!
PHOTOGRAPHY: MAIN COURTESY OF AMAVII; LOPEZ BY JAMES DEVANEY/GC IMAGES VIA GETTY; IMAN VIA @CHANELIMAN/INSTAGRAM; HADID BY MARC PIASECKI/GC IMAGES VIA GETTY.
IT REALLY DOES ADD MEANING TO WHAT WE’RE DOING BECAUSE WE’RE NOT JUST A BUSINESS; WE’RE ALSO GIVING BACK. “We were trying to solve a pain point,” says Ngie about not to mention offering easy exchanges and a threewhat inspired her to start the direct-to-consumer label in year warranty. 2018. “As an Asian woman, I have a wider face and lower Amavii’s skyrocketing success isn’t only due to its focus on nose bridge. I was shopping in Milan—one of the fashion inclusivity and customer service; the brand’s adoption of capitals of the world—and looking for sunglasses. I went Aerospace Titanium—an extremely durable, light and strong from store to store but couldn’t find anymaterial that has been used in the fine-jewthing that fit me.” ellery industry for years—makes its shades Ngie, whose background is in the comfortable for long periods of wear. Hadid e-commerce and retail distribution areas of rocked her Amaviis numerous times during the fashion industry, continued to notice fashion week last year—an interesting point the lack of range in the optical space and considering street style traditionally emphawondered why there weren’t “sizing sizes newness in one’s wardrobe, not how options for eyewear like there are for clothversatile and long-wearing an item should be. ing.” She looked further into the issue by “It was a key moment for our brand,” asking others about their experiences shopNgie says of Hadid’s repeat wears of ping for glasses and realized that people Amavii’s “Benjamin” aviator style, adding JENNIFER LOPEZ found many styles weren’t suited to their that celebrities have many options when it particular needs. Some even admitted to comes to what they wear. “The fact that buying children’s glasses because other they’re organically choosing to wear our items didn’t fit properly, while others spoke sunglasses validates that we’re doing the of the physical discomfort that came from right thing here.” wearing ill-fitting and heavy eyewear. And speaking of doing the right thing, Determined to address these oversights, Ngie points to Amavii’s partnership with Ngie devised three fit options for the Trees.org as another critical aspect of the bounty of styles Amavii would come to company’s recipe for success. Thanks to its offer, which vary from classic shapes to “Buy a Pair, Plant a Tree” campaign, the CHANEL IMAN more fashion-forward silhouettes, like the brand has contributed to the planting of quirky geometric “Piago.” Customers can over 20,000 trees so far. take a brief fit quiz online to find out “It really does add meaning to what we’re which size is best for them and receive doing because we’re not just a business; recommendations on styles—a boon conwe’re also giving back,” says Ngie, noting sidering how little IRL shopping we do that the brand has also donated to COVIDthese days. 19 response support and breast cancer orgaNgie—whose current favourite pair is nizations in the past. “Climate change is the new “Mylo” shape that comes in a something that’s always on my mind, and variety of colourful pops—notes that the I’m always considering what sort of world fact that she sees so many repeat customers we want to leave for the next generation”— GIGI HADID is a testament to the benefit of providing which isn’t surprising, considering that them with this very personalized service, looking forward is certainly Ngie’s forte. n
SUMMER 2021
19
VOILA!
MASTER CLASS
Nephrite and sterling silver ring, $255, Ora-C
20
B
eing ChineseCanadian, I have, naturally, been an expert on jade since I was a toddler. By osmosis, I learned to covet pieces of light-avocado jade that have what my mother calls a “creamy” quality. Jade also has the supernatural power of protection, which is why little old Chinese ladies who wear jade bangles live long enough to become little old ladies. Stories abound of these bracelets cracking at strangely significant moments, literally breaking a spell of poor health or financial trouble. This is what makes jade a little spooky—it’s not a stone that fractures easily.
Jadeite, opal, freshwater pearl and 10 karat gold earrings, $470, Ren
IT’S ACTUALLY TWO MINERALS Geologically speaking, jade is, in fact, an umbrella term for two different kinds of minerals whose colours range from green to lavender and even greyish white: jadeite and nephrite, which were not distinguished until the 1800s. Both are extraordinarily tough, but nephrite, with its calcium magnesium iron silicate, is slightly softer than jadeite. Jadeite’s structure of sodium aluminum silicate crystals rivals that of diamonds in durability. Nephrite scores between 6 and 6.5 on the Mohs scale of hardness, while jadeite, which is formed in low-temperature, high-pressure conditions at tectonic fault lines, can score as high as 7.
IT’S TOUGH Jade boulders are difficult to mine because they must be cut out of mountainsides using diamond saws. Archaeological digs going back to neolithic times are littered with jade weaponry. The Maori of New Zealand fashioned the stone into hammers, axes and spearheads, and the Meso-American Olmec crafted jade tools around 1000 BC. While other hard stones will shatter under immense pressure and smashing blows, jade not only stays intact but also rings beautifully. The Chinese made instruments out of jade, including something close to a xylophone.
SUMMER 2021
PHOTOGRAPHY: ORA-C COURTESY OF ORA-C
J E W E L L E RY 101
JADE
By CLARA YOUNG
Green jade, pavé diamond and 18 karat rose gold necklace, $7,200, Bulgari
master class
White jade and 18 karat gold cuff, $24,900, Tiffany & Co.
WHY YOU SHOULD SHOP CANADIAN
Jade and 18 karat gold plated brass ring, $3,100, Bottega Veneta at Ssense
Jade and sterling silver earrings, $105, Yuun
IT HAS MYSTICAL PROPERTIES The Spanish called jade piedra de ijada, which means “stone for the pain in the side.” Its healing powers are distinctly attuned to unromantic ailments of the kidneys, spleen and liver. And when jade’s protection runs afoul of death, it escorts its owner into the happiest possible afterlife. Jade beads have been found in the mouths of the deceased in Meso-American burial sites. Chinese imperial elites went to their graves in whole suits of jade armour consisting of pieces of jade sewn together with gold or silver thread. And mysterious jade discs with a hole in their centre are believed to have been mouthpieces through which one whispered to the heavens.
Jadeite, emerald, onyx, diamond and platinum earrings, price upon request, Cartier
VOILA!
Nephrite and sterling silver bracelet, $1,200, David Yurman
Beauty, toughness and rarity are what make jade a good investment stone. Pre-Columbian Meso-American civilizations only had one source for their bluish-green jade: what is now Guatemala. These mines were worked in for millennia but then lost with the 1519 arrival of the Spanish, who were more interested in gold and silver. The Olmec mines were rediscovered in 2002, but their locations have been kept secret to prevent looting. Myanmar is the world’s most abundant source of precious jadeite, called “imperial jade,” but it comes at a heavy human cost. Myanmese “blood jade” has been mined illegally and smuggled out of the country. Over the years, thousands of people have lost their lives in poorly constructed mines that collapsed, triggering deadly landslides. But the market price for jade in China is so high that people continue to take their chances and excavate it. As the saying goes: Gold is valuable, but jade is priceless. There is an alternative to blood jade, however: the high-quality nephrite mined in northern British Columbia.
AND FINALLY… A quality piece of jade will always be coated in a protective wax, which enhances its lustre. But watch out for jade that has been bleached or dyed—its altered hue will wear poorly over time.
summer 2021
21
VOILA!
WRIST ACTION
That ’70s Glow Watch brands are going back to the future with digital displays and retro gold styling.
TIMEX With its digital take on an analog dial, the Q Timex Reissue Digital LCA ($199)—recreated from a piece the brand released in the 1980s—delights fans with its throwback styling. Features on this chronograph include a countdown timer and a customizable alarm as well as its original single-bulb backlight, while the gold-tone finish on the stainless-steel case and bracelet completes the retro vibe.
By LAURIE BROOKINS
erhaps no decade has been as influential in the styling of a watch than the 1970s. That statement might sound a bit sacrilegious to timepiece aficionados, but consider that the overall look of an analog watch—a dial with hour and minute hands in a round case under a sapphire crystal—didn’t change much for roughly two centuries. Then the ’70s came along and upended everything with quartzpowered LED (light-emitting diode) and LCD (liquid crystal display) displays featuring bright-red numerals and cases that were squared off and meant to evoke images of computers, not the intricate craft of watchmaking. When Roger Moore’s James Bond briefly eschewed his traditional Rolex in favour of a digital Hamilton Pulsar in 1973’s Live and Let Die, it was an instant statement that futurism had firmly invaded the world of watches. Almost 50 years later, the vibe is influencing all style categories, and with it comes a renewed appreciation for the era’s watches. Here’s a look at five chicly updated pieces from brands that claim space-age timekeeping as part of their heritage.
P
22
SUMMER 2021
BULOVA For the look-at-me styling of a throwback piece, few watches appreciate ’70s details quite like Bulova: It contributed the Accutron Quartz and the Computron LED to that decade’s timekeeping landscape. The latest Computron ($395) from the brand’s Archive Series features a red LED display, day/date functions and dualtime-zone capability housed in a stainless-steel case plated in black (featuring the Computron’s iconic ridged design) on a black rubber bracelet.
WRIST ACTION
VOILA!
CASIO G-SHOCK Few brands are associated with the digital age of
PHOTOGRAPHY: BACKGROUND VIA ISTOCK
watches like Casio; it was at the forefront of “computer watch” development throughout the ’70s and ’80s. That association is surely one of the reasons why Chris Pine wears a Casio in Wonder Woman 1984. This piece from the G-Shock Full Metal collection ($800)—with its featurefilled digital display in a stainless-steel case and bracelet that have been embellished with an ion-plated finish of deep red—is a nod to the brand’s heritage. With its multitude of alarms, easy time-zone changes, flash alerts and luminescent backlight, this shock-resistant piece hearkens back to the bells and whistles that made digital watches beloved at the time of their original release, but its updates, such as Bluetooth connectivity, make it a watch for today.
G UCCI If any fashion brand deserves to celebrate a ’70s moment, it’s Gucci; during that decade, it stamped its logo on everything from Rolls-Royce luggage to perfumes to, yes, its first watch. Watches in the Gucci Grip watch collection (prices upon request) take their cue from ’70s skateboard culture—from its name (skaters use grip tape on their boards) to the lack of a typical crystal (which might easily shatter when a street trick goes haywire). Instead, the time is displayed via two windows in a case with a thin yellow gold coating, and the matching bracelet is accented with interlocking Gs.
HAMILTON The brand that kicked off the decade of the digital age of watches is once again celebrating that moment with the Hamilton PSR ($970)—a tribute to the gamechanging Pulsar, the world’s first allelectronic digital watch, which was announced on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on May 6, 1970. This modern update features a display that’s a hybrid of LCD and OLED (organic LED), which fans of the original red numerals will surely enjoy when they press the side button. This marriage of technologies also ensures that the quartz watch is always easily readable. The wide cushion case and bracelet are crafted in stainless steel, and the watch is water-resistant to 100 metres.
SUMMER 2021
23
VOILA!
#bigmood
Shiseido Ultra sun protector cream
Native shoes
Divvy pre-rolls
Sirius Glassworks tumbler
Jacquemus spring 2021
Dries Van Noten top at mr porter
Amiri shorts
Emporio Armani sunglasses
Yonder Lust Freedom is a state of mind, and room to roam has never felt more necessary. Find a place to space out, get some sun and take it all in. These are wild times— seize every chance to enjoy the elements and let nature take its course.
24
summer 2021
text by odessa paloma parker. photography: main via imaxtree.com.
Charles Jeffrey Loverboy hat at matchesFashion
Txt.ure chair at goodee
They Were Loved The magnitude of COVID-19’s impact on Canadians’ lives is difficult to fathom. Canada has already lost more than 20,000 people to the pandemic; each of those losses has cascaded through families and communities, leaving many more thousands bereaved. They Were Loved is a years-long project to commemorate everyone who has died of COVID-19 in Canada, and every Canadian who has died of the disease abroad. In partnership with Carleton University’s Future of Journalism Initiative and journalism schools across the country, Maclean’s is striving to capture the richness of each life lost. To read the hundreds of obituaries written to date, visit macleans.ca/they-were-loved/ If you would like your loved one to be included, please contact us at theywereloved@macleans.ca
CANADA’S M AGAZINE SINCE 1905
FOUNDING SPONSOR
SPONSOR
Maclean’s is published by SJC Media, Canada’s largest publisher of trusted brands.
VOILA!
GET TO KNOW
Riley Kucheran Advocate for Indigenous design and assistant professor at Toronto’s Ryerson University School of Fashion. By ODESSA PALOMA PARKER
WHAT’S YOUR EARLIEST FASHION MEMORY? “This will date me as a millennial, Kucheran is wearing a scarf tied kokum-style and a plaid shirt—a nod to a nongendered approach to dressing. On the right, he is wearing an iskotêw (“fire”) necklace by Theresa Stevenson.
26
SUMMER 2021
but The O.C. comes to mind—that Californian ‘Hollister’ look, with two polo shirts layered and popped collars. I grew up in a very small town, of under 3,000 people, so this ties into the kind of dreaming I was doing about leaving there.” WHAT ELSE HAS PLAYED A PART IN YOUR STYLE JOURNEY? “In high school, I had a monthly subscription to Vogue and GQ. Even back then, my desire to engage in fashion and express myself was quite limited by gender. I saw haute couture in Vogue and was very drawn to that, but I was also reading GQ and finding that the notion of ‘fashion’
GET TO KNOW
VOILA!
only went up to a certain point in terms of suits; male selfexpression felt quite limited to things like wacky socks or a colourful tie. I admire men who experiment with shape and colour and fabrics. I have a beadwork-detail suit by Justine Woods that I feel is a step toward my being more comfortable in expressing my love of design and multiple gender identities. It’s an important piece because it also represents me moving toward thinking about fashion more critically. It was made for me at a time when I was starting to learn more about Indigenous fashion and Two-Spirituality. “I’m also dressing for my role as a professor teaching design leadership. But that’s not necessarily a good thing because I want to question the notion of who should be at the front of a classroom. I don’t think it should just be an older person wearing a patched tweed blazer.”
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF RILEY KUCHERAN; LARSSON BY JAMIE STEVENSON PHOTOGRAPHY.
HOW DOES THIS TENSION INFORM YOUR WORK?
“I wanted to get into the university system to change it and to get into the fashion industry to change it. I very much consider myself anti-capitalist and probably anti-fashion, too. That is to say, our notion of seasonality and trends, our desire for novelty, the pace of consumption—all of these come from fashion, and other industries have adopted its practices. Fashion is also a tool of colonization, historically used to enforce cultural assimilation and now used to reduce whole cultures into commodities. “I’ve been really fortunate to have the support of my faculty colleagues, who encouraged me to add three new courses to the curriculum. There’s Indigenous Fashion 101, which introduces students to Indigenous philosophies and approaches to design that are inherently sustainable and socially responsible; it examines a few different culturally specific designs, history and colonization, ethics and cultural appropriation, Indigenous fashion weeks and Indigenous forms of entrepreneurship. Then there’s Indigenous Craft Practices and Land and Fashion, which are upper-year courses where we can travel and engage directly with communities—rural and urban. I’ve also been able to adapt existing courses. I taught one on design history that was previously very canonical: It focused on the ‘iconic designs’ of the 20th century and ‘good design’ from exclusively European design movements and mostly white male designers. I widened the scope and provided examples of Indigenous design and design before the Industrial Revolution; we also discussed the intersections of design and colonization, capitalism, race and gender. I’m probably most excited about an accessory design course that I adapted this past semester. We engaged knowledge holders like Amber Sandy and Janey Chang to help us create our own fish-skin leather. It’s an Indigenous practice found globally, and it can teach us a lot about cultural heritage, reciprocity, slowing down and respecting the process and using fashion to make political statements.”
Kucheran with Justine Woods, wearing one of her beadwork-embellished designs at the 2019 Canadian Arts & Fashion Awards. Another one of his favourite creatives is Tania Larsson (earrings, left).
WHAT ARE YOU HOPING TO ENCOURAGE IN THE BIIGTIGONG NISHNAABEG COMMUNITY YOU’VE BEEN A PART OF THIS YEAR? “I’m now living in a
small town, Zooming with my classes and spending more time on the land chopping wood and collecting water. One’s priorities aren’t necessarily looking a certain way— it’s more about function than expression. At one point, I was dressing very butch, in plaid shirts, tech pants and hiking boots; I hadn’t been shaving, and I looked very gruff and masc. One day, I woke up and it was like a switch had been turned off: I shaved, cleaned up and put on what we call a kokum [granny] scarf. I went out looking so femme and was joking with the elders about how they’d never seen a man wear a scarf like that. This was important during a semester of land-based teaching; the community got to see a kind of ‘switching’ of gender. Queer people in smaller communities often end up leaving because they want to find others like them. So, expressing yourself outside of gender binaries becomes even more important when you’re not in a larger city. There was a dormant period when queer and trans expression had completely gone underground in order for it to survive. Now, it’s about finding, re-establishing and reaffirming that every community has queer and Two-Spirit members.” n
SUMMER 2021
27
VOILA!
DETAILS
Fine Imprint How jewellery artist Jennifer Younger is making her mark.
DESIGNER Jennifer Younger HOME BASE Sitka, Alaska ITEM Handpatinated and -engraved copper bracelet
28
SUMMER 2021
FINDING PURPOSE “As I got older, I developed a deeper appreciation for my Tlingit heritage,” says Jennifer Younger, who discovered her passion for engraving at the age of 40. Eight years later, she’s creating pieces that combine community-centric motifs with various other inspirations that speak to her ancestry as well as to the future of Indigenous peoples. “I want to create jewellery that incorporates tradition but also appeals to a younger generation so they can carry on the art and enjoy it.” ARTISTIC LICENCE Younger’s engraving teacher told her that she didn’t have to be tied to making works based solely on her heritage. “He said, ‘As long as you’re doing proper formline [a style of Tlingit artistry], do whatever you want,’” recounts Younger. Since then, she has been exploring iconography, including Lakota floral patterns, mixing it with Tlingit references— seaweed in the case of the bracelet pictured, which she made to commemorate Standing
Rock. “The design combines two cultures to show our unity and that we stand together for this cause.” THE PROCESS Younger works with silver and dead soft copper. First, she hand-patinates the copper with an experimental (and trade secret) process that can involve salt, vinegar and baking soda as part of the mix. “I don’t measure what I put in,” she laughs. “I’m very free-form.” The metal develops a patina over the course of just a few hours (or overnight), and the colouration sometimes influences her ideas for what to engrave, she says. She uses tiny knives and other tools she has made herself; typically, a piece can take up to three days to complete. “I don’t want the pieces to be exactly the same,” Younger says of why she favours freehand one-of-a-kind and custom work. And it’s another reason why her chosen materials speak to her: “I love copper for its changes. Same with brushed silver. I like things that look like relics.” n
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAITLIN BLAISDELL
By ODESSA PALOMA PARKER
trust noun. /trəst/ Firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.
(Also: confidence, certainty)
Print is Trust.
NOW, IT’S YOUR TURN. Share one word that describes what print means to you. It might be a feeling, an xp ri nc , a habit. (W ask d our SJC staff and h r ar a f w of th ir words to g t you thinking: P rsp ctiv , Relaxation, Voice and Focus.) All participants will be entered in a draw to win one of 25 print-themed prize packs with a on -y ar magazin subscription and a $50 gift card to a Canadian ind p nd nt bookstor n ar you. Plus, your submission may b f atur d in our national ad campaign this summ r! To nt r, visit th URL b low or shar on social with hashtag #PrintIs and w ’ll g t in touch.
St. Joseph Communications is proudly celebrating 65 years of print.whatisprinttoyou.ca
VOILA!
MERCH
STYLE TIP Commit to full coverage, and pair it with natural-toned accessories.
MERCH
VOILA!
21 n Spring 20 Ulla Johnso
ATP Atelier at Shopbop, $470 Prada, $1,100
Dries Van Noten at Ssense, $465
SMR Days at MatchesFashion, $660
1 ring 202 B os s S p
Green Light There’s no caution needed when you proceed with this summer’s most pleasing pastel.
EDITORS: SARAH MARIOTTI AND ELAINE JYLL REGIO. PHOTOGRAPHY: STREET STYLE AND RUNWAY VIA IMAXTREE.COM.
Bather, $110
Tory Burch at Farfetch, $800
Staud, $305
Kat Maconie, $255 Ellie Mae, $525
SUMMER 2021
31
VOILA!
MERCH
Short Circuit Power up your summer staples with denim that gives your legs the attention they deserve.
STYLE TIP A boyfriend blazer will help ward off evening chills and add instant polish to casual bottoms.
EDITORS: ELAINE JYLL REGIO AND ELIZA GROSSMAN. PHOTOGRAPHY: MAIN VIA IMAXTREE.COM.
merch
Dynamite, $45
Mavi, $90
Outland Denim, $185
Diesel, $160
Sacai at Holt Renfrew, $680
Gap, $70
Balenciaga at Ssense, $1,050
Ganni at MatchesFashion, $320
Agolde, $210
summer 2021
VOILA!
33
VOILA!
MERCH
STYLE TIP Reserve your freshest socks for layering. Want more? Pick a branded or tie-dyed pair.
Easy Does It Take leisure dressing to the next level with laidback slip-ons that signal casual comfort.
Molly Goddard
Valentino
Kenzo
Gabriela Hearst
Balenciaga
EDITOR: ELAINE JYLL REGIO. PHOTOGRAPHY: STREET STYLE AND RUNWAY VIA IMAXTREE.COM.
MERCH
SUMMER 2021
VOILA!
Bonnie Clyde, $180
Kule, $30
Casablanca, $180
John Elliott x Suicoke, $280
Aimé Leon Dore, $75
Rick Owens DRKSHDW, $845
35
VOILA!
MERCH
Extra Curricular However you choose to pass the time, some of your favourite designers have got you covered.
EDITOR: ElAINE JYll REGIO. PHOTOGRAPHY: MAIN VIA IMAXTREE.COM.
merch
Tiffany & Co., $970
Prada, $925
Hermès, price upon request
Loewe, $365
Fendi, price upon request
Christopher Kane, $165
Dior, price upon request
Saint Laurent, $650
Louis Vuitton, $98,000
summer 2021
VOILA!
37
FASHION X RBC InvestEase
French Lesson With travel curtailed, now is the perfect time to save for that dream trip to Paris. Bernadette morra shares her must-see list for when you get there.
P
while rotating exhibits include a planned retrospective of photographer Paolo Roversi. AvENuE mONtAIGNE AND l’AvENuE Christian Dior opened the doors of his couture house at 30 Avenue Montaigne on December 16, 1946, and expanded quickly as his landmark “New Look” captivated the world. The site remains the headquarters for the house’s couture, while ready-to-wear and accessories are available in adjacent street-level shops. Toast your purchases at nearby L’Avenue, CHANEl RuE CAmBON BOutIquE AND BAR where moguls and models dine during fashion weeks. HEmINGWAY Shopping at 31 Rue Cambon is a special lE BON mARCHé One of the world’s oldest departthrill—upstairs is where Mademoiselle created the iconic ment stores was a fashion mecca when it opened in 1852 chain-handled handbag and the classic Chanel suit. The and remains so today. All the best luxury brands are reprecouture collections are still handcrafted on the upper sented, as well as indie French talents you’ve never heard floors, and her famous apartment remains a shrine, though of. If you happen to be travelling with someone who doesn’t it’s off limits to most. Time your share your delight in clothes, shoes visit so that at 5:30 p.m., you can and bags, send them to the food head across the street to the Ritz hall, where they can nestle in a Paris and join the queue for the corner of the oyster bar with a glass legendary Bar Hemingway, which of Chablis. fills up as soon as the doors open FASHION WEEKS If you schedule RBC InvestEase tips at 6. The prices are horrifying, but your trip during the ready-toopen an investing account for this is your chance to live like a wear shows in March or October, your travel goal and give it a name, supermodel and try the French 76, you are likely to pay more for a like “Paris Fashion Week 2025.” Kate Moss’s favourite drink. hotel, especially those in the 1st it’s the perfect simple reminder PAlAIS GAllIERA muSEum arrondissement. However, the payto keep you motivated. Paris’s only museum dedicated to back in people-watching will be fashion reopened last year after a set up that Paris investing worth it. Check the show schedules account so you’re making two-and-a-half-year reno. The on the Chambre Syndicale’s webauto-deposits every payday. enchanting Italianate palace, site, and then hang out with the it’s like the classic “freeze your completed in 1894 to house the street-style photographers capturcredit card in a block of ice” trick: Duchess of Galliera’s art collecing celebrity guests and famous ediout of sight, out of mind. tors as they come and go. Also fun tion, is a great spot to brush up are the haute couture presentations on your fashion history. A new tag your future vacay partner lower-level gallery highlights some in January and July. The guest lists as an accountability buddy and schedule regular check-ins to of the 200,000+ artifacts in the are smaller, but the opportunities chat about the progress you’re museum’s permanent collection, for stargazing are just as plentiful. n making toward your goal.
38
summer 2021
PhotograPhy via istock
aris is always a good idea, especially if you love fashion. All the top luxury brands have invested in stunning flagships that are well worth a visit, even if just to ogle the decor. And fashion history abounds—from Place Vendôme, where many of the world’s top jewellers opened in the 19th century, to the Azzedine Alaïa museum and gallery in the late designer’s headquarters in the Marais. Other must-sees:
Investing not your know how?
You can still invest. • RBC InvestEase® is simplified, low-cost, low-effort online auto-investing. • Let our pros pick, buy and manage your investments for you. • Start investing with as little as $100.1 Sign up now and pay no management fees for your first year.2 Visit rbc.com/fashion and use promo code AA105.
RBC InvestEase is a restricted portfolio manager providing access to model portfolios consisting of RBC iShares ETFs with each model portfolio holding up to 100% of RBC iShares ETFs. RBC iShares ETFs are comprised of RBC ETFs managed by RBC Global Asset Management Inc. (RBC GAM) and iShares ETFs managed by BlackRock Canada Limited (BlackRock Canada). RBC GAM and BlackRock Canada have entered into a strategic alliance to bring together their respective ETF products under the RBC iShares brand, and to offer a unified distribution support and service model for RBC iShares ETFs. Other products and services may be offered by one or more separate corporate entities that are affiliated to RBC InvestEase Inc., including without limitation: Royal Bank of Canada, RBC Direct Investing Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., RBC Global Asset Management Inc., Royal Trust Corporation of Canada and The Royal Trust Company. RBC InvestEase Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada and uses the business name RBC InvestEase. The services provided by RBC InvestEase are only available in Canada. 1 Your money will not be invested until your account balance reaches $100 or more. Small balances (less than $1,500) may be allocated to a Small Balance portfolio that invests in a limited selection of RBC iShares ETFs and/or cash. Our Small Balance portfolios follow similar risk profiles as our Standard Portfolios while investing in fewer RBC iShares ETFs. 2 To take advantage of this offer you must not have held an RBC InvestEase account prior to May 1, 2021. Accounts opened from May 1, 2021 to October 31, 2021 using promo code AA105 will not be charged the regular 0.5% management fee by RBC InvestEase for 12 months from the date of account opening. RBC InvestEase will notify clients 60 days in advance of any changes to the fees associated with their account as set out in the investment management agreement. A weighted average management expense ratio between 0.11-0.32% will still apply to the ETFs held in our portfolios. This offer cannot be combined with any other offers. RBC InvestEase Inc. reserves the right to amend or withdraw this offer at any time without notice. Offer applies to clients’ first RBC InvestEase account only. 126294 (03/2021) ® / ™ Trademarks of Royal Bank of Canada. VPS108386
VOILA!
road trip
Lake Louise in all its splendour
Close Encounters We may not be venturing far this summer, but these destinations will transport you, even if it’s just for a day. By BEKA SHANE DENTER
W
EO ENY TAKPO N HI
R
C
ith everything that has been going on over the past year, it’s no secret we could all use a rejuvenating escape. Luckily, the most awesome points of interest are sometimes close to home. We tapped four guides from across the country to send you on a road trip to remember. From where to eat to what to buy, here’s how to make your next local excursion a truly bon voyage.
VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION SPECIALIST
40
summer 2021
LAKE LOUISE, A L B ERTA FAVOURITE THINGS ABOUT THIS SPOT “I love Lake Louise for the stunning views and fresh air. Especially with travel restrictions, it’s a perfect getaway when things feel too heavy. The drive itself is peaceful and breathtaking. Every time I visit, I’m in awe—like I’m seeing the lake for the first time.” WHAT TO PACK “Water—I consider it an essential health and beauty item. Also, a roomy tote bag and blotting powder for touch-ups. There are so many places to take amazing pictures, so you want to make sure you look your best! And I recommend bringing a chic scarf to protect your hair and ears in case there’s wind. As the weather warms up, I’ll be switching from chunky knit scarves to satin ones.”
road trip
VOILA!
editor: odessa paloma parker. photography: main by caleb troy via getty; moraine lake by cavan images via getty; mount fairview dining room by Jackson dematos; plate by kendal + kevin; stones courtesy of pipestone quarry; snowy americano courtesy of trailhead café.
from top: moraine lake, near the village of lake louise; mount fairview dining room and fare (inset) at deer lodge; amazonite stones from pipestone quarry (inset); a snowy americano at trailhead café
HOW TO GET THERE the porsche taycan 4 cross turismo’s performance battery plus means more distance.
WHAT TO PACK
Asobu at hudson’s bay, $25
BEST PLACE FOR COFFEE “try the snowy americano at Trailhead Café. it has a great menu, and it serves breakfast all day.” NOTABLE PLACES TO NOSH “in the warmer months, you can picnic right by the lake. that’s on the to-do list for my boyfriend and me this summer. as for dining and takeout, Mount Fairview Dining Room is amazing.” FAVOURITE LOCAL SHOP “The Viewpoint has a wonderful selection of book titles.” BEST PLACE FOR SOUVENIRS “Pipestone Quarry. it sells rocks, semi-precious gemstones, minerals, fossils and other collectibles.” »
Rare Beauty blot & glow touch-up kit at sephora, $34
Llim at inland, $250
summer 2021
41
VOILA!
road trip
S
Georgian Bay, as seen from Collingwood. Right: The charming June Motel
ICHARDSO FR E N T
founder of the blog lokal digs
SAUBLE BEACH, O N TA R I O FAVOURITE THING ABOUT THIS SPOT “Time disappears. You’re brought back to being a kid and spending days at the beach eating ice cream sundaes, building sandcastles and begging not to go home.” NOTABLE PLACES TO NOSH “Pom Pom, in Thornbury, is a fun and friendly ice cream spot. Casero taco bus, in Sauble Beach, is a mustvisit. the Milk Maid, in Owen Sound, is known for its gourmet cheese and provisions—it’s a one-stop shop for all grazing-board necessities. heydays at the June Motel has reinvented coastal classics and a groovy vibe. It’s perfect for gathering, sipping and soaking up summer.” WHERE TO SHOP “the Patch is an iconic second-hand-clothing and -accessories store on the main strip in Sauble Beach. It’s got every-
42
summer 2021
EDITOR: ODESSA PALOMA PARKER. PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARDSON AND INGLIS FALLS BY ALYSSA JOLINE PHOTOGRAPHY; JUNE MOTEL AND THE WELLNESS REFINERY BY LAUREN MILLER PHOTOGRAPHY; GRANDMA LAMBE’S COURTESY OF GRANDMA LAMBE’S; GRIT & GRACE COURTESY OF GRIT & GRACE.
road trip
thing from trousers and overalls to jackets, tanks, hats and sunglasses. Grit & Grace is a women’s fashion boutique where you’ll find beautiful and classic pieces.” LOCAL BRAND TO CHECK OUT “Bishop Botanicals is a line of plant-based skincare products created by a mother-daughter duo. It’s right in the heart of downtown Collingwood.” BEST PLACE FOR COFFEE “The Wellness Refinery. Minutes from the main beach, it has tasty snacks, smoothies and specialty coffees. It also has vegan and paleo options, and it’s all gluten-free!” HIKES, ADVENTURES AND RESTAURANTS OFF THE MAIN ROUTE “Bruce Trail is well known by avid hikers because it’s 900 kilometres long. Get a little taste of nature’s finest on connected trails like Hoggs Falls (Flesherton) and Inglis Falls (Owen Sound) or at a tourist hot spot like Devil’s Monument (Dyer’s Bay). The hike is short, and the views are absolutely gorgeous. Make your way down the stairs to the rocky beach and turquoise waters. The best picnic spot is Meaford Harbour, with its prime view of Georgian Bay. Grab takeout from one of the main-street restaurants (Gio & Fran’s, The Kitchen or The Leeky Canoe) and enjoy eating by the famous breakwall.” BEST PLACE FOR SOUVENIRS “Grandma Lambe’s is a family-owned and -operated fruit stand in Meaford that offers a variety of homemade jams and baked goods. It’s been around for nearly 80 years, and they bake over 35,000 pies a year.” »
VOILA!
Clockwise from left: A rush of beauty at Inglis Falls; quirky decor at Grandma Lambe’s; menu items at The Wellness Refinery; an array of goods at Grit & Grace
HOW TO GET THERE Bring—and come back with—more stuff thanks to the Ford Mustang Mach-E’s front trunk.
WHAT TO PACK Canon, $1,900
Routine Natural Deodorant, $28
Vans, $65
summer 2021
43
VOILA!
road trip
IC LAPO RT MIN O
E
D
A perfect view of Percé Rock
ILLUSTRATOR AND MURALIST
FAVOURITE THINGS ABOUT THIS REGION “Variety. there’s something for everyone. Forests, mountains and the Gulf of st. lawrence as well as an abundance of culinary stops—plus friendly residents to guide you along the way. We followed Route des Montagnes and Route des Baleines for the amazing views.” NOTABLE PLACES TO NOSH “Quebec is known for its terroir products (products made of raw materials particular to the region), so check out the following: Le Rond Point, in Baie-saintPaul, for a delicious upscale burger made with local ingredients; Cantine Armande, in Chuteaux-outardes, for traditional casse-croûte (my girlfriend, Anais, and i lived the casse-croûte and picnic life for 12 days!); La P’tite Cochonne, an artisanal bakery in Grandes-Bergeronnes that creates little pizzas perfect for a picnic; Kiboikoi, a charming café in les escoumins that has an outdoor space overlooking the water and live music at night; Plage de Haldimand, where you’ll find Café des Artistes and La Cantina Latinogaspésienne, which serves up delicious
Columbia, $180
WHAT TO PACK
Kotn, $80 Ikea, $30
44
summer 2021
editoR: odessA PAlomA PARKeR. PHotoGRAPHY: PeRCé RoCK, RoUte 132 ANd PUB Pit CARiBoU BY mAtHieU dUPUis/le QUéBeC mARitime; lABReQUe BY domiNiC lAPoRte; soAP CoURtesY oF les sAVoNs de l’AtelieR; RiVièRe BoNAVeNtURe BY dYlAN PAGe/toURisme GAsPésie.
EASTERN QUEBEC
road trip
VOILA!
Clockwise from left: Route 132, along the north shore of the Gaspé Peninsula; Pub Pit Caribou; locally made soap from Les Savons de L’Atelier (inset); Laporte’s girlfriend, Anais Labreque, takes in the scenery; kayakers on Rivière Bonaventure
HOW TO GET THERE The Toyota Sienna has a range of exterior lighting options, independ ent climate control and Safety Connect and Service Connect features.
tacos; and Pub Pit Caribou, where you can order snacks like pickled trout and smoked bacon—rustic, delicious and fun! A great vibe and great tunes.” WHERE TO SHOP “We stopped at a tiny second hand shop called Boutique Rock n’ Coll et Friperie Sativa in Matane (it has lots of leather—I found a cute bucket hat there!); Les Savons de L’Atelier, a soap shop in Tadoussac; Atelier à Barachois, near Percé (artist Margot Mérette decorated this property—which doubles as her workshop/studio—in a fun way; when you visit, she will recommend her favourite places to explore); Herbamiel, in SacréCoeurduSaguenay, near Tadoussac, for honey products; ÉpicerieBoucherie R. St-Gelais, a fine grocery in Matane with specialties including pastries, cheese, jams and marinades (it’s hard to leave without wanting to buy the entire store).” WHERE TO TAKE IN THE SCENERY “Route 132 is incredible, especially toward the north, when you’re approaching Forillon National Park. Take it slow, and stop whenever and wherever you can to take pictures—seeing Percé Rock at sunrise is an experience. Portneuf-sur-Mer has a beautiful sandy beach—untouched, serene and wild. A great stop for a picnic and pictures.” WHAT TO PACK “Warm clothes (even when you’re in the sun, it can get cold with the wind coming off the St. Lawrence), hiking shoes and a picnic blanket, cutlery and basket (so you can have a snack when the scenery inspires a stop).” FAVOURITE PLACES TO EXPLORE IN THE GASPÉ PENINSULA “Mont Albert for a strenuous hike; Cap Bon Ami in Forillon National Park for a great view and an easier climb; L’Île-Bonaventure-et-duRocher-Percé National Park for gannet watching; and Cap Aventure, a small campground that orga nizes kayaking excursions to see seals. Booking in advance is key for all activities, ferries, campgrounds and national parks. Day passes for parks sell out quickly. Rivière Bonaventure, with its clear waters, is a beautiful spot where you can go kayaking, swim ming or tubing. Also, Mont-du-Lac-des-Cygnes and Acropole-des-Draveurs, in Charlevoix, for hiking, offer stunning views.” »
summer 2021
45
VOILA!
road trip
46
ROBICHEA DI U O
CABOT TRAIL, N OVA S COT I A
content creator
FAVOURITE THINGS ABOUT THIS SPOT “The overall aesthetic and calm feeling of the highlands are what we all need right now. it’s about cruising the winding coastal roads after having hiked a beautiful trail and then enjoying a bite to eat.” MUST-SEE ATTRAcTIONS “tenerife Mountain, Salt Mountain and Blueberry Mountain, and then there’s Franey Mountain—it’s a climb, but if you’re looking for a 360-degree view of Cape Breton, that’s the spot. an easier hike is Mary ann Falls. explore the variety of trails to appreciate the beautiful and diverse landscape. Skyline trail is popular because it overlooks the ocean. also visit the smaller towns, like Inverness, Meat cove, Ingonish and Baddeck.”
summer 2021
ediTor: odeSSa paloma parker. phoToGraphY: roBiCheaU Via iNSTaGram.Com/JodiroBiCheaU; SkYliNe Trail aNd marY aNN FallS BY lora pope CoUrTeSY oF ToUriSm NoVa SCoTia; FraNeY moUNTaiN BY kYler mCGreGor CoUrTeSY oF ToUriSm NoVa SCoTia; The FreiGhT Shed Via FaCeBook.Com/TheFreiGhTShed; l’aBri CaFé reSTaUraNT eT Bar BY JaroN FeliX.
J
Skyline Trail lives up to its name.
road trip
VOILA!
From left: Hiking on Franey Mountain; the patio scene at The Freight Shed
WHAT TO CHECK OUT “Margaree Harbour Craft & Gift Shop. This place has everything you need—from local books to cozy knits—to fit into highland life. Wreck Cove General Store, on Cabot Trail Road, is picturesque (straight out of an old movie) and has a beautiful mountain backdrop. The Freight Shed, in Baddeck, is a lakeside eatery that offers up delicious local cuisine, from seafood chowder to vegan and vegetarian-friendly options. In Chéticamp, it’s L’abri Café Restaurant et Bar, which looks like someone’s home from the outside. It overlooks the water, and the food is unreal. The menu focuses on local craft beer and fresh food, and it’s a beautiful dining experience.” WHAT TO PACK “I never go without comfortable shoes for walking/hiking and cozy knits, plus a French press and other items to make coffee. It really takes the mountain experience to a whole other level. If you’re a happy camper, bring a tent and camping equipment and immerse yourself in nature.” BEST PLACE FOR COFFEE “My favourite is The Dancing Goat Café & Bakery, which is tucked away in the stunning Margaree Valley. It offers everything from fresh bread to great coffee; it also has a lunch menu.” n
WHAT TO PACK
Acne Studios at Holt Renfrew, $145
HOW TO GET THERE With its touchscreen display navigation system, cargo capacity storage and panoramic sunroof, the Hyundai Tucson gives good go.
Menu items at L’abri Café Restaurant et Bar (above and inset); Mary Ann Falls (left)
House Doctor at Smallable, $50
The North Face at Altitude Sports, $650
summer 2021
47
B C B Get one full year of Chatelaine—8 issues—for just $20. That’s 50% off the cover price. Who doesn’t love getting mail?
ORDER ONLINE NOW chatelaine.com/subscribe
CANVAS
TEXT BY SOUZAN MICHAEL GALWAY. PHOTOGRAPHY BY NATASHA GERSCHON.
HAIR • SKIN • EYES • LIPS • NAILS • ETC.
DREAM IN COLOUR Perhaps this year more than any other, summer calls for pops of bright, joy-inducing hues—from jewel- and pasteltoned curls to sunny fingertips.
ACTIVISM
HAIR
STORY Photographer, painter and body-hair activist Esther Calixte-Bea, better known as @queen_esie on Instagram, is on a mission to normalize female body hair. By SOUZAN MICHAEL GALWAY
t’s no secret that Instagram looks a lot different today than it did just a few short years ago. The old model, rife with an over-saturated mega-influencer market and hyper-curated feeds, has been rejected by younger—particularly Gen Z—users and digital content creators. Slowly but surely, heavy filters, portrayals of unattainable beauty standards and endless streams of mirror selfies are being replaced with photos and messages that carry deeper meaning. For 24-year-old Montrealbased artist Esther Calixte-Bea, better known to her over 34,000 followers as @queen_esie, the shift in how she presents herself online has been a very intentional journey. In the summer of 2019, Calixte-Bea relaunched her Instagram account with a sole purpose: to normalize female body hair—something that she’s had lots of since she was
I 50
SUMMER 2021
11—and depict it in a beautiful, powerful way. Her first posts showed off her chest hair in a low-cut lavender tulle dress, and this kicked off Lavender Project—a photography series that is now the artist’s most cherished body of work. “I’ve had my Instagram account since I was in high school,” says Calixte-Bea. “And I felt that I was no longer being authentic by just posting ‘nice’ pictures. It was purposeless. Lavender Project was a rebirth—I could start over and be myself.” Stuck in a years-long time-consuming cycle of waxing, shaving and electrolysis, followed by periods of hiding her body hair, Calixte-Bea found that the burden of hair removal and insecurity had become too much to bear. “I was tired of feeling trapped and insecure,” she says, adding that her body was fighting back in the form of irritated skin and painful ingrown hairs. “I started questioning why I was doing all these things and who I was doing them for.” As an artist, Calixte-Bea knew that “photography could really free [her].” But it wasn’t until she began receiving messages from women around the world who had also spent their lives hiding their own body hair and had never seen themselves represented in photos before that she saw just how important Lavender Project could be. “When I learned I was freeing other women, it became bigger than me.” After Calixte-Bea’s art began gaining popularity on Instagram, her aunt, who lives in Ivory Coast, reached out to share that she wasn’t alone and that all the men and women in their family have always had a lot of body hair. “She told me that in my great-grandmother’s time, women who were hairy were considered beautiful,” she says. Upon further research, Calixte-Bea discovered that, in fact, in many cultures, women with body hair were seen as being healthy and powerful. These days, the body-positivity movement has made way for women to show off body hair that has been deemed less taboo (such as underarm hair), but change and acceptance has been slow. More dramatic depictions of all-over body hair don’t exist in the mainstream; they live largely in fetish communities, says Calixte-Bea. “It is either seen as gross or extremely sexualized. I don’t really see body hair portrayed in a beautiful, elegant light. I want to show women that they can go to a gala with their chest hair and leg hair on display.” Calixte-Bea is certainly not on a mission to convince every woman who comes across her work to stop shaving or waxing. “I just want to see a world where women can choose,” she says. Currently, “removing or keeping your body hair is not a fair choice,” she adds. “It’s either ‘shave or don’t shave, but face the repercussions.’” These repercussions, of course, include judgment and stares from other people. Calixte-Bea hopes for a future of thoughtful body neutrality when it comes to female body hair. “I want women to understand the power that society has had over us for years and be able to ask themselves if they actually like their body hair or not. I want them to choose whether they want to keep it or remove it—and not feel ashamed, no matter what they choose.” n
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ESTHER “QUEEN ESIE” CALIXTE-BEA
CANVAS
Get ready to meet the new Canadian Business. Visit canadianbusiness.com/thenewcb to sign up for updates
1 RE
LAU
FA ING
ON
G SOON COMING SOO MIN CO N
NC H
ING FALL 2
02 1 R EL
H NC
UNCHING FALL R E LA 202
AU
canadianbusiness.com/thenewcb
SO
COMING S OON SOON NG I CO M M O C
IN G
ING SOON COM COM ING
LL 2021 RELAUN
S
21
G IN
ON SO
CH
021 RELAUNCHING 2 L AL ON COMING SOON C FALL F OM O G 20
IN
and to learn more about our exciting relaunch.
CANVAS
SHELFIE
Golden Hour Nineteen-year-old model Kaia Gerber has spent the past year and a half just like the rest of us: baking banana bread, experimenting with DIY specialty coffees (“I’ve gotten very into making my own mushroom coffee so I’m wired all day,” she says) and starting a book club. Unlike the rest of us, she has kept her biweekly book club going strong; it even features celebrity guest appearances. (In the club’s first meeting, Gerber and Normal People actors Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal discussed the Sally Rooney novel of the same name.) “I never wanted to overstep in the literary community,” says Gerber, who’s an avid reader. “But I’m grateful that I’ve been accepted into a world I’ve always wanted to be a part of.” Her hobby caught the attention of designer Marc Jacobs, her longtime collaborator, who even donated masks to NYU Langone Health in honour of the model’s book club. Now, the two have paired up again— this time in their usual way—swapping books for bottles as Gerber stars in the latest campaign for the Daisy Marc Jacobs fragrance franchise, for which she has been a face since 2017. The newest scent, Daisy Eau So Intense (from $115), is inspired by the warmth of the sun, the beauty of the golden hour and—what else?—fields of fresh daisies. With notes of strawberry, pear, honey and vanilla, Daisy Eau So Intense is bright and deeply joyful. “It reminds me of watching the sunset with my family,” says Gerber, who’s counting down the days until she can head back to her beloved Muskoka cottage. “By the way, everyone here in the U.S. calls it a house. I’ll say ‘cottage’ and people are like ‘Are you from Goldilocks and the Three Bears?’” she laughs.
New & Now A roundup of the latest beauty buys to consider.
HOMETOWN GLORY In the 40 years since its launch, California-based nail polish brand OPI has provided fans with colour stories inspired by destinations around the world, like Peru, Portugal, Tokyo and Iceland. To celebrate the big 4-0, the brand found its inspiration at home—enter the Malibu Collection. Launching this summer, the 12-shade line features six neutrals and six bold hues, including a new pink called “Strawberry Waves Forever”—an updated, glittery celebratory version of one of the brand’s bestsellers, “Strawberry Margarita.”
52
SUMMER 2021
SHELFIE
CANVAS
SUN-DRENCHED California-based brand Odacité has long been a pioneer in the greenbeauty space. With an ethos that intersects luxe science-based French skincare and green Cali living, it just launched its most-difficult-to-make product: Sun Guardian ($87), a non-nano zinc oxide fragrance- and silicone-free broad spectrum SPF 30 that took five years—and dozens of iterations—to formulate and put through clinical testing. The end result? A soothing matte formula that combines oceanic glacial water, aloe vera, vitamin E and green tea. “Everyone in the lab kept telling me it’s impossible to make a truly clean mineral sunscreen that doesn’t leave a white cast and has an SPF of 30,” says founder Valérie Grandury. Despite not having a background in cosmetics chemistry herself, she insisted that the formulators find a way. “That bliss of not really knowing gives you the capacity to push the limits,” she laughs.
Extra-large eyeshadow palettes have become collector’s items, but how many of those dozen (or more) shades actually make it into an everyday makeup look? Clarins’s pared-down Ombré 4 Couleurs ($49) offers only easy-to-wear favourites. The gradient palette features four universal shades in a selection of finishes—velvet, foil, metallic and satin—enriched with bamboo powder for ultrasmooth application and crease-free wear.
Bright Eyes
TEXT BY SOUZAN MICHAEL GALWAY. PHOTOGRAPHY: MARC JACOBS MAIN BY LYNETTE GARLAND.
PALETTE CLEANSER
WITH PRIDE Just in time for Pride Month, Jean Paul Gaultier’s latest fragrance launch, Le Male Pride Eau de Toilette ($115), is a loud and playful celebration of freedom, love and laughter. This exuberant blend of lavender, vanilla and mint in a collector’s edition rainbow-flag bottle is just the thing to get the party started this summer.
“I’ve worn makeup every day during the pandemic,” says Dame Helen Mirren. “I do my exercises, have a coffee and get made up. Then I take it all off and do it again the next day.” The legendary actor is the face of L’Oréal Paris’s new Age Perfect Creamy Eyeshadow ($11), which is available in eight highly pigmented shades. Like everything in the Age Perfect range, the eyeshadows are made with women over 50 in mind and contain nourishing ingredients that allow for creamy (never flat or powdery) application. “Makeup can make you feel terrific and look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, which is much more important than looking ‘beautiful,’” says Mirren. “So I think it should be called the ‘swagger industry’ rather than the ‘beauty industry.’”
SUMMER 2021
53
CANVAS
TEXTURE TALK
Tonal Recall Everything you need to know about keeping curly hair healthy after a dye job. By INGRIE WILLIAMS
1, 2, PREP Once you’ve both agreed on your desired shade, there are some pre-appointment steps you can take to enhance your results before you settle into the chair. First, shampoo and detangle your hair the day before the big appointment. Despite what you may have heard, “dirty hair isn’t better,” says Keina Morgan, a Toronto-based curl expert and owner of Urban Curls Boutique. You want clean hair with no heavy oils or other products that might block the colour from penetrating. Clients with curl patterns in the type 2 to 3 range can arrive at the salon with their curls in natural form. For type 4 curls, “it’s best to come in with tight coils stretched out,” says Morgan. “This makes it easier to apply the product and will result in less pulling on your scalp. The product will also be absorbed deeper into the hair, and we’ll have to use less of it.”
54
SUMMER 2021
PHOTOGRAPHY: MAIN BY ROCKIE NOLAN/REFINERY29 VIA GETTY; JADEN SMITH BY GREGG DEGUIRE/GETTY; DANIEL CAESAR BY EMMA MCINTYRE/GETTY; STREET STYLE VIA IMAXTREE.COM.
H
air colouring is a chemical process that changes more than just your hair’s hue—especially if you’re blessed with natural curls—so it’s important to do your research and go in prepared. The first order of business is, of course, booking a consultation with your colourist. This should be an information-gathering conversation, and “there has to be honesty on both sides,” says Praise Okwumabua, stylist and owner of Freshair Boutique in Winnipeg. “Sometimes clients are timid when it comes to expressing what they want, so be clear.” Photos are helpful; send the colourist an inspiration pic of the colour you hope to achieve, plus one of your current hair colour, prior to the consultation. Most importantly, Okwumabua stresses, clients should be empowered to ask for photos of the colourist’s past work. “You want to see that they know how to manipulate your hair type,” she says. “If you have no evidence they’ve done it before, or if they’re dismissive and act like the process will be the same for your type 3 or 4 curls as it would be for anyone else, be leery.”
TEXTURE TALK
COLOUR THEORY Now for the dyeing process... The procedure lifts and opens up the hair cuticle to allow the colour to seep in. But it also allows moisture to escape, leading to dry hair. “Think of the cuticle layer of your hair as a pine cone,” says Morgan. “With virgin hair, the pine cone is tight and sealed. The developer used in a colouring service opens up the cuticle layer, so the pigment can penetrate, and the cuticle is then always lifted.” This puts Black hair, which is naturally drier and more fragile, in an even more delicate, breakage-prone state. All coloured hair is compromised, especially when you get into lighteners, says Okwumabua. “So if you don’t follow an after-care regimen, your hair is going to break off for sure, particularly if you have type 3 or 4 curls.”
AFTER THE FACT Now that you’ve left the salon with your desired hue and snapped the perfect selfie to post on Instagram, it’s time to chill out—literally. To preserve the colour in freshly dyed hair, it’s best to avoid hot temperatures. “Every time you pass a flatiron over your hair or blow-dry it, you open up the cuticle a little bit, causing the colour to fade,” says Okwumabua. Diffusing is less damaging, since the hot air isn’t directly hitting your strands, but air-drying and twist-out styling are ideal for maintaining colour. The minimalheat rule applies in the shower, too. “Using cooler water will help keep the cuticle closed, which keeps colour in your strands for longer,” says Morgan. What’s in your hair-care lineup plays a major role in rebuilding colourtreated curls and preserving vibrancy, too. Morgan suggests a sulfate-free no- or low-lather shampoo, a keratin leave-in treatment and a protein-rich deep-conditioning mask. And investing in a bonnet or using a silk or satin pillowcase overnight will go a long way toward reducing frizz and maintaining moisture in curls, says Okwumabua.
DI...WHY? Thinking about executing this whole process at home? Unfortunately, the hair pros don’t recommend colouring your own curls. “After last year’s initial lockdown, we had to do a lot of fixing,” says Morgan. “You’ll never achieve the colour that’s on the front of the box—ever,” adds Okwumabua. But if your heart is set on DIYing, “talk to a stylist you trust and who will support you and give you the best tips,” advises Okwumabua. Both experts strongly recommend using a semi-permanent formula only—the type that will fade over several shampoos. Morgan suggests going just one shade darker than your hair colour. “It’s going to lift and lighten over time, and you don’t want lines of demarcation left in the hair,” she says. When shopping, buy multiple boxes of dye to make sure you have enough product to work through dense curls and finish the job. Morgan suggests two boxes if you have short to medium hair and four boxes if you have medium to long hair. Start by doing a patch and strand test to make sure you’re not allergic to the formula and to see what the results will be like before you mess with your entire mane. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
CANVAS
CURL ESSENTIALS This co-wash is sulfateand alcohol-free, so it gently removes buildup without stripping colour. Bonus: It’s from a Canadian brand. Kinksology Co-Cleanse, $27
Loaded with botanical ingredients to soothe and rebuild brittle hair, plus a warm essential oil scent, this mask will bring your strands back to life. AG Hair Care Nourish Mask, $26 Hydrolyzed wheat protein joins humectant maple syrup for a reparative conditioner from a new range formulated for curls, coils and textured hair. Lush Power Conditioner, $24 Rice proteins make this a hydrating musthave for pre- and post-colour treatments. SheaMoisture Purple Rice Water Strength + Color Prep Primer & Styler, $14
Sleeping on a luxe textile like silk or satin minimizes friction, frizz and breakage. Fey’Kare 100% Mulberry Silk Pillowcase, $102 This fast-acting bond fixer reduces breakage and strengthens hair with hydrolyzed quinoa, mango butter extract and sea buckthorn berry seed oil. Amika The Kure Multi-Task Repair Treatment, $37
SUMMER 2021
55
REGIMENS
Truth Be Told
CANVAS
The process of writing and recording an album is notoriously taxing. But for Canadian R&B singer TiKA, the five-year endeavour was more eyeopening than she could ever have imagined. By SOUZAN MICHAEL GALWAY
Top Shelf Here are some of the beauty products TiKA has in her current rotation.
56
SUMMER 2021
“Témi Shobowale is the Toronto-based makeup artist behind Black-owned skincare brand Essentials by Temi. Her mist is the only spray I’ll use before I put on makeup.” Essentials by Temi Intense Hydration Complexion Mist, $28
“During the pandemic, one of my girlfriends, Lyss, started a lipgloss line called The Lippie Lab. She is proudly Black and queer and has been an active community supporter for years. Plus, her lipglosses are immaculate.” The Lippie Lab Lip Gloss, $8 each
REGIMENS
CANVAS
If you’re a Black artist, there’s a level of per fectionism that’s expected of you,” says multi disciplinary artist TiKA. “You can’t show up and just be; you’re expected to show up poised and perfect—to have that Beyoncé vibe.” During the pro cess of writing her debut full-length album, Anywhere but Here (which she worked on for five years), the pressure she felt to present herself, and her music, a certain way became too overwhelming. Eventually, she says, she real ized that “there’s a disconnect between perfectionism and humanity.” Committed to shedding the uncertainty and rampant over-analyzing that had been holding her back and stifling her creative process, TiKA tossed the many different album cover options she had long been struggling to decide between and opted for a simple blackandwhite photo she had taken in a barbershop back in 2014. “In hindsight, now that I’ve finally put the album out, I see that my ego played a larger role than I realized,” she says. “This album is me unpack ing some of my own shit.” Of course, it’s not just the singer who has undergone a transformation. When TiKA began writing the album, the world was a completely a certain way to fans, she turned to her lifelong adoration different place. “There’s a weird energy because of quar of Prince (a cover of the singer’s “I Would Die 4 U” is fea antine,” she says. “Most of the promo and performances tured on TiKA’s album), and the late icon’s own portrayal I’ve been doing have been via Zoom.” But rather than of gender identity, for inspiration. “I remember seeing put it off any longer, she says, she decided that this year Prince perform—he had long hair and was wearing heels was the perfect time to finally release her body of work. and furs and was very explorative in terms of this non “It’s a time when people need vulnerable music like this.” binary modality,” she says. “I’d never seen that before. He Vulnerability is, almost overwhelmingly, the theme of the pushed the boundaries in terms of gender identity, and that album—and a direct response to the many changes and inspired me so deeply.” personal evolutions TiKA has experienced in the past half Today, TiKA finally feels comfortable in her own skin. decade. During that time, she moved from Toronto to “Perhaps too comfortable for others,” she laughs. But that’s Montreal, began mending her relationship with her mom, not to say that she has abandoned her appreciation for aes ended painful friendships and came out as queer. The thetically minded rituals like applying makeup. In fact, her latter, she says, significantly impacted her creative process love of makeup is such an important part of her that she and played a major role in her self-love awakening. “Fluid has appeared in campaigns for Sephora Canada in recent ity makes space for openness, which allows you to create years. “I’ve always found it interesting how masc or how with fewer restrictions,” she explains. femme I can look by wearing—or not wearing—makeup,” To help break through her long-held preconceived she says. “Exploring how far I can take beauty is just notion that she needed to stay in a single lane or appear another element of performing for me.” n
PHOTOGRAPHY: TIKA BY JAH GREY
FLUIDITY MAKES SPACE FOR OPENNESS, WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO CREATE WITH FEWER RESTRICTIONS.
“I rotate between Issa Vibe and Champagne Life body frostings. I always get questions about them because they smell so scrumptious.” Kemsi Essentials Body Frosting, $22
“I adore this lip topper. It makes any lipstick pop with highintensity glitter, and I live for that look.” Dark Angel Cosmetics Diamond Lip Topper, $28
“This amazing fragrance is alcoholfree, cruelty-free and vegan. It smells so good that heads always turn when I wear it.” Bailly Brilliance Roll-On Perfume Oil, $30
SUMMER 2021
57
CANVAS
FRAGRANCE
Scents of Time
F 58
ew things have the power to transport us to a specific moment in time the way that scent can. It’s no wonder, then, that smell is the sense that is most intimately tied to memory. Think back to the smell of your childhood home, your mom and your first love and be instantly brought face to face—for better or for worse—with that place, that time, that person. Sometimes, a scent is only for us to know. Other times, it’s a shared experience that becomes a character in the stories of countless others throughout the years. The latter category is home to the one-and-only Chanel No. 5.
SUMMER 2021
PHOTOGRAPHY: (THIS PAGE) COURTESY OF CHANEL; (OPPOSITE PAGE) DENEUVE COURTESY OF CHANEL; CHANEL COURTESY OF CHANEL, PATRIMOINE DE CHANEL COLLECTION AND HARPER’S BAZAAR.
As Chanel’s iconic No. 5 eau de parfum turns 100, Tynan Sinks looks back at its rich backstory and incomparable contribution to the world of fragrance.
FRAGRANCE
CANVAS
Catherine Deneuve photographed by Richard Avedon for a 1972 Chanel No. 5 advertising campaign
Clockwise from left: The evolution of the Chanel No. 5 bottle from 1921 to today
This year, the iconic eau de parfum turns 100. Throughout For a scent that was once described as “the scent of a its long life, it has rubbed elbows with some of the biggest woman,” No. 5 is certainly not overly feminine. If it were names in pop culture (Marilyn Monroe, Catherine Deneuve released today, it would, with tremendous ease, fit in with and Andy Warhol, to name a few) but has also remained the genderless-fragrance launches that have become a mainstay on the makeup vanities of perfume lovers increasingly popular in the current beauty climate. Chanel everywhere. It’s said that one bottle of Chanel No. 5 is sold No. 5 only smells feminine because for 100 years, it set the every 30 seconds around the globe, after all. It’s a rare standard for women’s fragrances: We think it is because product that is the epitome of luxury yet accessible to and we’re told that it was. But it actually smells timeless, beloved by the masses—this is undoubtedly one of the squeaky clean and bright—like freshly washed, still-warmsecrets to its success. from-the-shower skin. And doesn’t everyone ultimately With a legacy so storied, where does the scent find itself want to smell clean and like a warmer, more interesting in 2021? I confess that while I, of course, have always version of themselves? Judging by the many genderless known Chanel No. 5, I hadn’t regularly worn it until scents that have dropped within the past few years—each recently. And as any fragrance lover knows, recognizing a delivering a promise of cleanliness and freshness and of scent and really wearing it—letting it bloom on your skin, being more than a simple summation of its notes—the follow you into the night and weave itself into the fabric of answer is a resounding yes. your day-to-day life—are two entirely different experi As is the case with any true icon, it has become hard to ences. Today, when I spritz on No. 5, I’m wearing the separate the facts from the myths within No. 5’s origin signature scent of countless people in the past, and the story. Make no mistake about it: That’s part of its charm. scent of countless in the future, projecting myself onto its Though the scent is made up of floral notes, Gabrielle legacy and writing myself into its rich history. Chanel was allegedly adamant that No. 5 must smell “like The fragrance starts off with a big burst of soapy florals. a woman, not like a rose.” So how did it arrive at its now I’m greeted by lily and ylang-ylang before the aldehydes— completely distinctive blend? It has long been rumoured which give the scent the waxlike, metallic notes it’s that the high dose of aldehydes was accidental. The story famous for (if you know, you know)— is that perfumer Ernest Beaux created come through, reminiscent of a bar of samples of many different versions of soap. The scent is immediately clean, the fragrance to present to Gabrielle. In but the base of sandalwood, amber, one, he mistakenly added a dose of vanilla and patchouli gives it a skinlike aldehydes that was far greater than warmth so it never becomes sterile. anything that would have been in a Unlike with many other, less sophisti fragrance at that time. This blend, as cated fragrances, I can’t pull No. 5’s fate would have it, was the one she notes out individually, listing them off fell in love with, and it went on to one by one as they make themselves become Chanel No. 5. Was the remark known. Instead, No. 5 hits my skin ably high dose of aldehydes actually fully formed and forces me to take it as intentional? Maybe. But where’s the it is. As it wears and warms, the alde fun in that? That’s the thing about hydes remain the stars of the show, urban legends: When a tale is told over revealing themselves to be less syn and over again, it becomes its own sort thetic, softer, gentler. of truth. n Gabrielle Chanel in a 1937 campaign for Chanel No. 5 by François Kollar
SUMMER 2021
59
DO YOU WANT TO BE PART OF MUSIC HISTORY? As one of the world’s most celebrated and Canada’s oldest concert hall, no other venue brings iconic artists home to you for those electric go-down-in-history shows. Now you can be part of the legacy by adding your name to the Hall. Starting from $500, name your seat in iconic Massey Hall.
masseyhall.com/seatnaming Limited quantity available.
Image of the Allan Slaight Auditorium, by Joseph Fuda
TEXT BY BERNADETTE MORRA. PHOTOGRAPHY BY NATASHA GERSCHON. LEFT: TOP, $1,355, PANTS, $1,355, BAG, $1,305, AND HAT, $435, BALENCIAGA. SHOES, $30, NIKE. SOCKS, $4, UNIQLO. MIDDLE: TOP, $205, AND BOTTOMS, $195, KARLA COLLETTO. CUFF, $860, HERMÈS. SUNGLASSES, STYLIST’S OWN. RIGHT: DRESS, $13,900, VALENTINO. SHOES, $85, HUNTER. RINGS, FROM $65, COREY MORANIS. HAT, STYLIST’S OWN.
DRESSING • DREAMING • DISCOVERING
INSPO SHORE CLUB
Just because it’s hot outside doesn’t mean you have to drop the ball on style. There’s enough saturated colour, loose shapes and statement headgear to go around.
Urban
HEAT
Asian hate has added another layer of anxiety to Fernanda Ly’s life. But the supermodel is determined to keep her cool.
Words by MISHAL CAZMI Styling by DAVIAN LAIN
Photography by LILY & LILAC
Creative direction by GEORGE ANTONOPOULOS
Jacket, $2,900, top, $1,950, shorts, $1,750, and necklace, $1,150, Dior. Earrings, $130, Bonheur Jewelry. Sunglasses, $480, Dolce & Gabbana.
Jacket, $5,700, and top, $630, Celine by Hedi Slimane. Skirt, $3,250, Chanel. Boots, $1,900, R13. Hat, $695, Prada. Bag, $1,755, Alexander McQueen.
COVER STORY
he Fernanda Ly you see walking down the runway and posing in editorials and ad campaigns is the personification of cool. She exudes both a quiet magnetism and an air of mystery that some might interpret as her being standoffish. Fernanda Ly in real life is warm and self-effacing, with softer edges. For someone whose presence commands attention on camera, she’s pretty much attention-averse when she’s off the clock. Except for when it matters. That’s when Ly shows up and isn’t afraid to speak out. Her YouTube channel provides perhaps the most intimate look at the real Ly, showing many facets of her prismatic personality. Originally intended as a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like being a working model in the fashion industry, it has evolved, thanks to the pandemic, into a channel for Ly’s varied and sometimes niche interests—her luxury handbag and shoe collections, her adventures in building a mechanical keyboard and her love of beauty, anime and cosplay. But she also doesn’t shy away from digging deeper, especially when sharing the realities of being a model—the good and the bad. “The fashion industry is really secretive, even though it has such a luxurious image,” says Ly on a Zoom call from New York. “I want potential models to be aware of what they’re signing up for and to bring awareness to the unsavoury parts.” Ly first came blazing into the fashion world at age 19 with her pastel-pink hair, turning heads on a runway full of notables as she walked Louis Vuitton’s Fall 2015 show. She was booked by creative director Nicolas Ghesquière, who signed her on for a fiveseason runway exclusive. Ly not only mesmerized attendees of Paris Fashion Week but also drew the fashion world’s collective attention—it practically vibrated with excitement. This was a pretty impressive feat for a girl who’d been scouted just two years previously, before her final high-school exams, at a shopping centre in her hometown of Sydney, Australia. Before that, Ly had lived a relatively normal existence. She was born to Chinese parents who had moved to Australia from Vietnam in search of a better life and was raised in
T
INSPO
the suburbs of Sydney. The honours student was pursuing an architecture degree at the University of Technology Sydney until her career was catapulted by a single catwalk appearance. Once the work started pouring in, she pressed pause on her studies and turned her full attention to modelling. Ly went on to book shows and ad campaigns for fashion heavyweights like Dior, Chanel, Tiffany & Co. and H&M. She also travelled the world— from Kenya’s Samburu National Reserve (to raise awareness for elephant conservation) to near Mount Fuji for a photo shoot. Meanwhile, her quirky fashion sensibility made her a street-style favourite and her striking pink hair topped every beauty mood board. (FYI, her much-lauded cotton-candy strands were a DIY dye job, thanks to some bleach and Manic Panic.) Despite her success, Ly strove to be more than, in her words, “a hanger.” In 2017, she contributed to a series of personal essays on Models.com, bringing light to the sexual harassment within the modelling industry. She shared her experience of being inappropriately touched by a stylist and pointed out the various ways models are mistreated. Many of the models who also shared their experiences for the website’s survey chose to remain anonymous. “I also heavily considered that,” she admits, before adding: “It feels more personal when you know who and what someone experienced. I wanted people to know that they’re not alone.” This decision might seem at odds with the model’s reticent personality, especially since Ly has always safeguarded her personal space. “There are some things that I believe are more important than my privacy, which is why I choose to speak out about them,” she explains. It’s why the thoughtful slivers that she does share carry more weight. Ly inadvertently became the cool Asian model, which came with its own set of pressures and expectations, especially for someone her age. “People had an image of me, and I wanted to reach that image and be who they thought I was without really knowing who I was within myself,” she shares. She also became aware of how the industry tends to view Asian models. “Asians are not a monolith,” says Ly. “Everyone thinks an Asian person is Chinese, Japanese or Korean. They always think of East Asia, »
SUMMER 2021
65
Top, $1,180, leggings, $675, and belt, $515, Etro. Sunglasses, $185, Lu Goldie. Earrings, $390, Nickho Rey. Bag, $2,790, Burberry. Bracelet, $310, Sportmax.
Top, $2,190, and skirt, $1,280, Burberry. Bag, $5,750, Louis Vuitton.
Top, $1,410, and shorts, $1,505, Dolce & Gabbana. Shoes, $335, Larroudé. Necklace, $310, Lele Sadoughi.
Dress, $4,325, Stella McCartney. Belt, $1,130, Alexander McQueen.
INSPO
COVER STORY
THERE ARE BILLIONS OF ASIANS OUT THERE, SO WHY WOULD PEOPLE THINK WE ALL LOOK THE SAME? but there’s also Southeast Asia. And when they want an Asian model, it’s always a model with black hair and pale skin. People don’t realize that we also come in many different colours and varieties. There are billions of Asians out there, so why would people think we all look the same?” When it comes to identity, Ly has struggled with being put into boxes and never quite neatly fitting into any of them. She’s too Australian to be the Asian model, too Chinese to be the Australian model and not Chinese enough since her parents are from Vietnam. Once she moved abroad, she realized that she actually feels Australian the most. Ironically, it’s the part of her identity that she gets questioned about most often. Earlier this year, anti-Asian hate crimes grew and gave rise to the Stop Asian Hate movement, which added another layer to a pandemic that was already rife with challenges. “It’s about time that people became aware of our experiences, which aren’t just limited to America,” she says. “They’re shared global experiences and something that the Asian diaspora has grown up with. The situation has gotten worse in the past few years, where casual racism has become very openly accepted.” Ly is no stranger to it either. “I think you’d be hard-pressed to find an Asian person who hasn’t experienced racism of some sort in their life,” she says. “I have—through work. People try to talk about me, not knowing that English is my first language and that I can understand them. It seems small, but it builds a lot of anger and resentment within you over the years.”
70
SUMMER 2021
As more people get vaccinated and there’s a glimmer of hope, Ly’s uneasiness remains. “There’s always this lingering sense of sadness and anger because we’re all worried about what the next big thing will be,” she says. Something as simple as stepping outside has become a big deal. “It’s supposed to be safe to go outside, but it’s still just very scary. What if I’m next?” When her friends go biking, in addition to their masks, they wear sunglasses and a hat and tie their hair back so they won’t be easily identified as Asian. “This is something they’re supposed to be doing for leisure,” laments Ly. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, there have been some silver linings. Ly, who admits to being a homebody, has learned to readjust. She taught herself video editing for her YouTube channel. Last December, she brought home a kitten named Butter who has kept her smitten and entertained. When the fashion industry pivoted to Zoom shoots, Ly welcomed some of the creative control she got as a model. “We had to do our own makeup or wear our own stuff, which was really fun,” she says. And the pandemic has also strengthened some of her friendships. Right now, her modelling work has started to pick up again. Another thing that likely won’t remain the same for much longer is Ly’s hair colour, which has been blond for the past two years. When she dyed it after almost seven years of sporting the same shade, she decided that this was the new her—older and wiser. But whatever colour palette she lands on next, she has already proven that she’s more than just “the girl with the pink hair.” n
Dress, $1,835, Isabel Marant. Shoes, $1,150, Burberry. Sunglasses, $480, Dolce & Gabbana. Earrings, $190, Alison Lou. Bag, $3,600, Hermès.
Blouse, $1,860, shorts, $790, necklace, $685, leather belt, $700, and chain belt, $1,670, Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello.
Jacket, top and skirt, prices upon request, Boss. Necklace, $1,985, Alexander McQueen.
Collared shirt, $235, Danielle Guizio. Green top, $1,540, and skort, $2,530, Valentino. Earrings, $180, Alison Lou. Hair, Ben Jones for Bridge Artists/ Redken. Makeup, Allie Smith for Bridge Artists/ MAC. Manicure, Elina Ogawa for Bridge Artists/ Zoya. Photography assistant, Chris Cook. Fashion assistants, Pierina Carlin and Jacqueline Benn Schuppe. Makeup assistant, Tomomi Gonzalez.
Left: Coat, $2,450, and bags, from $345, Max Mara. Sunglasses, $10, IN Shoes. Right: Coat, shirt and shorts, prices upon request, Boss. Bag, $2,130, Max Mara.
OLID
STATE Melt their minds with top-to-toe pattern-free colour.
Photography by NATASHA GERSCHON
Creative direction by GEORGE ANTONOPOULOS
Styling by LUCIA PERNA
Left: Jacket, $460, Hugo. Top, $455, and bottoms, $185, Hermès. Bag, $40, Herschel. Necklaces, $185 each, Corey Moranis. Right: Jacket, $995, and shorts, $300, Boss. Top, $140, Frankies Bikinis. Hat, $5, IN Shoes. Sunglasses, $430, The Attico x Linda Farrow at Archives Toronto. Earrings, $100, Wasted Effort. Rings, from $65, Corey Moranis.
Top, $395, Sid Neigum. Shorts, $285, Orlebar Brown. Shoes, $60, Crocs. Bag, $3,600, Louis Vuitton. Socks, $4, Uniqlo.
Left: Jumpsuit, $5,800, Dior. Bag, $4,050, Hermès. Right: Jacket, $390, Moose Knuckles. Dress, $700, Markoo. Earrings, $135, Corey Moranis. Sunglasses, $150, Raen x Alex Knost.
Jacket, $160, Noize. Top, $160, Frankies Bikinis. Pants, $1,375, Proenza Schouler. Bag, $1,600, Hermès.
Bodysuit, price upon request, Vaillant Studio. Earrings, $140, Wasted Effort.
Top, price upon request, Boss. Bottoms, $115, Frankies Bikinis. Bracelets, from $90, and earrings, $135, Corey Moranis. Hat, $5, IN Shoes.
Dress, price upon request, Hyke. Shoes, $85, Hunter. Bracelets, from $90, and rings, from $75, Corey Moranis. Sunglasses, $640, Moy Atelier at Archives Toronto.
Top, $250, T-shirt, $200, and pants, $500, Boss. Shoes, $200, Asics at SVP Sports. Duffle bag, $65, hobo bag, $30, and belt bag, $40, LeSportsac. Sunglasses, $140, Chimi at Gravitypope.
Bodysuit, price upon request, Kenzo. Shoes, $15, and hat, $5, IN Shoes. Bracelets, from $130, Corey Moranis. Socks, $10, Uniqlo.
Coat, shirt, shorts and shoes, prices upon request, Boss.
Left: Dress, $13,900, Valentino. Bag, $70, LeSportsac. Rings, from $65, Corey Moranis. Hat, stylist’s own. Right: Top, $1,355, pants, $1,355, bag, $1,305, and hat, $435, Balenciaga. Shoes, $30, Nike. Hair and makeup, Sabrina Rinaldi for P1M.ca/Make Up For Ever. Fashion assistant, Neil Franklyn. Prop styling, Caitlin Doherty. Models, Stephen for Want Management, Nyabel Gatkuoth for Sutherland Models and Kyla for Plutino Group.
INSPO
COLLECTING
Getting Her Kicks Toronto-based artist Briony Douglas on what draws her to covetable running shoes. By ODESSA PALOMA PARKER
I
n recent years, visual artist Briony Douglas has not only gained a great amount of attention for her quirky and thought-provoking works but also grown her reputation as a serious sneaker collector. It’s an interest that started in her youth but truly jumped off through her involvement in a 2018 photo shoot that heralded a collaboration between Nike’s Jordan Brand and Vogue. Since then, she has gone on to collect everything from Rick Owens’s infamous “Dunks”—so called due to their resemblance to a patented style by Nike (for which Owens received a cease-and-desist order, thereby making them a highly desired item for a sneakerhead)—to L.A.-based creative Melody Ehsani’s Wmns Air Jordan 1 Mid “Fearless” style. “The latter are one of my favourite pairs of shoes,” shares Douglas over Zoom. She came upon them in a way that was very different from her usual online hunts via auction sites like eBay and retailer raffles; she was forced to do so because of »
92
SUMMER 2021
collecting
INSPO
GRAIL SAFE Jerry lorenzo’s collaborative shoe with nike is one pair that Douglas doesn’t wear. “they’re the most iconic sneakers in my collection because this is the only time nike ever allowed a designer to redesign a performance shoe,” she says.
HUE TIME Douglas owns several pairs of sneakers in shades of pink. “i keep my collection in mind when buying clothes,” she says of how she marries her passion with her outfits.
PhotograPhY BY Danielle levasseur. hair anD MakeuP, vanessa BauDner.
SHE STANS one of Douglas’s most recent artistic projects was a stan smith sculpture made from almost 10,000 donated bottle caps. “it speaks to the sustainability initiatives adidas is adopting for its production,” she says.
ALL ACCESS Douglas says she does most of her sneaker shopping online due to demand, highlighting toronto’s Makeway as one of her favourite spots because of its female-centric ethos.
summer 2021
93
INSPO
COLLECTING
INSIDE SCOOP “I spend a lot of time researching,” says Douglas. “And I get a lot of information from friends. There’s always somebody who knows when a drop is happening.”
PROFESSIONAL ATTIRE “As I’ve moved more deeply into the street-culture world, I’ve seen a huge shift in my work,” says Douglas about how sneakers have become a muse. “I do what I love; you’ll see this come through in my work.”
SEEING VISIONARIES “I’ve always been artistic,” says Douglas. “My love of fashion came later, as I grew to appreciate it, and I respect it because I view it as art, too.” No wonder she’s captivated by these zesty-yellow trainers from creative phenom Virgil Abloh’s 2019 collaboration with Nike.
94
SUMMER 2021
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANIELLE LEVASSEUR. HAIR AND MAKEUP, VANESSA BAUDNER.
COMMUNITY PRIDE Douglas points to Instagram accounts @if_i_cant_wear_snkrs and @simplykiah as resources for learning about sneaker history and drops.
COLLECTING
YEEZY DOES IT “It’s been interesting to see luxury auction houses selling sneakers,” notes Douglas. Here, she’s wearing 2021 Foam Runner shoes from Yeezy; the first prototype style made by the brand recently sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $1.8 million.
INSPO
the prevalence of bots that snap up much-anticipated sneakers upon their release. Douglas says with a laugh that while she was on-set for a shoot, she would sneak around corners trying to buy a pair online, but within minutes they were gone. After learning of the bots’ cull, Ehsani made a move to correct this unfair advantage. “She went on her IG Live a few hours later and said: ‘I know what happened. If you want them, DM me right now,’” recalls Douglas. “If you were lucky enough to have her open your DM, you’d get them. And my message was opened.” Douglas shares that bots are a huge bane for collectors, especially given how much of a digitized undertaking snagging sneakers has become. “You almost always have to buy them on resale now, which is crazy expensive,” she notes. Given their precious nature, Douglas treats her assemblage tenderly, storing them in compartmentalized shelving units and even keeping some pairs purely for visual pleasure. “I’m very careful,” she adds. “I check the weather before I go out. If I’m going to an event that’s going to be crowded, I won’t wear a yellow pair because they’re going to get stepped on.” The hands-on nature of her work means that for certain scenarios, she’ll wear many different pairs of sneakers. For example, she travelled with 10 pairs for a five-day trip to record behind-the-scenes content of the construction of a fivemetre whale sculpture (made out of recycled materials) in Vancouver. She wore prized pairs for recording and then switched them out to continue working on the installation. These preservation measures raise the question: What will Douglas eventually do with her sneakers? “I’m very lucky to be at a point in my career where I can just collect,” she says. “I’ll sell something if there’s a big grail I want. [For the uninitiated, that means an extremely rare pair.] My boyfriend is constantly swapping—that’s part of the game for him. I get that, but I really love all of my shoes.” n
SUMMER 2021
95
INSPO
essay
Treading Carefully
On Wednesday, March 3 Of this year, a yOung Marketing executive left her friend’s hOMe
in South London and began a 50-minute walk home. She would never arrive. Sarah Everard was wearing brilliant orange and green sneakers that picked up the colours in her jacket and clashed fantastically with her diamond-patterned dark-blue pants. I admit to wondering what shoes she had been wearing when she was seized—were they heels for a night out, heels that hindered her from getting away?—and then I shook my head. Heels, sneakers, the winged shoes of Hermès... There
96
summer 2021
PHOTOGRAPHY: MAIN BY JASON PIETRA/TRUNK ARCHIVE
After finding herself in a dangerous situation, Lynn Crosbie rethought her stance on heels.
essay
is no getting away from a predator who has cruel ways of stopping you in your tracks—the cruellest being gaining your trust. Indeed, since COVID-19, every woman on the diminished streets is wearing sneakers—or flat black boots in the colder months. Heels seem to have become extinct. I remember the last pair I saw—it’s as if they were a dodo: Colossally tall and white, these sandals were decor ated with smashing bits of hot pink. This was before we all began living in various versions of our pyjamas. Is it the pandemic that’s putting us in comfortable shoes? Or is it another example of fashion’s eerie prescience? As we trudge through the second year of COVID, most women have given up on dressing up. My friends tell me they now dress in overalls, leggings and “rags.” Bralettes have replaced underwire; messy updos trump blowouts; jewellery, makeup and fetching tops are for Zoom calls only— and heels? They’re done. Yet heels had already begun to disappear from the oracular fash ion landscape. Karl Lagerfeld showed his Spring 2014 couture collection for Chanel entirely with lace, pearl and tweed sneakers. For several years now, Gucci, Chanel, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen have been producing hot running shoes, adding choice beyond the classic Adidas and Nikes and more cultish sneaker head brands. The old commuter shoe—still a white boxy staple— has officially transitioned into an important item to accessorize suits and dresses—a once unthink able combination. And then sneakers have about a million pairing possibilities and are sleeker and more dazzling, streamlined and/ or colourful than ever. The look? Gorgeous kicks worn with virtually everything—from luminous sequined gowns to abbreviated denim skirts to those skinny jeans that just won’t quit. Once again, fashion is looking forward, seeing a world at rest and walking restlessly—and something more: fear and our desire to outrun it. I have felt trapped in my shoes, I recall... I am 21, surrounded and being aggressed by four men on the subway whose idea of flirtation is to talk about murdering women. I am a de facto riot girl, political and scholarly. I love clothes—and love itself. I study a set of foxed and faded tarot cards daily, never asking if I am safe.
INSPO
I am dressed in my cherished punkgirl spikes and a scrap of black velvet. I feel stronger in heels, as I tower over people, including these men. But the subway will be closed when I reach my stop, and they may follow me. I have to get home via a long, dark underpass. What to do? I gather up my stilettos and, when the doors open, run like Atalanta, barefoot all the way. “Il faut savoir souffrir pour être belle” is the old Gallic expression, but soon I would wonder, “Must we?” Sarah Everard could not have outrun her attacker any more than Ted Bundy’s victims could have—though some, snatched from a beach, were able to resist his lethal ways. I have switched to flats. No...better than that...to Dr. Martens—virtual weapons that I wear with very feminine little hand-cut vintage frocks—and I carry a box cutter in my purse. This fashion shift coincided with the third wave of feminists loaded with pretty power: These were fast and frightening girls who breathed life into the dictum “dressed to kill.” Dressing to kill is an erotic enough suggestion: One may conjure Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, crossing and uncrossing her milelong heelclad pins in an interrogation room or raging in bed with an ice pick close at hand. But what about being killed? Lagerfeld once said, with kindness, “Don’t dress to kill; dress to survive.” The sneaker wave (with short skirts and pants) allows for increased mobility, which in turn allows us to run like hell should we be pursued. Sneakers and badass boots never get caught in streetcar tracks either. Perhaps high and skyscraper heels should only be worn at home, since they can’t be slipped off for a long terror-dodging run or fast-moving traffic. The fact remains that some women face danger by walk ing outside and others face it by staying home. Just last week, I heard two separate tracks of click and clack—not enough to signify a wave but possibly a sign that women are becoming restless and are prepared to move away from the invisibility engendered by wearing sun glasses, masks and lint-covered lounge attire. Wherever these tall risk takers are going, it may be fantastically imprudent to locate those spike heels in white and pink and follow them. n
KARL LAGERFELD ONCE SAID, WITH KINDNESS, DON’T DRESS TO KILL; DRESS TO SURVIVE.
summer 2021
97
♥
IT FOREVER
Be Spoke Here’s a new spin on status cycling. Louis Vuitton’s made-to-order two-wheeler is handcrafted in collaboration with Maison Tamboite Paris, an artisanal bicycle maker established in 1912. Each bike boasts a leather saddle and leather-covered handlebars and cables, a monogrammed flower chainset, an interlocking-LV-shaped frame and a front basket or rear luggage rack. Initials can be hot-stamped above the back wheel or on the bike’s frame. It’s available in a variety of sizes, and there are five models in the permanent collection as well as limited-edition designs by contemporary artist Urs Fischer. The finished product arrives in a wooden crate with no assembly needed, so all your energy can be reserved for that uphill challenge.
98
SUMMER 2021
TEXT BY BERNADETTE MORRA. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF LOUIS VUITTON. BIKE, $35,000, LOUIS VUITTON.
INSPO
B® CHANEL S. de R.L. ©CHANEL, Inc. CHANEL ®
Vancouver (604) 682-0522
Calgary (403) 232-6240
Toronto Bloor (416) 964-1085
Toronto Flagship (416) 925-2577
Toronto Yorkdale (416) 784-0990
Montreal (514) 842-7318