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COVER: @OCAMPOOP @KRISTINATOFU @MADDIECT CONTRIBUTORS: MADDISON CT PHILIP OCAMPO KRISTINA TROFIMOVA KAT TROFIMOVA PLUTO MAGAZINE ISSUE 01 - MARCH 2015 TORONTO, ON, CANADA.
EDITORIAL
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INTERVIEW I: MADDISON
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STYLE IN THE SUBURBS
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INTERVIEW II: PHILIP
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ISSUE 01: THOUGHTS WELCOME to the first issue
of Pluto magazine. Take a comfortable seat and stay a while. I think it’s crucial to introduce what this publication is all about. This will not be your run-of-the-mill lifestyle magazine. Toronto, is arguably the most renowned Canadian city; however, from a global standpoint, it is not prized in terms of culture or fashion. This magazine is an attempt to recognise what this city has to offer and share the findings in a visually interesting manner. AS a Ukrainian immigrant that came to Canada with minimal belongings and money, Toronto was my first home here. The city was vast and terrifying, but it was also a soft embrace of acceptance. Despite living in peculiar and dangerous areas during the first few years, I tend to
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remember them fondly. I think a lot of people think of a city as their own and Toronto is mine. Pluto is a work dedicated to the city that I’m eternally grateful for. TORONTO is a city rich in diversity, culture and style. But, unfortunately, it often lives in the shadow of New York, Paris, Milan‌etc. It is essentially a sibling that feels inferior to the first-born. BEHIND these pages, I hope that people living outside of Toronto gain a greater insight to what it is like to live here and maybe persuade them to visit. I hope that Torontonians find joy in reading about potential neighbours’ favourite spots and find new local artists. It is crucial to recognise local businesses, freelancers and fellow residents, for Toronto to continue to thrive.
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THIS isn’t a “fashion” magazine. Pluto will not provide an inside scoop on high fashion and every day celebrity looks. We will, however, deliver street-style unique to Toronto. Street-style meaning regular folks dressing in what they felt like wearing on a particular day. No one is styled, groomed or photoshopped in this publication. The people we interview are represented authentically as they are; no modifications. THE title “Pluto” may appear to be a thoughtless decision, because in what world does the term relate to Toronto? The title came to me a few years ago when Pluto lost its planet status and was demoted to a dwarf planet. The title is meant to reference the occurrence in relation to Toronto.
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The connection is subtle, but Toronto is often not considered as “hip” as cities like New York or Portland, similarly Pluto has little status in respect to the solar system. THE publication will remain loyal to the city. Pluto may expand, become more luxurious and more popular, but it will remain a publication revolving around Toronto. The content will hopefully guide you, as readers, to enjoy Toronto through material created and curated by Torontonians. Digest and enjoy, thanks.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF KRIS TROFIMOVA
NAME: MADDISON CT AGE: 19 FIELD: PHOTOGRAPHY MAJOR FT. MATERIAL DESIGN MINOR
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maddison
A FRIEND COMES TO VISIT YOU IN TORONTO, WHERE DO YOU TAKE THEM? If a friend was coming to visit I would want the day to be as chill as possible. I would probably suggest having a picnic at Bellwoods followed by thrifting in the afternoon and maybe 2am ice cream sammies at Bang Bang. I FRICKEN LOVE ICE CREAM SANDWICHES! WHAT IS YOUR COLOUR PALETTE? Black. Bright colours cramp my vibe.
WHO OR WHAT ARE YOUR STYLE-INSPIRATIONS? I don’t really have any specific people or things I derive my inspiration form and I think thats because my taste is kinda whatever I’m feeling that day. BUT I love the outfits Julia Roberts wears from Step-Mom, she’s got mad turtlenecks and I want them all!
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DO YOU WEAR A PARTICULAR ITEM A LOT? WHY? I always wear a silver double fingered ring and two little necklaces, a delicate gold chain, and a silver one with one of my last names on it. I wear the ring because both my sister and I have the same one, and since its double figured it makes me look tougher than I really am. I looks like I’m ready for a back alley fight ;)
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IS STYLE DIFFERENT FROM FASHION? HOW SO? YA! I totally think there is a difference. I think someone can be stylish but what they wear isn’t necessary whats ‘on trend’ or in fashion that season.
an article by kat trofimova
THE GREAT MYSTERY OF STYLE
and the suburbs: where’d it go? IT seems almost redundant
to point out that street style in major cities differs from their suburban counterparts, but how about it? What happened there? FOR any resident of a blossoming metropolis like Toronto - it’s easy to waive the simple provincial lifestyle of the ‘burbs as the purgatory stage of the modern human existence, stuck between the vivacity of an urban centre and the passivity of a retirement home on a lake up North. But with the ever-rising prices on real estate and rent, the mind-numbing overcrowding, the pesky
tourists and the insatiable noise of Toronto, the looming reality of an eventual move to the suburbs is dawning upon us all… Because there are only so many years we can devote to splitting a house in the Annex, before the desire to have our own kitchen and bathroom starts haunting our darkest, deepest dreams. THERE is something chillingly terrifying for a childless “young professional” or student to abandon the walls of Fort York in lieu of the green lawns in the magical land of Suburbia. One of the most major apprehensions about
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leaving Toronto ever, takes us back to the first day on the playground in junior kindergarten, when all we wanted to do is fit in… How does a city slicker fit in, in the suburbs? On a most basic visual scale, there is something intrinsically different about the dress code outside Toronto - everyone looks just about the same and seems to gleefully employ pyjama bottoms as the most versatile piece of clothing in their closet. And anyone with a sense of personal style outside the city in the GTA looks innately “Toronto” - a label basically slapped on any individual with even the vaguest understanding of current fashion trends. The youth of the suburbs yearn 10
to look “Toronto”, yet somehow appear very noticeably suburban in the effort, but the major question is where is this style shift coming from? It may seem unimportant to a Torontonian at first, but, let’s be honest, we’re all headed for the suburbs eventually (when we get tired of being poor in the downtown core), so we should get acquainted with our future. ANY young resident of a major city will find it rather difficult to get accustomed to or conform to the laid-back and, at times, lazy style adopted by the suburbs, but when and how did this even happen? The first thought that will pop into any pretentious organic-eating urbanite’s snobby little head is obviously money and
education - suburban residents are not as educated and have less money, hence cannot afford to care about fashion. Wrong. OK, the suburbs do, on average, have a lower percentage of university graduates, but these littletowns-that-could reel in more than the Toronto annual median income. Oshawa, for example, surpasses Toronto’s average income per household by 15 grand. That’s 15 Gs, you guys, did you write that down? Clearly money is not much of an issue. WHAT else could it be? Well, you could blame the suburban fashionlessness on the lack of accessibility to trendy shopping destinations and lack of style inspiration, but the great Interwebz and Tumblr have eradicated that problem a while ago. You
could also point your trembling finger of judgment at demographics, but the suburbs are filled with young people and have post-secondary education establishments just like Toronto, yet the style development within the same demographic varies greatly between the former and the latter. So, for the love of great Zeus, why is this happening to us? What makes it so?
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THE answer, unfortunately, is not that simple. It may very well be a combination of several influential elements that skew or even stunt the development of similar dressing styles in Toronto and the rest of the GTA. It may actually be the very things that draw people to Toronto in the first place - the art and culture. Toronto has a more diverse population, art galleries, festivals, cultural events and just countless opportunities to be exposed to or influenced by something new. Toronto also offers a greater variety of Humanities and Arts programmes, which then create a whole new category of artsy adults dressing like poets and bards, who partake in all those cultural events and unite to form a megasuper robot of trendy crap. These programmes breed the people, the city nurtures them by offering jobs in culture and then the little buggers create the damn trends the
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rest of us follow. Since the suburbs tend to not offer many non-technical postsecondary programmes and do not posses the same cultural allure (or employment in the field), this - along with the lazyriver atmosphere - creates a vacuum of fashionable nonexistence, which allows Toronto’s outskirts to soak in their own sweatpant-ular universe. It’s not as if the suburbs are doomed for all eternity, they just need a bit of cultural flavour. SO, if you are pressed to move out of the great city to the outskirts, do so with pride. You have been spoiled by culture and influenced by the vibrancy of the great city of Toronto… Plus, you know, relax please. It’s just clothes. Houses and apartments in the suburbs are hella cheap, so shut up.
NAME: PHILIP OCAMPO AGE: 20 FIELD: ANIMATION AND ILLUSTRATION 13
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WHERE’S A GOOD PLACE TO EAT? El Furniture Warehouse. Hands down. Everything on the menu is 4.95$ and the food is great. Also I have no money!!!!
philip
WHAT IS YOUR APPROACH TO STYLE AND WHAT YOU WEAR? I’m into interesting silhouettes, unexpected cuts, layers, and minimalist clothing. I’m not so big on patterns and loud colours.
IDEAL DAY IN THE CITY? Just seeing people I care about and eating at good places. Also maybe gallery seeing if they’re down for that kind of stuff.
ARE YOU A BIG FAN OF THRIFTING? Yep. I go pretty often. Black Market on Queen and various Value Villages throughout the city are always good places to visit. Why spend so much when you can spend basically nothing. 15
ARE THERE ANY ARTISTS/ ARTISTS’ WORK THAT YOU REFER TO OFTEN? Julian Callos and Sachin Teng, two LA-based illustrators. Both big artistic influences of mine. Both fantastic. 16
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE STORE TO SHOP AT? Muji and Uniqlo! The city should open more of them.
REAL LIKE GUCCI
RAW LIKE SUSHI