The Kit Compact October 2017

OCTOBER 2017

BACK TO NATURE The elements of fall style: air-dried hair, earthy florals, water wellness, self-expression on fire

EDITOR’S LETTER

[ OUR 1ST ALOE WATER MOISTURIZER FOR FRESH GLOWING SKIN ] EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Laura deCarufel @LauradeCarufel

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

PHOTOGRAPHY: CARYLE ROUTH (DECARUFEL); PETER STIGTER (RUNWAY, BACKSTAGE FASHION). HAIR AND MAKEUP: WENDY RORONG (DECARUFEL)

BEAUTY AND POWER Denial is a particular skill of mine. I wear my sleeveless onesies until Thanksgiving. I send my husband heavily emojied texts with links to heavily discounted châteaux (a new life in France! Who would pay for it? Aucun idée, mes amies). I still think that Gwyneth and Brad might get back together because of that one golden era when they had the same golden haircut and all seemed right with the world.

These days, all is clearly not right with the world, and there’s no point being in denial about that. I’m wearing my sleeveless onesies until PAGE 15 Thanksgiving—and so is everyone else because October now feels like July. The earth is warming; sea levels are rising; male frogs are developing ovaries because of all the excess estrogen in the water.

This summer, my sister moved back from the Turks and Caicos, where she had worked as a teacher for 10 years; three weeks later, Hurricane Irma hit and destroyed the homes of half her friends.

At The Kit Compact, our goal is always to reflect back what’s happening in the world. For this issue, I wanted to explore the power, beauty and devastating unpredictability of nature and how it intersects with the lives of Canadian women. But how to encompass something so wild, so changeable, so vast? Associate art direcPAGE 23 tor Aimee Nishitoba told me how: Focus on the four elements. (Genius.) Accordingly, this edition is divided into four sections, each with stories and shoots inspired by a different element. In Earth (page 5), we celebrate fall’s joyous florals and spotlight the fascinating future of fertility, while managing editor Eden Boileau profiles the women—activists, researchers, growers and more—leading the cannabis revolution. Air (page 15) showcases the easy beauty of naturally air-dried hair, and assistant editor Veronica Saroli takes notes on feminist fragrance wafting into the cultural mainstream. Lauren McKeon’s beautiful essay about how anxiety feels like PAGE 29 drowning is the heart of Water (page 23), which also features a profile on a teen water activist, plus expert conservation tips. Fire (page 29) is devoted to lighting the spark of selflove: We track the (hilarious, disturbing, relatable) evolution of how we feel about our bodies, and trans and non-binary makeup lovers test drive the latest natural cosmetics and talk stigma and self-expression.

So, yes, nature is intense and overwhelming, and things are only going to get crazier. But my takeaway from this issue is that, if you want to make a change, you have to start somewhere, even if that’s thinking LAURA DE CARUFEL, about how your jeans are made or how much water EDITOR-IN-CHIEF disappears down the tap when you wash your face.

Crazy times, friends, but we’re in it together. @thekitca @thekit thekitca ON THE COVER: PHOTOGRAPHY: AARON WYNIA. HAIR AND MAKEUP: VANESSA JARMAN FOR P1M.CA/NARS. HAIR AND MAKEUP ASSISTANT: ROSANNA VILLANI. FASHION DIRECTION: JILLIAN VIEIRA. CREATIVE DIRECTION: JESSICA HOTSON

THEKIT.CA | OCTOBER 2017 |

compact

Jessica Hotson @jesshotson

“I RECOMMEND” B EAUT Y AWA R DS

2017

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Kathryn Hudson (on leave) @hudsonkat BEAUTY DIRECTOR

Rani Sheen @ranisheen

FASHION EDITOR

Jillian Vieira @JillianVieira

DIGITAL EDITOR

Caitlin Kenny @caitlinken_insta MANAGING EDITOR

Eden Boileau @lilyedenface

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Veronica Saroli @vsaroli

ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTORS

Sonya van Heyningen @svanh7 Kristy Wright (on leave) @creativewithak Aimee Nishitoba @studio.aimee

PUBLISHER

Giorgina Bigioni PROJECT DIRECTOR, DIGITAL MEDIA

Kelly Matthews

[ ALOE WATER ]

L’OREAL ADVERT ©2017 L’Oréal Canada

PAGE 5

COLLAB DIRECTOR

Evie Begy eb@thekit.ca

COLLAB COORDINATOR

Sarah Chan

MARKETING COORDINATOR

Nikki Lewis

CONTRIBUTORS

Marin Blanc, LeeAndra Cianci, Julia Cooper, Christina Gonzales, Danielle Groen, Samra Habib, Vanessa Jarman, Avery Kua, Hamin Lee, Joana Lourenço, Lauren McKeon, Lauren Pirie, Briony Smith, Ronnie Tremblay, Rosanna Villani, Aaron Wynia, Stefania Yarhi INTERNS

Sarit Cohen, Brittany Ferguson, Paige Furtney, Natalie Puch, Heather Stewart, Madina Yar The Kit is Canada’s beauty and style leader © 2017, The Kit, a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited.

PRESIDENT AND CEO, TORSTAR, AND PUBLISHER, TORONTO STAR

John Boynton

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, TORONTO STAR

Michael Cooke

NEW

HYDRA GENIUS

TM

LIQUID CARE

“ I use it every day and it is amazing. My makeup doesn’t move at all. It lasts throughout my entire work shift.”

CURRENT MOOD

DOWN TO EARTH

Ground yourself in all that grows: natural highs, next-gen florals and looks lifted from the great outdoors 1

3 2

7 6

8 5 4

10

PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER STIGTER (RUNWAY AND BACKSTAGE BEAUTY)

9

12 13

15 14

11

1. BRONZER-DUSTED SKIN AT ANTONIO BERARDI. 2. A MOSSY LOOK BACKSTAGE AT HOUSE OF HOLLAND. 3. MICHAEL KORS BAG, $1,215, MICHAELKORS.COM. 4. YVES ROCHER CONCENTRATED SHOWER GEL IN OLIVE PETITGRAIN, $8, YVESROCHER.CA. 5. PROVINCE APOTHECARY DAILY GLOW FACIAL DRY BRUSH, $52, PROVINCEAPOTHECARY.CA. 6. ISABEL MARANT RUNWAY. 7. BASD INVIGORATING MINT COFFEE BODY SCRUB, $20, BASDBODYCARE.CA. 8. BALENCIAGA RUNWAY. 9. TIGER OF SWEDEN PANTS, $245, TIGEROFSWEDEN.COM. 10. HUNTER COAT, $395, HUNTERBOOTS.COM. 11. A PRETTY PALETTE OF GREENS BACKSTAGE AT STELLA MCCARTNEY. 12. EARTHY ROSE LIPS BACKSTAGE AT NINA RICCI. 13. WILFRED TOP, $145, ARITZIA. 14. ROBERT CLERGERIE SHOES, $830, ROBERTCLERGERIE.COM. 15. A PEACE TREATY SCARF, $350, APEACETREATY.COM

THEKIT.CA | OCTOBER 2017 |

compact

5

I SD

MIS

O U N TER

CA

GARDEN PARTY

S

Wring the final sweetness from summer with the season’s ultimate solstice-inspired pattern pairing: moody florals and chesterfield checks

RO

S IN

M EN A SU

SE

VA

RC

+

,D

=

IO

O

9 0 (3 0 M L)

I

U D E PA EA RF

,$

RI

B ED O F NA

R

M

M

T

LA

O

U

BR

B ERGA IA N

A M ERI CA

N

FLOWER POWER We asked florist Lauren Sellen—who crafted the blooms for Glossier’s Toronto pop-up—to muse on the meaning behind fall’s top floral prints

BE

AU T

MONCLER GAMME ROUGE

MULBERRY

PRADA

EARTH ANGEL

GIAMBATTISTA VALLI

DI

A T Y M G NOL

IA

CO

A

J U LIA N N E

C

.

F

A

AM EL I N S A

MARY KATRANTZOU

O

M

M

=

, S EPH O R

GUCCI

M

UH

+

LIA B LOS SO

120

H

SH

NO

P U DE ARFU M EA

AN D JO

D

O

H UG

G

S

MA

“This classic red rose is depicted naturally—it looks like a stem straight out of the garden. Typically, this flower and shade speak of romance and love but shown in this way I almost find it more reminiscent of memory: foggy childhood visions of watching someone close to you tend to their rose bushes in the garden.”

,$

Y COACH 1941

“One of the best things about fall in Canada is the changing leaves: the yellows, the reds! Though I’m not totally sure what real-life flower this print was inspired by, it reminds me of late-fall sweet autumn clematis. The tiny white explosions of flowers throughout a tangle of small but mighty vine. They are ethereal but grounded as a fairy in dirt.”

“I see wisteria and sahara rudbeckia—not a common combination. Wisteria is full of mystery and intrigue, creeping and hanging dramatically from her branches.

Rudbeckia can be accused of being fairly common, but the sahara variety offers some of the most beautiful colours. The pairing of the two together makes me feel like this is the peaceful co-existence of the two (or more) sides of all of us—the Jekyll and Hyde, becoming very yin and yang, where opposites attract.”

Lucy Xiang, a third-year University of Toronto student who is double majoring in environmental studies and biodiversity and conservation biology, prefers to talk blooms rather than wear them (though we think she’s made for this cozy coupling of a flouncy plaid dress and flowerflecked coat). After a childhood spent memorizing animal flash cards, the 20-year-old remains steadfast in her defence of all things flora and fauna: “I’m studying a relatively new field of biology, basically brought on by the crisis that’s threatening biodiversity,” she says. Xiang’s efforts involve examining the politics surrounding climate change and promoting a better human understanding of the environment. Her short-term Rx is simple: “It’s important to seek out green spaces even when you live in urban areas so you get connected to the outdoors.”

—Jillian Vieira. Photography by Aaron Wynia. Hair and makeup: Vanessa Jarman for P1M.ca/Nars COACH 1941 COAT, $1,380, SIMILAR STYLES AT COACH. COM. SELF-PORTRAIT DRESS, $630, NORDSTROM

E

VEN HA

SS

A

ES

OP

HW Y L E A U

=

U M , $1 65

IN

T WILIGHT ’ S

M

N

O

E

RF PA

E

+

YM

E

ST

M

TH

D

RO B

Y FO R E S T

NOW TRENDING

(

50

), A E S O P ML .C

O

CHECK THIS

TRY THE TREND WITH STANDOUT PIECES INSPIRED

BY OUR FAVE FLORALLY MONIKERED CELEBS

W

S OW M I T H LL

I

D

O

B LO O M

UM, RIGHT?

E VI N G N

E

POPP

Y

N EL

ORL A

D

VERSACE

EUGENIA KIM HAT, $570, EUGENIAKIM. COM. REBECCA TAYLOR TOP, $360, REBECCATAYLOR.COM. PAMELA LOVE RING, $255, PAMELALOVE.COM. TOPSHOP PANTS, $80, HUDSON’S BAY. GUESS SHOES, $150, GUESS

VALENTINO

LELE SADOUGHI EARRINGS, $205, LELESADOUGHI.COM. THE STOWE BAG, $365, THESTOWE. COM. ZARA DRESS, $50, ZARA.COM. FRANK AND OAK JACKET, $169, FRANKANDOAK.COM. CHARLOTTE OLYMPIA SHOES, $795, THESEPTEMBER.COM

COACH 1941

OSCAR DE LA RENTA

GUCCI

DOLCE & GABBANA

BLOSSOMS BLOOMED ALL O V E R C AT WA L K C A R R YA L L S

ILLESTEVA SUNGLASSES, $295, ILLESTEVA, TORONTO. WANT LES ESSENTIELS BAG, $625, WANTLESESSENTIELS.COM. STELLA MCCARTNEY JACKET, $2,280, STELLAMCCARTNEY. COM. THEORY SKIRT, $435, THEORY.COM. ALDO SHOES, $100, ALDOSHOES.COM

PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER STIGTER (RUNWAY), GETTY IMAGES (SMITH, DELEVINGNE, BLOOM)

7

WHOA, BABY The future of fertility is here, and it’s wild. As Danielle Groen reports, all the action—ahem, 3-D-printed ovaries—offers hope to women who may have otherwise missed the baby boat Illustration by Lauren Pirie

The sex-ed lessons of my public-school youth, delivered by mortified homeroom teachers, were quick and categorical: Here are your reproductive organs. Terrible things happen when you use them. The female body, we were told, is just itching to get pregnant, and a single, fumbling, bad decision will almost certainly leave you knocked up. STDs were unpleasant, but babies were the real menace, ready to sabotage our lives.

So we learned to tame that menace with contraceptives and got on with those lives: We went to university, moved to different cities, found partners, lost them, found better ones, began to build careers. A decade slipped by, then another, and all of a sudden the menace had changed— now it was no longer a promise that our bodies would STEPHANIE’S STORY: get pregnant, but a question “ N OT TA K I N G T H E R I S K of whether they could. As WOULD BE WORSE women push motherhood THAN ANY OTHER to their mid-30s and 40s and TERRIBLE OUTCOME.” as sperm counts continue to I was diagnosed with breast cancer plummet—they’ve dropped when I was 28. I was put on medication that doctors told me I’d likely be on for by half in the past 40 years— up to 10 years—and, because of birth rates of infertility have defect risks, they recommend that you climbed, affecting one in six don’t get pregnant while you’re on it. straight Canadian couples.

My husband and I started to worry that (That’s twice what it was in maybe we would never have children. the ’80s.) Add in thousands We went online in a panic, researching of lesbian couples looking about adoption after cancer. Then two to grow their families, plus years later, I threw caution to the wind women choosing single and stopped taking the drug. I had asked myself, ‘What do I want our life motherhood with the help to look like?’ It was a risk, definitely, of a donor cup, and assisted but, to me, not taking it would be reproduction has become worse than any other possible terrible enormous business. In outcome. My doctor felt confident that the next three years, the my risk of recurrence was low enough global fertility industry is that it didn’t make sense to lose such expected to be worth more a huge part of my life. It took me about than $21 billion. five months to get pregnant. I was in And so nearly four shock—I’d assumed it would take years, or that we would need to try IVF. Now decades after the first “testmy son is almost 10 months old, and I tube” baby was born, procrecry from happiness every day because ation is bumping up against I love him so much. I’ve been back on innovation in ways that can the drug since a few months after he was born and I’m not sure if I’d go off the drug again to have another baby.

Before I was thinking about me; now I’m thinking about him. I want to be here for him more than anything.

BODY TALK

SA S HA’ S STORY: “IT WAS JUST A BOILING POT OF SHIT.”

seem as crazy as IVF did then. Egg freezing, once offered mostly to cancer patients facing chemotherapy, is now an option for healthy women keen to I was 34, I had been marsuspend the ear-splitting ticking of their biological clocks; next year, 76,000 ried for two years and I women are expected to freeze their eggs in the U.S. alone. But since the thought, ‘I should have a process takes weeks of monitoring and daily hormone injections, science child next.’ I didn’t expect is turning its attention to ovarian tissue freezing. Bonus: In just hours, it that it wasn’t going to extracts thousands of undeveloped eggs. Bigger bonus: Using that frozen work out. Six months went tissue restored reproductive functions and actually reversed menopause in by, and I thought, ‘Maybe almost two out of three women.

I’m just nervous.’ After a year, my husband and I got Okay, that’s not totally crazy: Researchers have been plunging sperm into our blood work done and cryogenic tanks since the ’50s, so it’s about time our cells got their due. In everything came back fact, freezing ovarian tissue sounds practically quaint when you hear what fine—we should be able else is on deck. Last year, a team of bioengineers in Chicago stripped away to have a baby. Flashthe blood and follicles from mouse ovarian tissue until it was the right conforward to two years, sistency to (wait for it) use as ink, which they (wait then two and a half years. for it!) squirted out of a printer, which created (wait You’re trying so hard VA N E SA’ S for it!!!) 3-D-printed ovaries. The team implanted STORY: “THIS that it almost becomes IS SOMETHING those 3-D ovaries into female mice, and, like magic, a deterrent. I remember T H AT CO U L D B E being like, ‘It’s day 12, let’s the mice had babies, those babies had babies and TA K E N AWAY get at it.’ There’s so much those babies had babies of their own, with zero side FROM ME.” pressure, and your partner effects.

When I was in my early feels like this weird sperm Ovaries aren’t the only organs being crafted 30s, I was really focused machine. I would bawl wholesale by clever scientists. Over the past three on my career. Then, when I my eyes out every month years, Swedish researchers have managed seven was 34, I saw an episode of when I got my period. It successful uterus transplants in women, leading New Girl, where Cece goes was just a boiling pot of to eight babies and lending hope to transgender to the doctor and realizes shit. Now that I’m 38, the that when the window to women who want to carry children of their own. love affair with the idea have a baby is gone, it’s of getting pregnant has But transplanting a donated uterus is ridiculously gone. I was like, ‘Oh my stopped. I know that time tricky—last year, the first U.S. attempt was scuttled God, this time has come! is ticking, but I don’t feel by a yeast infection—so doctors in Philadelphia This is something that that pressure anymore. focused on making an artificial womb instead. They could be taken away from There’s this idea that constructed a Ziploc-like sac, filled it with amniotic me.’ At the time, I was in a you’re more of a woman fluid and hooked up a machine-controlled umbilical monogamous relationship, if you have a child, but cord. For weeks, the doctors kept lamb fetuses alive but I wasn’t thinking about as much as I’d love one, in this so-called BioBag, until the lambs grew woolly, getting pregnant anytime I’ve realized that, if it soon. Still, I decided that if learned to breathe and swallow and proved strong doesn’t happen for me, I was infertile, I wanted to I’ll be okay. I have a life enough to be born. know—the more info you that I love. More than anyEven our eggs are ripe for technological tinkerhave, the better choices thing, I want to be happy, ing: In Japan and England, researchers used mice you make. I did a fertility with or without a kid. stem cells to build artificial eggs, resulting in the test and learned that my birth of 65 mice. Those researchers went on to do fertility was below average the exact same thing with adult skin cells: There, in a petri dish, were perfectly for my age. That qualified viable eggs. And while we’re a long way still from human trials, an endless supply me for four rounds of egg of eggs, mixed with cutting-edge genetic testing, could allow potential parents to monitoring, which was totally covered by OHIP. choose from hundreds of embryos for the best one to implant—in your womb, or Every morning, for a full someone else’s or in a BioBag down the hall. menstrual cycle, I went to Right now, at Stanford University, there’s a law and biosciences professor who’s a clinic to get my blood convinced we’re 20 years away from eliminating sex from reproduction altogether. taken. I worked at a startWhy leave baby-making to a roll of the genetic dice when you could stroll into a up—I told my boss I was clinic and pick the choicest possible child? Of course, that won’t stop people from doing some medical testgetting it on, and it won’t dispense with the need for birth control. But maybe it will ing; he was a man, so he complete the revolution ushered in by the Pill, making pleasure, not procreation, didn’t ask questions! The the main driver of sex. And if that’s the case, maybe girls would no longer be taught tests told me that I wasn’t infertile—I had some good to fear their bodies, but learn how to explore and express what they want, what eggs. I’m happy that I they’re ready for and what makes them feel good. Could somebody print up that have that information. sex-ed lesson plan, please? Because it’s pretty mind-boggling that we figured out Now I’m 38, and I’m single, how to print an ovary first. n and I wonder sometimes if I’m going to miss out on having a baby. That’s something men don’t have to think about, and it fucking sucks.

THEKIT.CA | OCTOBER 2017 |

compact

9

SMOKE SHOW

Pot is so hot right now.

Women who work in weed open up about why it’s high time it gets some respect

By Eden Boileau Photography by Aaron Wynia It wasn’t that long ago GET BAKED that the “cannabis indusIf you’re going to make try” was just dudes dealpot brownies, make ing pot, which was illegal the best pot brownies, courtesy of Cannabisto grow, illegal to sell, cotti Kitchen, winners illegal to buy and illegal of the 2017 Karma Cup to smoke. But with the edible butter baking federal government set contest. (Of course, until to make recreational use next July, these are for legal next July 1, a group medicinal use only ) of pioneering women are kicking tired stereotypes INGREDIENTS to the side and standing 1/2 cup cannabisinfused butter (melted) up for their legitimate jobs 1 cup granulated sugar in the field.

1 tsp vanilla extract Katie Iarocci grows 2 eggs pot for a living, but not in 1/2 cup flour her basement (in fact, she 1/3 cup cocoa powder doesn’t even smoke it). A 1/4 tsp baking powder plant biologist, Iarocci 1/4 tsp salt is the horticultural manager at Up Cannabis, DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 300F. a licensed producer Grease a 9-inch square of medical marijuana. baking pan.

“People might not realize how much science, fact, Stir butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs; beat research and lab work well with a spoon. goes into producing a quality product,” she Stir dry ingredients; says, about the biggest add to egg mixture.

Beat well. Spread batter misconception of her Canadian Institute for Medievenly in prepared pan. day job. Iarocci’s 9-to-5 cal Advancement. She’s curinvolves everything from rently performing a study for Bake 30 to 35 minutes. managing the growing a group of female migraine Cool completely; cut into squares. of plants to monitoring sufferers, which she plans to the humidity of the have sponsored by a licensed Try a tiny piece; put environment and collectproducer. “Doctors don’t on The Big Lebowski; ing data on all of the feel comfortable prescribhit pause in an hour (around the bowling strains to fine-tune their ing [pot] because they don’t scene); judge tolerance. growing methods. have the evidence,” explains A similar rigour Ramkellawan. “Research informs the work of researcher Sabrina helps provide that evidence and valiRamkellawan. A nurse by training, date it for patients. So many of them Ramkellawan spent 15 years in clinical have family members who think they trials and now does cannabis research just want to get high. I try to educate and education through her company, doctors, patients, anyone who will

listen”—she laughs—“to try to change that stigma.”

Melissa Rolston is also in the pot education biz. Last year, she used her experience working as an administrator in chronic pain clinics to launch TeamMD, a holistic health education service with her mother, Sandy, a nurse. “We focus on bridging the gap between conventional and holistic medicine to help enhance the quality of life of people with chronic pain, and cannabinoid therapy is a major part of that,” she explains. Rolston’s team also supports doctors who want to incorporate cannabis into their

treatment plans. “We want them to feel comfortable prescribing it, so that they don’t feel as though the college is going to crack down on them,” she says. “Cannabis needs to be respected as a medicine first, especially as we move into legalization.”

Legalization for recreational use is certain to spark major business at Toronto’s Tokyo Smoke, which positions itself as a lifestyle brand for the “sophisticated smoker,” with an offering of sleekly designed smoking accessories and four strains of medical marijuana (available online).

“We’re trying to create a new visual

PROFILE

WAIT—CAN ANYONE SMOKE WEED IN CANADA?

WEED, THE NORTH

We cleared the smoke for our favourite stoner chick Right now, lighting up for non-medical use is still illegal.

When the new federal Cannabis Act becomes law (slated for July 2018), you’ll be able to smoke if you’re 18 (or older in some provinces). Also, now you can only buy online from a licensed producer and if you have a doctor's recommendation. After legalization, no permit will be required.

UPGRADE YOUR TOKE For every type of pot partaker, accessories you’ll want to bogart

FOR THE HYGGE HAPPY

Hide the stuff! No, don’t: This Toronto-made pipe— nay, art piece—is one you leave out on the coffee table.

HIGH NOON PIPE, $66, SHOPHIGHNOON.COM

FROM LEFT: ON KATIE: MACKAGE COAT, $790, MACKAGE.COM, REJINA RYO PANTS, $630, NORDSTROM. ON SABRINA: HERMÈS COAT, $8,600, HERMÈS. KARINE VANASSE X ELISA C-ROSSOW DRESS, $275, SIMONS. ON BERKELEY: BOSS JACKET, $950, BOSS. VICTORIA VICTORIA BECKHAM PANTS, $950, NORDSTROM. ON MELISSA: COS DRESS, $225, COS. ON SARAH: MARQUES’ALMEIDA DRESS, $668, NORDSTROM HAIR AND MAKEUP: VANESSA JARMAN FOR P1M.CA/NARS. HAIR AND MAKEUP ASSISTANT: ROSANNA VILLANI. FASHION DIRECTION: JILLIAN VIEIRA. CREATIVE DIRECTION: JESSICA HOTSON

FOR THE DISCREET CONSUMER

Stash safely with this Scandi-style bag featuring a digit-and-key-lock combo to keep out the kiddos and waterproof zippers to keep water out and scent in.

VAN DER POP BAG, $335, VANDERPOP.COM

FOR THE BIG BALLER language in cannabis,” explains Berkeley Poole, Tokyo Smoke’s creative director. “There have been a lot of stoner-y associations and stigmas to work through. We’re taking a more high-end approach, showing just how multifaceted cannabis is.” Poole says the shop’s extension into lifestyle products, such as its own branded coffee and clothing, are part of its big-picture vision. “In general, people respond most to curated brands—you see it with how they dress or how they cultivate their Instagram. Brands that speak that same language will, I think, be the most approachable and accessible.”

THEKIT.CA | OCTOBER 2017 |

compact

But as pot cleans up its image, Sarah Hanlon, a writer and pot activist, says it isn’t necessary to throw the stoner out with the bath water. “I don’t think we have to take ourselves so seriously all of the time—we don’t have to say, ‘Well, I’m not this couch potato!’” she says. “I might binge a whole season, but then the next day I’m at the legislature finding out what is happening with legalization.” The message Hanlon tries to convey in her articles, radio interviews and as a brand ambassador for Leafly.com, the web’s largest cannabis information resource, is that smoking pot isn’t a big deal. “I

“I MIGHT BINGE A WHOLE SEASON, BUT THE NEXT DAY I’M AT THE LEGISLATURE.” —SARAH HANLON

just really want i t t o b e n o rmal,” she says.

And it’s women, Hanlon thinks, who are poised to bring pot to the public in a meaningful way.

“We’re really at the forefront and we have to start owning it more and being a little louder because people aren’t going to give us the credit. I tell my women friends to start taking it because they deserve it.” n

Yes, pure edible gold papers are completely unnecessary, but a girl needs a Rihanna moment from time to time, alright?

SHINE WHITE GOLD ROLLING PAPERS, $25, SHINEPAPERS.COM

FOR THE ON-THE-GO ENTHUSIAST

Use this sleek grinder card—perfectly sized to slide right into your wallet—for easy prep.

TOKYO SMOKE GRINDER CARD, $10, TOKYOSMOKE.COM

11

ÂŽ

25 years ago, there was no pink ribbon.

Time to end breast cancer.

Support our mission to create a breast cancer-free world.

Visit bcacampaign.com #PinkRibbon25 Bleed: 11.125 in Trim: 10.875 in

CURRENT MOOD

UP IN THE AIR

Float along in feather-light fabrics, feminist fragrance and easy-breezy lazy-girl hair

3

4

2

5

1

8 6

PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER STIGTER (RUNWAY AND BACKSTAGE BEAUTY EXCEPT #7); GETTY IMAGES (#7)

7

9

14

10

13

15

11 16

12

1. NINA RICCI RUNWAY. 2. H&M BRALETTE, $22, HM.COM. 3. BANANA REPUBLIC DRESS, $148, BANANAREPUBLIC.CA. 4. BUMBLE AND BUMBLE PRÊT-À-POWDER NOURISHING DRY SHAMPOO, $33, SEPHORA.CA. 5. PHILOSOPHY DI LORENZO SERAFINI RUNWAY. 6. CHANEL LA CRÈME MAIN, $70, CHANEL COUNTERS. 7. CURVED WHITE LINES BACKSTAGE AT TOME. 8. ALEXANDER MCQUEEN RUNWAY. 9. ELIZABETH AND JAMES TOP, $425, NORDSTROM.COM. 10. A CLOUDY MASS OF COTTON AT BURBERRY. 11. DEREK LAM 10 CROSBY BAG, $535, DEREKLAM.COM. 12. HABITS JEWELRY EARRINGS, $90, HABITSJEWELRY.COM. 13. MEOW MEOW TWEET COCONUT CACAO VEGAN LIP BALM, $17, MEOWMEOWTWEET.COM. 14. SHEER METALLIC NAILS (ESSIE’S IMPORTED BUBBLY) BACKSTAGE AT OSCAR DE LA RENTA. 15. DOVE GREY SHADOW AT VICTORIA BECKHAM. 16. GRAY MATTERS SHOES, $700, GRAYMATTERS.COM

THEKIT.CA | OCTOBER 2017 |

compact

15

H “I love how wild and free they are,” Nuala says of her curls. “A lot of people have told me to straighten them, but they’re just fun.

They’re me.”

PASKAL TOP, $560, HUDSON’S BAY. MOLLY GODDARD DRESS (WORN UNDERNEATH), $505, NORDSTROM

Opposite: Mufei’s “lank but shiny” hair is perfectly suited to her asymmetrical cut, inspired by the 17thcentury lovelock.

MOLLY GODDARD DRESS, $1,425, NORDSTROM

Pro take: Backstage at Victoria Beckham, hairstylist Guido Palau likened “easy, light, airdried hair” to wearing a cashmere jumper: “It’s the new luxury.”

A

No hot tools were used in the making of these photos. As air-drying makes a comeback on the runways (during traditionally polished fall, no less), we celebrate four glorious heads of hair in their natural state Photography by Aaron Wynia | Beauty direction by Rani Sheen

I

R

Jen says air drying her fine, tousled hair works for her lifestyle because she’s “always late.”

VERSACE TOP, $1,525, HOLT RENFREW

Opposite: Nabra describes her coils as “unpredictable and creative.” In this shape, she notes, “They make me stand out.”

ZIMMERMANN TOP, $820, HOLT RENFREW

Pro tip: Palau recommends a light touch: “If it dries too frizzy, take the blowdryer and smooth the top layer; if it’s too straight, just twist it so there’s slight movement.

The less product, the better, to get that easy feeling.”

HAIR AND MAKEUP: VANESSA JARMAN FOR P1M.CA/NARS. HAIR AND MAKEUP ASSISTANT: ROSANNA VILLANI. FASHION DIRECTION: JILLIAN VIEIRA. CREATIVE DIRECTION: JESSICA HOTSON

TAKE NOTE

Feminist fragrance is in the air. Veronica Saroli sniffs out fall’s juiciest trend Photography by Hamin Lee

Feminist fashion has its own canon: sharp suiting with strong shoulders that project power at a glance, and sweatshirts that straight-up declare: “This is what a feminist looks like.”

But what does a feminist smell like?

Well, however she wants. That’s the point. The most exciting fragrances hitting stores this fall aim to give women a tool kit for expressing both how they want to smell and what they want to say.

One trick many of these scents employ is mixing traditionally masculine notes, like tobacco, wood and rum, with classically feminine notes, such as florals, to create a thoroughly modern juice. “This unexpected combination can make fragrances very strong, powerful and sensual,” says perfumer Anne Flipo, who paired “vibrant and energetic woods” with the white flower tuberose for Ralph Lauren’s latest scent, Woman.

There is a delicate interplay between notes that are considered “feminine” and those felt to be “feminist.” Perfumer Corinne Cachen, who worked on the new trio of Marc Cain Mysteriously perfumes inspired by “empowered women” parses the difference between the two categories. “Traditional feminine notes are floral, soft, transparent ones,” she says. “Feminist notes transgress these codes; they could be anything out of the ordinary or with a surprising association, such as a combination of masculine or polarizing notes.” This calls to mind a line from Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique: “When [a woman] stopped conforming to the conventional picture of femininity she finally began to enjoy being a woman.”

But if a fragrance abstains from typically manly ingredients, that doesn’t mean it packs any less of a punch. And if a perfume does feature a classically 20

feminine bouquet, a clever ad campaign can savvily reposition the scent.

As Cachen explains, “A fragrance can be feminist either by its marketing speech, its communication or through its specific olfactive structure.” The branding of female empowerment has, of late, leached into lucrative marketing opportunities. Take the SpikeJonze-directed video for Kenzo World, which won the prestigious Titanium Lions award at this year’s Cannes Lions festival. The fragrance itself contains peony, jasmine and amber-y “sparkling crystals of ambroxan,” while the ad is a four-minute blend of smooth sales pitch and explosive choreography by Ryan Heffington, of Sia’s “Chandelier” fame. “It showed a woman losing her shit,” juror John Mescall told Adweek. “How many ads have shown men doing that?”

Over the years, the flacons on women’s vanities have subtly reflected their position in the socio-political hierarchy. In the 1970s and ’80s, as women entered the male-dominated workforce and womenswear designers filched men’s tailoring as a sign of a shifting power balance, perfume counters were flooded by heady and impactful elixirs—Revlon’s Charlie (1973, bergamot, sandalwood and musk), Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium (1977, plum, cloves, myrrh) and Christian Dior’s Poison (1985, coriander, amber, tuberose)— that wafted towards the glass ceiling and atomized second-wave feminism.

The scents were spicy and powerful; their high sillage (the measure of how long an aroma lingers) charged the air long after the woman left the room— the ultimate olfactory power move.

“Those scents made statements and everybody wanted to wear them and make a difference,” says perfumer Caroline Sabas, who helms Commodity,

a unisex fragrance line. “Today, women are more confident to wear anything.

They can use men’s fragrances or nongendered woods that are emerging in women’s fragrances. The rules are being broken.”

Sabas recently broke a few rules while creating Indi, the latest fragrance from pop powerhouse Katy Perry.

“Katy has a strong personality and she’s not afraid to make a statement,” says Sabas. “She wanted to make something for women, but also something that a man could wear. So I used 11 different musks: some powdery, some more feminine, some more masculine.”

This new wave of feminism-aligned fragrances is part of a bigger picture that involves change beyond the bottle: More women are becoming noses and devising nuanced scents for other women to wear. “When I began

HEADY AND IMPACTFUL ELIXIRS WAFTED TOWARDS THE GLASS CEILING AND ATOMIZED SECONDWAVE FEMINISM in perfumery more than 30 years ago, I remember thinking, ‘I cannot be a perfumer because I am a woman,’” reflects Flipo. “When I look back today, I am very proud of what I did.” While she has worked on both men’s and women’s scents, the perfumer says, “I leave a little bit more of me in the women’s fragrances. They’re a little bit more personal.” The personal is political: That’s feminism 101. n

MADE BY WOMEN The latest scents from the industry’s top female perfumers

RALPH LAUREN WOMAN EAU DE PARFUM BY ANNE FLIPO, $112 (50 ML), SHOPPERS DRUG MART. TIFFANY & CO. EAU DE PARFUM BY DANIELA ANDRIER, $120 (50 ML), HUDSON’S BAY. L’OCCITANE TERRE DE LUMIÈRE GOLD EDITION EAU DE PARFUM BY CALICE BECKER, SHYAMALA MAISONDIEU AND NADÈGE LA GUARLANTEZEC, $105 (90 ML), LOCCITANE.CA. KATY PERRY INDI EAU DE PARFUM BY CAROLINE SABAS, $58 (50 ML), SHOPPERS DRUG MART. CALVIN KLEIN OBSESSED FOR HER EAU DE PARFUM BY HONORINE BLANC AND ANNICK MENARDO, $85 (50 ML), THEBAY.COM

compact

| OCTOBER 2017 | THEKIT.CA

FRAGRANCE

00 21

THE ORIGINAL 2in1 AND STILL THE BEST.

CANADIAN MMA CHAMPION PREFERS PERT.

www.pert.com

ELIAS THEODOROU

CURRENT MOOD

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Take a deep dive into all things aqua: water-drenched wellness and the fashion of your liquid dreams

4

3 2 1

6 7

5

12

10 8

13

9

9

PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER STIGTER (RUNWAY AND BACKSTAGE BEAUTY)

11

14

15

16

1. OIL-SLICK HAIR HEADBANDS AT ISSEY MIYAKE. 2. LOUIS VUITTON RUNWAY. 3. DL1961 JACKET, $240, DL1961.COM. 4. CUCHARA NECKLACE, $98, CUCHARA.CA. 5. TOM FORD BOYS & GIRLS LIP COLOR IN LENA, $44, HOLTRENFREW.COM. 6. DOUBLE HAPPINESS REFRESH FLOWER SHOWER FACE MIST, $35, DOUBLEHAPPINESS.CA. 7. CHRISTIAN DIOR RUNWAY. 8. MARC CAIN PANTS, $480, MARC CAIN. 9. SAINT LAURENT RUNWAY. 10. WILDIN’ OUT BACKSTAGE AT MARNI. 11. STORMY BLUE-GREY NAILS AT 3.1 PHILLIP LIM. 12. URBAN DECAY TROUBLEMAKER MASCARA, $30, URBANDECAY.CA. 13. AQUAMARINE EYE ACCENTS AT MARY KATRANTZOU. 14. LINE TOP, $299, LINETHELABEL.COM. 15. TORY SPORT SHOES, $170, TORYSPORT.COM. 16. BUILDING BLOCK BAG, $565, BUILDING--BLOCK.COM

THEKIT.CA | OCTOBER 2017 |

compact

23

INTO THE DEEP

Water contains multitudes: coolly serene and hotly contested, magical yet menacing. A look beneath the surface of the most fraught, most fascinating substance on earth Illustrations by Marin Blanc

BREAKING THE WAVES

Drowning on water and on land—a dispatch from our age of anxiety by Lauren McKeon

GIVE IT TO ME STRAIGHT

Writer (and brave soul) Julia Cooper kept a water diary for a day, then turned it over to Dianne Draper, a professor of geography at the University of Calgary, for some conservation real talk.

7:05 A.M.

Just like Cathy, the classic comic character from the ’80s, I need my coffee as soon as I wake up or it’s a morning of “Ack!” While I boil water in my stove-top kettle, I fill my Swell water bottle (17 ounces) with tap water and drink at least half of it—sometimes with lemon juice if I’m feeling fancy.

I make my coffee in a 700-mL Hario pour-over coffee pot, and you just know I fill it to the top. “A life cycle assessment of one stainless steel water bottle—the processing, manufacture, distribution, use and final disposal— shows that its environmental impact is much worse than that of one plastic bottle. But if the stainless steel bottle takes the place of 500 plastic water bottles, then it beats plastic!”

There’s a picture of me from the summer I almost drowned. I’m 17 and my limbs are long and strong and tanned, the dark hairs on my arm bleached blonde. I’m wearing a water-rafting helmet and smiling. Every woman in my family smiles the same way: chin tilted up, all teeth, mouth stretched so wide that our cheeks become rounded moons. My orange life jacket is a beacon against the Ottawa River. Behind me, my raft is more inflatable mattress than boat. I remember that the air smelled like pine and adventure.

The photo was taken a few minutes before my first rapid—a few minutes before I realized, perched on the edge of the raft, that nothing held me inside the boat but my own willpower. We pushed off from the dock, and I instantly understood why people say water roars. The river was wild and white-capped, the rumbling energy muscling our raft like a pack of lions frothing beneath the surface. I moved my paddle in swift strokes, imagining that I was parting butter with a hot knife, but the river fought back.

I felt like I was drowning even before I went under. Water crested over the raft and invaded my face. I tried to breathe, but could only choke. Then we lurched left and the boat went vertical. The maw of that roaring river swallowed me. My world became directionless, and I tumbled like Alice into its pit.

I bounced off the rock bed, and the river pounced again and again and again. I couldn’t make it to the surface, but I could see it: sunlight strobing where there was air. Before we 24

headed out that morning, our guides warned us that people die on the rapids. Seven died just last year. This was where my mind clawed, where it scrabbled—the flickering between wanting to live and being convinced I would die.

Time submerged into murky depths, only ticking into proper minutes and seconds once the rescue boats found me, who knows how long later, at the bottom of two rapids. I was floating, my buoyant body reasserting its dominion over the water and itself. The river, now calm, felt completely different: smooth jade, cool silk, still with no edges. The next morning when I woke up, a black and violet bruise bloomed across my thigh, my leg a midnight garden.

HORMONE HIT

New research out of Harvard and Emory universities suggests that women—who are already twice as likely to have depression or anxiety disorders than men—are more vulnerable to trauma when their estrogen levels dip during their menstrual cycle. (Birth control pills—which boost estrogen—could soon be used to help.)

Meanwhile, a recent study from Yale University, discovered that male frogs in suburban lakes are growing ovaries—the result of excess estrogen in the water.

SPOTLIGHT

AS MUCH AS I WANT TO APPEAR CALM, COMPOSED, AND INSTA-PERFECT, I’VE LEARNED THAT ANXIETY CAN BUBBLE UNBIDDEN AND QUICK I wear that day like jewellery, clasped tight, a circle around my neck. Because I could have died, sure.

But also because that near drowning is what it feels like for me to live with anxiety: suffocating under a crushing and unexpected force, with just as quick a release and a tender spot left over—all of it painful, none of it under your control.

•••

I brush my teeth in less than two minutes, but I do leave the tap running which is probably not a chill thing to do, waterconservation-wise.

I also wash my face with the tap on.

“Leaving the tap on for two minutes is equivalent to filling your water bottle 30 times.

Retrofitting your faucet with a four-dollar aerator will save almost half of that water.

You can conserve even more water by shutting off the taps when brushing your teeth, and by filling the sink when washing your face.”

PHOTOGRAPHY: ISTOCKPHOTO (ICONS, FROG)

7:45 A.M.

I was assaulted again. It spread like puddles after a storm, seeped through me, spilling out over the cracks in my fortress, a persistent, pernicious leak. And still, I tried to ignore it. The more it spooled out of me, the more I willed myself to freeze.

••• By the time I turned 30, I had avoided dealing with my anxiety for so long that it often sprang up like a river rapid: at work, at home, at the movies, any time I didn’t feel good enough, worthy enough, whole enough. The more I tried to be perfect, the more the panic would consume me, unbidden and without warning. And, like that day on the Ottawa River, I could do nothing but wait it out, try to fight it, knowing it was as useless as battling Mother Nature herself.

My life could not go on like that—drowning on land nearly every day. I began to see a therapist. Bit by bit, as I divulged my painful secrets, ice chips fell from my mouth.

I expected her to teach me how to calm the water, too, but safely, from the shore. I imagined breathing exercises, counting to 10, telling myself that whatever had scared me wasn’t so bad. I imagined avoiding all the things that scared me. I’d have a picnic somewhere while my tumultuous insides righted themselves. >

11:09 A.M.

Today I’m working from home with my dog Lu, so I throw in a couple loads of laundry.

In our beloved 655-square-foot loft, we have a portable washing machine, which I wheel over and attach to the sink.

I switch the water settings to match the size of the load. I’ve always wondered if our washer is more or less waterefficient than a normal machine? ”The water efficiency of washing machines can be rated using the Water Factor (WF)—the smaller the WF, the more efficient the washer. A portable washing machine may require two or three loads compared to one load in a high efficiency washing machine. But a portable washer is appropriate for a loft, and may be more effective for the smaller loads that you and Lu might have.”

At drugstores, you can buy a variety of water-themed CDs: peacefully falling rain, crashing ocean waves, babbling brooks. They’re meant to be a soundtrack of tranquility, a natural salve. The idea is that water will wash over us, smooth our sharp bits, cradle us into sand.

There is some evidence that it works: People with anxiety have tried sensory deprivation tanks, float therapy, hydro-therapy, bubble baths, swimming, hot showers, cold showers. The idea is that, in doing so, we tame the water—make it small and containable—and, thus, we also tame ourselves. We submerge ourselves in its stillness and soothe the roiling within. We become silver mirrors.

SOAKING IT ALL IN But sometimes water Rani Sheen immerses herself in the Euro beauty ritual of taking the waters won’t be tamed. As ice, water reveals its dual nature: Hard The first thing you notice is the smell. Top notes of onion and egg usher in a rich heart and unyielding, it’s also easily note of farts, a clue to the teeming minerals residing in the warm, slightly murky waters shattered. The tides can tilt you gingerly lower yourself into. The next is a sense of blissful warmth that coaxes the earth, pull us under, spit us your muscles into a coma-like state of relaxation. Then, after a little while, you realize out. It can clog our throats, just your skin is eagerly soaking in the softening liquid, somehow not turning prune-y as easily as it can quench us. but emerging plump and radiating spa-given vitality. Call me Zsa Zsa Gabor, but I Living with anxiety is to accept recently spent some time indulging in the traditional beauty ritual of taking the thermal the often unwanted duality of waters, and while my nose wasn’t always thrilled about it, every inch of my skin was.

First I stop in at Budapest’s Szechenyi Baths, beloved by locals since 1913. Deep ourselves. As much as I want within an imposing, ornate building, Budapestians both hale and geriatric marinate themselves regularly to appear calm, composed, in a series of pools, using them as a de facto town square to catch up, grumble and flirt. It’s some of the and Insta-perfect, I’ve learned best nearly nude people-watching you’ll ever do. Later, at the elegant flagthat anxiety can bubble unbidship spa of Hungarian skincare brand Omorovicza, I enjoy a masterful facial den and quick, pitching me Skincare supercharged with massage using the brand’s luxurious potions, which harness the powers of into the deep end of chaos, the mineral bounty of thermal the hot springs owned by its aristocratic founding family. making me forget I ever knew water—minus the stench Next, I head to Uriage-les-Bains, a tiny town in the French Alps where how to swim. the namesake, newish-to-Canada skincare brand Uriage makes its highly I’ve suffered from anxiety concentrated thermal water spray—de-scented, should you be concerned about the onions—and other salves. Uriage runs this town, operating a Wes for a long time. Sometimes, Anderson-esque Grand Hotel and spa (with Michelin-starred restaurant) it feels like I have always had where guests can enjoy thermal mud slatherings and a pretty thermal pool. In that drowning feeling. But I the adjoining facility, French residents suffering from skin and other ailments know it got worse after I was enjoy their government’s health-promoting policy of paying for three weeks raped the summer before I of thermal water therapy, which sounds delightful until you realize that, in EAY THERMALE AVÈNE GENTLE almost drowned. It got worse EXFOLIATING GEL, $21, BEAUTYsome cases, the most potent, pungent form of that water is pumped directly BOUTIQUE.CA. CREMORLAB AQUA after I couldn’t tell anybody TANK HYDRO PLUS WATER-FULL into the nasal cavity. I file it away for future health complaint reference and MASK , $9, TAKEGOODCARE.CA . and, instead, sealed my throat OMOROVICZA OMORESSENCE, $120, repair to my private whirlpool filled with that precious elixir and enhanced NORDSTROM. URIAGE EAU THERwith ice. It got worse after MALE, $14, BEAUTYBOUTIQUE.CA with coloured lights, and wallow to my heart’s (and skin’s) content.

THEKIT.CA | OCTOBER 2017 |

compact

25

Canada, which makes Perrier, is part of Nestlé Waters, the largest bottled water company in the world. Since 2000, Nestlé Waters Canada has pumped water from wells near Guelph, Ont., and Hope, B.C. Nestlé paid $3.71 per million litres to take 3.6 million litres of ground water daily from its Aberfoyle, Ont., wellsite and paid nothing to extract about 265 million litres of water per year from Kakawa Lake, B.C. (until last year, when a $2.25 charge per 1 million litres was instituted).

Over 55 million cases of bottled water are shipped annually from the company’s plant near Aberfoyle.

Environmentalists have raised concerns about who should profit from local water supplies.”

(Desolée, Julia.)

26

TURNING OFF THE TAP Joana Lourenço on barely showering for a month

MAKING A SPLASH Julia Cooper spotlights two Canadian fashion brands driving the conservation conversation

When Adam Taubenfligel, the L I V E F A S T , D Y E H A R D Sabine Spare creates marbled creative director of Canadian prints that lend an artful touch to her Spare Label dresses, scarves denim company Triarchy, learned and totes, but what makes her work so unique lies beyond what that it takes 2,900 gallons of the eye can see: All of her pieces are made with non-toxic dyes, water to make a single pair of cotbiodegradable liquids and, wherever possible, recycled water. The ton jeans, he started rethinking importance of water conservation came into relief for the textile everything. That startling revelaartist during a residency in Oaxaca, Mexico. “In Toronto, we’re very tion came from The True Cost, a fortunate to have what can often feel like unlimited fresh water, 2015 documentary that chronicles but for most of the world this is far from the reality,” explains the wastefulness and exploitation Spare. “It’s imperative for us to put care into maintaining our of much of the fashion industry. natural resource.” Her advice for shopping with a conscience is “That doc ignited a fire that was simple: “Buy locally and ethically made quality items that will last.” impossible to put out,” says Taubenfligel, who paused production on his then five-year-old brand for 13 months while his team considered how they could move forward as a company with a conscience. This past summer, Triarchy moved their production to Mexico City and relaunched with a new mission to create sustainable, low-water denim. The factory it works with uses 85 per cent recycled water and each pair of Triarchy jeans requires 52 per cent less water than before. How can the regular denim lover begin their own re-education? “When you start your day, ask yourself how much water you’re wearing.”

I lived in San Francisco during California’s multi-year drought when the need to conserve water first felt urgent. When I heard about Mother Dirt’s Ao+Mist, which claims to replace soap—and, by extension, showers—I had to try it. Once a day, after a oneminute, no-soap shower, I’d do a head-to-toe spray of the mist, which contains billions of live bacteria that replenish the good microbes that conventional skincare products strip away. After an adjustment period marked by an onion-y smell and feeling like a human petri dish, my body adapted, and I imagined the bacteria blossoming over my skin into an TRIARCHY DENIM JACKET, $830, JEANS, $585, TRIARCHY.COM. invisible, protective garden. My skin felt healthier and SPARE LABEL CHANGE PURSE, $100, SPARELABEL.COM softer (and the B.O. eventually dissipated, yay!). The experiment helped me rethink cleanliness: Before, I had THE (POP) CULTURAL HISTORY OF WATER luxuriated in long, hot showers and Ranking H 2 O’s biggest hits, from smooth sailing to some pretty rough waters various soaps and scrubs. Now, I still use soap, when (and where) Spongebob TLC’s “Waterfalls” needed, but I turn off the Repping That’s some sage tap while scrubbing down. I affordable advice: “Don’t go figure it’s good for my skin digs via a chasing waterfalls. and the Earth, too. pineapple Please stick to the MOTHER DIRT AO+MIST, $60, MOTHERDIRT.COM

PHOTOGRAPHY: ISTOCKPHOTO (ICONS); LINDA ROY OF IREVA PHOTOGRAPHY (PELTIER USED IN COLLAGE)

But that’s not what happened. Everything that now scared me—and when my anxiety was truly winning, that list felt endless—my therapist made 2:31 P.M. me do. Do it again and again and again, she would I fill up my water say, until you know you can survive. Do it until you bottle, and Lu’s realize the point is not to shrink your world from a water dish, with raging river into a pond. The point is to learn how to tap water throughout navigate the raft to safety. The point is to know the the afternoon. danger is real, yes, but so is your strength.

“The water coming Slowly, I began to regain that strength. Every time out of your tap is I faced my fears—sharing the story of my assault, perfectly safe to drink. Toronto, for travelling alone—I regained pieces of myself, and I instance, tests used them to forge something new. I coughed up a water samples every little more of the bad stuff, leaving it behind, and I four to six hours, scooped up something new and beautiful, a kaleichecking for over doscope of stones and shells like memories that I 300 potential could bring back into myself. chemical contamIf I stumbled and receded, that inants to ensure was okay, too, because I would drinking water come back the next day, ready quality meets the criteria set by Health to inch forward again. That’s Canada and the how I began to heal. provinces. Bottled 1:13 P.M. Years after my almost water (classified At lunch, I like to drowning, but not so long after as a food) is not cosplay as a French I started therapy, I travelled subject to the same woman by drinking to Lake Huron, at the tip of regulations as municPerrier. A friend of Ontario. One stormy morning, ipal water supplies.” mine thinks it’s crazy the waves crashed like warring and wasteful to ship thunderbolts against the shore. water all the way It reminded me of the river almost half a lifetime from France, but joke is on her because ago. The air still smelled like adventure. I walked the label says it is forward, into the water, straight into a high and rollbottled in Guelph. ing wave. In that moment, I recognized a power far “Nestlé Waters beyond my own. And I did not turn away. n

under the sea since 1999.

rivers and the lakes that you’re used to.”

JT’s “Cry Me a River” Justin Timberlake’s 2002 hit (refresh: Britney Spears lookalike in the shower) was rebutted

by Britney’s “Everytime” (refresh: that tub scene).

SPOTLIGHT

TAKING THE PLUNGE

Teen activist Autumn Peltier wades fearlessly into the clean water debate

8:37 P.M.

Unlike most people, I prefer to have my shower in the evening. If I know I have to rush out the door or immediately get to work on my laptop, a morning shower feels too rushed.

My shower tonight takes nine minutes.

I only wash my hair twice a week, but those showers often hit the 15minute mark. As the weather gets colder, these showers only get longer.

“A nine-minute shower uses between 50 and 68 litres of water, while a 15-minute shower uses between 84 and 114 litres. That would fill your water bottle up between 100 and 228 times! You can install a highefficiency showerhead, but the easiest way to save water is to spend less time in the shower. Bring your phone into the bathroom and time yourself with the number of songs you get through— can you reduce it to one or two?”

(Psst, Julia: See the sidebar below for a couple playlist suggestions. )

There’s a literal watermark besmirching Canada’s seemingly picture-perfect public image: Indigenous access to clean water. As the country celebrated 150 years of confederation this past July, at least 150 Indigenous communities were under drinking water advisories.

That pockets of substandard living conditions exist in Canada is a fact 13-year-old Autumn Peltier has grappled with her whole life. She grew up in northern Ontario’s Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve surrounded by activist elders who schooled her on the environmental crisis.

Early on, she had the chilling realization that if she didn’t advocate for change, who would?

Peltier’s public profile has accelerated since she first began public speaking as a pre-teen. A 2015 invitation to the Children’s Climate Conference in Sweden was followed by winning Me to We’s 2016 Youth in Action Award and two separate meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

safe tap water since 1995—progress has trickled, and his government has green-lit environmentally threatening pipelines, such as Kinder Morgan.

The core of Peltier’s message remains consistent, whether she’s sharing it with skeptics or fellow believers: “Mother Earth doesn’t need us; we need her. She has been here for billions of years without us, and it took us less than a century to destroy her.” —Veronica Saroli

THE BIG SQUEEZE

In response to terrifying stats—like the news out of the UN that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will live in areas with “absolute water scarcity”—global financial experts are now predicting that water will become a publicly traded commodity by the end of the decade.

“MOTHER EARTH DOESN’T NEED US; WE NEED HER.” Peltier struggles to express how those meetings affected her, but she’s clear that neither of them were positive. “It made me feel like I was unheard,” she says about the first encounter.

The second time, she was supposed to remain quiet as she gave Trudeau a gift; instead she says, she “took the opportunity to tell him how I felt.”

While explaining how unhappy Trudeau’s environmental inaction made her, Peltier started crying.

“After that, all I could say is, ‘The pipelines.’” He told me, ‘I will protect the water.’” Despite that promise and Trudeau’s 2015 pledge at a Vice town hall that he would solve the drinking water advisory situation within five years—for perspective, Neskantaga First Nation’s residents haven’t had

Swimfan A.K.A. 85 minutes of teenage psycho-thriller action—Stanford, sex, steroids, stalking, swimming. Terrifed; can’t look away.

THEKIT.CA | OCTOBER 2017 |

Hokusai The Great Wave off Kanagawa or a liquid representation of your inner monologue— who’s to say?

compact

Waterworld Basically, the Mad Max of the ocean.

Heart, meet palps.

Oh, and there’s Kevin Costner. This can go either way.

Return to the Blue Lagoon Beautiful shipwrecked children are able to survive treacherous island conditions, but not an 11 per cent Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Jersey Shore The hot-tub-obsessed cast made Barbara Walters’s “Most Fascinating People” list in 2010. So, some things have gotten better.

27

THEKIT.CA New season. New site.

We gave our website a makeover just in time for fall, and it looks fierce.

DON’T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT — HEAD OVER TO THEKIT.CA AND SEE FOR YOURSELF

@THEKIT

@THEKITCA

THEKITCA

THEKITCA

CURRENT MOOD

FIRE IT UP

Fan the flames with blazing confidence and the season’s spicy, don’t-mess-with-me hues 4

5 3 1

2

6

11 8

10

7

12

9

13

PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER STIGTER (RUNWAY AND BACKSTAGE BEAUTY)

14

17

15 16

1. BIANNUAL COAT, $525, BIANNUAL.COM. 2 . BACKSTAGE AT FENDI. 3. WILD AND WOOLLY EARRINGS, $145, SSENSE.COM. 4. BACKSTAGE AT PROENZA SCHOULER. 5. CLUB MONACO PANTS, $229, CLUBMONACO.CA. 6. COOLA MINERAL LIPLUX SPF 30 IN BONFIRE, $29, COOLASUNCARE.CA. 7. NARCISO RODRIGUEZ RUNWAY. 8. CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN SHOES, $1,425, SIMILAR STYLES AT CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN, TORONTO. 9. HOT CORAL LIPS AT TOPSHOP UNIQUE. 10. LASHES ON FIRE AT PUCCI. 11. TOD’S RUNWAY. 12. J.W. ANDERSON BAG, $1,855, MATCHESFASHION.COM. 13. CLARINS SUPER RESTORATIVE INSTANT LIFT SERUM MASK, $22, CLARINS.CA. 14. BUTTER LONDON GLAZEN NAIL LACQUER IN FIRECRACKER, $14, BUTTERLONDON.CA. 15. TWO-TONE GLOSSY FLAME LIPS AT JASON WU. 16. ZADIG & VOLTAIRE TOP, $645, ZADIG-ET-VOLTAIRE.COM. 17. VIONNET RUNWAY

THEKIT.CA | OCTOBER 2017 |

compact

29

TRUE COLOURS Self-expression rules. Five trans and non-binary beauty originals test drive the best natural makeup and talk about the power of what we put on our faces

By Samra Habib Photography by Stefania Yarhi

Those of us who don’t fit into conventional beauty norms often have a fraught relationship with them. Mainstream beauty culture hasn’t typically been inclusive of queer, trans, nonbinary and gender-non-conforming people, but the tide is turning, thanks to trailblazers like model Hari Nef, who stars in a current Gucci fragrance campaign; author Janet Mock, who writes a beauty column on allure. com; and actor Laverne Cox, who recently designed a nail polish collection with Orly.

It’s a shift worth celebrating: Since the tools of beauty can be a powerful vehicle for selfexpression—and offer an opportunity to shift preconceived notions about gender—we invited five makeup lovers to play with a pile of all-natural cosmetics. Then, together with makeup artist Ronnie Tremblay, they created a look that makes them feel like themselves.

OMAR, ARTIST

“When I started playing with makeup, glitter felt the most comfortable to use. I thought it looked really beautiful.

There isn’t a specific technique required, and it doesn’t have to be perfect. I love how it changes with light, because in my art, I’m obsessed with how subjects respond to lighting.

When I do a performance, it’s an opportunity for me to be everything I’d like to be—I have complete control over how I’d like to present myself.

When I wear makeup, it’s ultimately to feel comfortable in whatever I’m doing. I often feel unsafe when I’m walking home at night, wearing makeup and a shiny shirt. But I don’t let that fear determine who I should be and how I should behave. I surround myself with people who are queer and accept me.”

OMAR’S PICKS: BURT’S BEES LIP BALM IN WILD CHERRY, $5, BURTSBEES.CA. GLITTER, OMAR’S OWN

CAROLINA, PERFORMANCE ARTIST

HEATH, WRITER/DRAG ACTIVIST/PERFORMER

CAROLINA’S PICKS: SAPPHO NEW PARADIGM LIQUID FOUNDATION IN 10, $63, THETRUTHBEAUTYCOMPANY.COM. JUICE BEAUTY PHYTO-PIGMENTS LAST LOOKS BLUSH IN PEONY, $30, HOLTRENFREW.COM. BURT’S BEES LIPSTICK IN RUSSET RIVER, $10, BURTSBEES.CA

HEATH’S PICKS: DR. HAUSCHKA FOUNDATION IN ALMOND, $49, WHOLE FOODS. PLUME NOURISH & DEFINE BROW POMADE IN ENDLESS MIDNIGHT, $38, THEDETOXMARKET.CA. RITUAL DE FILLE ENCHANTED LIP SHEER IN DEVIL’S CLAW, $29, THENATURALCURATOR.CA

“Makeup can be quite empowering: Whenever I need to speak hard truths in public, it provides a ‘shield’ that supports my confidence. And if I’m having a low-energy day, I know I can count on makeup to cheer me up. My grandmother was a powerful role model for me. Every time I put makeup on, I’m reminded that she didn’t use any in her daily life and yet had a presence unrivalled by anyone else. I try to channel that power when I’m getting ready to go out, and that’s how I know when my makeup is done.”

“As a trans non-binary person, I often get asked how I can be non-binary if I wear lipstick.

[People think] that must make me a girl. So I tell them, ‘Haven’t you ever seen a boy wear lipstick? That’s how.’ I’ve found it always brings out some smiles.

Beauty and makeup to me are like a playground. I like to paint myself in a way that makes me smile and wear clothes that excite me. I like to make sure that they serve as a manifestation or expression of my identity rather than something I need in order to define myself.”

BEAUTY TALK

MADDIE, ARTIST

“My relationship with beauty is a little complicated. It’s hard for people not to read me as a straight cis woman.

I recognize how that’s privilege, but it can also be super isolating and confusing. For a while I tried to hype up my masculinity through clothing, but now I’m slowly getting to a place where I try to dress and present myself to reflect how I feel that morning.

Sometimes when I’m feeling really masculine, I can sculpt that through clothing and makeup. Other days I’m totally okay with being really femme-presenting, but that doesn’t change who I am as a person. Makeup always makes me feel powerful. I really love the ritual of sitting down and trying to decide what I might add to my face to make it more exciting.”

MADDIE’S PICKS: ELATE GODDESS GLOW BRONZER, $24, CLOVE & HALLOW LIP GLAZE IN BUBBLY, $20, THETRUTHBEAUTYCOMPANY.COM

NATURAL BOUNTY The plant- and mineral-based makeup our subjects liked best

BURT’S BEES LIPSTICK IN RUSSET RIVER, $10, BURTSBEES.CA

JUICE BEAUTY PHYTO-PIGMENTS LAST LOOKS BLUSH IN PEONY, $30, HOLTRENFREW.COM

DR. HAUSCHKA FOUNDATION IN ALMOND, $49, WHOLE FOODS.

FAITH, COUNSELLOR

MAKEUP: RONNIE TREMBLAY FOR TEAMM

“I’m a non-binary person, meaning that I don’t identify as a man or woman. I would describe my style as ‘tomboy femme.’ I always have my nails done up in Shellac, and I’m either wearing baggy or skinny pants and a crop top or a baggy band shirt. My style depends on how I’m feeling and how much bullshit I want to deal with during the day.

For this shoot, I brought a couple of inspiration shots of looks from cult ’90s films: Clea DuVall in The Faculty and Angelina Jolie in Hackers. I was born in 1987 and I watched both of those movies as a kid and I listened to grunge music. The makeup and clothing aesthetics just stuck with me.”

THEKIT.CA | OCTOBER 2017 |

compact

FAITH’S PICK: ALIMA PURE NATURAL DEFINITION EYE PENCIL IN INK, $23, THEDETOXMARKET.CA

ELATE GODDESS GLOW BRONZER, $24, THETRUTHBEAUTYCOMPANY.COM

CLOVE & HALLOW LIP GLAZE IN BUBBLY, $20, THETRUTHBEAUTYCOMPANY.COM

PLUME NOURISH & DEFINE BROW POMADE IN ENDLESS MIDNIGHT, $38, THEDETOXMARKET.CA

ALIMA PURE NATURAL DEFINITION EYE PENCIL IN INK, $23, THEDETOXMARKET.CA

RITUEL DE FILLE ENCHANTED LIP SHEER IN DEVIL’S CLAW, $29, THENATURALCURATOR.CA

31

BODY LANGUAGE

The most long-term relationship you’ll have is with your body and your bits. (Forever status: It’s complicated.) Here’s how six women got serious about feeling themselves

We asked illustrator LeeAndra Cianci and writer Briony Smith to track the evolution of how (a lot of) women feel about their bods.

B A L L E R : B -A- L- L- E - R Briony Smith on stripping off at a spelling bee There are, I’m sure, worse texts to get in response to sending your boyfriend a picture of your butt, but a terse “nice” then abruptly changing the subject isn’t exactly the type of slobbering excitement I was hoping for. What man wouldn’t be ecstatic to receive this tasteful nude? Mine, apparently.

“It’s my stern Scottish heritage!” he cried when I told him how bummed his apathy made me. “Too racy for my blood.”

My belfie wasn’t the only thing he found distasteful; he decided, on my DEPT. OF SEX: CONSENT EDITION beh a l f, t h at I wa sn’t Virtual reality is using its power for good: During ready to settle down, an experiment at Emory University and Georgia that my wild nature and Tech, women wore VR headsets to “walk” penchant for parties and through a nightclub and practise saying “no” naked pics excluded me to weird dudes who make them uncomfortable.

Researchers at Southern Methodist University as a candidate for marfound that participants who learned to say no riage or motherhood. in VR simulations were more likely to reject That breakup was unwanted advances in real life. Take that, Chad! rough: not because I still loved him, but because he made me question whether I was worth loving at all. I stopped dating, slithering into self-doubt. His judgment quashed my boldness, rendering me weak and unsure of who I was. During my post-breakup stupor, one of the few events I would drag myself to for some small titillation and general life affirmation was the Strip Spelling Bee. There are three rounds; participants who misspell a (near-impossible) word have to remove one-third of their clothes, getting down to their undies—or naked—by the final round. I hadn’t had the courage to compete, so I cheered on the brave people showing off their different bodies and a glorious confidence I once had. They looked free.

Seven months into the breakup, the Halloween edition of the bee rolled around. That night, I heaved myself out of bed to pick through outfit options and threw on Drake to get a little pep going, swaying along to “Hold On, We’re Going Home.”

I paused, mid-shimmy. “Maybe you should strip tonight” 32

suddenly popped into my head as clear as a white cartoon thought bubble. Fear bloomed in my chest, and I panicked: “What if I look silly?” This didn’t feel right. “No,” I thought.

“I won’t do it.” But that made me feel even more anxious. I realized it wasn’t the idea of showing off my body to a crowd that didn’t feel right. It was my own fear that was torturing me. Fear wasn’t who I was. I was the kind of girl that sent a butt pic to her joyless boyfriend! Or I used to be. I had to get her back. My ex may not have wanted to see my bare behind, but I knew where to find a room of 100 people who did.

So, there I sat with my five fellow contestants in the front row at the bee, a vodka and soda jiggling in my hand. I had chosen a jaunty nautical costume with anchor-print shorts, a blue button-up, navy scarf and a sailor cap. Suddenly, it was my turn. I strode onto the stage in my red leather peep-toe heels and up to the mic. Have you ever been pushed into an icy lake? That is what standing in front of a bar full of people waiting for you strip naked feels like. The adrenaline hit caused my face to start trembling uncontrollably.

Of course, I got all three of my words wrong. I worried that the second I had to strip, the shaking could get worse—the fear would come back, take over. But, as the music and the screaming started up, it was just like dancing to Drake in my bedroom. First round: “bdelloid” (microscopic leech-like thing). I slowly unbuttoned my shirt, peeled off my shorts, showing the lacy red lingerie underneath. Then, “tjaele” (ground that is permanently frozen). The shaking stopped.

I pulled the top over my head, then slipped off the bottoms, uncovering the last layer: strappy Marlies Dekkers bra and pink silk Roberto Cavalli panties. The more I exposed, the more powerful I felt. Final round: “ocellus” (coloured spot giving the appearance of an eye). I turned away from the audience to take off my bra, then swiveled around to reveal the seashells covering my nipples before tossing them into the roaring crowd. Finally, I reached down and whipped off my panties. There I stood, completely naked—but for a sailor cap and heels—in front of 100 cheering strangers, laid bare and born anew, myself once more. n

FEAR WASN’T WHO I WAS. I WAS THE KIND OF GIRL THAT SENT A BUTT PIC TO HER JOYLESS BOYFRIEND!

VOICES

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK Christina Gonzales on owning her stretch marks I was in grade five—10 years old— when I got my period. Within a year, I grew perky, A-cup boobs, my hips widened and I spurted up to be taller than all my male cousins. I never really grew again after that. It wasn’t until I bought my first thong at 12, that I realized that I had stretch marks—unruly, silver lines that looked like asymmetrical spider webs—all over my hips. I stood in front of my fulllength mirror wearing a black,

cotton thong, and instead of feeling young and beautiful, all I felt was shame.

My stretch marks haunted me for more than a decade. I refused to have sex in well-lit rooms. If I had to wear a bikini, on holiday, at the cottage, or at the pool with friends, I’d spend hours alone in my bedroom, in my bikini bottoms, inspecting my marks. I bought endless bottles of Bio-Oil, shea butter and vitamin E capsules, and rubbed them in every night.

The marks wouldn’t fade. For 14 years, my stretch marks were my biggest insecurity.

I met Brandon at a club when I was 26. He was an engineer from

Sacramento who was in town on business, but only for a few nights.

We had sex in his hotel room, under the harsh, bright lights of the bathroom mirror. He whispered, “Look at yourself.” My hips were exposed—I was used to looking away. It was the first moment I saw myself as sexy, and the feeling was overpowering.

That was my sexual awakening. My entire perception shifted: My body, as a whole, was greater than the sum of its parts. It was a vessel for self-love, pleasure and satisfaction. I didn’t need to obsess over my stretch marks anymore.

They became irrelevant—now, I often forget they’re there.

DEPT. OF SEX: CELESTIAL EDITION

A trend drifting out of New Age circles, astral sex is when your soul leaves your physical body and has sex with another astral being. Here’s (kinda) how you do it: Lie flat on your back with your palms facing upward; relax into a meditative state; imagine sitting up out of your body; notice a silver chord going from your physical forehead to the navel of your astral body. As sex counsellor Erin Pavlina explains, “You can have sex while astral with another astral playmate. You can also have sex with a demon or low vibrational entity.” May the force be with you.

Sometimes, though, I catch a glimpse of them when I’m making love to my fiancé in our sun-lit, 18th-floor condo, as he runs his hands over my hips. The only feeling that floods me in those moments? Pure delight. n

TOY BOX THREE NEW WAYS TO PLAY If you slay

“ADMITTING TO MASTURBATION WAS UNFATHOMABLE.”

DEPT. OF SEX: ARMAGGEDON EDITION

I grew up with deeply religious parents. My mother had the ‘birds and bees’ talk with me when I was 18, in her parked car outside the gynaecologist’s office, clinging white-knuckled to the steering wheel. It ended with ‘Every time you have sex with someone it takes a little piece of your soul.’

Admitting to masturbation was unfathomable. As a woman, there’s power in taking back your sexuality on your own terms. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a woman who hasn’t been subjected to sexual harassment, manipulation, and/or abuse in their lifetime. To spend some time every week focusing on nothing but your own satisfaction, may be a tiny act of resistance, but it can be incredibly empowering.

It also equates to independence for me: No partner has ever been able to do to me what I can do solo with a vibrator in 15 minutes.

—Megan*, 29

Peeps with $7,200 to spare can now customize their own sex robot via Real Doll. The handmade creations boast heated body parts and some of them can even be programmed to talk based on built-in personality traits (“Jealousy,” for example, elicits a high-pitched “Take that girl off Facebook.”) No word yet if “Schadenfreude” is a programmable option, but we humbly submit that a high-pitched “Hahahaha” is a fitting response to the recent warning by cybersecurity scientists that hackers could program these robots to kill their mates.

“WOMEN ALLOWING THEMSELVES TO EXPERIENCE PLEASURE IS A TURNING POINT.”

It’s difficult for me not to feel afraid to talk

“THAT FIRST ORGASM CHANGED ME.” When I was 18, I was home alone, in my bedroom, and I started touching myself—I had no idea what I was doing, other than it felt good, then better and better, until it was just ‘Whoa!’ That first orgasm changed me. I couldn’t believe I could make myself feel that good. Beyond the physical sensation, what excited me was that the orgasm belonged to me; it made me feel like I had control over my body at a time when I didn’t have control over much else. It took me a while to feel confident enough to be my own person, but that was an important first step along that path. —Victoria, 36 *names have been changed

BROAD CITY YAS KWEEN 10 FUNCTION BULLET, $22, LOVEHONEY.COM

If you cray

Next-gen phone sex arrives courtesy of the Sex Selfie Stick vibrator, which has a tiny camera that can snap orgasm pics from the inside.

Bonus (or…not): The device can be connected to FaceTime.

SVAKOM SIIME SEX SELFIE STICK USB RECHARGEABLE VIDEO CAMERA VIBRATOR, $155, LOVEHONEY.COM

ILLUSTRAION: LEEANDRA CIANCI; TEXT: HEATHER STEWART (SIDEBARS)

TOUCH DOWN Let’s talk scoring with yourself

NO PARTNER HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO DO TO ME WHAT I CAN DO SOLO WITH A VIBRATOR IN 15 MINUTES.

about masturbation. I’m a rape survivor, and that experience can affect how I think about my sexuality. The best way I’ve found to overcome shame is by asking friends who are down to talk about their experiences to share their stories; they make me brave.

Women allowing themselves to be happy and experience pleasure—most importantly, just for themselves—is a turning point. It’s important to me to bring this discussion to people, especially young girls, who aren’t hearing any of this information at school and are being taught to feel bad about pretty much everything.

When we get happier, we get better at destroying the patriarchy. —Ariana, 22

Broad City celebrates its fourth season with a line of sex toys, including lube, pocket Kegel balls and a mini vibe emblazoned with “Yas Kween.”

If you clay

The Clone-a-Willy kit comes with all the algae-based moulding powder and silicone solution you need to create a dildo that is an exact replica of your man’s penis. Who needs Chia pets?

CLONE-A-WILLY, $50, CLONEAWILLY.COM

33

LAST WORD EEVRYWHERE-ELSE COLD

CITY COLD

What is a toque without a completely impractical, but extra pretty veil?

Nothing, it seems.

FORCE OF NATURE

White-out conditions call for an over-stuffed, beacon-like puffer.

Assist the inimitable (and underdressed) Leeloo from The Fifth Element with her winter-weather prep

This chic, Canadian-made coat is reversible, meaning you can blend into the monochromatic city crowd in a snap.

Leather pants are a zero on the comfort scale, but in terms of wind protection?

Extremely high.

SENTALER COAT, $1,595, SENTALER.CA. JENNIFER BEHR HAT, $770, JENNIFERBEHR.COM. THERMA KOTA COAT, $1,335, THERMAKOTA.COM. GAP TOP, $55, GAPCANADA.CA. STUART WEITZMAN SHOES, $825, STUARTWEITZMAN.CA

34

MONCLER COAT, $3,620, MONCLER.COM. SERENGETI SUNGLASSES, $300, SERENGETI. CANADA GOOSE JACKET, $1,095, CANADAGOOSE.COM. SOREL SHOES, $230, SORELFOOTWEAR.CA. GANNI PANTS, $705, GANNI.COM

compact

ILLUSTRATION: AVERY KUA

The higher the heel, the further the puddles. #fact

| OCTOBER 2017 | THEKIT.CA

DISCOVER THE GENIUS OF LIQUID CARE

©2017 L’Oréal Canada

[ OUR 1ST ALOE WATER MOISTURIZER FOR FRESH GLOWING SKIN AND 72H OF HYDRATION. ]

Xiao Wen Ju

NEW

HYDRA GENIUS

TM

LIQUID CARE TECHNOLOGY CLINICAL RESULT FORMULAS HOW IT WORKS

QUENCHING ALOE WATER AND 3 HYALURONIC ACIDS 72 HOURS OF INTENSE AND CONTINUOUS HYDRATION ONE FOR EACH SKIN TYPE: OILY, DRY AND EXTRA-DRY LIGHTWEIGHT LIQUID MOISTURIZER, PENETRATES INSTANTLY

3,600 SCIENTISTS, 6 RESEARCH CENTRES WORLDWIDE. DEDICATED TO BEAUTIFUL SKIN AT EVERY AGE. BECAUSE WE’RE ALL WORTH IT.

hydragenius.lorealparis.ca

[ ALOE WATER ]