The Kit Compact September 2017 by The Kit

SEPTEMBER 2017

A NEW HOPE Meet Generation Z: the stylish, spunky, boundary-smashing teens taking on the future

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Join our reader panel

PHOTOGRAPHY BY AARON WYNIA

Give us the scoop on what you love and what you want a little more of in The Kit Compact

V I S I T T H E K I T.C A /C O M PA C T- R E A D E R - PA N E L-S E P T E M B E R T O S I G N U P N O W

EDITOR’S LETTER

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Laura deCarufel @LauradeCarufel

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Jessica Hotson @jesshotson EXECUTIVE EDITOR

PHOTOGRAPHY: CARYLE ROUTH (DECARUFEL); GETTY IMAGES (TRUDEAUS, STYLES,AEROBICS, WHAM). HAIR AND MAKEUP: SHERI STROH FOR PLUTINO GROUP/GREENBEAUTY.CA (DECARUFEL)

Kathryn Hudson (on leave) @hudsonkat BEAUTY DIRECTOR

GENERATION X

FASHION EDITOR

Flashy, ironic, jaded. Growing up in the ’80s, the “me decade,” encouraged an obsession with surfaces and style—see Madonna, the orig material girl.

Rani Sheen @ranisheen

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 COLLAB DIRECTOR

Evie Begy eb@thekit.ca

SENIOR INNOVATIONS DESIGNER

Amber Hickson

COLLAB COORDINATOR

Sarah Chan

MARKETING COORDINATOR

Nikki Lewis

CONTRIBUTORS

Anna Barseghian, Lydia Beauregard, Veronica Chu, Julia Cooper, Maya Fuhr, Sarah Gonzales, Marne Grahlman, Danielle Groen, Nicola Lawford, Hamin Lee, Luis Mora, Laura-Lynn Petrick, Madeline Poole, Hilary Riem, Wendy Rorong, Sheri Stroh, Karima Sumar, Gemma Warren INTERNS

PRESIDENT AND CEO, TORSTAR, AND PUBLISHER, TORONTO STAR

John Boynton

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, TORONTO STAR

Michael Cooke

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT Sometimes you feel it: the ripple of change slowly building into a wave—a new generation rising. At The Kit Compact, we had an inkling that today’s teens were different. There’s something about their second-nature outspokenness and their unapologetic interest in both fashion and feminism, their florid use of emojis. What was beneath the surface? We dove in; we went deep. All summer, we talked to teens about what they like, what they love, what outrages them, what scares them. After we zeroed in on who we wanted to feature—typical teens, not inventors or Olympians —we were even more inspired. “Teens!” an editor would groan with delight after she got off the phone with an insanely articulate 16-year-old feminist who professed both love for Selena Gomez and a desire to become a doctor. Any attempt to sum up a generation should be viewed as just that: an attempt. In this issue, we tried to showcase the traits that we saw over and over again in Generation Z: the confidence, fierce originality and unbowed commitment to fight for a future they believe they deserve. We also tried to pay tribute to the heart-searing hope they gave us. I read the first draft of “Courage, My Love” (page 6) in the back of a cab, gratefully accepting tissues from the driver as I teared up over writer Danielle Groen’s portrait of 13-year-old Riley, captured in all her vulnerability and strength on that tender, teetering precipice between childhood and adulthood. At the shoot for “The New Queen Bees” (page 12), the five teens—our take on the 2017 version of the “popular girl,” artists, activists and athletes— displayed a similar fearless spirit. When I was 16, my focus was basically on eating Cheetos, but these teens thoughtfully answered questions about politics and popularity and posed

THEKIT.CA | SEPTEMBER 2017 |

with ease for photographer Maya Fuhr’s camera. Then there were the women our fashion editor Jillian Vieira spoke to about their faith for “The Believers” (page 22). So much beauty in that story, but this line, from 19-year-old Chana, stands out for me: “Soon I was introduced to feminism, and I learned the words to the tune I had been singing my whole life.” (I mean. Joy.) “Women Are the Future of Film” (page 28) is the thread that ties the whole issue together: It celebrates talented Canadians in the movies and explores the female gaze—how women view each other and themselves via the omnipresent screen. If you’re lucky, as a magazine editor, every issue you work on helps you see the world a little differently. Sometimes there’s that rare issue that goes farther and changes how you live your life. The women we spoke to in this issue did that for me. They reaffirmed my belief in the power of hope and the importance of will. They believe they can do anything. I believe in them.

WE TALKED TO TEENS ABOUT WHAT THEY LIKE, WHAT THEY LOVE, WHAT SCARES THEM.

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GENERATION Y Earnest, indie, upbeat. Monica and Rachel’s Friends apartment exemplified the dream of boho living co-opted by the capitalist class: that purple wall! That window! The expectation of making NYC rent on a barista’s paycheque.

GENERATION Z LAURA DE CARUFEL, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @thekitca

@thekit

thekitca

Inclusive, compassionate, radical. Today’s teens embrace owning your individuality, inspired by pioneering role models like Issa Rae and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

ON THE COVER PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAYA FUHR. MAKEUP: VERONICA CHU FOR COVERGIRL. NAILS: MADELINE POOLE FOR SALL Y HANSEN. HAIR: WENDY RORONG FOR PLUTINO GROUP/ORIBE. MAKEUP ASSISTANT: KARIMA SUMAR FOR JUDY INC. CREATIVE DIRECTION: JESSICA HOTSON

COURAGE, MY LOVE

Riley is smart, spirited and entering the turbulent world of teendom. A portrait of a thoroughly modern 13-year-old by Danielle Groen Illustration by Sarah Gonzales Riley King is 13 and a half years old, with dark brown curls she tends to wear down to cover ears that stick out further than she would like. Maybe 40 per cent of her wide-open face is sprinkled with freckles; at least 80 per cent of her five-seven frame is made up of legs. Because it’s summer, she has on denim cut-offs, and because she’s a teenager, those cut-offs are exceptionally short. Riley also wears a pink Brandy Melville T-shirt that says MALIBU on it and that she happened to get in California, where she and her parents and her sister and Nicole, a best friend, went in the spring. For 10 straight days before the trip, Riley did a boatload of research on YouTube so when they arrived at Disneyland, she’d know all the tricks: which rides were good, which lines were slow, where to take a picture, where to find a decent churro. Riley does her homework. She wants a loft bed, so she pulled the dimensions from Ikea’s website, marked them on her lilac walls with pieces of hockey tape, then marched her parents in to prove it would fit. She just priced out a monthly Netflix subscription, per screen, per family member, in a last-ditch attempt to persuade her dad to sign up. “It’s going to be exactly like Spotify, which he didn’t want to get, and which the whole family loves now,” she says, leaning forward, curls quivering under the weight of her conviction. “I’m like, ‘Everyone’s going to love Netflix, and everyone’s going to thank me for convincing Dad!’” Riley lives five GO Train stops west of downtown Toronto, in a Mississauga split-level that has a sprawling lawn in the front and a trampoline in the back. She’s been in the house since she was three and can name-check all the kids on her street: There’s Peter, who’s in high school, and his younger brother, Mikey; there’s Mitchell across from them, and also Sean; Katrina moved, though they’re going together to Canada’s Wonderland; Lucas, another best friend, used to be skinny like Riley but now he’s a champion canoer with a six-pack—it’s kind of weird. Up until March, Riley shared that lilac bedroom with Dilyn, her 11-year-old sister, and there are footprints on the ceiling from when Riley, who had the top bunk, would walk up the wall when she couldn’t sleep. Dilyn has Riley’s brown hair and some of her freckles but none of her height: She’s barely tall enough to ride Wonderland’s Behemoth. Riley also says Dilyn is “getting really sassy,” while she has safely passed her sassy phase. When they were younger, Riley and Dilyn would talk before bedtime, mostly about school or trips they were taking, but sometimes about serious stuff, like their cat Puddin’ having to be put down. Then Riley started bringing her iPad and headphones to bed, and they didn’t talk as much, so it made sense to split up. She was scared she wouldn’t be able to sleep by herself—Riley still gets nervous before sleepovers—but so far, it’s been okay. Riley’s strongest memories are of triumphs and losses, and often they’ll collide in a single anecdote.

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| SEPTEMBER 2017 | THEKIT.CA

PROFILE

She remembers, as a preschooler, being separated from her grandma at Centre Island, but having the presence of mind to ask a woman with a baby to help track her grandma down. She remembers the night the tooth fairy claimed her final tooth, and feeling a hand slip under her pillow, and knowing in her hazy halfsleep that the hand belonged to her mother and the tooth fairy wasn’t real—but waking the next morning to find a trail of coins that stretched all the way to her window, and making 24 bucks. She remembers getting to play on the boys’ hockey team at eight, but that she “scored one goal that whole year and that’s because the goalie was waving to his parents.” She tells this last story with a slightly cocked head and a deadpan tone; 13 is not too young for self-deprecation. When she mentions the departed Puddin’, she makes sure to note that “this cat loved the whole family but he hated me. I tried to love the cat. I tried so hard. I used to go to pet it and it would just hiss and walk away.” Riley’s family isn’t religious, so she hasn’t given much thought to the subject of God, but she’s a fervent believer in the power of karma. It’s why she wanted to be kind to the cat and why, at the gym, she’ll offer to spot girls who are working out on their own. Mostly, though, she’s motivated by a fear of cosmic retribution. “If you’re really mean, karma will haunt you,” Riley says. She knows this because she once slapped her sister, hard, then spun on her heel and walked straight into a door. Hockey is the other guiding force in Riley’s life, its presence detectable in everything from the app on her phone that turns the rec room lights Habs-red to the photos on her wall of Riley with assorted peewee teams, each one featuring a tangle of girls beaming up from the ice, helmets thrown off and arms intertwined. Riley plays left wing for the Mississauga Chiefs and is not remotely afraid to go after the puck. For this reason, and also, she swears, because of her height (most of the players are small and sometimes “the momentum of my skating kind of flops them over”), she had the most penalty minutes on her team this season. In fact, she had more penalty minutes than the entire Etobicoke Dolphins team combined. Riley is not opposed to a bit of daydreaming—she likes to picture herself in Paris, standing before the Eiffel Tower, gamely chatting in French to anyone who walks by—but when it comes to imagining a future in hockey, pragmatism intrudes. She doesn’t talk about hoisting the Stanley Cup above her shoulders; she hopes that by the time she’s older, there will be a proper women’s NHL, where the players all get paid a fair wage. She ticks off the double standards of being a girl in this game: There’s no hitting allowed at any level, even though boys can

make contact as early as peewee. Girls go watch the boys play hockey, but the favour is hardly ever repaid. Boys flood their social media with shots of post-game celebrations, while girls are forbidden from having phones in the change room. “The leagues don’t want to be sued, obviously,” Riley says. Parents can live with shirtless boys high-fiving each other on Instagram, but she knows they get very, very nervous about the possibility of a girl caught in only her bra. Even before she got her period last November, Riley had begun to intuit that possessing a girl’s body brings with it a distinct set of risks. Two years ago, when she was on Musical.ly, a lip-syncing video app, she received a message from a stranger that said, “Hey cutie, can you send me a picture, no clothes.” Last year, she heard that a girl around her age was assaulted in a skating-rink bathroom by someone she knew from Snapchat. Earlier this summer, Riley was on Queen Street, and an adult man drawled, “You are so beautiful” as he walked by. “There will always be that one creepy guy that looks at you and you just walk a little faster,” she says. “But I’m getting stronger now: I work out three days a week. If someone was trying to hurt me, I wouldn’t care—I’d punch him.” She says this with the same level stare she uses for declarations about karma, but at other times, Riley can sound less defiant. Last year, out of nowhere and in the middle of class, she suffered an anxiety attack: Her heart started racing, she had a knot in her stomach, her eyes began to water, and she couldn’t make it stop. On her way to sleepovers, she is given to panicking in the passenger seat. “I feel like it’ll end up a disaster, and I’ll completely regret it,” she says. “I kind of keep thinking, ‘Oh no, I’m going to be screwed, how am I going to do this, what’s going to happen, what have I done.’” Her mom took her to a counsellor, who walked Riley through some exercises to help stop the spiralling thoughts—breathe in to a count of six, hold for a count of six, breathe out to a count of six. “Now,” she says, “if I’m really scared, I just tell myself it’s going to be okay. There’s nothing wrong that’s going to happen.” When September rolls around, Riley won’t be returning with her classmates to their old school; instead, she’ll start a brand-new school designed for highperforming athletes in grades six to eight. She’ll train on the ice, mostly with boys, in the morning, then take regular classes in the afternoon. She worries about not knowing anybody there, and getting lost on her way back from the bathroom, though she has a contingency plan to find her fellow eighth-graders: Just follow the tall kids. But she’ll miss what’s familiar. On the final day of grade seven, Alison, a best friend, presented Riley with

“IF SOMEONE WAS TRYING TO HURT ME, I WOULDN’T CARE—I’D PUNCH HIM.”

an enormous homemade card and started to cry, which made Riley start to cry, and a bunch of girls around them cry, and everyone piled onto their buses, still crying, and went home. Then they all talked on Snapchat. Riley’s phone is the fixed point in a changing world. She reassures herself that she’ll message and Facetime her old friends if she’s lonely in her new school. She’s always been responsible for the music before a hockey game, and she has a Spotify playlist ready— “Despacito,” AC/DC, Drake’s cleaner songs—for this year’s teammates. Her mom is perpetually reachable: She’s the one Riley texted, hands unsteady below her desk, when that first anxiety attack came on. Sleepovers became easier once she figured out to slip in her earphones and cue up something quiet. That phone is also Riley’s gateway to the world of dating. There’s an established practice now for kids who like each other: Open Instagram, let Instagram direct you to their Snapchat, go ahead and add each other, use Snapchat to talk. Riley explains, only a little derisively, that this is called wheeling, and when you talk every day, wheeling tips into dating. Dating doesn’t strictly require being together—that’s not a euphemism; you don’t physically need to be in the same room—which is why Amanda, another best friend, has had loads of boyfriends, even though she’s maybe only met half of them. One boyfriend lives a few streets from Riley, and the three of them hung out on a frigid January afternoon. “It was so awkward. He kissed her, and I was just there, and my phone was dead so I couldn’t go on Snapchat,” she says. “I just walked behind them and, like, kicked sticks around, until finally I said, ‘Okay, I think my mom wants me home.’” Amanda is known as a Sauga Pop, short for Mississauga Popular: Whenever Riley mentions her name in a hockey change room, everyone’s already heard of her, because everyone already follows her on Instagram. Amanda doesn’t bother waiting for guys to wheel her. Amanda takes the wheel. Riley’s nursed a couple of crushes, but when pressed about dating, she jokes that it’s tricky to have a boyfriend since she’s “like seven feet taller than all of those guys.” She doesn’t appear in a hurry to start seeing somebody; she sounds, frankly, a bit exhausted by the whole thing. “There’s a lot of boy-crazy girls right now,” she says. “There’s a lot of talking and talking about boys.” She considers it a symptom of being 13. But she likes this age plenty—she likes that it’s when you meet your really good friends, the ones you can tell anything to, and that you’re allowed to go with them alone to Wonderland or the Square One mall. “It’s almost like you’re still a kid, but you’re trusted to do a lot more things than a kid would do.” She turns this around in her head a little longer, stabbing a straw at the remnants of her strawberry frappuccino, its creamy pastel colour the same exact pink as her MALIBU shirt. “Thirteen is kind of inbetween,” Riley offers, then slurps the last of her drink. n

ILLUSTRATIONS: LYDIA BEAUREGARD (ADVICE)

TELL US What advice would you give your 13-year-old self? HAYLEY ELSAESSER, DESIGNER

“I wish I had embraced my individuality in a bigger way instead of suppressing it. The fact that I’ve made a career out of being weird just shows how amazing it is to be different. As an adult, it’s an asset!”

WANEEK HORN-MILLER, OLYMPIAN

“I would tell myself that I was beautiful and amazing, that my brown skin, dark eyes and weird name would one day make me stand out. I would also give myself a huge hug.”

ANNIE GUGLIA, PRO SKATEBOARDER

“I would visualize myself becoming a pro skateboarder every day, and think about what I have to do to make it happen. I’d keep my energy and time for what’s really worth it!”

BRING IT ON Four fashion designers, one iconic jacket, boundless creativity

By Veronica Saroli | Photography by Gemma Warren

We gave standout students and recent grads of Ryerson’s Fashion School carte blanche to reinterpret the Levi’s Trucker jacket. (At 50 years young, it’s been around more than twice as long as they have.) They got so into it that they did the jeans too!

Eloïse Ptito-Echeverria, class of 2017

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“I believe that if you don’t obsess over and dictate your design practice by what is ‘cool,’ you can create something that lasts a lifetime,” says Ptito-Echeverria. “It will never be ‘uncool’ because it was never cool in the first place.” You must admit, that’s a pretty cool theory. It gets better: Forget fame and glory, the poised 25-year-old wants to create heirloom pieces that get passed down through generations. “No need for global domination. If I manage to touch or inspire those around me through sharing my fashion enthusiasm, that will be enough.”

FASHION SCHOOL

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Da Thao Chu, class of 2017

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“I was stuck between trying to tell ‘my story’ through the piece or showcase my background and beliefs,” Lee explains about her customization process. In the end, the 20-year-old designer went with the latter. “I used to be ashamed of [Korea] where my family had come from,” she says. “I was made fun of growing up. Now, being older and knowing the struggle that my family had gone through—and being proud of it—I wanted to learn more about my background.” That translated into her hand-painting Bible verses and a traditional Korean building in gold acrylic paint: “I love driving myself crazy trying to incorporate more small details.”

Pink may now be the thinking woman’s colour of choice, but Chu always found it “stereotypically girly, princessy, overly sweet and way too precious.” For this project she chose to defy her bias. “The goal was to challenge my own perception and make pink a powerful statement, as well as to create a garment that could be worn by any gender,” says the 22-year-old, who used pink acrylic paint and hand-cut acetate stencils to print “pretty and witty” and “original edition” on the jacket and jeans.

Jillian Ubando, class of 2018

PHOTOGRAPHY:

LEVI’S TRUCKER JACKET, $128, LEVI.CA SHOT ON LOCATION AT KERR HALL, RYERSON UNIVERSITY

INSPIRED? Personalize your denim with custom embroidery, distressing, adding adorbs patches, tailoring and hemming. Visit a Levi’s Tailor Shop in Toronto at Sherway Gardens or Square One; in Edmonton at the brand-new West Edmonton Mall location; and in Calgary at the Calgary Market Mall, which opens on September 14.

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Ubando’s foray into fashion was purely practical. “Growing up, I never fit into clothes properly,” the petite five-foot designer explains. That sensible nature was also what prevented the 21-year-old from working with denim in the first place. “It’s a lot thicker and heavier than the satins, silks and chiffons I’m used to working with,” explains Ubando, noting that she’s been really into Filipino bridal and evening wear designers since visiting the Philippines in July. As for the “Joy” hand-embroidered on the back of the jacket: “It’s a word with a strong, positive connotation.” Plus, it’s her middle name.

Young Eun (Sharon) Lee, class of 2018

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

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CURRENT MOOD 3

PHOTOGRAPHY: HAMIN LEE (COLLAGE MATERIALS); PETER STIGTER (RUNWAY AND BACKSTAGE BEAUTY); GETTY IMAGES (CELEB, SKATEBOARD)

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JUMP AROUND

Gender-bending skater steeze meets the joy of comfy, kiddie gear doused in primary colours 1. H&M JACKET, $75, HM.COM. 2. HOLIKA HOLIKA BABY PET MAGIC MASK SHEET, $6, HOLIKAHOLIKA.CA. 3. LIBERTINE TOP, $937, ILOVELIBERTINE.COM. 4. TRUST FUND BEAUTY NAIL POLISH IN WASTE HIS TIME 2017, $13, TRUSTFUNDBEAUTY.COM. 5. LACOSTE RUNWAY. 6. ELECTRIC EYES BACKSTAGE AT PRABAL GURUNG. 7. CONVERSE SHOES, $65, CONVERSE.CA. 8. PROENZA SCHOULER RUNWAY. 9. NYX VIVID BRIGHTS LINER IN VIVID VIOLET, $10, NYXCOSMETICS. CA. 10. MANIC PANIC HIGH VOLTAGE SEMI-PERMANENT HAIR COLOUR CREAM IN ELECTRIC LIZARD, $16, SALLY BEAUTY. 11. ACNE STUDIOS HAT, $200, ACNESTUDIOS.COM. 12. MOTHER SOCKS, $47, FARFETCH.COM. 13. JADEN SMITH SKATEBOARDING ON THE STREETS OF NEW YORK CITY

THEKIT.CA | SEPTEMBER 2017 |

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O U R M U S E SOPHIA, 17, CHARLOTTETOWN

“I’m gravitating towards a ’90s look: baggy sweaters and straight-cut, light-wash jeans. There’s more opportunity to bend the lines between men’s and women’s fashion now; Jaden Smith is a good example of that androgynous, anybody-can-wear-it look. I started dyeing my hair myself a couple years ago—so far, my favourite colour has been a dark green. I like colourful eyeliner, too, and holographic nail polish that changes in the light. And I’ll use a sheet mask once a week.” 11

THE NEW QUEEN BEES Let’s bust the myth of the traditional “popular girl” once and for all. In 2017, original spirits reign: They create their own definitions of beauty and they live by their own rules. Here, five teen leaders try on the season’s most look-at-me trends and muse on status and style Photography by Maya Fuhr | Beauty direction by Rani Sheen Fashion direction by Jillian Vieira

Sydney, 15 “Popularity has always come from the most expensive clothes, the nicest hair; maybe you’re pretty, maybe you’re smart, maybe you have lots of friends, maybe your family has lots of money. But you don’t need to be popular to be happy. You need to be surrounded by people you care about, who you like and trust.” Beauty note: Gild the lily with a sapphire, emerald and ruby tricolour eye. COVERGIRL TRUNAKED JEWELS PALETTE, $15, DRUGSTORES. SEBASTIAN TWISTED CURL REVIVER SPRAY, $25, SALONS. GANNI TOP, $666, HUDSON’S BAY. MOLLY GODDARD TOP (WORN UNDERNEATH), $595, NORDSTROM. COREY MORANIS EARRINGS, $155, COREYMORANIS.COM

Chloe, 18 “There are two sides to popularity. On one side, people are mean and controlling, and you don’t want to be on their bad side. On the other side are those people who are so full of goodness and kindness, and that’s why they have more friends. That’s what I aspire to.” Beauty note: The new power-prep look: precise cinnamon lips and a looped ponytail tucked into a hairnet. COVERGIRL COLORLICIOUS LIPSTICK IN COFFEE CRAVE, $11, AND TOTAL TEASE MASCARA IN BLACK, $14, DRUGSTORES. GOODY HAIRNET IN MEDIUM BROWN, $2, WALMART. CA. SMYTHE JACKET, $695, SHOP-SMYTHE.CA. TAYLOR LASH X NAMESAKE BRALETTE, $240, BYTHENAMESAKE.COM. HAYLEY ELSAESSER TOP, $155, HAYLEYELSAESSER. COM. BIKO NECKLACE, $145, ILOVEBIKO.COM

Harmeet, 18 “I was well known and I was cool with everybody, but high school was weird. It was like I was being tokenized but also debated about, whether I was palatable enough for white folks. Being completely myself—hairy, queer as fuck—is what let me handle that.” Beauty note: Rule the school in pearly talons dripping with chains. SALLY HANSEN COMPLETE SALON MANICURE NAIL POLISH IN PEARLY WHITES, $10, DRUGSTORES. COVERGIRL VITALIST ELIXIR FOUNDATION IN CLASSIC TAN, $18, DRUGSTORES. WRK DEPT COAT, $1,895, WRKDEPT.COM. WILFRED FREE BODYSUIT, $50, ARITZIA.COM. H&M STUDIO TOP (WORN UNDERNEATH), $40, HM.COM. TIFFANY & CO. NECKLACE, $12,900, TIFFANY.CA

Sofia, 16 “In middle school I was the weirdest kid in class. I was very blunt; I would say whatever came to mind and dress however I wanted. I just didn’t care. I think that slowly people realized that it was actually interesting and cool.” Beauty note: Swing harder than the ’60s with painted-on lower lashes—some liner, some glitter. COVERGIRL INTENSIFY ME! LIQUID LINER IN INTENSE BLACK, $11, DRUGSTORES. WELLA EIMI PEARL STYLER, $17, SALONS. CHANEL JUMPSUIT, $6,700, CHANEL.CA. LACOSTE TOP, $175, LACOSTE. COM. SWAROVSKI EARRINGS (LEFT), $99 (PAIR), EARRINGS (RIGHT), $99 (PAIR), SWAROVSKI.COM

Alice, 16 “I came to this country with immigrant parents, and it was a struggle at first. I was really out of the loop, I had all the trends wrong and I didn’t know how to communicate. But in my competitive, academic high school, the definition of popularity shifted toward career prospects and post-secondary institutions. I’m no longer seen as an outcast.” Beauty note: Stand out on student council with a bright, blurry lip and throwback raver knots. COVERGIRL KATY KAT MATTE LIPSTICK IN CAT CALL, $11, DRUGSTORES. ORIBE THICK DRY FINISHING SPRAY, $47, HOLTRENFREW. COM. LEVI’S JACKET, $148, LEVI.CA. HAYLEY ELSAESSER TOP, $171, HAYLEYELSAESSER.COM. MIU MIU TOP (WORN UNDERNEATH), $610, HOLT RENFREW. TIFFANY & CO. NECKLACE, $4,350, TIFFANY.CA MAKEUP: VERONICA CHU FOR COVERGIRL. NAILS: MADELINE POOLE FOR SALLY HANSEN. HAIR: WENDY RORONG FOR PLUTINO GROUP/ORIBE. MAKEUP ASSISTANT: KARIMA SUMAR FOR JUDY INC. CREATIVE DIRECTION: JESSICA HOTSON

THE PRETENDERS

Mara just wants to be the star of her own life. An original short story by teen author Nicola Lawford Illustrations by Marne Grahlman for acting talent is to gain a social media following. Desi was well on her way; people loved her and her clear-faced, smiling-picture persona. But who liked it? Mara scrolled through the list of likes. It was mostly family, friends and people from Desi’s old elementary-school suburb, where her boyfriend lived. They were headed there now for a house party. It crossed Mara’s mind that this was their second real party, but she didn’t bring it up; Desi was already pretending they were regulars. They merged onto the elevated highway that bridged through the city. It always made them feel as though they were floating among the skyscrapers.

“We’ll get some nice pictures tonight,” said Desi. She looked nice, and it was a nice night, too. There were rows of fast-moving clouds like waves in the sky, crests glowing orange in the descending sun, brighter than the roadside billboard signs that were just beginning to light up. A new song started. Anticipation was in the air, as it always is before parties; there was something to do and someone to be. Like they were in a movie, Mara thought. At some point growing up, she had realized that all of her heroes were just actors. She realized that she couldn’t actually be Batman or Spider-Man or Superman, and, in fact, she couldn’t even be a man at all because she was going to be a woman. Perhaps that was why Desi wanted to be an actor: so that, to the audience, she could do anything and be anyone. ••• The engine noise died down as they decelerated onto an exit ramp. Mara’s gaze shifted from the incandescent city to her own faint reflection in the windowpane. She slid her hands over her scalp. Desi had shaved Mara’s head before they left. She did not know why she wanted her head shaved, just like the little girl she babysat did not know why she wanted to grow her hair down to her waist, only she desperately did, and every time her mother cut her hair felt like a defeat. Mara’s parents had told her that boys like long hair. It was true; boys did not tend to love Mara. She couldn’t decide whether this was a curse or a blessing. It was strange, not knowing whose love you wanted, or deserved. She had thought about this when Desi had unplugged the razor and gone to do her makeup. Mara had looked approvingly in the mirror and decided to leave her face naked for the night. She put on her shiny earrings that made her feel pretty and her big hand-me-down jacket that made her feel tough.

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ILLUSTRATION: LYDIA BEAUREGARD (BASRAN)

A tinny ding interrupted the music on the car stereo. It was rock music, from the Spider-Man 3 soundtrack. Mara, unfazed, watched out the passenger window as the top of an apartment building disappeared behind a low cloud. When she was younger, Mara had wanted to be a superhero, like the ones she used to see on television and at weekend matinees with her family. She wished that she could be Batman, Spider-Man or Superman, strong and worthy. Loved by all. “Could you check that?” Desi asked from behind the wheel. “Mom and 1,824 others like your photo,” Mara read mechanically. Desi wanted to be an actor. The first step to getting recognized

| SEPTEMBER 2017 | THEKIT.CA

FICTION

Here, witnessed only by her bathroom mirror, she was everything at once; she was the most beautiful person in the world. At dusk, they pulled up to the house. The downstairs windows provided a view of ghostlike, swimming shoulders, evidence that the downstairs was already packed and the dancing had started. The guests weren’t too drunk yet. There were two boys sitting on the driveway. “Oh, he’s here!” said Desi, “Mind if I go?” She waved to one of the boys and got out of the driver’s seat, taking care to keep her dress from getting caught in the door. Mara took her place and went to park around the corner. She turned off the engine. Desi had taken her music with her, but Mara nodded her head to muffled R & B. Her eyes glimpsed their reflection in the rearview mirror, and she held her own gaze. She tried not to compare herself to Desi. Boys liked Desi, girls liked Desi, parents liked Desi. Desi was a superhero if Mara had ever seen one. But Mara was many things that Desi was not. All of the heroes were just actors, after all. She got out of the car and locked the doors. She walked down the street as if she were a model on a runway, her earrings jingling with her steps to the beat of the bass drum.

SHE TRIED NOT TO COMPARE HERSELF TO DESI. BOYS LIKED DESI, GIRLS LIKED DESI, PARENTS LIKED DESI.

••• Desi caught Mara off guard as she turned the corner. Without looking up or slowing down, Desi took her hand and led her back to the car. He had broken up with her. “But he was sweet about it,” said Desi, looking uncomprehendingly at her elbows, balanced on the steering wheel, in an attempt not to cry. “He told me I was wonderful and beautiful, and he still wants to be friends!” She cried anyway.

“How can he expect me to be friends? He doesn’t love me. That’s not fair. I should delete all of my pictures with him,” she said, opening her phone with resolve. Mara touched her arm. “Hey, no, don’t do that. He was sweet.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say. And so the pictures remain, if the love does not. •••

Mara and Desi switched places. Desi went through a detailed analysis of what had happened to the relationship, interrupted by intermittent driving directions to the home where she grew up. Mara listened and gave her opinions, though they were few. They pulled over. Desi had stopped crying. After a little time, they got out and stood on the sidewalk in silence. Desi stared blankly at her childhood home. Other people lived there now. It was just a house, after all. Mara took Desi’s phone from the glove box and played their favourite song, that Spider-Man 3 song. A little self-consciously, they began to dance on the sidewalk. A streetlight flicked on. Mara stumbled on the curb, and they both laughed. With feet planted wide apart and hands in fists, they sang the chorus, envisioning Spider-Man fighting a masked figure in the streets of New York.

TELL US What was the first book that meant something to you as a teen? GURJINDER BASRAN, AUTHOR OF SOMEONE YOU LOVE IS GONE

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton—who was in high school when she wrote it—was required reading in eighth-grade English. I could relate to the playful, parental dynamic of the Curtis brothers. When my mother was busy, which was often, my five older sisters played the roles of caregiver and playmate. The Outsiders was also the first book I read that articulated class distinction in such a deliberate way. The differences between the Greasers and the Socs paralleled some of my own feelings of being the “other” in a time when racism, overt and otherwise, was my daily suburban reality. The book is just as powerful today as it was when I first read it.

During the guitar solo, they half skipped, half ran down the sidewalk and away from the old house, as if they were flying between high-rises in the big city sky. They passed a middleaged man carrying a sleeping kid in Spider-Man pyjamas from a minivan to a front door. Every house was a childhood home to someone. The chorus hit again and Mara played air guitar. In their minds, Spider-Man was standing by the window of his metropolitan apartment on a clear night, silhouetted against the light from inside, admiring the city of people who love him for what he does. They had known this song long before they had known the boy’s name, and surely they would know it long after. They had known the song before Desi moved downtown, before she and Mara even considered wanting love from boys, before they took pictures, before they tried to do anything or be anyone for anybody else. Back when they, too, wore Spider-Man pyjamas, back when driving on the highway was flying and the movie theatre was a window into their future lives, back when they could so easily love anything they wanted to love uninhibited and with their whole hearts, including and especially themselves. Now, together, they were as happy as they were then. ••• Back on the highway that made them feel like they were floating among the skyscrapers, snippets of music whizzed by, from other cars and other parties. Highway floodlights whizzed by, too, as did lights in windows and storefronts. Mara wondered if the boy had felt ABOUT THE like he lived in Desi’s shadow. To AUTHOR him, watching from childhood Nicola Lawford, 16, is a suburbia, she was a light in the Hamilton, Ont., native window of an apartment high up who received the 2016 among the clouds, too easily misMaitland Banting Silver Quill Award for her taken for a star. Maybe she was short story “A Detailed this to Mara, too. Perhaps every Account of a Girl Who actor was a hero to someone. Loved a Boy, Among Desi lamented that they had forOther Things.” In her gotten to take pictures. free time, she likes “It’s as if we forgot to do anylistening to ’90s rock thing or be anyone,” she observed. music, noticing clouds Mara only laughed. Maybe that and learning to drive was a good thing. (although she cannot yet do all three at once). They pulled into a parking spot below the apartment and sat listening to Desi’s rock music, not wanting to leave. Desi turned off the engine in the quiet underground lot, and the music sort of swallowed them, Mara thought, as it does when the credits roll at the end of a movie. No one else would see it, but she was the hero without acting at all. n 19

TIME AFTER TIME

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Polka dots, floral prints and oh-so-pretty makeup meet in the soft colours of a vintage rainbow 6

1. WARBY PARKER GLASSES, $225, WARBYPARKER.COM. 2. JOE FRESH SKIRT, $34, JOEFRESH.COM. 3. COACH 1941 RUNWAY. 4. BOOSH LIPSTICK IN ELLIE, $26, BOOSH.CA. 5. GOLDSIGN JEANS, $410, SHOPBOP.COM. 6. MAJE DRESS, $540, MAJE.COM. 7. SMASHBOX PRIMERIZER, $50, SMASHBOX.CA. 8. A NATURAL FLUSH BACKSTAGE AT NINA RICCI. 9. WEEKEND MAX MARA BAG, $177, OGILVY. 10. AN ALYSSA MILANO GLAMOUR SHOT FROM THE WHO’S THE BOSS? ERA. 11. MARNI SCARF, $465, NET-A-PORTER.COM. 12. BALENCIAGA RUNWAY. 13. LIME CRIME HI-LITE OPALS PALETTE, $49, HUDSON’S BAY. 14. MOLLY RINGWALD AS ANDIE IN PRETTY IN PINK

O U R M U S E LEIGHETTA, 18, WINNIPEG

“I wear a lot of vintage: bright patterns mixed with muted simple clothing. I love the fashion and the overall vibe in ’80s movies like Pretty in Pink and Can’t Buy Me Love. I don’t wear much makeup, but I really like the natural, thick brow trend and illuminating primers that give my skin a nice glow. Lately I’ve been volunteering a lot in my hometown. I really want to work with an NGO, and down the line I’d like to become a politician.”

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CURRENT MOOD

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PHOTOGRAPHY: HAMIN LEE (COLLAGE MATERIALS); PETER STIGTER (RUNWAY AND BACKSTAGE BEAUTY); GETTY IMAGES (SWEET CREATURE #13)

SWEET

CREATURE The selfie generation’s pastel palette revs up with some pop star flash

1. VICTORIA’S SECRET TOP, $30, VICTORIASSECRET.COM. 2. MILK MAKEUP BLUR LIQUID FOUNDATION IN GOLDEN DEEP, $48, SEPHORA.CA. 3. FLEUR DU MAL DRESS, $595, WANT APOTHECARY. 4. PIERRE HARDY SHOES, $1,225, PIERREHARDY.COM. 5. MARC JACOBS RUNWAY. 6. DOLCE & GABBANA RUNWAY. 7. PANDORA RING, $75, PANDORA. 8. BELLA HADID BACKSTAGE AT OSCAR DE LA RENTA. 9. SAINT LAURENT RUNWAY. 10. LINDA FARROW SUNGLASSES, $940, LINDAFARROW. COM. 11. EUGENIA KIM HAT, $330, HOLT RENFREW. 12. GLOSSIER LIP GLOSS, $17, GLOSSIER.COM. 13. MADISON BEER. 14. SELENA GOMEZ. 15. ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS DIPBROW POMADE IN CHOCOLATE, $23, SEPHORA.CA

O U R M U S E ONISS, 16, QUEBEC CITY

“I get a lot of inspiration from people on my Instagram feed, like Alexis Ren and Elisabeth Rioux. I like their casual, everyday style—it feels like they’re closer to us than celebrities since they’re just regular people. But I really like listening to pop hits by Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus and Madison Beer. Eventually, I’d like to work in fashion but I mostly see myself as a doctor. I’d like to dress really well in designer clothes that I could buy if I was making that kind of money.” 21

AMAL, 19, MUSLIM

ASHLE Y, 18 , PENTECOSTAL CHRISTIAN 22

W E N Z DA E , 17, N AT IV E SP IR I T UA L IS T

CHANA, 19, INTERSECTIONAL JEW

VOICES

THE BELIEVERS

In a world divided, four teens explain why they’re keeping the faith By Jillian Vieira | Photography by Laura-Lynn Petrick We’re a society fixated on our differences, amid a swirling rhetoric of good and hyperbolic evil. While there are plenty of factors contributing to this divide, religion always finds itself close to the top. But for these four teens, who belong to a new generation defined by diversity of belief and inclusivity of opinion, following—and questioning— their faith has meant finding community, purpose and a path to positivity. Here, they discuss the realities of being religious today.

AMAL

Her faith, in her own words: “I’m a Muslim. Islam is a religion that follows one God, who we call Allah, and His prophet, named Mohammed. It’s a religion of peace, acceptance and modesty.” On practical practice: “I follow the teachings of the Quran, which says you should dress modestly. I’ve translated that to mean being present and aware of your faith at all times, so I try to wear loose-fitting clothing and cover as much of my skin as possible. A lot of the women in my family wear the hijab, but I just don’t feel like I’m ready to commit to wearing it yet.” On her feminist identity: “I don’t believe my religion disrupts me from being a feminist. People tend to think that women are controlled by the community and shamed into being more conservative. But they don’t understand how liberating it is to not have to worry about a man staring at a part of your body or having to feel validated by society to look a certain way. Self-love is so important, but you don’t have to prove that by showing more skin.” On outside perceptions of her religion: “A lot of people tend to think that we’re very violent or directly connected to ISIS, and that disturbs me because our religion is a lot about peace. But all the false accusations about what Islam is have just strengthened my belief. My name means hope, and that’s what I try to keep in mind since it’s part of who I am.”

WENZDAE

Her faith, in her own words: “A great thing about being Native is that there’s no one way to be Native or worship. I do powwows almost every single weekend—they’re basically a dance competition and social gathering with a lot of prayer involved.” On how she practises her faith: “My spirituality is less about a transcendent God and more about THEKIT.CA | SEPTEMBER 2017 |

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a connection: Everything goes through the earth, the water and the people. I dance jingle, which is a healing dance. Before you start the dance, people give you tobacco and ask you to pray for them. Then you leave the tobacco under a tree or burn it in a fire—it sends your prayers upward.” On the most memorable moment in her spiritual journey: “My boyfriend’s family recently adopted me into the Ho-Chunk family—a group of Southern Natives from Nebraska who are involved in the Native American Church. When I first visited, there were about 100 people sitting in a circle singing a peyote song. It was crazy to hear all these people from four to 80 years old singing in unison—it really moved me. That’s a big reason of why I want to keep going back to the church: that feeling of unity was unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.” On a point of pride in her faith: “Growing up, I never understood homophobia because I was never exposed to it. We embraced LGBTQ2 people so fully that it was never a taboo. We believe that two-spirited people have the spirit of a man and a woman inside them— twice what anyone else has. I’m incredibly proud of our inclusivity.”

ASHLEY

Christian but don’t really follow our values and morals—they shine a negative light on our church and other Christians who are doing things right. It causes a lot of confusion.” On defending her faith: “People often remind me that there’s no proof or evidence of God and that faith is not very rational. I tell people that I appreciate them talking to me about it and I’m always open to hear what they have to say—it’s important to listen before you speak. What’s most important for me to remember is that I still know my truth to be true.”

CHANA

Her faith, in her own words: “I grew up in a tight-knit ultra-Orthodox Jewish community; now I call myself an intersectional Jew. We’re activists and advocates for human rights and women’s rights.” On her evolving beliefs: “I went to a public high school in grade 12 after attending a private Jewish school my entire life, and I met Muslim and Buddhist women for the first time. I took a women’s literature course and during a couple of moments, I probably looked a bit ignorant or unaware. But soon I was introduced to feminism, and I learned the words to the tune I had been singing my whole life. I could look at religion as something to draw upon and enhance my day-to-day life. In the past, I found it to be quite oppressive and coercive; now, as a secular Jewish woman, I’m able to take Judaism and use it to empower me.” On reclaiming her body from religious standards: “There’s a lot of sexism and body shaming in the ultra-Orthodox community. I remember being in religious camp and always being told to pull down my skirt and pull up my knee socks to cover up my adolescent body. These days, I’m always seeking to take pride in my body and appreciate it in ways that don’t have to do with appearance. Biking, for example, was an activity that was not allowed. Sometimes when I’m on my bike I’ll say a blessing that I learned growing up: I thank God for allowing my body to function, so I can experience this incredible thing of biking up a hill and getting sweaty.” n

“IT WAS CRAZY TO HEAR ALL THESE PEOPLE FROM FOUR TO 80 YEARS OLD SINGING IN UNISON. THE FEELING OF UNITY WAS UNLIKE ANYTHING I’VE EVER FELT BEFORE.”

Her faith, in her own words: “I’m Pentecostal Christian, which is under the umbrella of Christianity. I believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that He was sent by God as a saviour for all people on earth.” On including Bible verses in her Instagram bio: “There are verses that talk about how, despite all our failures and problems, God still loves us. I feel a sense of peace knowing that even when the world doesn’t always treat you the way you want to be treated, He has a plan for us to prosper. He’s freed us from all sins, and we should use this freedom to love one another and bring joy and happiness to the world where it doesn’t exist.” On being judged as a Christian: “Someone said to me recently that the world isn’t so friendly to Christians anymore, and I can totally see that. It’s hard when there are people who claim to be

Visit thekit.ca to watch these women tell their stories.

BEST IN CLASS

CLASS CLOWN

Who hasn’t been punked by one of his practical jokes? (Remember the great hallway Slip ’N Slide of 2016?) We laughed, we rolled our eyes, but we all know he has a heart of gold.

Welcome to the beauty yearbook of 2017. The gang’s all here By Rani Sheen | Photography by Hamin Lee

MOSCHINO + SE PHOR A COLLECTION BEAR E Y ES HADOW PALE T TE, $60, SEPHORA.CA

MOST CRUSHWORTHY

Since the first day of grade nine, he’s been disappearing behind the parking lot and coming back smelling,well, herby, dark hair flopping over one eye. Admit it, you’ve thought about being folded in his warm, slightly funky embrace. BOY SMELLS CANDLE IN KUSH, $50, EASY TIGERGOODS.COM

MOST ARTISTIC

Last semester, she dominated art class like it was Yayoi Kusama’s mirror installation at the Broad in L.A. (which she Instagrammed). Hit her up now for a signed artwork and sell it in 40 years for your retirement fund. SALLY HANSEN + CRAYOLA INSTA-DRI NAIL COLOR IN DANDELION, $6, DRUGSTORES

THE PLASTICS Natural habitat: In front of the most optimally located lockers (how do they always get the best ones?). Mating habits: Accepting the attentions of jocks, heirs, Swedish exchange students. Predators: The nerds who will ultimately outshine them post-graduation. FROM LEFT: OMOROVICZA LIMITED EDITION QUEEN OF HUNGARY MIST, $50, NORDSTROM.COM. BENEFIT GOGO TINT CHEEK AND LIP STAIN, $40, BENEFITCOSMETICS. COM. LIPSTICK QUEEN NOTHING BUT THE NUDES IN PRETTY PINK NUDE, $32, MURALE. SCHWARZKOPF GÖT2B GL AM FORCE HIGH HOLD HAIRSPR AY, $8 , SHOPPERS DRUG MART. GUERLAIN MÉTÉORITES BABY GLOW TOUCH LUMINIZER IN GOLDEN GLOW, $48, GUERLAIN BOUTIQUES. VELOUR DOLL ME UP LASHES, $3 4, B E AUT YBOUTIQU E.C A . VALENTINO DON NA ACQUA EAU DE TOILETTE, $118 (100 ML), NORDSTROM

BEST-DRESSED

These super-attractive lovebirds can be spotted canoodling after band practice, where they’ve been known to break into the occasional duet. Both have many secret admirers—our condolences; this couple is set to last.

She makes her own clothes, designs her own jewellery and has artfully tousled hair to match. Whether she’s costuming the senior production of Grease or sewing on e v e r y o n e ’s b a c k p a c k patches, her style is always on point.

SHAWN MENDES SIGNATURE EAU DE PARFUM, $50 (60 ML), SHOPPERS DRUG MART. M.A.C NICKI MINAJ LIPSTICK IN NICKI’S NUDE, $22, MACCOSMETICS.CA

VOIR HAIRCARE SHE’S LIKE THE WIND INVISIBLE DRY SHAMPOO & CONDITIONER, $32, VOIRHAIRCARE.COM

CUTEST COUPLE

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TRUST FUND BABIES

NOW TRENDING

THE GOTHS Natural habitat: The very back of the cafeteria. Like, farther back. Now go away. Mating habits: Drawn to the romance of despair. Predators: Sunlight, conformists. C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: RODIAL SNAKE OX YG ENATING & C LE AN SI N G B U B B LE MAS K , $78 , MURALE. KAT VON D EDGE CRÈME CONTOUR BRUSH, $43, SEPHORA. CA. DIOR DOUBLE ROUGE LIPSTICK IN POISON PURPLE, $43, SEPHORA. CA. DEBORAH LIPPMANN GEL LAB PRO NAIL POLISH IN PURPLE HAZE, $22, MURALE. NARS POWERMATTE LIP PIGMENT IN PAINT IT BL ACK , $34, THEBAY.COM. URBAN DECAY E Y E S H A D OW I N C - N OT E , $ 2 2 , URBANDECAY.CA

CHANEL, DARLING

Sh e tr avels th e wo r l d with her ’rent s , shops designer duty-free and always smells expensive (specifically like imported mandarins, a bouquet of jasmine picked at dawn and a French vacation you could never afford). CHANEL GABRIELLE EAU DE PARFUM, $129 (50 ML), CHANEL.CA

DO-GOODERS PRADA PRINCESS

If she’s throwing a pool party while her fam’s out of town, you need to score an invite. She’s sweet like vanilla, sassy like cherry and generous with her mom’s liquor cabinet. PRADA CANDY GLOSS EAU DE TOILETTE, $70 (30 ML), SHOPPERS DRUG MART

THE NERDS

They go to bed early, bring green juice from home and spend spares actually studying. When we’re all showing the effects of our chips-and-sour-candy diet at the 10-year reunion, we’ll know they were right. J U I CE B E AUT Y G R EEN APPLE BRIGHTENING ESSENCE, $44, MURALE. G R AY D O N S K I N C A R E SUPERFOOD MASK + SCRU B , $39, GR AYDON S K I N C A R E .C A .T H E O RGAN IC PHAR MACY CARROT BUTTER CLEANSER, $99, MURALE.

ART DIRECTION: SONYA VAN HEYNINGEN

Natural habitat: The lab, because those extra-credit experiments won’t perform themselves. Mating habits: Developing crushes on the bespectacled co-op teacher. Predators: Burnouts looking for study partners. C LO C K WI S E FRO M TO P L EF T: R E N É E RO U LE AU N I G HT TI M E S P OT LOT I O N , $ 3 8 , R E N E E R OU LE AU.COM . GL AMGLOW POUTMUD WET LIP BALM TINT IN BIRTHDAY SUIT, $24, SEPHORA.CA. NIOD SURVIVAL 0 NETWORKED DEFENCE SYSTEM, $25, NIOD.COM. BIOLOGIQUE RECHERCHE SERUM OLIGO-PROTEINES MARINES, $97, KO LO RT WIST.CO M . BAR E M I N ERALS BLEMISH REMEDY SERUM, $53, BAREMINERALS.COM

GUCCI MAGPIE

We believe the term is “boho chic.” She buys her maxi dresses on Harbour Island, does her homework in her greenhouse filled with fragrant exotic plants and keeps a pampered $14,000 macaw as a pet. G U C C I B LO O M E AU D E PA R F U M , $ 9 0 ( 3 0 M L) , HUDSON’S BAY

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HOT LIKE FIRE

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1. OFF-WHITE C/O VIRGIL ABLOH BOOTS, $2,990, OFF---WHITE.COM. 2. RIHANNA IN CANNES. 3. M.A.C HAUTE & NAUGHTY LASH MASCARA IN BLACK, $29, MACCOSMETICS.CA. 4. OFF-WHITE C/O VIRGIL ABLOH RUNWAY. 5. CRYSTAL HILLS ORGANICS CRYSTAL LOVE BODY SERUM, $70, CRYSTALHILLS.COM. 6. FENTY X PUMA RUNWAY. 7. ZENDAYA IN HER OWN DESIGN. 8. BACKSTAGE AT THE FALL 2017 FENTY X PUMA SHOW. 9. ZARA SUNGLASSES, $26, ZARA.COM. 10. FOUNDRAE EARRINGS, $2,880, FOUNDRAE.COM. 11. AALIYAH IN 2001. 12. PAIGE JEANS, $410, PAIGE. COM. 13. 3.1 PHILLIP LIM SHOES, $745, SIMILAR STYLES AVAILABLE AT 31PHILLIPLIM.COM. 14. SHEA MOISTURE AFRICAN BLACK SOAP, $8, SHEAMOISTURE.COM. 15. COACH 1941 JACKET, $3,050, COACH.COM

Amped up style that can’t be pinned down: a little sporty, a little glam, a lot classic R & B O U R M U S E KARDEISHA, 17, NORTH PRESTON, N.S.

“I pay attention to Rihanna and Zendaya because their style is versatile: They can be street and hip-hop, and classy and girly at the same time. A more old-school inspiration is Aaliyah. She was tomboyish without looking like a boy—she’d wear a crop top and baggy jeans with straightened hair. I play sports and I’m busy with school, so I don’t really have time to do my makeup, maybe mascara, but I use natural skincare like African black soap and coconut oil. Eventually I want to have my own sports medicine clinic and travel with a team, preferably the Lakers.”

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PHOTOGRAPHY: HAMIN LEE (COLLAGE MATERIALS); PETER STIGTER (RUNWAY AND BACKSTAGE BEAUTY); GETTY IMAGES (CELEB)

THE KIT X L’ORÉAL PARIS

TIFF Beauty Icons PHOTOGRAPHY: ISTOCK IMAGES

These L’Oréal Paris icons and rising stars will make you live your own red carpet moment

5. INFALLIBLE SUPER SLIM LIQUID EYELINER If a super-precise cat eye is what you’re after, this extra-fine liquid liner will be your new best friend. The felt tip deposits the perfect amount of liner in one easy-to-control swoop, and it won’t drag, skip or smudge. Ti p : Use the very tip for a fine line of definition, or press a little harder to create a thicker, more dramatic effect. 1

Get inspired at lorealparis.ca

1. VOLUMINOUS MASCARA Canada’s number 1 mascara turned 25 this year. The secret to its longevity is in the brush—it volumizes lashes, leaving them full and soft with no flakes, smudges or clumps. Tip: Wiggle the wand from left to right gently while applying to work the formula deep into the roots for an inky fringe. L’ORÉAL PARIS VOLUMINOUS MASCARA IN CARBON BLACK, $10.45

2 . MAGIC LUMI LIGHT INFUSING PRIMER This brightening liquid primer preps your skin for makeup and ensures you’ll always appear in your best light. It smooths any uneven texture, blurs visible pores and it’s noncomodogenic, so it won’t make you break out. Tip: Before foundation, smooth a drop all over your face, then add a little more to the tops of your cheekbones, the bridge of your nose and your browbones for strategic glow. L’ORÉAL PARIS MAGIC LUMI LIGHT INFUSING PRIMER, $17.99

3. ELNETT SATIN HAIRSPRAY It’s the hairspray of choice for red carpet events, magazine photo shoots and your own special events. Its micro diffuser means the ultra-fine spray disappears at the stroke of a hairbrush, offering strong hold with starworthy shine and a soft satin feel. Ti p : Spray a little on your hairbrush to smooth down flyaways. L’ORÉAL PARIS ELNETT MINI TRAVEL SIZED SATIN HAIRSPRAY, $6.99

4. REVITALIFT TRIPLE POWER LZR EYE CREAM This lightweight cream helps transform the look of aging skin around the eyes. It firms, tightens and repairs for a plumped, fresh look. Hyaluronic acid quickly absorbs to fight each wrinkle, while Pro-Xylane hydrates, re-volumizes and strengthens skin.

L’ORÉAL PARIS INFALLIBLE SUPER SLIM LIQUID EYELINER IN BLACK, BROWN OR GREY, $12.99

6. COLOUR RICHE MATTE LIPSTICK It’s been beloved by women for more than 30 years for its rich, colour and weightless, creamy texture, and now it comes in a new matte finish. Botanical ingredients moisturize and condition the lips, and help the colour last for hours. Tip: Apply one coat, blot gently on a single layer of tissue, then apply another coat for a saturated lip that lasts. L’ORÉAL PARIS COLOUR RICHE MATTE LIPSTICK IN MATTE-CARON, MATTE-JESTIC AND MATTE MANDATE, $12.99 EACH

7. CHARCOAL PURE- CLAY MASK The power of this mask lies in its blend of three different clays that cleanse your skin of impurities and pollution in just 10 minutes and leave your complexion glowing.

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WOMEN ARE THE FUTURE OF FILM It’s time to take control of our own stories. We spoke to talented Canadians, both emerging and established, who are quietly vanquishing the old guard, one movie, one episode, one film review at a time By Julia Cooper | Photography by Luis Mora

WHAT’S NEXT ROBOT WRITERS

The stats for what it’s like to be a woman working in film aren’t so hot (only 27 per cent of Canadian directors are women and only 8.3 per cent of cinematographers—rude!), but there’s a movement building of women who are making their voices heard in the cinematic darkness. To explore the evolving landscape, The Kit Compact gathered five women, all at different stages of their careers and each making her mark in her own way, for a roundtable discussion. We spoke with cinematographer Iris Ng, who’s been the steady hand and eyes behind the films Stories We Tell, The Apology and A Better Man; Lydia Ogwang, a film critic and editor at the feminist film journal cléo; Carmilla web series actor Natasha Negovanlis, who drew attention at the 2017 Canadian Screen Awards with an empowering speech for the LGBTQ2 community; Sariena Luy, a teen TIFF Next Wave Committee

member and executive director of the arts organization Flaunt It; and director Sofia Bohdanowicz, whose latest film, Maison du bonheur, premiered to acclaim at this year’s Hot Docs festival. We asked them about the power of trusting your gut, the complexity of the female gaze and the future of an industry in flux. What are your thoughts on the “female gaze”? As filmmakers, actors and cinematographers, what does it mean to you? Lydia: “I wish that we could just dismantle the male gaze, and the way that it works in cinema, and in the rest of the world, really, and then go from there.” Natasha: “I searched my name in YouTube, and “Natasha Negovanlis sex scene” popped up versus, like, “Natasha Negovanlis amazing dramatic scene” [laughs]. It’s interesting to me what women’s careers can be reduced to. I’m here

Um, could a robot write the next Casablanca? A growing number of experts predict that AI is catching up with the fine art of scriptwriting. Loved Mean Girls, but craving the vintage style of Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct? Leave it to your Google assistant to combine the best of both. Vanity Fair scribe Nick Bilton predicts a future where a disembodied robot like Siri will scan thousands of scripts and spit out one tailor-made to suit your fancy. UCLA and Tisch grads may as well move over now—Alexa already knows first-hand what you like.

FUTURE FASHION

Muse: Tina Turner’s Aunty Entity in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985). Nothing says vampy villainess like Julien Macdonald’s take on the slinky silver dress. A little chain mail never hurt anyone, right?

Mallory Andrews Go-to order: “Soft pretzels. If I’m at TIFF Lightbox, I go for the cheese plate.” The popcorn: “With extra butter. Always.” The treat: “Rosé, if they serve it.”

Tina Hassannia Go-to order: “Poutine (from Cineplex Outtakes). A little messy, but so much more satisfying than popcorn.” The popcorn: “Just the usual oil and salt at the theatre. At home, I indulge in Smartfood’s original white cheddar, but only once in a blue moon, because I can inhale that stuff.” The treat: “I try to eat clean so the rare treat will be a big bag of popcorn, almond M&Ms and CocaCola—to share with friends.”

Johanna Schneller Go-to order: “Popcorn with butter and peanut M&Ms sprinkled in.” The popcorn: “See above.” The treat: “I used to love the pretzel hot dog—what happened to them?”

ISABEL MARANT

ILLUSTRATIONS: LYDIA BEAUREGARD. PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER STIGTER (RUNWAY)

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How three film critics hit the stand

SAINT LAURENT

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to sell my work, not my appearance. When I worked in theatre, I felt it necessary to wear cute dresses and “Imposter syndrome” is that bows in my hair, but as soon as I nagging feeling that even when dropped that, I started getting more you’re doing your best work and work because I was dressing like receiving recognition, there’s a myself and being more authentic.” fear that you’ll be called out as a Iris: “I think the word “gaze” itself fake. Do you ever feel that way? is sort of one-directional; when I work I try to make it Iris: “There are different an exchange. You’re aspects of that, right? receiving something T h e r e ’s t h e i n t e r n a l TIFF PICK from whatever’s in feeling of being in your The Wonder front of the camera. element and feeling comWoman hot You give back to that.” fortable with following streak continues Sofia: “The crew is your intuition, whereas, at the Toronto really lucky to have up to a certain point, International Film someone like Iris there’s a lot of doubt that Festival, with who understands the comes from the outside. Professor Marston responsibility that’s Lydia: “It’s not about & the Wonder involved. When you being “legitimized” by Women. Director have a camera in others, but I find it diffiyour hands, you have cult when you don’t see Angela Robinson so much power.” a lot of black women follows William Iris: “Yeah, I feel like visible in film criticism Moulton Marston, it’s this taking object, or as editors. You might the progressive and you have to be feel like you should pro-female-lib careful. You’re trying mimic what’s already man who created to make permanent out there—that’s a kind the DC comic with something that is of learning strategy. And the help of his fleeting. The moment what’s already out there wife and a prethat you point a camis overwhelmingly white cocious student, era at something, it is men, right? But if I have inevitably altered.” different intuitive reacwho, btw, all lived Sofia: “With Maitions to a film I want to together. son du bonheur, my speak to those as well. goal was to frame an Then I want to become elderly woman with a new lens and completely obsessed with that film counteract all the stereotypes that and yell about it all day on Twitter! we typically see onscreen—to listen Sariena: Everything I’ve done so to a woman, watch her exist and be far has been male-dominated— there in a moment with her.” when I was in a video program, >

J.W. ANDERSON

Must-watch film: The Prison in Twelve Landscapes (2016). “Maya Bankovic is an amazing cinematographer— her beautiful imagery is deliberately discordant with the subject matter. It’s so affecting.”

CONCESSION CONFESSIONS

OSCAR DE LA RENTA

LYDIA OGWANG, CRITIC

Ready to get soaking wet and a little knocked about at the theatre? 4DX screenings have souped-up D-Box seats that move to match the onscreen action; mist falls from above if the characters are in a storm. (Fingers crossed that directors steer clear of John Waters’s “Odorama” gimmick from his 1981 film Polyester: Scratch-and-sniff cards were handed out to audiences so that they could “smell” the movie—which is largely about alcoholics and foot fetishism.) Boundarypushing inventions like Oculus Rift and Google Glass will also change the way we experience the movies: The ballooning virtual reality industry is predicting revenues of $75 billion by 2021. (Maybe by then they’ll have chicer headsets.)

JULIEN MACDONALD

WHAT’S NEXT SENSORY CINEMA

SPOTLIGHT

I was the only female in a group it can come off as egotistical—to with four males. I think that’s call yourself successful is a very what women are used to. Being bold thing. But when I premiered young, being a woman and being Maison du bonheur at the Buenos a m i n o r i t y, I f e l t I Aires International Festireally had to make my val, that was really great. presence felt there. They did a retrospective TIFF PICK I’m hoping that I start of my films. Until I got Mary Shelley, to feel more natural, there, I thought it was directed by like, “Sure, it may be a joke, you know? Like, Haifaa Al Manmale-dominated, but I “Someone has hacked sour, explores know I belong here.” the festival’s email systhe relationship N a t a s h a : As I shift tem!” The enthusiasm between the from being in front of for my work was someFrankenstein the camera to being thing that I had never author and behind it by creating experienced before. some of my own conSariena Luy: When I her husband, tent, I find myself slipwas 15, I realized that the poet Percy ping up sometimes—I film is my platform to Bysshe Shelley. apologize or feel guilty empower people. I’m Elle Fanning when I’m being asservery open about the plays Mary; tive. Um, which could fact that I come from a Douglas Booth also be a Canadian marginalized commuplays Percy. thing! [laughs] I think nity—I was born and Think: more part of being a woman raised at Jane and Finch romance than in this industry is that in Toronto—and there horror. guilt factor, which I’m are limitations that I really trying to shake. both was born with and expected to have Has there been a moment when because of that. I realized that I was you’ve felt like a success? When reaching my potential when people you were really feeling yourself in my community told me they were and knew you were right where influenced or, I guess, inspired by you should be? my work. Natasha: I remember my first box Sofia: People often have a hard of fan mail—I was sitting in my bedtime talking about success because room opening up all of these thank-

you letters. At the time, I had three side jobs, but reading the letters and seeing how my work had positively affected so many young LGBTQ2 people was so special. Even though I reached only a few thousand people, it was so much more meaningful than acting to pay bills. Lydia: Truthfully, no. Not because I’m not proud of my work, but because I still feel very new to film culture. Also, what does success even look like in film criticism? Are there film critics out there feeling successful? Who are they?! I will say that it’s nice to be asked to write and work on things. Also editing and getting to help develop other writers’ pieces is a great joy. Iris: I don’t get that feeling from one definitive m o m e n t . To me, it’s whenever I feel that someone recognizes the intention behind my work or a detail that I might think would otherwise go unno-

CREW CUTS Key behind-the-scenes players spill on the best work in their field

Naz Goshtasbpour, production designer Best set in a movie: “I tend to gravitate toward realism more than stylizing. I loved the production design on The Fighter (2010), but just because I love realism doesn’t mean I don’t also enjoy a highly stylized film like The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).” 30

Kaya Pino, music supervisor Best song in a movie: “‘People Make the World Go Round’ by the Stylistics in Spike Lee’s Crooklyn (1994). The track opens the film and sets the stage by providing a warm scene of children innocently playing together in their Brooklyn neighbourhood. You see the characters just existing in their world before the story begins.”

Cynthia Summers, costume designer Best costume in a movie: “Salma Hayek in Frida (2002)—everything about the costume design. Frida Kahlo dressed to express her soul and her culture—she was a true fashion rebel. Director Julie Taymor’s gorgeous colourful homage is a feast for the senses. Those costumes are forever seared in my brain.”

ticed. It can be a chosen shutter speed, a camera move at the right time, resisting the temptation to move at other times or a composition. As with other aspects in life, there’s a sense of achievement in feeling understood. Let’s look into the future. What changes do you want to see in the film industry? Lydia: More types of people: racialized people, differently abled people, people with different gender identities. Different structures altogether, maybe. Continued on page 32

SPOTLIGHT IRIS NG, CINEMATOGRAPHER

Collins takes a turn in front of the camera for Gucci Bloom.

Must-watch film: Strong Island (2016), a documentary about racism and grief. “It’s daring and direct in a way that films need to be right now.”

Stills from Selena Gomez’s “Fetish” video, which Collins directed.

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NATASHA NEGOVANLIS, ACTOR

PROENZA SCHOULER

SALVATORE FERRAGAMO

FUTURE FASHION

SAINT LAURENT

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As Hollywood experiences its worst summer box office in a decade, disruptors like Netflix continue their industry takeover by snagging Tinseltown’s top talent, with Shonda Rhimes as their latest prize. The mastermind behind Scandal (long live Olivia Pope) and the near-perfect Crossroads (starring Britney Jean Spears), Rhimes will allegedly bank $10 million a year as she continues her rightful reign over pop culture. Netflix may be carrying $20.54 billion in debt, but with the strength of its algorithms and big data from 104 million subscribers, it’s taking the guesswork out of what audiences will like and watch. We’ll take that bet.

SONIA RYKIEL

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WHAT’S NEXT SHONDA-FLIX

Must-watch shows: Lost Girl and Wynonna Earp. “Emily Andras, the showrunner for both, is such a boss. She writes very believable queer female characters.”

In Toronto-raised artist Petra Collins’s latest work—the music video for Selena Gomez’s “Fetish”—the pop princess is shown taking an eyelash curler to her tongue, crawlPOP STARS ing across a candlelit dining table and eating a bar Complex recently of soap. It’s a shockingly intimate and off-kilter porunveiled its list trayal of someone who until recently has appeared to of the 15 most be the pinnacle of controlled perfection. But that’s accomplished nothing new in Collins’s work: Gomez aside, she’s music video best known for being kicked off Instagram in 2013 for directors— posting a photo of herself with—horror of horrors— spoiler: All of an unshaven, downright curly bikini line. Collins’s them were men. oeuvre is mostly honest, unapologetic depictions (*reaches for gin*) of the private feminine experience via portraits of Here are five the young women around her. “I don’t love the male-female [muse] dynamic female music video directors because that’s just using the muse as an object,” who should says Collins. “I’m obsessed with using a muse as be on any something that really influences you emotionally and “best of” list. changes the way a photo is taken.” From the beginning, Collins’s primary muse has been her younger Dawn Shadforth sister, Anna. “She’s a strong and powerful woman Watch: “Younger that I really look up to. She’s so maternal for me. Now” by I’ve sort of lived her life with her, and I’ve also lived Miley Cyrus her life in photos.” Recently, Collins has become something of a Melina muse herself, notably to Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s Matsoukas creative director and the designer credited with Watch: “Forma- boosting the cred and fortunes of the heritage Italian tion” by Beyoncé house with his off-kilter, multicoloured aesthetic. He first enlisted Collins to walk in his Fall 2016 runway Sophie Muller show (which she did despite having a secretly disloWatch: “Venus as cated knee); then this spring, he invited her to direct a Boy” by Björk a Hungarian dreamscape of a film for his glittery eyewear campaign. Most recently, Collins frolicked in Hannah a flower-filled pond alongside actor Dakota Johnson Lux Davis and model Hari Nef in the ad for Bloom, the new Watch: “Bang, Gucci fragrance. “It’s really just the three of us having Bang” by Jessie a great time!” says Collins. “That’s so rare, seeing J, Ariana Grande people just being strong and happy, just laughing— and Nicki Minaj specifically women. When do you see that?” An artist first, Collins is not about to pursue a Floria career in modelling, but she does find value in being Sigismondi in front of a lens. “I love being able to be in someone Watch: “Sledge- else’s story,” she explains. “It’s been so fun working hammer” by with Alessandro because he knows me and respects Rihanna me as a human being, so it’s very different than a lot of other fashion.” Plus, she believes it helps improve her own work. “I learn something every time I’m being photographed. I think it’s so important for a photographer to experience what it’s like, to be able to make someone comfortable and to understand how they move, how they think, how the light hits them.” —Rani Sheen

VALENTINO

ILLUSTRATIONS: LYDIA BEAUREGARD. PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER STIGTER (RUNWAY), COURTESY OF GUCCI (COLLINS)

WATCH THIS Petra Collins explores the worlds of high fashion and pop music through her feminist viewfinder

Muse: Carrie-Anne Moss’s Trinity in The Matrix (1999). Slick leather getups at Saint Laurent and Proenza Schouler mimicked Trinity’s don’t-mess-with-me latex (the best since Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, TBH). 31

TIFF PICK

SARIENA LUY, FILMMAKER

Carey Mulligan, Jason Mitchell and Mary J. Blige star in Mudbound, Dee Rees’s poignant film adaptation of Hillary Jordan’s 2008 book about a man returning to the Jim Crow South from WW II. Mitchell’s character was a war hero abroad, but things are different on American soil.

Must-watch film: Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) by Hayao Miyazaki. “Feminism is a recurring theme in his films, as is pacifism, which is particularly meaningful to me because my parents survived the Cambodian genocide. Growing up, my dad and I watched his films, and they shaped everything that I am.” L’ORÉAL PARIS BROW STYLIST FRAME & SET IN DARK BRUNETTE, $12, AND ELNETT CRÈME DE MOUSSE EXTRA STRONG HOLD, $11. PROENZA SCHOULER DRESS, $2,660, HOLT RENFREW

GARETH PUGH

ALEXANDER WANG

FUTURE FASHION

BOTTEGA VENETA

VERSUS

It can’t be the same type of people calling the shots in programming a n d d i s t r i b u t i o n f o r e t e r n i t y. Same with criticism and granting bodies—we can’t continue to have the same folks deciding what’s “important” enough to be seen, or even made in the first place, or we get more of the same forever. People want media that’s respectful of their lived experiences or else they’re bored and alienated. Sofia: Sometimes we don’t trust audiences, but I think that people want to be challenged. I’m optimistic. I feel like the conversations that we’re having—about making more space for women in film, and about making more space for a diverse array of voices—will lead to more action. I feel that responsibility. Sariena: I’m tired of the idea of “women” in film being considered niche. I want it to become mainstream in a good way, like, “This is normal. We’re going to be just as dominant.” When I was a film major in high school we had to work on a project about directors, but the whole list was male. So for me, knowing that in the future we’re going to be able to choose from a huge list of female directors—that’s awesome. n

FUTURE FASHION

WHAT’S NEXT HUMAN SCALE

Muses: Daryl Hannah’s Pris and Sean Young’s Rachael in Blade Runner (1982). This season’s angular suiting and Alexander Wang’s mussed-up mesh have the makings of the 1982-meets-2049 dystopia.

As dazzling as new tech advancements in cinema are, the immersive experience of movies already comes naturally to us. A 2016 scientific study found that the air in movie theatres changes in chemistry based on audience reactions. What we smell at the movies isn’t just your run-of-the-mill popcorn and mouth-breathers. Even without moving seats and experiential misting, our emotions change the smell of the cinema we’re in. Wonder Woman won’t produce the same effect as The Beguiled, but it’s the audience with their human whims, and not artificial intelligence, making it happen. As the credits roll, the future is always ours to shape.

MEMBERS ONLY THE FIRST RULE OF MOVIE CLUB IS, DON’T TALK (DURING THE MOVIE) ABOUT MOVIE CLUB

The club: Drunk Feminist Films, Toronto Why it’s great: Your brilliant feminism-in-film opinions and arguments only get better and stronger with alcohol. Sneak in: A cosmo with a healthy splash of irony. 32

The club: Bechdel Tested, Toronto Why it’s great: Films make the cut based on passing the Bechdel Test of women’s representation—so only the best films make it. Sneak in: Your bestie.

The club: Calgary Cinematheque, Calgary Why it’s great: The cultured and curated program plays all the movies you claim to have seen and adored, like French New Wave classics. Sneak in: Extra eyeliner, Gitanes and a striped shirt.

The club: Indie88 Band and a Movie, Toronto Why it’s great: Because the movie theatre sound system is way better than whatever it is your dad recommended. Plus, it’s free. Sneak in: Your best dance moves.

SPOTLIGHT DRAMA QUEENS Standout students from TIFF’s Next Wave Committee on their alltime fave teen movie

ILLUSTRATIONS: LYDIA BEAUREGARD. PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER STIGTER (RUNWAY), GETTY IMAGES (OLDE)

Dasola Dina: Bring It On (2000) “A movie about my life would be called Bring It On! I wouldn’t be very good at cheerleading but there’d still be drama, good music and great hairstyles, and just like the Clovers, my character wouldn’t go down without a fight.”

Alyssa Fuerte: The Edge of Seventeen (2016) “I think it perfectly captures what it feels like to be a teen in the modern age, right down to the pessimistic humour. I loved how the characters weren’t reduced to teen movie stereotypes. I could really relate to Nadine’s teenage angst, and her struggle with feeling alone.”

Nara Wrigglesworth: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982) “I love the music, the costumes and the characters. I love that it’s about girls acting how they want and doing what they want to empower other females. It’s so punk and so much fun.”

The club: Doc Soup Series, Toronto and Calgary Why it’s great: You never know whether a documentary will get your blood boiling or make you happy-cry. Sneak in: A quiet snack—no loud chomping during emotionally charged silences. THEKIT.CA | SEPTEMBER 2017 |

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SLOW CLAP Erica Olde’s Black Bicycle Entertainment produced the upcoming Woman Walks Ahead starring Jessica Chastain.

TOGETHER WE RISE Phenom producer Erika Olde is all about gram with the non-profit Ghetto Film School, which places five female stupulling up the next generation

Some exciting signs that the industry is shifting: TIFF and Telefilm are investing in women filmmakers and creatives alike. TIFF’s newly minted Share Her Journey campaign—which includes Erika Olde among its honourees—aims to raise $3 million over the next five years to increase the number of women enrolled in its professional development programs. The National Film Board of Canada has long championed women in its upper management positions, as executive producers, and by distributing a long roster of feminist films. In the next three years, at least half of the movies coming out of the NFB will be directed by women.

dents on Hollywood sets to learn the The first time Erika Olde saw her dad cry—“a man’s biz from the ground up. “The only way man, totally unemotional with a deep voice and very to make change is by changing the large shoes”—it was while watching the basketball numbers of how many women are in movie Hoosiers. “I thought, If a movie can change how the industry,” says Olde, whose own attitude to Tinseltown I see my father—my rock—it must be very powerful,” sexism is a “bye-boy” shrug. “Men sometimes say, ‘Wow, recalls the Toronto native. Olde went on to study mar- Erika, you’re so dressed up today’ or ‘Wow, Erika, you’re keting but spent her weekends hanging on set with so blunt.’ Maybe it’s a put-down, but I choose to ignore it. friends from film school, which led to gigs working I’ve never felt the need to get validation from someone on shorts and music videos and, eventually, to an else. The only times I’ve felt super proud of myself is when agent. Producing felt like a natural next step: “I like I’ve said, ‘Fuck it .’” —Laura deCarufel thinking big picture, pulling all the pieces together and seeing how they fit.” SOFIA Olde’s first feaBOHDANOWICZ, ture, November DIRECTOR Criminals, brought Must-watch film: Museum Hours (2012) by Jem her to Rhode Cohen. “Seeing a hybrid Island, where she docu-fiction like that was really big for me, in terms spent three months of showing me what’s alongside more possible onscreen.” than 100 crew and Beauty Note: Keep stars like Chloë things sleek and sharp Grace Moretz. “It with a dark, defined eye and sideswept bangs. w a s v e r y o v e rL’Oréal Paris Elnett Satin whelming, but I Precious Oils Hairspray, $16, drugstores was very willing to L’ORÉAL PARIS VOLUMINOUS learn—I wanted to SMOULDERING EYELINER IN BLACK, $12, AND INFALLIBLE get my hands dirty.” CONCEALING AND CONTOUR KIT, $20. MICHAEL KORS COLLECTION TOP, $1,995, That can-do spirit is HOLT RENFREW the driving force MAKEUP BY SHERI STROH FOR PLUTINO GROUP/ behind Olde’s L.A.L’ORÉAL PARIS. HAIR BY ANNA BARSEGHIAN FOR based production JUDY INC/L’ORÉAL PARIS. STYLING BY JILLIAN VIEIRA. company Black BicyCREATIVE DIRECTION BY JESSICA HOTSON. cle Entertainment— founded in 2014, it’s since racked up powerhouse credits l i ke t h e u p co m ing Woman Walks Ahead starring Jessica Chastain. Olde’s other passion is m e nto r s h i p . Sh e recently launched an internship pro-

PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER STIGTER (RUNWAY EXCEPT LANVIN, SELMAN, OLSENS); GETTY IMAGES (LANVIN, SELMAN, OLSENS)

SVH is back. How do fashion’s cool kids fit into the Wakefield universe?

SWEET DREAMS

LAST WORD

“There is nowhere in the world like Sweet Valley,” Roxanne Gay has said about the Sweet Valley High books. Blessedly, the singular fictional southern California town hits the silver screen next year. Francine Pascal’s cult series starring Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield—identical twins and dimpled embodiments of the madonna-whore trope—is getting a movie reboot courtesy of writers Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith and Harper Dill, whose credits include 10 Things I Hate about You, Legally Blonde and She’s the Man. Prediction: This flick will be twice as good as 90210, Gossip Girl and PLL...combined. —Veronica Saroli

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| SEPTEMBER 2017 | THEKIT.CA