FASHION Magazine

See Hawaiian print trend picks »

Dip into summer with a brightly- coloured pencil skirt, or a bold-printed sandal. From the shades to the shoes, the tropical trend is all about botanical prints and eye-popping neons. We’re taking cues from Selena Gomez, who recently stunned in a seriously colourful Hawaiian print Dolce & Gabbana top at the SXSW premiere of Spring Breakers, and Solange Knowles, who took the take to the stage in botanical printed Pencey head-to-toe suit.

By Alexandra Breen

When Winona Ryder speaks, there is defiance in her voice that sounds earned. “I don’t want to do the crazy thing and try to hold onto my youth,” she says while promoting her latest film, The Iceman, at the Toronto International Film Festival. “And I don’t want to work just to work, either. At this point in my life, I just want to be a good person. I’m 40, and I’m psyched, because with age comes experience. I’ve paid some dues and had some ups and downs.”

Ryder’s story started with a childhood spent on a commune with hippie parents and quickly led to her discovery by director Tim Burton, who cast her in the film Beetlejuice. Stellar reviews and a relationship with heartthrob Johnny Depp followed—Who could forget his “Winona Forever”-turned-“Wino Forever” tattoo?—as well as Oscar nods for Little Women and The Age of Innocence and a genre-defining role in Reality Bites. Blockbuster flops were the precursors to Ryder’s now-infamous shoplifting scandal, and she signed on to do a few indie flicks before officially resurfacing in the Oscar-winning Black Swan.

“In the ’90s, I experienced a lot of success, and to be honest I wasn’t expecting it to last. You’re told that you get a couple of years if you’re lucky. It was great, but it came with a lot of pressure,” Ryder reflects. “I wasn’t like, ‘Boo hoo, poor me,’ but I realized that I want a home and I want to spend time with my family and friends. It takes something very special for me to want to leave that now.”

See punk fashion on the runways »

When the Sex Pistols burst onto the scene in 1976, their spitting anarchist anthems were the antithesis of high fashion. But these days, a studded leather motorcycle jacket is as covet-worthy as a designer bag.

Opening on May 7, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York shines the spotlight on this rebellious movement with its latest Costume Institute exhibition, Punk: Chaos to Couture. In its early days, British punk rock bands like The Clash forced safety pins through leather while Patti Smith, The Ramones and Blondie’s Debbie Harry holed up at New York’s legendary dive bar CBGB in tattered T-shirts and ripped jeans as a protest against the city’s glitzy disco scene.

Designer Vivienne Westwood’s punk roots also run deep—in 1976 she cultivated many of this era’s DIY hallmarks at her London boutique, Seditionaries, which she owned with then-boyfriend, visual artist and Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren. The duo’s endlessly creative takes on rebellion helped shape the unofficial punk uniform, with reappropriated patriotic symbols including Queen Elizabeth II’s face and the Union Jack. The movement’s raw aesthetic gained mainstream appeal in 1977, when British designer Zandra Rhodes used exposed seams, strategic rips and bondage-like accents on her floor-length dresses.

See photos from The Graduate-inspired photo shoot »

A seasoned seductress, her young prey, his true love—characters inspired by the ’60s classic The Graduate—gather for a cinematic take on the season’s trends. In this photo shoot from our May 2013 issue, we tapped legendary Canadian model Donna Demarco, still a smokeshow at 68-years-old, to pose as a latter day Mrs. Robinson alongside our version of Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin Braddock, Matt Apedaile. Cast in the role of his age-appropriate love: Canadian favourite Addison Gill’s innocence in Spring 2013 Prada is pitch perfect.

Or see fashion by age: IN YOUR 20s | IN YOUR 30s| IN YOUR 40s | IN YOUR 50s | IN YOUR 60s | IN YOUR 70s

How important is it to dress age appropriately? This is a question that, when asked, will generate a variety of different answers. Fashion by age is hardly a new phenomenon, but the contrast between what is or is not appropriate for certain ages has changed overtime. There may be some styles that are thought to be more suited to one age over another, but as we all know by now, fashion is never that black and white.

Keeping that in mind, check out our selection of the best spring pieces that work for a variety of different ages. From bright printed pants to classic blazers, these beautiful bouquet pieces can work for any age.

See our shorts trend shopping picks »
See the the shorts trend on the Spring 2013 runways »

By Gabrielle Johnson

Several months before her 38th birthday, Gwyneth Paltrow took a pair for a spin on the red carpet. Forty-four-year-old Jennifer Aniston practically lives in them. And at 53, Sharon Stone was snapped wearing hers with a slouchy sweater and knee-high boots. As fashion statements go, shorts aren’t new: Sexy, sporty hot pants will forever be associated with the 1970s, while countless girls who came of age in the ’80s emulated Baby’s Dirty Dancing denim cut-offs. In the ’90s, shorts teamed with tights were a seasonless staple—a look that has since become an off-duty model classic.

On the ready-to-wear runways, shorts are also a familiar sight. Miuccia Prada opened her Spring 2000 show with a body-hugging pair, and has been experimenting with variations on the theme ever since. Marni designer Consuelo Castiglioni has been peppering her collections with them for years, in every length, fabric and pattern imaginable. This spring, tailored shorts have taken the spotlight. Chloé, Prabal Gurung and Fendi showed them in lush leathers; Carolina Herrera and Cacharel favoured light, shiny fabrics; Dolce & Gabbana, Hermès and Chalayan experimented with trippy prints; and Emporio Armani femme’d them up with sweet ruffles. Clearly, fashion’s cyclicality is what makes this trend so right, right now.

“Everything old is new again,” says Barbara Atkin, vice-president of fashion direction at Holt Renfrew. “Designers keep bringing back shorts, over and over again, in different ways. It’s the right time. We’ve had so many short miniskirts—it was time to evolve from that.” 

Canadian designer Arthur Mendonça, whose Spring 2013 collection included sequin-effect black tuxedo shorts and a raspberry-hued silk sheen version, agrees. “I’ve always liked [them] as a skirt substitute,” he says. “I like the whole sporty look of a tailored short, especially for spring and summer. It looks modern. The shorts we did were all high-waisted; they almost look like A-line skirts.”

At Cacharel, designers Ling Liu and Dawei Sun consider tailored shorts to be the new trousers. “They’ve become a basic, whether in winter or in summer,” says Sun. “They’re modern and easy to mix. Different lengths and materials allow you to create really diverse outfits.” Considering that spring’s new crop of longer shorts were trotted out on the runways paired with blazers, button-downs and (relatively) sensible heels, it seems these onetime vacation-wear must-haves have morphed into perfectly acceptable office attire. Depending on your office, that is. “What we in the fashion world see as office-appropriate is really much more of a fashion take on your office wardrobe,” says Atkin. “If you’re working for a traditional law firm on [Toronto’s] Bay Street, shorts of any kind are a no-no. It would be frowned upon, and you’d probably be asked to leave.”

See the “High Contrast” photo shoot »

Welcome a punch of black-and-white graphics to your spring wardrobe with zig zags, checkers and Op art inspiration. Like a page out of Diana Vreeland’s mid-sixties book, photographer Chris Nicholls and stylist Zeina Esmail proved that a relative absence of colour doesn’t mean you can’t make a statement, combining some of Spring 2013’s greatest standouts from Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana and Michael Kors with Twilight Zone style backdrops in this May 2013 issue photo shoot. And that hair? Eat your heart out, Vidal Sassoon.

See our sneaker shopping picks »
See sneaker style on the street »

A designer’s runway bow rarely generates buzz—that is, unless it’s Phoebe Philo’s. Since the 39-year-old British fashion phenom took the reins at French luxury house Céline in 2008, she has been popping out post-show in Paris to thunderous applause for her stunning minimalist-driven collections. But lately it seems all eyes have been focused on her feet. Adidas Stan Smith trainers, Nike Air Max 90s in pink—when it comes to game-day dressing, Philo prefers to rock a pair of runners rather than a haute pair of heels. So does Kristen Stewart. At the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012, she appeared on the red carpet in a body-skimming, floral-embellished Zuhair Murad dress paired with black stilettos, which she quickly ditched in favour of her Barbara Bui leather high-tops. First Lady Michelle Obama has slipped into metallic cap-toe Lanvin sneakers to carry out her White House duties. Even fashion’s favourite street-style star, Italian clotheshorse and editor-at-large of Vogue Japan Anna Dello Russo, who is never spotted without her five-inch spikes, was photographed wearing sky-blue New Balance trainers in Milan in January.

This spring, kicks are taking a walk on the wild side on runways, including Junya Watanabe, Moschino Cheap & Chic, Ruffian, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Ashish, and at luxury footwear labels like Christian Louboutin, Giuseppe Zanotti, Jimmy Choo and Pierre Hardy. At $500 and up, these new sartorial stars won’t be clocking any time at the gym, but they might give your wallet a workout. Surprised? Don’t be—this shift toward high-end sneakers hasn’t exactly snuck up on us. Running shoes first emerged as status symbols during the 1970s. “They were worn not just in the gym or to do athletics but for shopping and on your leisure time,” says Elizabeth Semmelhack, senior curator at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto and for its latest exhibition, Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture (April 25, 2013 to April 22, 2014). Mixed-media and graphic designer Karim Rashid, famous for colourful, eclectic designs that range from furniture to footwear, also knows a thing or two about retro sneakers. As the creative vision behind this exhibition, and an avid runner, he believes that “the running shoe [conjures up] nostalgia” and that currently, “there’s a big revival going on.”

By Andrew McCarthy

First, the disclaimer: I’m a man, so I can’t speak first-hand to the pressures women feel to look a certain way. But as an actor, and consequently someone who has made a living based largely on how I look, physical appearance is a topic I consider frequently. In my youth, the idea of cosmetic surgery amused me as something relegated to Beverly Hills dowagers and fading starlets. But as the years have passed, and with the advent of so many new techniques, more and more of my peers have succumbed. The buff and plump, to say nothing of the nip and tuck, have become de rigueur. Yet something about all the peeling and freezing troubles me. I just couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was—until recently.

It isn’t necessarily the physical effect, though I often find that odd and unnatural-looking. The thing that is so unsettling, so worrisome to me, is the message cosmetic surgery is broadcasting about the person who has had the work done. I know it’s not the signal they want to send.

What got me thinking about this, and how I came to my realization, was learning that a certain (male) rock star—someone whose career I have long followed, whose albums I own and whom I have admired for his seemingly genuine sense of self—admitted to having Botox. Some may praise his courage in coming clean, but this information made me sad. And I wondered why it did.

ALWAYS IN FASHION
22 fashionmagazine.com
26 Letter from the editor
28 Contributors
30 Behind the scenes
32 Letters from our readers

FASHION
38 NEWS Tiffany & Co.’s new jazz-era jewels; Levi’s celebrates a milestone; Chanel turns back the hands of time with the relaunch of a 1987 classic; and the latest book for haute heel lovers.
40 FLASHPOINT Stylish women from across the country step out in some of the season’s hottest trends, including high shine and juicy shades of melon.

I will never be perfect.

This realization struck me on a recent vacation as I was thumbing through a Martha Stewart cookbook.  (There’s no one like Martha to make you feel inadequate, is there? She is even perfect at that.)

I am not sure where this feeling of self-acceptance suddenly bubbled up from, or why. But it has given me a new outlook on dressing. I am much more sure that my choices are right for me. And I am letting go of the belief that I should wear something because I should.

“Striving for perfection does seem like a form of self-hatred,” cover girl Isla Fisher tells features editor Elio Iannacci in “Feeling Jazzed” (page 146). Ironic, then, that her day with photographer Chris Nicholls in Los Angeles produced so many incredible shots, it pained us to edit them down to just a handful.

Weeks before Isla Fisher started to prep for the onslaught of worldwide premieres for her latest film, The Great Gatsby, the 37-year-old actress took time out to pose for FASHION’s May 2013 issue and chat with our features editor, Elio Iannacci.

Aside from talking about her upcoming film roles (she has four films slated for release this year), the mother of two and wife of funny man Sascha Baron Cohen talked about her heroes, her style choices and, of course, her thoughts on comedy.

Here are a few of the highlights from the upcoming May 2013 cover story:

On her two favorite red carpet dresses:
“I still love what I wore to the London premier of Wedding Crashers even though I wore it years ago. It was a Chanel pale pink strapless dress. I also love this midnight blue Herve Legere number I wore to the Golden Globes when my husband won for Borat.”