My style icon is anyone who makes a bloody effort. - Isabella Blow

WORN Fashion Journal is a print publication that comes out twice a year (once in hot weather, once in cold) based in Toronto, Canada. However, our content is not time or location specific. Since we do not report on trends or promote the newest items on the market, our content is as interesting and relevant today as it will be five years down the road. Although we love and support Toronto fashion, we include content from all over Canada and the rest of the world. WORN hasn’t missed the fact that there are scads of fashion magazines out there. But we feel something is missing: opinion and intelligent commentary that’s untainted by advertisers’ demands.

WORN discusses the cultures, subcultures, histories, and personal stories of fashion. We strive to embody a place between pop culture magazine and academic journal that opens new avenues in art and fashion theory by hovering where these two ideas intersect, connecting with fashion scholars and artists. We pay attention to how what is worn is made, interpreted, transformed, disseminated, and copied.

OUR MISSION

• To show a wide range of beauty, one that includes diversity of culture, subculture, gender identification, sexuality, size, race, ability, and age.
• To offer provocative thought on fashion and aesthetics in an accessible way.
• To refrain from polarizing fashion into concepts of “in” and “out,” or “good” and “bad”.
• To differentiate between personal style and the fashion industry, and recognize that the two don’t necessarily have to align.
• To answer, always and above all, to our readers and not our advertisers.
• To celebrate the universal appeal of fashion, outside of time and trend.
• To have a sense of humor, but not at anyone’s expense (with the notable exception of our own).

WHAT PEOPLE HAVE SAID ABOUT US

“It’s a mag for the fashion diehard who’s fed up with the usual glossies, and for the feminist theorist who never imagined herself picking up a fashion magazine.”
- Ashley McAllister, Bitch Magazine

“Do not be mislead by [WORN's] Velvet Underground references and indie-ness. Do not mistake its ‘DIY’ tone for an ‘indier than thou’ one. What with the We’re Using These Clothes Because We Like Them And Not Because We’re Being Paid To spirit, articles that consider the social commentary of fashion from a feminist viewpoint, and the general outlook on fashion as something fun and creative and important and interesting and not glamorous or exclusive, WORN is very sincere and very enjoyable. Four gold stars, fine holiday fun!”
- Tavi Gevinson, www.stylerookie.com

“It’s a fashion magazine with an indie heart and a grad student’s soul.”
- David Hayes, Toronto Star

“The perfect mix of serious fashion discussion, obscure historical details, and just plain prettiness.”
- sweetsassafras.org

“I can’t recommend it highly enough.”
-Sadie Stein, Jezebel

“Smart, adorable, fiercely indie and rarely too quirksome, WORN Journal is one of the best pieces of fashion small-print anywhere, never mind Toronto.”
-Sarah Nichole Prickett, Eye Weekly

“Books are great, but fashion people are magazine people. Since Vogue has fallen out of favour, fill its spot on your magazine rack with the WORN Fashion Journal.”
- Andrew Sardone, NOW magazine

“[WORN] is picking up Sassy’s brainy mantle”
- Nathalie Atkinson, National Post

“Discovering WORN Fashion Journal is as refreshing as trading in sweaty wool socks for liberating flip flops on the first day of spring.”
- Shameless Magazine

“WORN blends the inventiveness of punk rock and the aesthetics of high fashion…Well done”
- Zine World

“The thing that I like about WORN is that it approaches the ideas of fashion and style, not from a “chasing the runway” kind of approach, but rather from an intellectual, historical and fashion insider position. This is not a magazine for those who like to be told what to wear, but rather those who are always on the hunt for something a little different.”
- Angie Johnson, designer for Norwegian Wood

“WORN magazine calls itself a fashion journal. I call it a 44 page f*ck you to Anna Wintour.”
- Xtra

“I was enamoured with the personal tales, well researched articles and opinion pieces on a variety of subjects that with some historic or technical string are related to fashion, but are definitely unexpected, and in some cases unexplored.”
- Susie Bubble

Subscribe to Worn Fashion Journal here.