"WORN is reclaiming fashion as something that can be exciting, challenging, different, quirky, interesting, not just as something you have to consume."—Jane Pratt, from her foreword
The WORN Archive: A Fashion Journal about the Arts, Ideas, and History of What We Wear is a manifesto on why fashion and clothing matter. For eight years, the Canadian magazine has investigated the intersections of fashion, pop culture, and art. With prescient, intelligent articles, WORN Fashion Journal strives to address diverse issues such as gender, identity, and culture with openness and honesty. WORN asserts that fashion is art, history, ideas, and most of all fun—that style is a personal experience that need not align with the fashion industry.
The four-hundred-page book features the best content from the journal's first fourteen issues, assembled by WORN'S founder and editor in chief, Serah-Marie McMahon. Articles penned by a host of unique contributors (academics, writers, curators, and artists) touch on topics as wide-ranging as the relationship between feminism and fashion, discourse on hijabs, how to tie a tie, the history of flight attendants, and textile conservation. With eclectic photo shoots featuring "real" models, striking illustrations, and whimsical layouts, every page is a joyful, creative approach to clothing.
The WORN Archive is the ultimate cultural style map for those who don't want to be told how to dress but are seeking a transformative understanding of why we wear what we do.

Serah-Marie McMahon founded WORN Fashion Journal and edited The WORN Archive, published by Drawn & Quarterly. She sells and writes about children’s books in Toronto, Ontario.

Serah-Marie McMahon's profile page

Each new page is both surprising and delicious. All the photography is top-notch, not just the model shoots; even pictures of old shoes and rows of ties seduce the eye." - NPR

"[ The WORN Archive is] a wonderful look back at some of the most erudite pieces from the magazine regarding fashion history, cultures, and styles, laid-out beautifully alongside diverse, personal stories about getting dressed." - National Post Best of the Year

"Every page is a reminder that clothes aren't just things we buy; they're what we live in." - Flare

"Edgy, insightful and visually beautiful." - CBC Books Holiday Gift Guide

"[ The WORN Archive is] a wonderful, heart-warming and funny read." - Design Week

"Deliciously designed, intelligent, quirky, entertaining, and provocative Artists, makers, and fashionistas will be seduced by the books imaginative visuals and astute essays." - Publishers Weekly
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