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UC-MagSpring2013-Quark9PB_Layout 1 13-02-24 10:42 AM Page 1 Spring 2013 DESIGNER ADRIAN WU + 12. RONA MAYNARD BEFORE & DRESSING AFTER WELL MAHEESHA 16. RANASINGHE LEONARD 32. SIMPSON 26.SHOE KING FASHION CRIMES WHY YOU SHOULDN’T BUY FAKE 36.HANDBAGS StyleThe Issue www.uc.utoronto.ca/alumni UC-MagSpring2013-Quark9PB_Layout 1 13-02-24 10:42 AM Page 2 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE SPRING 2013 The Look www.uc.utoronto.ca/alumni WE ASKED UC STUDENTS THE TO SHOW US WHAT THEY’D WEAR FOR A NUMBER OF OCCASIONS, FROM CLASS IN THE MORNING TO BED AT NIGHT AND ALL POINTS LO IN BETWEEN. PHOTOGRAPHER Christopher Dew OK TERRI ODUNLAMI brings it at the club TERRY TANG suits up for a job interview ALICE HSUEH tucks herself in ZOYA GAI hits the gym ARUSHI JAISWAL grabs a coffee with friends 02 — UC ALUMNI MAGAZINE UC-MagSpring2013-Quark9PB_Layout 1 13-02-24 10:42 AM Page 3 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE SPRING 2013 The Look www.uc.utoronto.ca/alumni heads to class AMANDA STOJCEVSKI OLIVIA DOOLEY dons vintage UC spirit wear for Frosh Week JUNWEN DENG sparkles at party ALANA HORTON & BENJAMIN DIONNE dress to impress on date night DANIEL KONIKOFF rocks out at band practise UC ALUMNI MAGAZINE — 03 UC-MagSpring2013-Quark9PB_Layout 1 13-02-24 10:42 AM Page 4 CONTENTS SPRING 2013 featuresFeatures www.uc.utoronto.ca/alumni KEYNOTE 08. Principal's message CAMPUS 12. 16. 44. FOCUS SILHOUETTES UC style Adrian Who? Pinning down Rona Maynard on dressing well designer Adrian Wu BY YVONNE PALKOWSKI BY TRACY HOWARD CLASS NOTES 46. News from alumni 26. CONVERSATION Town Shoes founder Leonard Simpson BY YVONNE PALKOWSKI 20. 36. SILHOUETTES PERSPECTIVES The evolution of Irene Kim Why you shouldn’t buy fake handbags 32. BY TRACY HOWARD BY ASHLEE FROESE BEFORE & AFTER Recent alum Maheesha Ranasinghe 04 — UC ALUMNI MAGAZINE gets a makeover BY YVONNE PALKOWSKI UC-MagSpring2013-FINAL.qxd:Layout 1 2/26/13 7:55 AM Page 5 CONTENTS SPRING 2013 MASTHEAD Departments www.uc.utoronto.ca/alumni Volume 38, No. 2 REPORT Wearable computing maven Ariel Garten BY JENNIFER MCINTYRE EDITOR Yvonne Palkowski (BA 2004 UC) SPECIAL THANKS Donald Ainslie Alana Clarke (BA 2008 UC) Keenan Dixon (BA 2011 UC) Naomi Hood Jim Lawson Lori MacIntyre COVER PHOTOGRAPH Maheesha Ranasinghe by Christopher Dew ART DIRECTION & DESIGN www.typotherapy.com PRINTING Flash Reproductions CORRESPONDENCE AND UNDELIVERABLE COPIES TO: University College Advancement Office 40. 15 King’s College Circle 01. Toronto, ON, M5S 3H7 University College Alumni Magazine departments is published twice a year by the University College Advancement Office and is circulated to 26,000 alumni and friends of University IMAGE 01. 07. College, University of Toronto. InteraXon CEO BRIEFLY Ariel Garten Editor’s note PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT IMAGE 02. 10. 40041311 Designer Adrian Wu CALENDAR What’s on at UC 48. DONATIONS Contributions to 02. University College 54. IN MEMORIAM Alumni passed UC ALUMNI MAGAZINE — 05 UC-MagSpring2013-Quark9PB_Layout 1 13-02-24 10:42 AM Page 6 CONTENTS SPRING 2013 Contributors www.uc.utoronto.ca/alumni Contributors ASHLEE FROESE industry and their excitement neighbour, who threw a towel Ashlee Froese (BA 2002 UC) about it is infectious.” As for her over our bold heroine and is a branding and fashion lawyer memorable fashion moments, marched her home. Since her at Gilbert’s LLP. Ashlee counts running into Elle Macpherson retirement from the world of her lucky stars that she is able to in the ladies’ room of London’s haute couture, Jennifer has combine her love of fashion with Savoy hotel nearly tops the list. turned her attention to more her legal career and takes pride What bested it? Minutes later sedate pursuits in which fashion in assisting fashion designers seeing the supermodel walk into plays but a minimal part— protect their creative ingenuity. a party off the lobby in which although it can be safely said With over 70 pairs of shoes, legendary designer Valentino that “she cleans up well.” you’re unlikely to find this fash- was working the door. Jennifer was lured into writing ionista in anything less than a 3- for the fashion issue of UC inch stiletto. Ashlee runs the web- IRENE KIM Magazine with the judicious use site www.canadafashionlaw.com, Two years ago, Irene Kim (BSc of the word “technology” in a which looks at the business 2002 UC) left the unfashionable query email, and the assurance and law of fashion. You can world of corporate law to pursue that, yes, she could wear her also follow her on Twitter a career in the fanciful world of beloved “Bazinga!” T-shirt while @brandfashionlaw. fashion. She is the editor-at- interviewing InteraXon CEO large of The Ge nte e l, editorial Ariel Garten. TRACY HOWARD director of frank and a style con- Tracy Howard is a writer and sultant at La Closette. Irene YVONNE PALKOWSKI editor specializing in lifestyle spends far too much time trying Yvonne Palkowski (BA 2004 UC) editorial for such publications as to score deals online for clothes is the communications officer Flare and the Toronto Star, as she can’t afford. She has collect- for University College and the well as corporate clients. Prior ed a closet full of beautiful editor of UC Magazine . Hardly a to embarking on the freelance clothes that she loves to admire, fashionista, when it was decided life she was an editor-in-chief but doesn’t necessarily wear. that the spring 2013 issue would at Tote m, where she helmed She’s working on it. be dedicated to fashion and branded-content magazines for style, inwardly, she panicked. P&G Beauty, CAA, and Sears JENNIFER MCINTYRE Her wardrobe consists dispro- Canada. She loved interviewing Toronto writer and editor portionately of skinny jeans, designer Adrian Wu and The Jennifer McIntyre’s career as scoop-neck tops, and yoga pants, Ge nte e l’s Irene Kim for this a fashion designer began and and her choice of outfit is typi- issue. “They’re as different from ended on a summer’s day when cally shaped by the question each other as can be, but both she was just four years of age. “Will I be comfortable riding my are fairly new to the fashion Unsupervised for mere minutes, bicycle in this?” Yvonne is fond she darted outdoors clad only in of mandarin collars and believes a handmade outfit consisting of strongly that Thai fisherman several strips of flowered fabric pants, when properly acces- held together by 12 or so stitches sorized, can be suitable for of yellow yarn. The show was almost any occasion. She refuses 06 — UC ALUMNI MAGAZINE brought to an abrupt halt by a to wear hosiery. UC-MagSpring2013-Quark9PB_Layout 1 13-02-24 10:42 AM Page 7 BRIEFLY SPRING 2013 Editor’s Note www.uc.utoronto.ca/alumni Briefly Editor’s Note AS A CHILD OF THE 1980S, I was a serial fashion victim. For a brief time back home in Toronto, Witness the hot pink acrylic sweater, paired with I would emulate the stylish denizens across jogging pants in a mismatched shade of pink, the pond. And then I got cold, or itchy, or and smartly accessorized with a shiny pink otherwise uncomfortable. The offending gar- scrunchie to contain the requisite side pony-tail. ments—angora sweater, pointy-toed heels, deli- (Thanks, Mom.) cate hose—were removed, but a certain fashion consciousness remained and continues to tem- High school brought welcome respite from the per my form-follows-function aesthetic. bold colours and tacky fabrics. The prescribed uniform—white collared shirt, woolen kilt or grey Statement pieces—my grandmother’s Baltic slacks—delivered the predictability and inconspic- amber cocktail ring, oversized sunglasses, the uousness I craved. While my classmates looked copper earrings I got in Turkey—animate my forward to monthly “Civvies Days” when we were functional attire and are the essence of my permitted to wear our regular clothes, I stressed personal style. over what to wear. This aesthetic hardly qualifies me to address It wasn’t until University and afterwards that I the themes of fashion and style to which this began to develop my own sense of style, partly issue of UC Magazine is dedicated. Luckily, the out of necessity—my limited Civvies wouldn’t get UC alumni featured in these pages have more me to laundry day—and partly out of a newfound than enough style and savvy to compensate. interest in style, owing largely to a trip to Europe. YVONNE PALKOWSKI (BA 2004 UC) Observing the daily fashion parades on the streets of Paris and Florence inspired equal parts envy and shame. UC ALUMNI MAGAZINE — 07 UC-MagSpring2013-Quark9PB_Layout 1 13-02-24 10:42 AM Page 8 UC-MagSpring2013-FINAL.qxd:Layout 1 2/26/13 8:00 AM Page 9 KEYNOTE SPRING 2013 Principal's Message www.uc.utoronto.ca/alumni Keynote AUTHOR Donald Ainslie IMAGE 01. FASHION IS UBIQUITOUS AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. Students in the Otherwise, fashion makes an appearance in philos- For years, I’ve worn Follies wear costumes allowing them to play charac- ophy primarily as the epitome of the merely con- what I think of as my “professor’s uniform” ters from different eras. Members of the Lit proud- ventional, a useful contrast to the supposedly time- around campus— ly put on their sweatshirts indicating their role in less truths of ethics and aesthetics. Indeed, fashion jeans, shirt and tie, College leadership. Professors don the colourful is relentlessly temporal. We look at pictures of our- and a sports coat. But when I started as gowns from their doctoral institutions for the selves from only a few years back and wonder what UC Principal, I fig- Convocation ceremonies, while students often have we were thinking in wearing such wide (or narrow) ured I had to start the latest fashion under their black gowns.