Focusing on post WW II and the advent of the teenager as a distinct cultural force, fashion editor Odessa Paloma Parker and fashion academic Becky Halliday discuss select, key moments where fashion intersects with music, film and other culture forces for a broad stroked exploration of eager playmates – fashion and pop culture.
Odessa Paloma Parker is the contributing fashion editor at The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper. She is also the head of content at the design-forward Toronto-based cannabis brand, Tokyo Smoke.
Odessa received an Honours BA from the University of Toronto and a Book & Magazine Publishing Certificate from Centennial College. In 2010, she co-founded a magazine called Plaid. The goal of Plaid was to be “inspirational, not aspirational”, and to provide as much locally-focused content as possible.
After closing Plaid in 2012, Odessa joined the artist agency Judy Inc. as a stylist, and forged relationships with clients including The Grid, Today’s Bride, Cosmo TV and Entertainment Tonight Canada.
Odessa is also the founder of Vintage Crawl Toronto, and has organized and provided public relations services for fashion presentations, pop-ups and trunks shows around the city. She has served as a mentor for the Toronto chapter of Fashion Group International, and as a judge and panel moderator for events hosted by Fashion Takes Action. She is also on the nominating committee for the British Fashion Awards.
Photo credit Renata Kaveh.
Becky Halliday is a PhD Candidate in the Graduate Program in Communication and Culture at York University (joint with Ryerson University). She has written on various fashion-related topics, including fashion shows; online/digital media; street style; celebrity culture; hip-hop; Rad Hourani; and Coco Chanel. In addition to teaching, she is a research assistant on Refashioning Masculinity and a tutor at York University’s Writing Centre. Before pursuing graduate studies, she worked in Edmonton as an arts administrator and as a freelance writer, editor, theatre publicist and wardrobe mistress/stylist.
Early covers of Seventeen Magazine founded in 1945.
Marlon Brando in The Wild One (1953)
James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Twiggy, an icon of mod fashion in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Example of vintage actress postcards circa 1900.
Punks circa 1970. Photo credit Peter Price.