It’s a brutally cold winter’s Friday night, the first of February, and I’ve convinced my friend to make the trek through a vaguely familiar part of Toronto’s Cabbagetown for a magazine launch party. For some reason, I manage to stay warm as we walk to Arta Gallery at 14 Distillery Lane, in a bad-decisions outfit consisting of a bikini top and a questionably weather-appropriate leather trench commandeered from my floormate’s closet.
The student publication RADMag, is celebrating 5 years of Ryerson’s Faculty of Communication and Design (otherwise known by its street name FCAD) content with the Fifth Anniversary Issue, ISSUE 10. Featuring pieces such as A is for Asia and You Should Get Out More, the bi-annual publication showcases some of the best photography, fashion and design content from emerging Ryerson University creatives- including StyleCircle’s own Alicia Churilla with her contribution, Moonage Daydream. Unique to the anniversary issue are five submissions produced in-house, of which A is for Asia and You Should Get Out More are included, alongside Every Which Way, STRIPPED, and Symbiosis. Since receiving the copy, I’ve carried it around with me nearly everywhere, taking time to absorb myself in the pages on the TTC, stretched between internship hours and philosophy class.
Back at the event, I, 18-years-old and 5 months from being legal, can’t partake in the consumption of grapefruit rattlers and white wine, but there’s no denying it helps the engaging conversation and networking being housed in the space dominated by the pink and purple studiorat inflated interior. There’s a strange but undoubtedly cool thing that happens when you get 150 some FCAD students from varying years in a room together at 7pm and leave them to their own devices for 4 hours. In brief: tongue pops, the best polaroids you’ve seen since their rediscovery in 2014, and cultivation for another year of collaborative content demonstrating reflection on our interactions and relations. As described by RADMag, “Ryerson Art+Design Magazine (RADmag) was born out of a vision to create a medium of celebration, inspiration, and collaboration — to celebrate and showcase the work of students in Photography, Fashion, and Interior Design, to provide an outlet to inspire one another and the world at large, and aid in connecting students in these related visual disciplines.” The mission they embody was infused in each aspect of the event; a well-received notion shared amongst the guests that evening.
