Before November, the month of Remembrance Day, slips away I am looking forward to creating events to remember in 2017. There are several anniversaries that we will be celebrating which will allow us to once again showcase items in our Fashion Resource Centre.
As a Canadian the celebration of the founding of our country in 1867 will be highlighted not only on Canada Day but throughout the year. Our first centennial celebrated in 1967 occurred in the midst of the “Youthquake” of the 1960s. (right, pink Mini Dress by Marilyn Brooks’ Unicorn label).
Canadian Designers who are well represented in our collection, Claire Haddad, Marilyn Brooks and Elen Henderson gained recognition with consumers and established some of the foundation and organizations that have continued to provide ongoing support for new fashion designers.
The late Claire Haddad showed her Canadian patriotism by featuring the (then) newly created Maple Leaf tartan which included all of the colours of the maple leaf transitioning from summer to fall. This green, gold, red and brown tartan was created by David Weiser of the Highland Queen company.
I look forward to seeing what our contemporary Canadian designers may produce to celebrate and highlight their patriotism as we celebrate 150 years of our wonderful country.
One of the initiatives sparked by the centennial of the country was the establishment of our community college system. 2017, then is also the 50th anniversary of Seneca College. Its original mandate was to provide an alternate path to university, providing post secondary education in fields that were often quite specialized but not serviced by any university. One of the first graduating classes at Seneca College was in Fashion and over the 50 years we have seen the programs within our School of Fashion expand to prepare graduates for the fields of Cosmetics, Esthetics, Visual Merchandising, Floral Design and Event Design. I am pleased to have been a product of this education system, graduating from my first program in 1976 and as a member of the School of Fashion for many years.
Thanks to the foresight of my colleagues Claire Becker, Bev Newburg, Caroline Routh and many more, we established our Resource Centre more than 25 years ago. We will be able to support the celebrations of this anniversary with displays of the fads and fashions that graced the halls during that first decade and for those of the following four.
2017 marks the 60th anniversary of Fashion Group International’s Toronto chapter. This organization has been a volunteer operated association that has worked tirelessly to support its members and the Fashion industry in Toronto. They mentor new members, provide networking opportunities and highlight the contributions the fashion industry provides to society in general.
We have had wonderful links with Fashion Group International and its members over the decades as we share many of the same supporters. Many of those early supporters of Fashion Group (Marilyn Brooks, Claire Haddad, Shirley Cheatley of Elen Henderson designs) were on the early committees that helped establish our Resource Centre. Many of these members have also contributed through donations made to the Centre. We will be working with FGI to help highlight their anniversary too.
In 1947 Christian Dior’s “New Look” brought haute couture to the world but also made the house a name synonymous with fashion. The 70th anniversary of the house will certainly be a cause for celebration.
Last December we welcomed Severine Breton from Christian Dior Paris to research and photograph the “Diors” of our collection. The house was searching to find the Dior items which have been preserved at various museums throughout the world and is working on a book to celebrate this auspicious anniversary. We happily provided the items within our collection for examination and were very grateful to receive from Dior information that we have added to our research files about the designs. Included in the information were copies of some original files showing sketches, design names and fabric swatches. While each of the garments in our Centre has had information catalogued from the donor about the items having additional information directly from the designer and/or the house increases the information we can provide researchers in the future.
Each succeeding year seems to bring with it an array of diverse tasks and opportunities for our collection, but clearly, 2017 will be a year beyond the norm.
