By Anna Ludmirsky, Born in Indonesia, Kurniawan Welly is a designer who created incredibly stylish high fashion garments most notably in the 80’s. These full gowns incorporate beautiful detail in every crevice of the piece from the bustier to the petticoat. Though Welly’s garments seem very outlandish and over-the-top nowadays, during that period of time, his target market of the…

Sifting Through the Missing Pieces: A Look at Those Who Were Enslaved to Create Clothing
By Olivia Belande, As long as textiles continue to be manufactured and produced for the mass market, there must be a hand behind these productions who works tirelessly and woefully to nurture raw fibre to garment. In contemporary North America, we are fortunate enough to have no close connection to the workers in impoverished countries who make our clothing. But what if feigning…

Sapphic Romantics and Neoclassical Fashion
By Rose de Paulsen, Sapphic Romantics and Neoclassical Fashion: Queering Bridgerton Bridgerton (2020) premiered last December and influenced a rebirth in fashion for the months to come. Bridgerton is a beautifully crafted show, visually appealing especially to those who love fashion. But it did have distasteful moments, possibly because it had to follow the book’s plot. The character Henry…

Claire Haddad: A Canadian Fashion Icon (1924-2016)
By Dale Peers, It is with sadness that I write this remembrance and offer condolences to the family of Canadian fashion legend, Claire Haddad. Claire passed away on Tuesday May 17th, 2016, just two months to the day of what would have been her 92nd birthday. Claire was a “force majeur” in the Canadian Fashion…

Do These Artworks Make You Uncomfortable?: Exploring the Underrepresentation of Blackness in Mainstream Art
By Olivia Belande, Have you ever spent a most perfect Saturday afternoon perusing through an art gallery, taking meaningful looks at the works displayed and falling in love with the artistry? It has recently become trendy to seek out portraits within galleries that look like ourselves or others we know, and upload the uncanny side by…

Lana Ogilvie, Canadian Supermodel
By Anna Ludmirsky, Lana Ogilvie is a Canadian supermodel with over 30+ years in the modeling and skincare industry. Lana was scouted at her high school’s fashion show when she was just a teenager, quickly sprouting and blooming an illustrious and extensive career. While being featured in multiple Vogue magazines around the world, from British…

The Honorable Dr. Vivienne Poy: A Seneca Success Story that Reaches Far Beyond Fashion
By Rose de Paulsen, Vivienne Poy (photo from Covenant House) Canada is known for diverse and empowered women. Vivienne May Poy (née Lee) made waves when she was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 1998 by Jean Chretien. This is where she did her most notable, influential and groundbreaking work. Her motion for May to be…

Forever Elegant: Yasmeen Ghauri’s Stamp on the Canadian Modelling Industry
By Olivia Belande, Ethereal and romantic in stature, Yasmeen Ghauri is a Canadian-born supermodel of Pakistani and German heritage who quickly swept the nation and helped to diversify the national modelling industry. The supermodel was discovered in 1988 at the age of 17, while working in a Montreal based Macdonald’s location. Quickly thereafter, Ghauri became the face of Chanel, Christian Dior, Jil Sander,…

D’Arcy Moses
By Dr. Mark Joseph O’Connell, The SFRC has a dress by Canadian fashion designer D’Arcy Moses in the collection. The garment is a fascinating juxtaposition of traditional First Nations iconography as well as contemporary non-Indigenous cultural influences and can be read like a text though object-based research. Intricately beaded and adorned, it contains iconographic elements of the South Slavey…

Greta Constantine, Canadian Designers
By Anna Ludmirsky, The remarkable duo Kirk Pickersgill and Stephen Wong, founders of the ready-to-wear womenswear brand Greta Constantine have gone above and beyond when it comes to achievements throughout their careers. Since starting their brand in 2006 in Toronto, Canada, they have come a long way to the level they are on now. The…