WORN’s favourite Ottawa boutique Victoire held a charming night of shopping last week. Katie and Regine have been collecting gorgeous vintage cocktail dresses for months in preparation for this night, and it showed.

I prepared for the evening by listening to the original Crybaby soundtrack on the way there. (Sidenote: Lovers of retro kitsch, watch this movie! Unconvinced? Read its tagline: “Too young to be square… Too tough to be shocked… Too late to be saved”? Ultimate classic.) Upon arrival the atmosphere did not disappoint - the girls had all the best 50s and 60s jukebox hits playing, sweet bite-sized snacks and little cups of blackberry wine, and of course the amazing selection of dresses filling out the racks! Not a surprise, then, that the whole space was filled up with well-dressed ladies (and gents) browsing, mingling, and enjoying themselves.

did I mention the La Chatte Bottée shoes?

cute girls in cute dresses

the lovelies of Victoire - Ula, Sage, Regine, Katie, and Natasha

Aw! What an awesome night, girls. Katie and Regine’s true love of vintage shone through in every detail of the night, from the dresses arranged neatly by colour to the satin ribbons tied on every hanger.

- text by Averill Smith, photography by Kevin M.

Victoire Boutique

After spending nine months of the year going to school in Toronto, coming home to the significantly smaller Ottawa for the summer can be a little dull at times. Sure, we may have the best bagels in the world (shout out to Kettelmans!) but at the end of the day it’s a city with no subway system, no CN tower and no H&M (seriously though, what is up with that? Mississauga has three). But as hard as I may be on my city at times (okay, most of the time), I have to give credit where credit is due — as I’ve written before, we are home to an eclectic variety of independent and vintage clothing stores. So when Isabel, the brains behind the style blog Hipster Musings, announced she was coming to town to visit, I immediately began mapping out all the best places to go shopping in downtown Ottawa without stepping foot in the Rideau Centre.

Stop #1: Aunt Olive’s Vintage (209 Gilmour Street)

Aunt Olive’s is a café/vintage clothing hybrid of a shop, packed with lots of crazy old clothes. This is a good place to shop if you seek the unconventional and are willing to get creative with your clothes — in other words, if you are the typical Worn reader. I figured I am probably too practical for some of the wilder pieces (”How exactly does one wash a gold sequined tube top?” “Uh… Febreze?”), but for the fearless Susie Bubble types among you, you will be pleased to know that Aunt Olive’s is currently in the middle of a bag sale, this weekend only.

Stop #2: Mags and Fags (254 Elgin St.)

I have a love/hate relationship with this place. Love it because it’s one of the few places in the city where you can buy international magazines, hate it because without it I’d probably be a lot richer (did I really need to spend 17 dollars on an Australian fashion magazine? Yes. Yes, I did). Plus, I always get a huge kick when I see Worn in stores, especially when it’s stuck amongst giant airbrushed faces of Lara Stone and Cameron Diaz. We spent some time here, flipping through various glossies neither of us could really afford before settling on copies of Teen Vogue; laugh all you want, but I could never hate on a magazine that named Isabel as the most stylish girl of the week. What can I say? They have taste.

Stop #3: Victoire Boutique (246 Dalhousie St.)

This is actually a bit of a trek from the last stop, but it was totally worth the trip. We learned some pretty valuable lessons at this store, including:

1. It is completely necessary that I own a pair of custom-painted heels by Tyson Bodnarchuk.
2. There really are about 14 different ways to wear a complexgeometries tank top, and about twice as many ways to get tangled up in one.
3. Even if the store isn’t that busy, that does not mean that all the fitting rooms will be empty. Opening a change room door without checking to see if anybody is in it first can lead to awkward results.

As I’ve mentioned before, Victoire also happens to be the place where I bought my first issue of Worn while still in high school. It is, as Isabel calls it, the “mother of all independent boutiques.”

Stop #4: Workshop Boutique (242 1/2 Dalhousie St.)

Workshop is a sizable store that sells an array of dresses, skirts, blouses, slacks, bags, jewelery, and underwear — all made by Canadian designers. Wearable things aside, what really caught our attention were the “action figure dolls” crafted by Winnipeg artist Suzie Smith. The dolls included the above pictured John and Yoko, Missy Elliott, the Guerrilla Girls , and Courtney Love, who happens to be one of Isabel’s biggest idols. This is of course referring more to early-90s-Kurt-Cobain-dating-baby-doll-dress-wearing-Sassy-covering Courtney Love, and less to 2009’s angry Twitter updating Courtney Love — although both get points for originality.

Stop #5: Young Janes (203 Dalhouse St.)

I always figured that if Aunt Olive’s was like a crazy older relative passing on her funky hand-me-downs, then Young Janes would be like your cool best friend who lets you raid their closet — you know, in exchange for money. Still, the store always has a calm atmosphere: owner Mika (pictured above) is always very friendly, and the clothes (second hand) are versatile enough to cover many different styles. In other words, there are enough floral dresses to satisfy both a love of girlish whimsy and Isabel’s aforementioned obsession with the 90s. Young Janes is also home to a cushy couch and a stack of various fashion books, so it’s a good place to hit up at the end of the day when you need a bit of a rest. If I was the type of person who used expressions like “shop ’til you drop,” I would find it’s quite applicable here.

-Anna Fitz

*Title chosen in reference to this movie. To the late John Hughes, may you rest in peace.

Victoire Boutique, located on Ottawa’s Dalhousie street, is one of those places where it’s easy to spend an entire afternoon. As an Ottawa native myself, I used to visit the place at least twice a week when I was in high school, trying on garments made by some of my favourite independent Canadian labels like complexgeometries and Preloved. Victoire also happens to be the place where I bought my first issue of Worn (and, subsequently, where I bought my second, third and fourth issues of Worn).

Flashing forward a couple of years, I’m now living in Toronto (and working for WORN). While I love the shopping I have access to in my new city, I can’t help but get homesick for Ottawa stores now and then. As nice as it would be in theory, I’m not able to take a Greyhound bus home every time I feel like shopping. Imagine how stoked I was then when Victoire launched VictoireBoutique.com, an online version of their store. True, shopping the website isn’t nearly as fun as visiting the store itself, but for those of us not residing in the country’s capital it’s a pretty nice alternative. For those of you who do live in Ottawa, keep an eye open for Victoire’s 3 year anniversary party on July 11.

-Anna Fitz

Maryann Harris of Ottawa's Reclectica

Mention the word Ottawa, and a few things always come to mind: Parliament Hill, Alanis Morissette, trophy wife Marlen Cowpland. “Clothing capital” isn’t usually near the top of the list. While the vintage clothing scene in Ottawa is smaller than it’s counterparts in cities like Toronto, it’s been steadily growing the past few years, thankyouverymuch. A good part of this is due to vintage aficionados, including Maryann Harris of Reclectica.

On Sunday, March 1st, Maryann temporarily transformed her mother’s home into a makeshift clothing shop –- racks of fifties party dresses filled the living room, bedrooms became communal dressing rooms, with beaded clutches and brightly coloured fedoras displayed on the back porch. This was the second time in recent months that Harris had such a sale (the last one occurred in January during the Ottawa bus strike, so this one took place for the people who couldn’t make it the first time). Maryann used to have a booth in Ottawa’s Antique Market, but is now mostly only involved in shows, like The Capital Clothing Show.

With a full time job outside of Reclectica, Maryann emphasises that those who get involved in the business do it not for money, but for a love of clothing.

“It’s important to understand that for every dress sold, about twenty five need to be bought,” she explains. “When selling vintage clothing, your stock is limited so it’s really a matter of the right person coming in at the right time looking for the right style in the right size.”

There are only a few opportunities every year for Ottawa vintage sellers to showcase their stuff, which is part of the reason why Maryann believes it is crucial to continue supporting the city’s vintage scene –- support received not only from her regular customers (whom she describes as being the backbone of her business), but from other dealers as well.

“The people that are in this business do it because of a passion for clothing,” says Maryann, who continues to describe them as her peers rather than competitors, calling them out by name. “These are all creative people: Mika from Young Janes, Sylvie from Orange, Jaime of Aunt Olives, the Victoire girls, Ragtime’s John and Shirley – these are all people who are passionate about what they do, and when you support them, you are supporting Ottawa’s creativity. It’s win-win.”

Maryann can be seen next showing on April 18th and 19th at Landsdowne Park. For more information on Ottawa vintage fashion news, there is a Facebook group.

–Anna Wornette