What happens when you combine a Toronto native (Hillary Wornette) and a Hamiltonian (Valentina Wornette) and give them a Saturday to do as they please? They swap, shop, and hide in every air-conditioned place possible. I’m from Hamilton, the haven of all blue collar mentalities, so of course I was more than a little excited to be walked around Toronto.

Vintage Parking Lot Party Sale, 24A Liberty Street
We ventured out into Liberty Village in search of two lovely ladies, Natasha Negovanlis and Lia Thomaidis, who were holding a vintage sale over there. I may be biased since I know them, but the girls have impeccable taste, which was reflected by the selection they were offering. Months of hard work shopping (hard, hard work, I know) displayed itself in the form of a wide selection of dresses, tops, jewelry and shoes. Valentina picked up an adorable linen button up, while I lusted over shoes that were all at least half a size too small. There were snacks and refreshments to enjoy, meaning between this sale and the clothing swap (which was catered by Cora’s Magic Kitchen), our shopping adventure had kept me well fed and hydrated. - Hillary

Swap Don’t Shop At 103 Bellvue Ave.

Clothes that we have long grown tired of are usually banished to the depths of garbage bags that find themselves at your local Value Village. Hillary and I met up at the church and waited in line while things we’re being set up. Once we got in, we swapped in our clothes and 8 dollars for a stamp and permission to dig for treasure. There were 4 or 5 rows of tables spilt into your typical clothing categories, like pants, shirts, and so on. For the first 30 minutes we looked around and we both found some pretty fruitful finds. My most prized find is a pair of wooden nude Aldo pumps* which I was quick to get to. After the 45 minute mark the swap became pretty busy and Hillary and I both decided to stop searching. Hillary went to listen to an alterations workshop while I used the make shift change room. The swap had raffles (all the prize packs included 2 issues of WORN) and 3 workshops. They had three workshops, one on alterations, another on styling, one on how to make your moth bag, and one on how to do shibori fabric dying. - Valentina

*which unfortunately don’t fit, but a cobbler can hopefully quickly fix that.

The Rage 2 Kensington Ave.

When I was fifteen, I got really excited after going to the Rage and told the owner, Sara I was going to make things to sell in her store. The years have gone by and well, I have yet to organize myself enough to make something in a large enough run to sell it. But this weekend, with crisp new copies of issue 8 in hand, I finally got the satisfaction of giving her something to sell. That’s right, you can now check out WORN at the Rage! And while you’re at it, get distracted by the fantastic stock consisting of over 70 local designers. I am totally lusting after the floral rompers she has right now, but I can’t decide if my chronically hairy legs will compliment it or not. - Hillary

Courage My Love 14 Kensington Ave

This store fits the mentality of a treasure hunter to a tee. You could walk around this store 5 times and on the 6th try you would still find another newly discovered drawer to open. They have beads, jewelery, hosiery, and small skulls made of something that is hopefully not human bone. I have a quite strong attraction to triangles and snatched up a beautiful black arrowhead that has gold wire wrapped around it. It was definitely a find any treasure hunter could boast about proudly at the lovely price of 4$. Out of all the stores I went to on that humid Saturday this is one that will definitely rest of the forefront of my memory. The owners of the store somehow manage to create a curious atmosphere - one where you’re encouraged to poke around and see what you can discover. It’s quite the enchanting place. - Valentina

Despite having a sense of style that’s old fashioned (in the best possible way), Anja Verdugo does not shy away from using modern technology to express herself creatively. She can be found several different places online under the name Clever Nettle, including her Etsy store, where she sells her unique vintage finds, and her blog that chronicles her daily musings, with plenty of style inspiration to boot.

How did you dress in high school?
It was definitely a mixed bag! I was always a thrift store shopper, but for the first couple years in high school I tried to dress like any “normal” teenager in the mid-90s — lots of stretchy black flared pants and tank tops, haha. Later on I got really into novelty tights, like stripes and other prints. You couldn’t buy them anywhere in my hometown and internet shopping wasn’t what it is today, so I’d buy a new pair of expensive tights whenever I’d find myself in Vancouver, which seemed like the coolest place ever. I was just starting to get into vintage and I remember when shopping in the kid’s section at Value Village for funny 80s tee-shirts was still sort of a secret!

Can you remember when you became so interested in clothing? What kind of role does it play in your life?
I was one of those little girls who valued her box of dress-up clothing more than anything else in the world. I actually still have two vintage pieces from it, a little fur collar and a gold brocade purse. I’ve always been into clothing and dressing up, but right now it’s on my mind more than ever. Thanks to my etsy shop I get to spend almost all of my work time shopping for vintage, putting together outfits and looking for fashion inspiration online, so it definitely plays a huge role in my life! Portland is a really casual city though, so I never feel pressured to dress up or to put together a perfect outfit — it’s able to happen a bit more naturally… or at least it feels that way.

You’re very active on the internet — aside from your vintage store, you run a style blog and sell some illustrations. Do you find that all these mediums — writing, styling, drawing, curating — tend to influence or have an impact on each other?
Sometimes I feel dumb for not concentrating on only one thing and trying to perfect a skill, but I’ve always been this way — I love to do lots of different things. My blog and shop are pretty closely connected so it’s not hard to do both, but things like drawing and playing music (I haven’t touched my cello in months; I feel so guilty) can be a bit harder to make time for. I do have a new illustration idea that I am ready to work on that has a vintage clothing connection, I just have to make myself sit down and start it!

Lots of your photos are taken outside, in fields or gardens; how does nature influence your style?
I’m very inspired by the seasons, especially spring and fall. Portland has a fairly mild climate so there’s almost always something in bloom and I love that so much. Plants are very interesting to me in many ways — they look incredible, they can do all sorts of crazy things (I love using hippie remedies and right now my husband is making St. John’s Wort tincture from plants in our yard), the colours and aromas they produce are amazing… when a new season rolls around I am very influenced by the colours that I see in nature.

I love the paper cut-outs you pose in front of; can you tell me a bit about those?
For the first year that I was selling on etsy I struggled with finding the perfect photo spot. I took most of my photos outside and the light was always changing — it was so frustrating! Eventually I decided to work on an indoor setup and bought a light kit on eBay, which I set up in my basement. I wanted a background that was simple but still interesting, and since I am a big nerd for the forest I decided to make a little forest scene. I drew rough sketches on cardstock and cut it out with an x-acto knife and then tacked it up to the wall. I included little mushrooms because I love going mushroom hunting in the woods, and a squirrel because they are probably my favourite animal. We have a bunch living in a tree next to our house; they are so cute.

You are so put together every day; be honest, do you ever have days where you wear jeans and tee-shirts?
I tend to change my clothes a lot during the day since I have to run so many different errands, and I like to feel totally right for each situation. In the morning I might put on a dress and go thrifting, but then I’ll change into some jeans to ride my bike to the post office, then back into a skirt or something when I get home. I probably wear jeans and a tee-shirt almost every day at some point!

Portland seems to be such a creative hub right now. How long have you lived there? Do you find it inspiring?
My husband Dalas and I moved here three and a half years ago, and we hope to live here for a really long time. It has pretty much every single thing that I love — amazing food, lots of nature and green spaces, good thrifting, cute houses everywhere… it’s definitely inspiring! A large percentage of my friends who live here are able to support themselves through their art/craft alone (although most run their shops online like me), and there are so many cool small businesses to support… it really is a creative person’s dream come true. I’m not saying that it will work out for everyone, but living expenses are fairly low and I feel like it’s the sort of place that will reward you for treating it well. I lived in NYC for a few months and it felt like a constant battle, always fighting so hard for minimal rewards. A lot of Portlanders really care about the city, and I like that we’re all in it together, keeping it a fun and mellow place to live.

Anja’s top ten favourite places to shop in Portland
1. House of Vintage on Hawthorne has a ton of vendors selling all kinds of vintage goods. So fun to wander around in there!
2. Stars Antique Malls are similar, with lots of vendors and treasures galore. They are in a big antique district so there are lots of neat shops around there.
3. The Palmer Wirfs antique expo happens three times a year and it is amazing! I look forward to each one so much. I found one of my favorite 30s dresses there for only $19.
4. Madison Street is a beautifully curated antique shop that has stacks of old letters everywhere, little old shoes, Odd Fellows sashes, and more.
5. Flutter, a one-stop shop for everything lovely and fancy!
6. The farmers’ markets, not because of clothing but for all the amazing fresh local foods!
7. Really Good Stuff on Hawthorne, especially for their drawers of old photos.
8. Estate sales, especially the kind where the people lived in the house for decades and decades.
9. Okay, this isn’t exactly shopping but it’s my favourite place to eat a nice dinner — The Farm Cafe. I like to describe it as fancy comfort food with a seasonal/local twist. Always so delicious.
10. Another food spot, Screen Door — the most incredible Southern breakfasts ever.

Interview by Anna Fitz

For the last 18 years vintage dealers from across the city have set up tables at the CNIB Centre to participate in the Annual Toronto Vintage Clothing and Textile Show.

I just moved to Toronto and I figured the biggest annual show would be a good place to get a feel of the vintage in my new city. Old things for sale are different in every city and many of the dealers that I have encountered in the past do rummage second-hand. It was an education to be amongst the fashion aficionados, veteran antique dealers, and crafts enthusiasts for a sale of genuinely one-of-a-kind vintage pieces.

Most of the sale’s vendors have been in the business for a long time and also have their own stores, online shops, or sell exclusively at other antique markets or vintage shows. I’ve always found dealers to know absolutely everything there is to know about old clothes, and have a desire to spread that arcane knowledge –- the sort that could tell you the history of Bakelite plastic, or recount the story behind a 1930s bathing costume. I was able to speak to June Troy, the founder and organizer behind this event, who put it best: “if it weren’t for the vintage dealers who do what they do, this wouldn’t be the show that it is.” Considering just how much this show has grown since it started with only twenty vendors in the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, I believe these are words to take to heart.

Julia Wright from Judith’s Adventures
Vintage hat pins rose to popularity in the late Victorian age. The older ones are quite long in order to hold the fashionably large (and quite heavy) hats of the time in place over the bun in a woman’s hair. The pinheads themselves were also fashion statements, usually heavily ornamented with jewels. During the suffragette movement of the early 20th century, women were forced to cut down the length of their hatpins in the fear that they might be used as weapons. This led to smaller hat sizes, like the cloche hats seen in the 1920s. Even if hat pins aren’t as necessary today, they are still a popular seller among vintage fans. Part of the reason, according to Julia is that “they just look so beautiful when on display, like a bouquet of flowers.”

Janet Alderman
Janet runs a shop called Kitsch and Other Collectibles, and has lots and lots of lace in different styles and patterns. She told me about how lace was originally used in the 16th century by the Catholic Church, made from gold and silver threads, and usually made for nobility. Even by the time lace was sold commercially in stores like Eaton’s in the 1930s, it was still a hot commodity –- certain pieces were being sold for few hundred dollars, something that would translate into at least $2000 today.

Some of the lace Janet was selling included Maltese lace, a style that originated in, well, Malta. They’re recognizable by the Maltese crosses found within the pattern. There’s also Normandy lace, a French style constructed by sewing together bits of handmade lace from other projects in order to create a new piece.

Fred Turner
Fred actually sells books from his home in Durham, Ontario. Though this is his first time selling vintage clothing, he boasts quite an impressive collection of threads; his theory is, “You have to wear clothes every day, so you might as well make them interesting.”

Fred is a long-time hat collector — he doesn’t feel properly dressed unless he has one on. He has several different kinds, but the majority of his collection consists of felt men’s hats. They all start off round and untouched; through hat blocking (a process in which a special machine is used to dent and groove the crown), they’re shaped into different styles -– from cowboy hats to the classic fedora (Fred’s personal favourite).

A few more local sales coming up on the spring calendar that are worth your while:

Sunday Antique Market: Toronto’s St Lawrence Market has long been the home of worthwhile antique finds: Quebec folk art, English sterling, Victoriana linens and expert-sourced vintage. Every Sunday, 5-5pm, St Lawrence Market (92 Front Street East, Toronto).
Heritage Antique Market: A 30-year-old sale that carries 70 antique dealers for what might end up being an Antique Road Show experience. April 12, 10-5pm, Bayview Shopping Village (Bayview Avenue at Sheppard, north of Highway 401, Toronto).
– Anna Fitzpatrick

The above Toronto spring outfit was brought to you by Marilyn Hartley of Rozaneh, a secret hiccup of a vintage shop near Queen and Dufferin — the Valentino polka dot full skirt, the Giorgio Armani ‘Le Collezioni’ blazer. (The vintage Trinidad & Tobago touristy boy’s tee? Err, that’s my own.)

For the local second-hand hound in the know, Marilyn has served the community with her quality vintage — Peter Max scarves, Mary Quant textiles, beautifully embroidered Victorian piano shawls (and have you seen her knits? Totally out-there). Her customers are loyal because she always seems to have a Sonia Rykiel tee or Comrags bodysuit on hold the next time you pop in (which always begins with “I thought you might like this..” in between cigarette drags), and you’re entirely welcome to sit for a chat and discuss favourite Comme de Garcon collections while the jazz radio station softly plays.

So it’s a total downer to learn earlier this week that due to a SIZABLE rent increase, Marilyn will be packing up and moving out from her Queen West location after only a couple years (she was a College and Ossington establishment for ten years before that).

But have no fear — Marilyn’s hosting a month-long sale that’s kicking off today. Sure, the rain doesn’t exactly pull you outside, but when has that ever stopped you in discovering high-end vintage?

Rozaneh Closing Sale - March 29th to April 30th, 2009
442E Dufferin Street Studio E (just North of Queen/South of Dundas, TTC bus stop at Alma) Thurs 1-8pm, Fri & Sun 1-7pm, (Or call for appointment, 416-703-6818)

– Rea McNamara