Book Review: Astor Place Vintage

Cover of Astor Place Vintage Paperback

Within a few pages of beginning to read the novel Astor Place Vintage, I was captivated and unable to tear myself away from the interwoven stories of Amanda and Olive. Written in alternating chapters, the book begins with 39-year old Amanda, a vintage clothing dealer who visits an elderly client and comes across Olive's journal in a trunk of clothing from the early 1900s. As Amanda's own life begins to unravel, she finds comfort within the pages of Olive's journal from 1907, especially since she, like Olive, wants to be independent and self-supporting. Although more than a century separates their lives, Olive and Amanda share a love of New York City and the backdrop of the city's history becomes another character in the story.

Hidden Treasures

How many of us have a special dress or gown hanging in the back of our closet? For me, those dresses or pieces embody a story of a significant event in my life. And perhaps the material or label makes it impossible to put that item in the bin or donate it to a thrift shop. I'm sure many of you can relate. At last, there is a home for such treasures.

The Seneca Fashion Resource Centre is a research facility that accepts donations of dresses, suits, corsets, accessories - basically everything from pantsuits to petticoats. Built solely through donations, the collection now houses approximately 10,000 items which cover the period 1840 to the present. Canadian labels include Vivienne Poy (a Seneca alumnae), Wayne Clark, Lida Baday, Arnold Scassi. International labels include Dior, Chanel, Calvin Klein, Pucci, Schiaparelli, Valentino and many others.

The mandate of the Centre is "to collect, preserve and study what Canadians have worn". But this is not a museum where one can only look but not touch. While respecting the need for conservation, the collection is actively used by students and faculty to learn about costume history, textiles, embellishments, techniques of design and construction, and techniques of display.

I could have happily spent hours and hours among the racks finding hidden treasures. As I marveled at the many lovely gowns, I wondered about the many stories and memories encapsulated in those beautiful garments. Perhaps this is the beginning of a new project for me....

The Centre is run by Professor Dale Peers who acts as the coordinator for donations. It is clear that Dale loves her job and takes pride in being able to let her students see garments from a particular time period when studying costume history (which is far superior to seeing it on a screen). She even was kind enough to pull out a collapsible bustle for me to examine (as I continue in my attempt to create the panniers for that 18th century dress sculpture.)


The collection is comprehensive but is always looking for more donations. In particular, their wish list includes:
A pair of short Go Go boots
Items from 1990 to present day
Work by Canadian designers
Anything by style icons such as Poiret, Fortuny, Vionnet, Schiaparelli and Chanel

If you have an item that you are willing to donate, please contact Dale Peers at 416-491-5050 ext 2578 or dale.peers@senecac.on.ca.  Not only will your donation help students and researchers, you will make room in your closet for some beautiful new frocks (and memories)!

Seneca College Fashion Resource Centre
1750 Finch Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
By Appointment Only
dale.peers@senecac.on.ca     416-491-5050 ext 2578

What's on the Fashion Calendar for March

Monday, March 1, 2010:  Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto 7-8 pm
International Women’s Day Lecture:  Heights of Fashion: A History of the Elevated Shoe
Illustrated Talk by Elizabeth Semmelhack, Curator, Bata Shoe Museum

Common sense suggests that shoes should protect our feet and aid our mobility but the high heel challenges this----it is not a sensible shoe. So why, then, do millions of women, but very few men, wear them? How did such an impractical shoe come to be a potent signifier of status and more importantly, gender? This talk will address these questions by going beyond a simple charting of shifting modes of dress and engage with a wide range of subjects: East-West trade and the lure of the exotic; the expression of socio-economic status through impractical dress; and gender politics and the construction of eroticized femininity.

Saturday, March 6th: Toronto Vintage Clothing and Textile Show and Sale
The 19th Annual Vintage Clothing and Textile Sale will be held on Saturday, March 6, 2010 at the CNIB Centre. Available for sale are vintage clothing and accessories, early textiles including quilts, linens, laces, samplers and related sewing items, and heritage estate jewelery.

Sunday, March 7th:  Jean-Paul Gaultier Collection for Target hits stores today! If you see me, watch out as I'll be sharpening my elbows!!!

It's also the night of the Oscars and what better time to point out that the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angelos has an exhibition called Hollywood 2010: The Art of Motion Picture Costume Design which runs from February 9, 2010 – April 17, 2010. On display are over 100 costumes from over two dozen of last year's movies, such as The Young Victoria, Star Trek, Julie & Julia, An Education, Nine, Broken Embraces, and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. Also on display are the fashions from The Duchess, the Academy Award® winner for Best Costume Design in 2008. The free exhibition is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

And that is just for the first week of March! Whew!!