Toronto Archives

So this past Sunday I was excited to be able to work the booth for the Toronto Vintage Society at the Toronto Vintage Clothing Show. We were there to raise awareness of our society, sell some beautiful “Make Do and Mend” sewing kits and also sign up fellow vintage enthusiasts for our meetup group.

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Here I am with the lovely Larissa from Blonde Moxie at our booth. I’m wearing a Ethel of Beverly Hills sweater that got so many likes that day and even one lady wanted to buy it off me while at the show 🙂

Photo Courtesy of Larissa

We were also joined by some of the other lovely ladies of TVS. Lisa, Larissa and Irene from Petite Plus, Meow!

All of us together (minus our fearless leader Jacquie who was out-of-town on business).

Here is a picture of the mending kits we created with vintage fabric for the pin top. Inside was candy, vintage buttons and everything else you need to sew up something fabulous.

Image courtesy of Irene

We had a draw at our booth too and it had lots of wonderful goodies that any vintage loving person would want (there was some great items for the men as well, but just not showing in this pic).

Image courtesy of Shermy from Shermette

At one point during the day our booth even had some swing dancing happen. Here is somewhat blurry but fun picture of myself and my friend Dean doing some Lindy Hop.

Photo Courtesy of Blonde Moxie

Then there were more dancers…yay!

Amongst many of the wonderful visitors that stopped by the booth, one was Diane from the Costume Society of Ontario. She was wearing the most amazing Edwardian outfit! Don’t you just love it on her?

After socializing and promoting TVS, I finally got my turn to head out to the show and do some shopping. I managed to pick up a couple of things but did not snag any clothes because I’m in saving mode for VIVA next month in Vegas, where I know I will be buying a lot of outfits.

Here are my purchases….

My kitschy Leather Poodle Pin..love it!

Second purchase was this absolutely gorgeous green 1950s hair piece with the more glorious feathers you have ever seen. It was being sold for $40 but some of the feathers needed a glue gun and so I managed to snag it for $20. Yippee! This baby is coming to Vegas with me.

Now I did not purchase this but a friend of mine did and it truly was the PURCHASE OF THE SHOW!

A skirt out of Marimekko 1960’s fabric. They did not know the significance of the pattern or the fabric, which is why she only got it for 30$. It is signed too. Quite the find and you can read all about the extensive history of this brand here. Good job Erica!

Now here are some pictures of what I wish I could have purchased.

Lets start with the granddaddy of them all…a 1950’s Vintage WITH TAGS Alfred Shaheen! I have never seen a for sale Shaheen in real life (online only) AND with tags. This dress was a unicorn at this show AND also too small for me. ugh 🙁 If you are in Toronto it’s being sold at 69 Vintage on Queen St. West.

If you are an xsmall you could have taken home this beautiful 1950’s swimsuit! I just LOVE the buttons and the skirt portion and of course the fabric. Wonderful piece.

Going to prom? Then this beautiful stunner of a 1950s prom dress would have been perfect.

FYI: The dress is still for sale at “House of Vintage” on Queen St West.

Those were basically the only pictures I had time to take from the show but if you head over to the Toronto Vintage Society website you will see a wonderful post on the event.

On another note, I have been doing a pin-curl set lately with my hair instead of foam rollers and I’m really really enjoying how it is turning out.

P.S. did you see my eyelashes?? Look how long and fantastic they look. I just recently got extensions put in by Shangri-Lash and I love them! Stay tuned for a review on that experience.

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In the end the whole day was a success and we ended up with a load of new members to our group and we met so many wonderful vintage shoppers! I look forward to getting to know many of them at future events.

Did you do any vintage shopping this weekend? Score any great deals?

Liz

Who was the Bren Gun Girl?

The Bren Gun Girl according to Wikipedia was a young woman named “Veronica Foster” who became a Canadian icon representing nearly one million Canadian women who worked in the manufacturing plants that produced munitions and material during World War II. She was popularly known as “Ronnie, the Bren Gun Girl” and worked for the company John Inglis Co.Ltd producing Bren light machine guns on a production line on Strachan Avenue in Toronto, Ontario (Where I live! And now called “Liberty Village”). She became popular after a series of propaganda posters were produced; most images featured her working for the war effort, but others depicted more casual settings like Foster dancing the jitterbug (just like the image we found in my book) or attending a dinner party.

She can be seen as the Canadian precursor to the American fictional propaganda tool Rosie the Riveter (Source-Wikipedia).

Veronica Foster-The Canadian Rosie the Riveter aka "The Bren Gun Girl". Posing for a photo with a bren gun while smoking. — Source: Wikipedia

Image comment: I find it interesting that she is smoking in this picture. I know in the TV Show Bomb Girls that would not be allowed but maybe it is because she is posing with a gun and not a bomb 🙂

Note from Laura-Veronica’s Daughter:

Just to clarify a small fact… my mother never smoked. The photographer wanted her to smoke because I guess it was considered sexy in those days and smoking was supposed to be the socially acceptable cool in those days. Up until a few years ago you could smoke anywhere you wanted at any time. But… my mother never smoked… just for the “Ronnie” photos.