With the news in July that Honest Ed's was for sale, I thought I'd take a last nostalgic trip there. You see it used to be that this haven of $.99 scarves, $29.99 'leather' motorcycle jackets, and woolen mitten all year round was an important place for me to outfit low/no budget projects- especially when there was a call for multiples on a nothing budget. The digging, struggling was all part of the treasure hunt and satisfaction at the cash register. Note the Saturday morning line up. The poster for 'Crazy for You' under the reindeer coo coo clock still watches upon the merchandise. I hadn't been here in very many years and yet it all looked exactly the same, and even weirder, everything was in the same spot since in the early 1990's. Rows of nylon nightgowns, 'fancy' lace panties, girdles, handkerchiefs and neckties. I even hunted up a photo from my first low budget feature where the characters 'Ying' and 'Yang' wore 90's Honest Ed's ties. It used to be that all the antiques and fixtures from the former Ed's World Famous Restaurant were housed there but they've all been sold off. All that's left under the fluorescent bulbs and empty display racks was this mirror. Well I'm not sure that's totally true, Mr Ed, but nice of you to say.
0 Comments
Berman and Company is a wonderful costume rental house in Toronto that I adore visiting. Accumulating costumes from the archives of the CBC and acquiring pieces from past productions, it is always a variable treasure hunt. I sneaked in the other day to get one little, not very exciting thing (maybe bad-guy werewolf boots) and started to envision stories that the costumes could play a part in. Not sure why films are not written around the wardrobe? Maybe script writers need to visit Berman for inspiration. And what about these sombreros and fancy pants together? Magic, pure magic I say. And they always have a lovely welcoming display that makes you want to re-invent the outfit you showed up in. Lovely staff too. Such a joy to visit.
www.bermanandco.com We didn't have google when I was a kid. Or as a teenager. Heck, not really did I 'surf' the web until the early 2000's. Nonetheless, I knew what a Tooth Fairy looked like and directed my costume builder/cutter (AKA My Mother) as to how my Halloween costume should look. I remember spending an extrodinary amount of time explaining that I was not a princess but in fact, a tooth fairy when trick or treating. Still today there are very little visuals on the google (other than Dwayne Johnson in The Tooth Fairy) and I commend them on keeping their identity so very secret. CAFTCAD has created the CAFTCADEMY 101 series in which professionals within the industry speak about the various positions within the costume department. How does one know the difference between an Assistant Designer and a Costume Supervisor? What does a Buyer really do? How do you dress hundred of background extras 'on the day', and what does 'on the day' even mean? Often I have aspiring costumers ask me how do they break into the business. Is there a website dedicated to posting jobs within the industry? Who should they send their resumes to? I've always said that one needs to volunteer to gain experience and connections. Now with the advent of this seminar series, costumers have the amazing opportunity to meet and learn from experienced costumers and build future relationships with them and others they meet at the event. During the last CAFTCADEMY, I saw attendees meet and bond and then work together on their own projects. If you want to be a film costumer, can get to Toronto for Saturday June 22 and Sunday June 23rd, then I highly recommend attending these seminars. I wish there was something like CAFTCAD when I was starting out in this biz. Application here. Deadline Monday June 17th. For further questions please email learning@caftcad.com I've been so busy helping prep the Spring CAFTCAD Movie Wardrobe Sale that I forgot to post it on my own blog! As the new CAFTCAD President I'm very proud of what our organization has evolved into and these much anticipated sales have created quite a buzz around town. This bi-annual sale begun back in 2008 when a few CAFTCAD Costume Designers wanted to offload some of their 'kit'. Costume/wardrobe kits are the wonderful pieces we pick up over time left over from various shows we do. From odd fabrics, jewelry, out of date magazines, feather boas, 1960's dress pants to contemporary dress shirts in multiples, we often collect pieces we believe/want/hope we'll use again on another show. I personally have my Mother's attic full of such treasures and gratefully have re-used them again and again. Nonetheless, sometime we have to purge and we decided selling them to the film community and general public was the way to go. I set up a rack of groovy clothes from my closet, my husband did the graphics and the above postcard was created. We were generously offered the Toronto Film Studios to have the sale and it was a great success. Since that time, Toronto costume houses such as The Liberty Wardrobe House, The Ian Drummond Collection and Berman and Co. have joined us as well as costumers, vintage dealers and wholesalers. Shows such as Covert Affairs, Degrassi, My Babysitter is a Vampire, Flash of Genius and others have sold off their costumes in the past.
I adore that this event also has such a reunion feeling to it as I see the same customers each sale as well as good friends from the film industry. It's also a great place to network as I hired my awesome intern because she volunteered to stay and sweep the entire studio at the end of the day. I took her card and called her when the right project came up. Taking place this Saturday May 25th, 9 AM to 5 PM at Toronto Pinewood Studios, 225 Commissioners Ave. Entrance from Bouchette Street. $5 Admission. Partial proceeds to support The Actor's Fund of Canada. Seniors, Children and CAFTCAD Members enter free. Free Parking. I'll be there until noon so I hope to see you there, as well I hope I score some great pieces for my latest show before you get to them first :) Panic Button is the only reality show I have done. It reminded me of my theatre school days, the behind the scenes action, even having to wear black every day (this was a great challenge to me and my colourful team). The premise is that each week, a group of select participants become brave subjects in a special experiment. With 4 ever-escalating and ever-changing levels of fun and fear, many will try to make it all the way through, but only the most courageous will get to the end without hitting their Panic Button. Associate producer Jacquie Murray and myself modelling the red Panic Button suits designed for the show. Show premieres April 30th on SPACE, 10 pm ET. Official press release http://bellmediapr.ca/space/ Starting Tuesday April 2nd, the very funny second season of the Canadian Screen Awards nominated Space Janitors, will be premiering on Geek & Sundry with new episodes airing bi-weekly. My crew and I had so much fun doing the costumes for this show, being extremely creative, snuggled in a studio in snowy Scarborough right before Christmas of last year. I can't wait to share more behind the scenes photos as soon as the episodes air. Suburban Goth is a black comedy about the darkness of teenage life, lived out by a goth in his parent’s basement. His struggles include living up to the expectations of his type “A” yoga mom and submissive dad, who try to get him to submit to their values. Set to a soundtrack of up-and-coming indie bands, Suburban Goth rebels against conformity only to discover that growing up is not so black and white. I was honoured to costume design this Canadian Film Centre short directed by Virginia Abramovich. Above: Hannah Cheesman, Alex Ozerov and Stewart Arnott Please watch the trailer at www.thesuburbangoth.com The book Kulisy Teatru by Edward Hartwig has been on my bookshelf as long as I can remember. It's filled with arresting behind the scenes photos of Polish theatre in the 1960's. Unfortunately my Polish is no better than a 'Hello', 'I love you' or 'That was yummy', so I sadly cannot translate the pages of introduction published in 1969. There is very little biography of either this book or author in English online so I wanted to share some pictures that capture the heart beating ache that many have for the theatre that I too was caught by, and led into my love for costume design. The scenic painters and set decorators create a world. The forms of dancers while resting. An amusing juxtaposition of ballerinas and a security guard both preparing for their work. Two ladies, one in front and one behind. Both confident of their place. Ahh, the magic of wardrobe. Movie stars and cupids to grace the costume shop. More scenics clowning around whilst a scenographer plays serious. The magic of heavy eye make-up and a cigarette.
|
JosyJust love dressing up, dressing other people up and talking about it. A lot. And laughing too. Categories
All
Archives
June 2020
|