THE NEW VINTAGE

Sandy Powell has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design for her wardrobing on Carol. And she is a shoe-in; Powell might as well start making room for it on her mantle. She had me at the lead character’s iconic huge mink coat with shawl collar that represents Carol’s sophistication, wealth and social status. And it was very vintage.

“The mink was old and it kept falling apart,” Cate Blanchett, who plays Carol, told W magazine. “Between takes, Sandy Powell, the costume designer, would sew it back together by hand. I considered changing coats, but when you find the right thing, you know immediately. That coat was the one to tell Carol’s story. It was perfect.”

You won’t experience deteriorating clothing at 69 Vintage at 921 Queen St. W. Not only does the celebrated shop, owned by irrepressible Kealan Sullivan, only carry items in pristine condition, it even has designer Evan Biddell, winner of the first season of Project Runway Canada, on site tweaking and expert-tailoring.

And there is no telltale stinky old-clothing smell. It once took a bottle of white vinegar and three days of hanging outside to get rid of the fusty smell in a Mongolian fur jacket I’d bought in Kensington Market. Phew.

Bye-bye Magwood and Cabaret. Vintage stores are dropping like hemlines on Queen Street. Biddell says they need to get current to survive.  He is customizing vintage garments into on-trend pieces like removing the sleeves from coats and remaking them into outer vests.

He is also considering repurposing fur stoles into vests.

“Vintage is about service,” Biddell explains. “Without size runs it is hard to shop vintage so we offer custom tailoring for a piece you fall in love with but doesn’t fit right. It’s not about dressing head-to-toe vintage but having a balance of old and new so we are adding new pieces to the mix. We are also recutting existing vintage to update silhouettes.”

Kealan Sullivan and Evan Biddell give good face in the window area of 69 Vintage on Queen West, arguably the best vintage shop in town.

Anybody can stock vintage London Fog raincoats but who else has one in mauve? C’mon. Beside it hangs a mauve fur vest. I can’t stand it. What great entrance makers!

Here I am modelling a cool fur vest customized by Evan Biddell from a frumpy old coat. Thereby proving that repurposing vintage into new pieces doesn’t have to look icky “Preloved” crafty.

Evan Biddell with an ensemble that screams David Bowie. Biddell can even make you a Union Jack jacket.