My Favourite Posts

I've so enjoyed hearing from all of you about your favourite posts. As the writer, I've taken great pleasure in trying to present a fresh and unbiased perspective on art, books, exhibitions, and other creative works that sit on the boundary between fashion and art. I've had a lot of time to reflect on what I've written here (having been quite ill this past month), and there are some clear favourites that I thought I'd share with you.

Favourite Artist Profile:
I've learned so much from other artists. Two of my favourite profiles include Lessons from Yves Saint Laurent and Lessons from Doris McCarthy. 

Favourite Book Review:
I always have a stack of books beside my bed and on my desk. I read in every spare moment and I've even plowed through some indecipherable Phd theses, trying to deepen my knowledge of costume history. And so it is always a pleasant surprise when a non-fiction book is written with a light-hand, making it a delight instead of a chore to read. Two books come to mind: The Anatomy of Fashion by Susan J. Vincent and The Courtiers by Lucy Worsley. And if the most beautiful book to cross my desk would have to be Fashioning Fashion by LACMA.



Favourite Author Interview: 
Over the years, I've done my share of author interviews and I have to say I always remember the authors who made me laugh. And even though Lucy Worsley has one of the most serious jobs around as curator of the Royal Historic Palaces, she has a wicked sense of humour.  Lucy even invited me for a private tour of the palaces followed by tea and cakes in Kensington. I was tempted to hop on a plane the very next day to take her up on it!






Favourite Exhibition:
Last May, I travelled to London to see three fashion related exhibitions, including The Enchanted Palace at Kensington Palace, The Concise Dictionary of Dress at Blythe House, and Grace Kelly: Style Icon at the Victoria and Albert Museum. These were the first major exhibitions for which I had press status giving me access to materials that I would not otherwise have had. This material gave me a much deeper understanding and appreciation for the exhibits, particularly Artangel's presentation of The Concise Dictionary of Dress, in which no talking was allowed and for which there was no labeling of any kind. As a cross between a contemporary art installation and a fashion exhibition, it truly was ground breaking and with so few tickets available, it was an unforgettable experience.


Favourite Museum:
Although I am a huge fan of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museum at FIT, the Bata Shoe Museum is tops for me. This is one of Toronto's finest gems with an extraordinary collection of footwear spanning centuries. With beautifully presented exhibitions that are rotated regularly, it is truly a Shoeaholic's Fantasy. And to make it even better, the curators and staff are as nice as they come.




Favourite Photo:
When I have a camera in hand, I generally like to take my time with lighting and set-up, striving to capture that perfect composition. Although I found it incredibly stressful at the time, two of my favourite photo-ops were ones where I had to work on the fly: photographing Angela Chen's show at Toronto Fashion Week in the spring and a performance of the Opera Atelier's School of Ballet. The light was poor and I could not use a flash. I did not know where people would be or what would happen next.



Favourite Post:
This is a tough one. When I first began this blog, I had great fun writing about Marie Antoinette and those posts continue to draw a large amount of traffic even today. But my favourite post has to be a quiz I created (which probably only a few people ever read) called Do you have Marie Antoinette Style?

The Girl behind the Blog

Me at 18 by Ingrid Mida

I suppose I'm too old to call myself a girl, but I will probably always feel like I'm still 18, just as I was when this photo was taken. I look pretty much the same; people often tell me that I haven't changed a bit. I still wear my hair like this and there are a few more wrinkles around the eyes, and I weigh about ten pounds less than I did then, but otherwise I'm basically the same girl with big dreams. When this photo was taken during a photography workshop, I had just been accepted into architecture school and the world was my oyster. I did not yet know of disappointment, rejection, loss, or death. And even though I am far too familiar with all of those things now, I still believe that the best is yet to come.

My love of fashion has deep roots. I was 10 when I discovered Vogue magazine and from that point saved my hard earned allowance and baby-sitting money to buy the latest issue. It has been a singular passion that has fed my soul (and of course depleted my pocketbook). Although my closet now contains an array of gowns by designers like Valentino, Alexander McQueen, and Dior, my daily uniform to the studio often consists of jeans and a checked shirt with a cashmere sweater thrown over my shoulders (just like I wore when I was 18).

I rarely write about myself on my blog. I like to write pieces with a bit of intellectual heft (so that my brain doesn't turn to mush) and I'm also cognizant of the fact that I'm married to a man who is deeply private. Plus I have two teenage sons who have inherited their dad's desire for anonymity. But perhaps it is time to share a little more about myself.

My path to becoming an artist and writer is a bit of a circuitous one. I wrote poems, songs and stories as a child and copied drawings by Michelangelo on discarded envelopes. My father and an older brother loved photography and I too spent many hours in our homemade darkroom in the basement. Our house was always filled with music as my parents loved the opera and I learned to play the piano and clarinet. I made all my clothes until I was 23, only giving it up when I no longer had the time. Although I began my university studies in architecture, I switched programs when I realized that how cyclical the profession could be. As a girl who needed to pay her way, I did not want to be a waitress after seven years of university education and instead I earned a BA in Economics and then a masters degree from the University of Waterloo. After a number of years working as a consultant, my passion for the written word started calling to me and I took a position as an executive with a Toronto daily newspaper. It got me close to the action but I was not quite close enough. When the opportunity arose and when I wanted more flexibility in my life to be with my children, I threw caution to the wind and tried my hand at freelance writing and editing. I was still taking photos and drawing in the margins, but not as a career.

It wasn't until my mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease that I realized that I would not have forever to follow my passions. This was less than two years after my father had died of complications of Parkinson's disease, trapped in the prison of his body, unable to speak or swallow. Even though my grandmother lived in good health until she was 98, my mother was only 68 when her life changed irrevocably. It was the very next day that I picked up a paintbrush and began again as an artist. I've studied art, photography, and costume history at Ontario College of Art, Ryerson University, George Brown College, University of Toronto and Toronto School of Art. In a way, I'm a bit of a course junkie, taking great delight in learning something new.

Over the years, there have been ups and downs. Learning to face rejection and the whims of the art marketplace has been tough. I've had some wild successes - like selling out my first gallery show, having the director of the AGO attend my opening, and having a prestigious Canadian law firm buy one of my pieces. But there have also been huge disappointments with embarrassing rejections, long stretches that I've been unable to produce, see my way or sell my work. I think this blog has helped me to weather those patches with a ready outlet for my creative energy. For that reason, I am grateful to all of you who come back to visit me here.