Dare to Wear Love at the Textile Museum of Canada

Dare to Wear Love at the Textile Museum of Canada
Photo by Ingrid Mida 2012

The patterns and vibrancy of African cloth will blow away the cobwebs of the winter if you venture out to see the colourful Dare to Wear Love exhibition at the Textile Museum of Canada. This exhibition was designed to raise awareness and funds for grassroots organizations who are turning the tide of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and showcases the work of Canada's top fashion designers including Brian Bailey, David Dixon, Fashion Crimes, Linda Lundström, Hoax Couture, Izzy Camerilli, and others. The designers have used African cloth to create fashionable pieces that celebrate creativity and social responsibility.

Dare to Wear Love 2 at the Textile Museum of Canada
Photo by Ingrid Mida 2012

Dare to Wear Love - Child's Dress by Izzy Camerilli
Photo by Ingrid Mida 2012

This tightly curated and beautifully displayed exhibition will run until May 6, 2012.

Textile Museum of Canada
55 Centre Avenue (at Dundas Street West)
Toronto, Ontario
M5G 2H5
416-599-5321
info@textilemuseum.ca

February is Fashion History Month

Costume history is a subject that I find utterly enchanting and the shelves in my office groan with stacks and stacks of books on the topic. Normally I have to travel to distant places to get my fashion history fix, but this month there are a number of local exhibitions celebrating the history of fashion. 

12.12.12 Life in Three Centuries at the Fashion History Museum
Photo courtesy of the Fashion History Museum 2012

'12.12.12: Life in Three Centuries' looks at the intersection of fashion and life in 1812, 1912, and 2012 and is presented by Jonathan Walford, Kenn Norman, and members of the board of the Fashion History Museum at the newly restored Guelph Civic Museum (52 Norfolk Street) in Guelph. The exhibition is currently open 1 - 5 p.m. daily and will close March 4, 2012. For more information, please call the Fashion History Museum at 519 267-2091.

Making Fashion at the Textile Museum in Toronto
Photo by Ingrid Mida 2012

In the Making History exhibition at the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto, Ryerson University Fashion students present recreations of historical garments and accessories. Dr.Alison Matthews David, who teaches Costume History at The School of Fashion at Ryerson University, developed this project as a hands-on research assignment for her students to foster respect for and understanding of the skills of the largely anonymous makers of historical dress and textiles. She said that "As a dress historian, I hope that as future fashion and costume designers, Ryerson students will take these traditional techniques, from smocking and hand-beading to painting on silk and shoemaking, and bring them to life again on stage and catwalk." The opening reception for this exhibition is on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 from 7-8 pm at the Textile Museum (55 Centre Avenue). By the way, I helped install this exhibition. In handling these objects, I could tell that these garments and accessories were made with a lot of love! 

Roaring Twenties at the Bata Shoe Museum
Photo courtesy of the Bata Shoe Museum and under copyright

And of course, if you haven't yet seen the exhibition Roaring Twenties: Heels, Hemlines and High Spirits at the Bata Shoe Museum, it continues until June 2012. Wouldn't this pair be perfect for Valentine's Day?