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A Remade Parade:
Polka dots, sailor stripes and bright prints chosen to showcase the duality in perceptions of strong women

By Irene Stickney
Photos by Irene Stickney & Mihkel Fortey

Toronto is buzzing with young female designers lately. Take Virago, for example. A fantastic group fashion show at Revival on March 16th, 2006, Virago featured the work of the lovely ladies and one gentleman of the FCC (that’s the Freedom Clothing Collective for those of you who aren’t in the know).

Virago kicked off with local band Galaxy playing to a packed house, They were followed by the sassy stylings of the Freedom gang. The show started with pretty 1950s inspired polka dots, followed by parade of bright prints, sailor stripes, clashing colours, old ties, vintage curtains and your favorite Jem doll tossed into the blender to create a remade aesthetic with an eighties edge. The show ended with a velvet corset and laminated garbage skirt, inlaid with a trippy animal-woman on the back - followed by a performance by Toronto favorites Pony Da Look.

Virago was chosen as the title for the show because of it’s double meaning - the first being a tough, independant woman and the second being a loud or obnoxious bitch. It was meant to highlight the duality in perceptions of strong women. To further the message, the show was booked during March, International Womens Month and a portion of profit from the show went to the Toronto Womens Rape Crisis Centre.

Originally conceived as a school project by Ryerson student Rachel Alexander, Freedom sells remade and limited run items made in Toronto at 939 Bloor Street West.

Freedom became a collective in the true sense of the word after Alexander departed and left the store to the designers who had been selling their work there. Rising to the challenge Jenn Young, Ester Parry, Lisa St. Onge, Anna Krupski and Faren Tami kept the store going until now, with new members joining along the way. They currently sell the work of over 40 designers.

And now they can add event production to their resumes.
“We learned so much about show production,” says designer Jenn Young. “We had to coordinate so many things, even without one person, it might never have happened. But just takes a few people with initiative.”

www.freedomclothingcollective.com
freedom.clothing@gmail.com