one track mind fashion collectors by shawna cohen

ONE-TRACK MIND

52

THIS PAGE: PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANIA AND TYLER STALMAN; OPPOSITE PAGE: PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARLO MENDOZA (STYLING, CHRISTINE BRANT FOR JUDYINC.COM)

Fashion in more than the high a spree provides; a deeper passion fuels their spending. Many don’t even wear their purchases, instead displaying them like precious works of art.

Proskiw has built an entire closet and library in her new home around that premise. She plans to display her favourite handbags, including a Judith Leiber pearl- and crystal-encrusted peacock clutch that’s never left its dust bag and a Christian Dior evening bag that once belonged to Elizabeth Taylor (she woke up at 6 a.m. to bid on it the day Taylor’s estate was auctioned off at Christie’s in New York). Proskiw also collects eyewear—nearly 200 pairs, including prescription Dolce & Gabbana ski goggles.

Statement-making pieces are precisely what inspire Carla Stitt’s collection of jewellery. Born in Montreal and based in Dallas, Stitt has been collecting since she was 15. Now 47, she has about 300 pieces.

“I didn’t mean to start collecting. I was always into fashion, and the quickest way to JENNIFFER update a wardrobe is through accessories,” PROSKIW she explains. “For me, clothing has always HANDBAGS been the canvas—jewellery is the art.”

200, INCLUDING When Stitt got engaged, her mother gave AN EVENING BAG her $7,000 for a wedding dress, but she OWNED BY THE LATE ELIZABETH TAYLOR spent it on jewellery instead. “I was on my way to look at dresses when I popped into a jewellery store and spotted a $4,000 Konstantino bracelet that took my breath away,” From a lingerie lover and a denim devotee to she says. She ended up pairing the bracelet a handbag aficionado and the Schiap Lady, with a simple BCBG slip dress she found SHAWNA COHEN talks to fashion collectors for $115—a decision she has never regretted.

What’s impressive about Stitt’s collecabout their sartorial obsessions. tion is its range—everything from $1 wood bangles to gold and ivory Noor Fares angelAFTER TRAVELLING THE GLOBE FOR SEVEN YEARS IN SEARCH wing earrings, vintage Chanel and goldof a coveted Birkin to add to her 200-plus bag collection, Jenniffer Proskiw hammered architectural pieces by Hervé finally tracked one down in San Diego. “I went to boutiques in Paris, New Van Der Straeten. And while she’ll occaYork, Capri, Venice, Saint Maarten, St. Barth’s, Argentina—they all said sionally shop on eBay or at auction, Stitt acno,” recalls the Calgary-based realtor. “I called the Hermès store in San quires most of her pieces by happenstance, Diego and the salesperson said, ‘If you can be here in person, I may have often while travelling. Once, during a laysomething.’ I know it sounds silly, but I was so excited to get my hands over in Tarapur, India, she flagged down a on one, I was shaking. When you open it up and smell that leather, when cab after deplaning and headed straight to you see the handiwork—it’s something you want to look after and love.” the local market. “I paid 30 rupees [around Fashion collectors like Proskiw—who obsessively collect a specific 50 cents] for an incredible ring made from type of clothing or accessory—are a rare but growing breed. You prob- lilac stone. It was massive, but I loved the ably know a shopping addict or two, but serious collectors are interested ornate quality of metal,” she says wistfully.

FASHION AUGUST 2014

COLLECTORS New York-based Jennifer Zuccarini of Fleur du Mal, a line of lingerie and ready-to-wear, travels a dozen times JENNIFER ZUCCARINI a year to cities like Paris, L.A., London and Palm Springs.

“Usually my first priority is getting to a vintage store or flea LINGERIE market,” she says. Zuccarini, the former design director at 50 PIECES, Victoria’s Secret and co-founder of Kiki de Montparnasse, INCLUDING A WHITE LACE collects vintage lingerie. The 38-year-old designer owns YSL CAFTAN about 50 pieces; her favourites include a pair of highwaisted striped panties with fringe (“I’m sure it was a costume”), a ’20s beaded slip from a London flea market and a white lace YSL caftan found on eBay. “If you’re a vintage collector, you love the hunt,” says Zuccarini, who grew up in Toronto and shopped Queen Street’s Black Market as a teen. “When you find something that’s been personalized, like someone’s name embroidered—that is special.”

Faith Orfus, co-owner of Toronto’s Rac Boutique, recalls shopping vintage at 12 years old. “My sister took me to Kensington Market and I bought a pair of used Levi’s,” she says. That fuelled a full-on denim habit, with a collection of jeans (around 30 pairs), jackets, vests, shirts, overalls and skirts. For Orfus, collecting is more about curating than just accumulating. Like an art collector, she’s only interested in the few pieces she deems worthy of a place in her collection. “It’s an instinct,” she says. “I can tell right away if it resonates with me.” Her favourite example is a no-name Western-style shirt with pearlized buttons that she discovered in a vintage shop 20 years ago. Dubbed her lucky denim shirt, it has been all over the world with her.

Other collectors become enamoured with a particular label. Toronto-based Shirley Hanick boasts one of North America’s largest collections of Elsa Schiaparelli memo- hand-written note from Schiaparelli herself. Her home rabilia. It was during a 1991 trip to the Miami Beach An- is gallery-like, with many items housed in glass cabinets. tique Show that she spotted the perfume bottle that would “Schiaparelli had passion. She was constantly reinventing change her life. “It was very Surrealist,” Hanick, 66, recalls herself,” Hanick says. “She’s a great inspiration to me.”

For most collectors, it’s the chase that’s most exciting. of the mannequin-shaped bottle capped with flowers in place of a head. “I had no idea who this Schiaparelli person “The more obscure, the more covetable [it is] to me,” says was, but the dazzle of shocking pink boxes and beautiful Orfus. Stitt recalls the time a freak ice storm in Dallas glass flowers atop the crystal bottles was almost as stun- made it impossible for her to attend an auction to bid on ning as my first gaze at the Venus de Milo.” Hanick quickly a pair of antique cameo earrings she had been lusting after. became known as “the Schiap lady,” and by 1996, she was “Cars were sliding into each other,” she says. She placed her bid over the phone and hired a car to have them delivgiving lectures at conventions.

Over the past 20-plus years, Hanick has acquired nearly ered to her—a trek that took two hours. “It has nothing to 1,000 pieces by the famed designer, from perfume bottles do with worth,” she adds. “Once I get it into my head that and lipsticks to jewellery, bags and scarves, as well as a I want something, I’ll do whatever it takes to get it.” Q SHIRLEY HANICK

SCHIAPARELLI MEMORABILIA NEARLY 1,000 PIECES, INCLUDING A HAND-WRITTEN NOTE FROM THE DESIGNER

FASHION AUGUST 2014

53