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| The St. Catharines Standard, Tuesday, November 7, 2006, pages C1-C2 |
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On the edge; Port Dalhousie's Gina Lye admits her fashion designs are not for the timid or faint-hearted
Gina Lye was always cutting up her clothes. She just couldn't leave anything as is. Anything normal. She'd take her scissors to anything and everything, reworking dresses and jackets into something she'd wear. She even fashioned dresses out of old drapes. She'd do the same for her Barbie dolls. Give them outfits made out of paper napkins and candy wrappers. Gina liked the Goth look. She rejected everything mainstream. Wore black. Listened to bands like New Order, Happy Mondays and The Shamen. And, yes, she had an attitude. Back then, Gina lived in Manchester, England. Through her 20s, she worked in the recording industry, spending her nights in clubs listening to up and coming bands. Then she had a baby boy named Silas. And that changed everything. Motherhood didn't exactly fit with the general craziness and late nights of the recording industry and she never went back. She wanted a job that would better suit her life as a mom. So, she picked up her scissors again. And started cutting. This time, she cut up old clothes (a lot of velvet skirts, she remembers) to make hats. She sold them along with vintage clothing that she would buy and resell at the Salford Market, a large outdoors antique market on the outskirts of Manchester. "I failed needlework at school," says Gina, laughing. "And I'd never made anything from a pattern." But that didn't matter. She taught herself and learned on the go. And when she came to Canada in 1993, she took up in Toronto where she'd left off in England. She sold her hats and vintage clothes at markets around Toronto. Even opened her own store, Retro-G, on Queen Street West. Her hats evolved. She started making them from new textiles and they became distinctive, one of a kind. These days, the 47-year-old designs her hats and jackets from a second-floor studio in the Port Dalhousie home she shares with her son and husband. Locally, her hats are sold at Beau Chapeau in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Otherwise, she appears at shows like The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair at Exhibition Place, where she will be until Nov. 12. On a wall in her studio, she creates an inspiration board twice a year. On it she pins photographs, jewelry, fabric samples and other trinkets she's collected that represent her themes for the season. It gives her direction. On her fall and winter board: pictures of Alice in Wonderland, a necklace by punk clothing designer Vivienne Westwood, brooches, and photographs that are as diverse as a woman dressed in 1915-ish riding habit to three young and very Goth looking women dressed in black. Her inspiration comes from all around her: magazines, theatre movies and British costume designer Sandy Powell (Shakespeare in Love, Gangs of New York). Her hats and jackets are flamboyant and over-the-top. They offer a modern twist on historic designs. Think Alice in Wonderland meets Pirates of the Caribbean with a touch of Shakespeare. They're old fashioned equestrian. Edwardian. Goth. All mixed together. "If you wear my stuff, you get noticed," says Gina. "It's not for the timid or faint-hearted. "If you don't have confidence with this stuff, it will wear you." This season, Gina is working in red. Leopard and plaid prints are strong, especially Stewart Tartan. Her hats are made from pure textiles - wools, brocades, velvets and cashmere felts. She throws on some loud music from bands like New Order, The Killers or Scissor Sisters and cuts them herself. Then she sends the pieces to a sample maker in Toronto, who sews them together. Gina's hats come in five styles: her signature top hat, a beret, cloche (a 1920s hat that's worn pulled down over the forehead), tricorns (a hat with three corners worn in films like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow), and one with a decidedly lampshade/Breakfast at Tiffany's look. They range in price from $145 to $295. Each one is embellished differently, with ornaments like buckles, handmade screen pictures and feathers. Their shape comes from how the fabric is cut. No two are ever alike, she says. "I like them malleable," she says. "I don't like static things that don't do anything." Gina buys her coats new, in fabrics such as wool cashmere, wool plaid, cotton, velvet and satin. Then she cuts them up to transform them into works of art. She used to make her own 17th century frock coats in Toronto. They were flamboyant. Elaborate. Flaring out from the waist, they featured lots of buttons, turned back sleeves and took her about a week just to make one. These days she concentrates on reworking new coats. One of her favourites is a duck egg blue wool jersey bustle tailcoat. She trimmed some fabric off the front and added it to the back to create the tails. Then she added embellishments such as hand-pleated wool plaid trim around the cuffs and hemline, blue ribbon ties down the front and hand-made Alice in Wonderland screen pictures. She's partial to bustles because they're naturally slimming and flatter any waistline. Coat sizes range from 32 to 44, and in price from $175 to $395. Pair them up with something completely over the top, or just a plain old pair of jeans, tank top, and boots, she says. "It's a sexy look," she says. For more information on Gina's fashions, visit her website at www.Retro-G.com. cclock@stcatharinesstandard.ca Where to find Gina's fashions Gina Lye's hats can be found at Beau Chapeau, 42 Queen St., in Niagara-on-the-Lake. She's been there about 10 years. Her hats and coats can be found: On EBay, follow the links from her website, www.Retro-G.com. At The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, to Nov. 12, National Trade Centre, Exhibition Place, Toronto. At various other shows throughout the year including, The Clothing Show, The British Isles Show Canada and Anime North. Visit her website for more details at www.Retro-G.com. |
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