Traning Day

By Erika Engel
For The Blue Mountains Courier-Herald and the Meaford Express
Metroland Editorial Award winner for best layout in 2010.
Published May, 2010

Tails with Tales

By Erika Engel
From The Collingwood Connection and Sideroads magazine
Spring/Summer 2011

At the Elliott home, there's an adage that goes "what is in the basement, stays in the basement."

At the dining room table, enjoying a coffee and morning toast, Chuck Elliott says the main floor of his custom built home is for entertaining, the basement is for his wife's collection.

"My kids tell me I'm on the verge of becoming a hoarder," said Dianna Elliott, Chuck's wife.

But the Elliott's basement is less like a hoarder's den and more like a carefully organized treasure trove of fashion bounty spanning decades.

Dianna Elliot is a collector of garments and steward of memories.

Her basement is filled - every closet, every bedroom and every spot on the floor that will hold a rack of clothes - with vintage clothing from World War I to the 1980s, and even a few pieces from the Victorian era.

There's a closet for army uniforms, including a full white Naval uniform from WWI.

There's a closet of hats, a closet of shoes, a rack of gloves, a rack for purses. There are drawers and drawers of jewelry arranged by colour, black, silver, gold and red.

There's a rack for prom dresses, a rack for lingerie, a rack for the black dresses, for the print dresses and for the fur coats.

There's a closet full of menswear and a closet for the 1980s - Elliott's least favourite clothes, but an important, albeit gawdy part of her collection.

Elliott's mother, Aniela Spacca, encouraged Elliott to keep the clothes she loved. In fact, Spacca, herself, didn't often purge her wardrobe.

"I still have all my poodle skirts, and my mother's dress from 1948," said Elliott. "My mom encouraged me to keep the things I wanted."

Elliott and her husband, Chuck, spent their careers in corrections. Elliott took night courses in textiles, couture, clothing design and fashion.

All the while, she added to her collections. She'd scope out items at thrift stores, or through friends and acquaintances.

As a corrections worker, one of her jobs was to escort inmates to their volunteer jobs at the St. Vincent DePaul Society (similar to a Salvation Army). There, she had a lot of access to vintage clothing collectables.

She's become an expert in the industry, she knows the gems from the imitations, and she knows the rarest items.

"Wedding dresses are the easiest vintage to find," said Elliott. Most brides keep their dresses, and they are typically well cared for.

The second easiest item to find is a black dress, but to find a vintage piece in a colour is much more difficult.

Elliott also fixes items that come torn or worn out. She uses traditional materials from other vintage pieces like steel zippers and feathers, and mends the pieces she collects.

When she buys or receives a piece from someone, she asks for a photo of the original owner in the piece and for the story behind it.

She keeps the photo and story with the piece.

There's a long pink gown on the prom dress rack that was worn by Dr. David Ripley's wife at their prom.

There's a sheer purple dress with a frilly collar, worn by local, Verna Kennedy, as a bridesmaid in the 1950s.

And of course, there's a black, silk dress from 1948 that belonged to Elliott's mother. It's kept with a photograph of Elliott, her mother in the dress and her sister.

"Everything has a story," said Elliott. "I feel so attached to the clothes people have given me ... I'm a custodian."

There's a whole rack of men's jackets. One set of tails from the 1930s, a tweed jacket in chocolate brown with braided trim from 1954. A suit like that would have cost two months wages.

"I have special affection for the garments in my collection, since the majority of items do not come from the upscale designer wearing clientele, but from women [and men] who had a loved garment and kept it for the memories it held for them."

Elliott does put her collection on display, but only for a good cause.

She lent the use of her clothes for a fashion show first in 2009 as a fundraiser for the Collingwood G&M Hospital. Earlier this year, she worked with Diana Dolmer to arrange a vintage fashion show in Meaford to benefit the Guatemala Stove Project.

Elliott likes to arrange the shows by decade.

"I try to create an era," said Elliott. She will only lend her collection and arrange a "The Way We Wore" fashion show for charitable fundraisers.

She has two shows coming up in the Spring, the first will be an evening affair for Flesherton's new library on April 14. The second show will be and afternoon high tea for the Simcoe County Museum on Sunday, May 15, and will include a vintage fur silent auction.

Elliott is always looking for pieces to add to her collection. To contact her for a fashion show or otherwise, call 705-445-1061 or email vintagecollector@sympatico.ca.

The Elliott's are retired and living in their home in Collingwood.

Long Road to a New Beginning

By Erika Engel
From The Blue Mountains Courier-Herald
August 2011

In their first moments in Canada, Omar, Israa and their three children, all refugees from Iraq, went through a lengthy visit with immigration, lost a suitcase, and suffered flight delays.
Still, the family smiled brightly when they came through the double doors marked "Arrivals" at Pearson International Airport.
I was privileged to be part of the welcoming committee that travelled to Toronto to welcome the new refugee family to Thornbury.
Though the logistics and purpose were the same as the last time, we had no idea what to expect.
The refugee sponsorship process provides few details about the families on their way to Canada. We had a flight number, names and ages for the refugees and a country of origin.
About a dozen of us rode a school bus to the airport, all a-flutter with anticipation.
We didn't know if we'd be able to communicate. One of the Beaver Valley Open Door board members had a connection to an Arabic speaking man in Barrie. He and a friend met us at the airport, and that detail proved to be most important.
We all waited at the arrivals door watching families re-united and excited hugs all around us. It was a long time before our party came through the doors.
David Morgan, one of the Beaver Valley Open Door volunteers, had prepared a sign to read "Welcome to Canada" in Arabic. He also included the names of each of the family members.
The family smiled and hurried over to our group; shaking hands and nodding their heads to their welcoming party.
A wave of excitement had everybody talking at once. Soon it was clear that the family knew very little English.
Our translator, Khaled Seaydoun, happily stepped in to greet the family.
He arrived to Canada just three years before from Lebanon as an immigrant. He lives in the Barrie area.
He welcomed them, and told them we were here on behalf of the sponsors to bring them to their new home.
He broke the bad news about the two-hour bus ride ahead, and made sure they were comfortable. He passed along his contact information, and promised to be available to help us communicate.
He found out one of their suitcases was missing, and made sure Beaver Valley Open Door volunteers knew what to do to retrieve it later.
Eventually, we piled back into the yellow school bus.
It was dark while we drove home, still I and others found ourselves wondering what it would be like to see Canada for the first time - even if only by streetlights.
The travel had proven exhausting and most of the family slept while we drove home.
At the refugee's new home in Thornbury, there were still more Beaver Valley Open Door volunteers waiting to greet the new family.
The family received a tour of their new home, and volunteers promised to return the next afternoon to help them settle in.
There are many things to overcome, not the least of which will be a harsh language barrier.
But the family is safe. They have a home, and there is a caring community surrounding them and willing them to succeed.
From Iraq to Thornbury, the family of Omar, Israa, Abdullah, Jaafar and Balqees have finally arrived to begin a new life as part of our community, and as Canadians.