On Sunday afternoon Nick and I enjoyed another one of the prizes from the raffle we won last month at the ‘Dare to Wear Love’ Fashion Week Gala last month. This is the third outing we’ve had so far, and once again this prize coaxed us out to do something we wouldn’t ordinarily have done, which was nice.
The tickets were for a matinee showing of a play called “My Granny the Goldfish” and it was held at the Factory Theatre. The building has never been a factory though, as it got its name when the building was bought by a theatre company called Factory, in 1983.
Rather, the structure (located on Bathurst Street at Adelaide St W.) is one that is classified as a heritage building, having been erected in 1869, as the home of an Irish immigrant, John Mulvey, who had made his fortune establishing shops along nearby Queen Street West. Actually, the building is made up of two parts, this former home, and then some years later, in 1910, an addition that was constructed by the catholic church located across the street (St. Mary’s, which I posted about here), when they bought it because, unfortunately, Mr. Mulvey had been hit hard by the long depression in the 1870s. The church used it as a community centre until it was bought by The Factory Theatre. Apparently there is still a floor with bowling lanes drawn upon it, leftover from those days.
Our prize consisted of tickets to see three shows at this theatre, so we will be returning, and when we do I’m going to try to get some pictures inside, including some of said bowling alley.
As for the outfit I wore to the show, I went with a mod-look, but missed the connection of my decision until just now, in that The Factory was, of course, Andy Warhol’s studio. So it was coincidence that I wore some items that would have been manufactured around the time of Andy. The actual reason I chose the outfit was that I had the urge to be cozy, as the morning had been very drizzly and windy and this soft sweater dress and cable-knit leggings fit the bill. Thankfully, the weather got nicer as the day progressed but I was still happy to have worn a ‘comfortable but a bit dressed up’ outfit. It’s worth noting that there are two distinct types of theatre experience in Toronto (as I’m sure there are in all major cities). There are the big fancy theatres where one would dress in their finest to attend, and then there are a bunch of smaller, much more casual stages, where jeans are the norm. This was such a place.
My favourite part of the outfit is my handbag. I remember getting this one in a small town in northern Ontario, after some friends and I had spent a week-end at a resort. It was in the winter and we were supposed to have gone skating, cross-country skiing, sledding, etc, however for that particular week-end all the snow had strangely melted. So instead, we headed into a nearby little town for some vintage shopping at a store we had passed on the way up.
You flip that round part up to open the purse. I’m pretty sure the original handle of the bag has been replaced by the chain but at least it’s a nice chain that’s comfortable to hold!
And while I have loved this bag and display it on a hook on the wall in my bedroom, I never looked closely at the tag until now. It says “Handbags by Paragon, Toronto Canada”, a company I haven’t heard of so I looked them up. Seems the manufacturer is no longer in business but I did find a reference to them in a blog post written a couple of years ago, by a woman who used to live in Toronto but has since moved to the UK. She too has a vintage purse made by them. I was happy to find her blog is ongoing and it’s a good one that I will now be following along with. You just never know when or how you’ll stumble upon a new blog to enjoy! Grunge Queen. Does anyone else have a Paragon Toronto vintage handbag out there?
Details: Dress – Style & Co / Jacket – Light / Purse – Vintage, Handbags by Pantages / Scarf – Vintage, Vera / Leggings – Lapis / Boots – Kaytee / Bracelet – 1928 Jewelry
ps : I do wear other colour combinations other than red and black, even if recent posts about clothing would indicate otherwise! For the record, I did ask the saleswoman for help selecting the colour of this dress because it also came in purple, which I was ready to go for. But she insisted the red one was the much better choice for me. As for the black? I’ve always chosen it and probably always will, though do currently have myself on a ban-against-buying-anything-black!
Thanks very much for taking a look,
xo loulou
