On Saturday, June 8th, 2019, The Ian Drummond Collection will be holding its annual Studio Sale.

We will be selling vintage clothing and accessories from the 1900s to the 1990s. Stop by our Toronto studio between 9am and 5pm to find your own treasures!

222 Islington Ave
Toronto Ontario
M8V 3W7
Entrance on Eighth Street door number 18
phone 416-531-2591

Pictures are worth thousands of words – they give us much of what we need to know when considering clothing for the rental collection. After all, our stock has to work on screen!

Certain colours, prints, textures and styles just don’t rent to productions. They may be too loud, “buzz,” look bulky or have the best part of the design  happening out of the shot.

Ian does want to see everything, but we don’t always need to see individual items. A quick snap of the closet, or the items spread out on a bed gives a lot of information. But by all means, do send us as many as you can!

Something that happens from time to time is that the pictures sent are so large and so many that they “crash” our mailbox.

If you’re taking images on your smartphone, iPad or tablet and emailing them to us, your phone will often ask you what size to send once you’ve selected them – choose the smallest option, please. 

Please consider using a resource such as Dropbox or Imgur. Either will let you share as many photos with us as you like, and we can zoom in on detail if needed.

If your email account doesn’t use your name, please let us know how you’d like to be addressed. 

Put “Clothing for Sale” in the subject line is helpful, because it makes us easy to sort messages to return when organizing our day.

Before you hit “send,” it’s helpful for us to know certain things that the pictures can’t always tell us.

Questions we’ll ask:

What is the quantity? A break-down such as 5 coats, 10 dresses, 3 sweaters, 7 men’s suits gives a great idea of how much time Ian will need to spend looking at things when he’s booking an appointment.

What are the sizes? If they don’t have labels, using a measuring tape or ruler to get a waist measurement, or chest measurement is very helpful.

Are there any interesting labels? What stores did they come from back in the day? (We like to know where people shopped – it gives us an idea of how they’ll suit the characters who’ll be wearing them!)

What kind of condition are they in? How have they been stored (basement, attic, closet, barn, garage, storage?) (We have to clean everything that comes into the studio – but attics sometimes lead to dry rot, and basements to mildew problems. It means we’ll have to look closer and check the fabric more carefully.)

Where are you located? Ian often makes a few calls in a day, and will want to group them in the same area. Is it time-sensitive? If you need to have the clothing looked at by a certain date, do mention that, as Ian’s schedule fills up very quickly.

Please do feel free to call and and we will be very glad to help you with this in any way we can!

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It’s THIS WEEKEND!

We are packing everything we think shoppers will want to see, such as:

Vintage sunnies!

Trims and laces – perfect for making chokers and headbands for festival season!

Retro bracelets – kitschy appeal in high-end quality. These are onyx!

Did we say laces and trims? There will be SO many.

Fun bags!

It’s very exciting – this is IDC’s biggest sale of the year!

This is where we aim to clear linear feet. This is where we want to sell the collective weight of IDC staff members in stock. This is where stock that you won’t see at the fancy curated vintage clothing shows goes.

See you there?

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Whenever Ian finishes a show, we spend the next day or two dissecting what worked and what didn’t.

We learned that pants pants pants were the way to go this time. We learned that it was time for whites and brights! And we learned that no matter how great a steal they might be, things need to be on hangers rather than bins. So it’s not a “root around” kind of show. Now we know!

Thanks to everyone who came by and showed us with their purchases that fun dresses are always in style; that LaLaLand has most definitely revived 1960s skinny ties; and that the vintage advertising tear sheets are always great for inspiration and decoration.

See you on November 12, Ottawa!

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It’s that time!

It’s time for the Ottawa Vintage Clothing Show – it’s one amazing day! What a way to get Spring started!

Here’s where to find us in their new location at the Carleton University Fieldhouse:

day!

See you there?

We always admire excellence in costume design, and have worked for many stellar designers and their teams – but we have a particular soft spot for Colleen Atwood, and as Potterverse fans, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. We are just thrilled that her work was recognized with an Academy Award last night – amazingly, a first Oscar win for any of the Harry Potter movies!

And we are looking forward to future projects of hers… (wink wink.)

The 19th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards nominated others we’ve worked with this past year such as JR Hawbaker for Man in the High Castle for Outstanding Fantasy Television Series (which we’ve mentioned previously was a fun and fascinating process to witness)…

…and yes, Colleen Atwood for Excellence in Fantasy Film for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them AND Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children 

(we are doubly enchanted!)

But we are exceedingly glad to see the frequently-nominated, and often award-winning Alexandra Byrne’s CDGA win this year for  Excellence in Fantasy Film for Doctor Strange – because we just have this feeling that  one of her current projects will no doubt get some attention for costume design when it’s released in November 2017.

We love IDC’s place as a service industry for all of the amazing costumers out there – whether it’s the work we do locally in Toronto, across the country in Vancouver or LA, or something overseas. Everyone we see does their best, and does so whether or not any nominations are within sight. Congrats to everyone who survives their days in this crazy business!

We’re happy to be able to work in such a fascinating occupation, and especially with and for such accomplished and hardworking people – but we have to say – we DO feel a little tingle when it comes to projects we’ve had the pleasure to work on earning industry awards and some mantle decor. Congratulations!

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Nine or so weeks ago, we had a busy afternoon unpacking crates:

iandrummondcollection We know what our afternoon entails… and all next week. We marvel at the legion of ECrates that just returned from a Vancouver production. We’ll X the items off our packing lists, then perform any collection maintenance as needed. Then it’s time to use our put-away powers – alas, it’s all manual, not by telekinesis.

Do you see what we did there?

Now it’s all been made clear – Legion is “the Most Intricate, Intimate Superhero Story To Date.”

We’ve read that Legion is a masterpiece, and of course our minds immediately go straight to costuming and think, “How could it not be?” with Carol Case at the helm of Legion’s costume department – we had the pleasure to help her with Fargo.  As Ian always says, costuming is “How to tell a story without shouting” and we know that she is excellent in that respect.

(Here is Jean Smart in an IDC coat in Fargo)

We spied a pair of our shoes right away, in the “visually astounding” kitchen scene…

And we spied one of our favourite little kid tees here:

And we can’t help but wonder what story those arresting colours and bold choices are going to help to tell – but we are assured it’s going to be weird and wonderful.

As our heroes Tom and Lorenzo call it:
FX’s “Legion” is the Most Meticulous Chaos You Ever Saw

We’re glad to have helped, by having some of what it took, to create that impression.  Well-done, everyone on the Legion crew!

Ian Drummond Collection is considering our stock for the upcoming spring vintage clothing show season.

In troubled times, when one might question, “Why think about fashion now?” we can look to Lauren Duca, a writer for Teen Vogue, who stated “Women can love thigh boots and still talk politics.”

Katherine Hamnett’s T-shirts became cultural signposts to the times we lived in.

“Fashion is just a reflection of our times” Bill Cunningham said. Fashion is communication, for both the people and those in power. We look to Michelle Obama, who used fashion as a way to communicate her world vision; and Hillary Clinton with her white pantsuits speaking to Suffragettes, and inspiring a nation of 111 million and more supporters calling themselves “Pantsuit Nation.”
If we have any pantsuits, we’ll bring them!

But more, with the textile and apparel industry being second to oil as the most polluting in the world, fashion can also be an action. Which is why we are encouraging people to not just shop at the Toronto and Ottawa Vintage Clothing Shows as a style choice, but as a responsible and ethical choice. There will be plenty of clothing that will be relevant and wearable in contemporary fashion available, as well as statement pieces that grab attention. Why not buy beautifully made, carefully preserved and timelessly styled clothing as a way to respect what’s on the #grabyourwallet boycott, and to shop local and support small businesses?

Ian Drummond Collection will be bringing new old stock in currently trending 90s apparel that’s perfect for work wear; classic vintage clothing for every occasion; and jewellery for freshening up old favourites.

We noticed an uptick in sales of our reproduction WWI factory workers uniforms from the 2002 Jason Alexander movie The Man Who Saved Christmas in our Etsy shop, Ian Drummond Vintage, over the past few weeks. There were customers who wanted to wear them to march as Suffragettes! Staff members at the Women’s March in Toronto noticed a few Rosies, and so we’ll also be bringing our coveralls from the series Bomb Girls to the shows as well.

Sadly, it seems more and more reasons to demonstrate will present themselves.

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If you’re not following Ian Drummond collection on Instagram, please consider doing so! The studio is always up to something, whether it’s shipping Ecrates overseas, adding new items to stock, sending items to our retail space at Shoppe & Tailor, or unearthing ephemera for our Etsy shops.

For everything from sneak peeks to staff silliness, look for us @iandrummondcollection