Past Events
Join us for an unforgettable day of costume history at Lower Mainland museums with SMOC and Ivan Sayers!
Surrey Museum to view the display of Kwantlen Polytechnic University student-made garments inspired by important 20th Century designers and Textile Archives, Hooser Textile Studio and Library Irving House and the New Westminster Museum for its 19th century costumes and decorative arts Burnaby Village Museum for a private tour of the costume collection Langley Centennial Museum to view its collection of archival photographs, historical objects and works of art
An ideal day for all costume lovers and history buffs! Pick-up and drop-off at the Museum of Vancouver (parking cost $2 per hour). All transportation, as well as lunch at the Burnaby Museum Ice Cream Parlour, is included in the cost of $70 for SMOC members and $75 for non-members. Purchase your tickets today – space is limited to 24 guests!
The Business of Suits: The Roots of Professional Wear for Women
Sunday, April 21 – 2 to 4 pm at Hycroft

The Wearing O’ Green: Uncovering the Irish Influence in Fashion
Sunday, March 17 – 2 to 4 pm at Hycroft
Join us to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with an exploration of Ireland’s contribution to world fashion. Host Ivan Sayers (famous for blarney and the gift of the gab) presents a live fashion show highlighting garments from 1900 to the 1960s. The fashion parade includes Irish lace and Donegal tweed, original designs by Sybil Connolly, and a vast array of green from all decades in between. Failte!

Sunday, January 13th, 2013 ~ 2-4pm
What’s Old is New: Tales and Treasures From the SMOC Collection
Ivan Sayers hosts a White Glove event; guests are welcome to touch the artefacts and ask questions.
The event will feature stunning recent acquisitions, from hats, gloves and jewelry to clothes and corsets. Each piece has a story to tell. What’s more, for the first time, we have designed a pop-up museum featuring the Best of 2012.
The event also introduces our Adopt-an-Outfit Campaign. Individuals or groups are invited to help restore a worthy sartorial candidate. With each donation, you or your team will receive: A pair of free tickets to the next SMOC show at Hycroft, a private tour of the SMOC collection with Ivan Sayers, a certificate of adoption; a write-up in our newsletter and on our Facebook page, and immortality: each time the garment is viewed in future, you get a mention of gratitude!
Suggested donation levels are:
Pret-a-porter: $70
Bespoke: $100
Haute Couture: $150
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SUNDAY NOVEMBER 25th, 2012 -2-4 PM
THE LITTLE BLACK DRESS
The Silhouette may have changed over the decades, but the LBD remains the touchstone of chic sophistication. Timeless, ageless, a staple for all figures and functions, black is the “uniform” of urbane sophistication — so decreed Coco Channel. Beginning in the nineteenth century, costume historian Ivan Sayers takes us through the journey of how black went from maudlin to magnifique! Feel free to show off your favorite LBD.
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SEPTEMBER 16TH 2012– JULES VERNE SECONDARY SCHOOL AUDITORIUM 2-5 PM
5445 Baillie Street
High School Confidential ! Prom night 1946-66
Join SMOC as we celebrate Ivan Sayers’ birthday by going back to school. Remember that teacher, those clothes — the big hair! Ivan digs deep into his collection (and recollections) to unearth high style to home made. The live fashion show includes the Prom Queen, the Cheerleader, Mods and Rockers. Swing by stag or bring your high school friends. Cake will be served post lecture, under the mirror ball.
Tickets $20 SMOC Members $25 Non-Members
Purchase tickets online at: http://ocms.eventbrite.com
OCTOBER 14th 2012– HYCROFT BALLROOM 2-4 PM
South Asian Dress
Penny Priddy presents a much-anticipated lecture on the art of South Asian dress. Rich textiles, evocative colours, and intricate draping showcase centuries of tradition. From cultural convention to practical contemporary, models demonstrate the significance of wedding regalia, turban wrapping and children’s clothing. Exotic yet accessible, Penny’s presentation will transport Hycroft to another world (if only for an hour or two).
Tickets $20 members $22 non-members
NOVEMBER 25TH 2012– HYCROFT BALLROOM 2-4 PM
A Girl’s Best Friend: The Little Black Dress
The Silhouette may have changed over the decades, but the LBD remains the touchstone of chic sophistication. Timeless, ageless, a staple for all figures and functions, black is the “uniform” of urbane sophistication — so decreed Coco Channel. Beginning in the nineteenth century, costume historian Ivan Sayers takes us through the journey of how black went from maudlin to magnifique! Feel free to show of your favorite LBD.
JANUARY 13TH 2013– HYCROFT BALLROOM 2-4 PM
New Year’s Lecture: What’s Old is New
Starting what will be a New Year’s tradition, SMOC presents our recent acquisitions lecture. Ever wonder what lurks in the SMOC collection at Hycroft? Where does Ivan Sayers find all that stuff!
Ivan will show off a discerning selection of donations made to the collection in 2012 — complete with tales of romance, rivalry and intrigue behind the clothes (we hope).
As well, the new year will see the launch of our “ADOPT AN OUTFIT” campaign. It takes time, devotion and money to restore historic clothing to its near-original beauty. SMOC will unveil a deserving sartorial candidate in need of TLC. Benefactors can be a group, a corporation or just you. It’s a sure way to get your name in the Newsletter, and to receive a private tour of the collection with Ivan.
Winter/ Spring 2012 Programs
Sunday, April 15:
Beyond Pretty: Rei Kawakubo and Comme des Garçons
When avant-garde, Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons introduced her deconstructed clothing in the 1970s, she transformed Parisian catwalks and began the Japanese “fashion revolution” of the 1980s. Characterized by a sculptural aesthetic and a use of unconventional materials, her clothing often incorporated unfinished seams or holes. Corey Mah, graduate of Emily Carr University and self-described fashion junkie, illustrates Kawakubo’s rise to fame and her inventive style using examples of her work, including a man’s bias-cut suit, a silk sleeve armlet, a boiled polyester jacket, pleather perforated shorts, and whimsical accessories. Key pieces of men’s wear and women’s wear from Comme des Garçons and diffusion lines Homme Plus, Comme des Garçons X H&M, Robe de Chambre, PLAY, Shirt, and Junya Watanabe illustrate the exceptional artistry and commercial success of the “anti-fashion” style that started in Japan and then went global. This program is generously sponsored by “THE AUTOMAT.CA New and vintage style for a fabulous life”
Time: 2:00 – 4:00 pm Place: Hycroft, 1489 MacRae Avenue, Vancouver
Tickets: $20 per OCMS member; $10 per OCMS student member; $22 per non-member
Tickets available at the door. General seating.
Sunday, Febuary 26:
Vancouver Fashion Up Close and Personal
New design trends, new designers, and even some old, but good, stories will be the topics under discussion as Marilyn Wilson, editor of Fame’d Magazine (Vancouver) and Raine Magazine (New York) shares her knowledge about and enthusiasm for contemporary fashion. Hear about the struggles of new designers. See examples of new and unusual clothing trends from the collections of several local designers. Wilson’s immersion in the Vancouver and international fashion scene will make the program personal and lively.
Time: 2:00 – 4:00 pm Place: Hycroft, 1489 MacRae Avenue, Vancouver
Tickets: $20 per OCMS member; $10 per OCMS student member; $22 per non-member
Tickets available at the door. General seating.
Marilyn Wilson
Sunday, May 6:
The Art Deco Woman: from Cubist to Streamlined
Fashion is an endless series of actions and reactions. In the years prior to Word War I, fashionable women exaggerated their figures with corsets and padding worn under closely-fitted garments. After the war, women minimized their natural shapes and hid them inside loose, sack-like clothing. This understatement and stylization of the body reinvented the concept of the perfect body type – the Art Deco Woman. Ivan Sayers will discuss the aesthetics of 1920s art deco fashions and the logic behind this development. He will also discuss the gradual changes which occur as fashion adapted the pure geometry of art deco style into the more physically revealing and sensuous clothing of the streamlined style of the 1930s. A live fashion show of 1920s and 1930s garments makes this program special.
Time: 2:00 – 4:00 pm Place: Hycroft, 1489 MacRae Avenue, Vancouver
Tickets: $20 per OCMS member; $10 per OCMS student member; $22 per non-member
Tickets available at the door. General seating.