Street Style: The Gatsby Garden Party at the Spadina Museum
This weekend, vintage-loving Torontonians stepped back in time for an idyllic afternoon of playing dress-up (and croquet) in the Spadina Museum’s annual Gatsby Garden Party. Picnickers took the 1920s theme seriously, arriving decked out head-to-toe in their best Gatsby-and-Daisy-inspired apparel. Here, a selection of perfectly put-together outfits that do F. Scott Fitzgerald proud.
Katarina Poletto
22, Bakery owner
“My dress is an original piece, from 1924. An innkeeper at a 1920s mansion in Detroit gave it to me. She said she didn’t know anyone who would wear it and it would look great on me.”
Rita Anderson
25, Hairdresser
“I wanted to look like Daisy Buchanan, with lots of bling and lace.”
Aristelle Koshkina
7, student
“My favourite colour is blue. I hate pink!”
Michael Romaniuk
26, Graphic designer
“This is a piece from Brooks Brothers’ The Great Gatsby collection. I got the blazer 90 per cent off at the Niagara outlets.”
Mercedes Campagna
21, Student
“I just watched The Great Gatsby and I love it. I wanted to look like Daisy today, but I ended up opting for a bit more colour—so now I’m more like Myrtle.”
Geoff Holmes
52, Video producer
“My wife and I are swing dancers, so we do our best to look the part.”
Assaf Weisz
31, Entrepreneur
“I’m a fortune-telling newspaper boy. This outfit is all vintage 1920s.”
Natalya Willis
33, Manager
“I got the parasol at a vintage shop in Streetsville. I had the cover-up custom-made and crafted the headdress myself.”
Alannah Metherel
26, Student
“I go antiquing a lot. I found the dress in Waterloo—it has an International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union tag, so you know it’s legit.”
Rebecca Moranis
17, Student
Manon Ens-Lapointe
18, student
“We found these dresses at a vintage shop. The 1920s was the sports-revival era.”
Marlena Marra (and one-year-old daughter, Ayla)
30, Teacher
“My friend is a really big Gatsby fan and she gave me this headpiece.”
Mazda Amiryar
27, Graphic designer
“My girlfriend signed us up for this. I researched what to wear and found this jacket at a costume shop.”
Jessica Pelchat
30, Business strategist
“This outfit is the result of a lot of Kensington market raiding, combined with my grandmother’s purse and earrings.”
Alex Lau
34, IT consultant
“I had most of this in my closet as well. We wanted to stick to a lighter colour scheme.”
Cindy Chiu
29, X-Ray technologist
“This look is a combination of different pieces I’ve picked up travelling. It just sort of came together.”
Allie Banks
23, Bartender
“I really want to win the costume contest this year. I would have won last year, but I left early. I couldn’t wear the same outfit so I went for a darker colour scheme this year. Everything was already in my closet except for the 1920s sunglasses.”
Michele Lee
40, Media ops coordinator
“I bought this dress at a consignment store called Second Nature. I was keeping my eyes open for something light.”
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