Regarding personal identity and holographic parasols
As you walk into the local costume shop, you are greeted with wall to wall costumes, from Renaissance gowns to super heroes. You will also find Miss E behind the desk—owner of the store and industrial-goth designer. The Ontarion had an opportunity to speak with Miss E about her passions, her designs, and her creative process.
Fiona Cashell: What is your role at the store?
Miss E: I am the owner here at Party Corner, slash the “Supreme Overlord of Retail.” That’s the little joke I tell people. (Co-worker: It’s no joke.) I started working here in 2003, I was in university at the time, and I looked very much as I do now. At the time it wasn’t as accepted and I had a lot of trouble getting jobs. I got fired from a few jobs based on appearance and that kind of thing. I showed up here and there was an elderly Czech lady who owned it and she said, “I don’t care what you look like. You come here, you do your job, you’re professional, and that’s all that matters.” In 2007 she retired, and at that point I took it over and here we are.
“I got fired from a few jobs based on appearance and that kind of thing.”
FC: Who forms your client base for the most part?
ME: It’s a little bit of everything in here. I do a lot of custom sewing for drag queens. We get a lot of cosplayers for conventions in the summertime for Fan Expo, Anime North, and all that business. I do a lot of sewing for Burlesque girls as well. I also do custom costumes for everyday people, people who want something a little bit different that you can’t buy in a package. I also meet a lot of parents whose kid needs a thing for a school project or is in a play. Or people who are hosting let’s say a pirate luau or a murder mystery game, or going to a themed dinner party, or are in the Santa Claus Parade.
FC: How would you define your personal style?
ME: I get this a lot. If I had to use one word, I would say goth—but it’s sort of a goth, glam, industrial mix of post-apocalyptic whatever.
“…it’s sort of a goth, glam, industrial mix of post-apocalyptic whatever.”
FC: Is there anyone who has influenced your style or is it all your own?
ME: It’s pretty much mine. I took costuming when I went to the university. Once upon a time I took theatre, so I thought that I would be an actor. But that didn’t work, because you have to be able to play a lot of different people and I always look like myself. So I went into the costume shop and learned the basics of sewing there. But they taught me to sew from patterns, which isn’t particularly very helpful when you want to make things that don’t have a pattern or you’re an unusual size, like I’m really long so nothing fits me correctly. I met a girl named Scary Carrie who owns a company in Cambridge called Black Orchid Designs and we just started doing whatever we want all the time. We think of something and we find a way to make it a physical reality. I’m constantly learning, I learn as I go all the time. I do things all the time that I’ve never done before and teach myself along the way, and it usually works out great.
“We think of something and we find a way to make it a physical reality.”
FC: What is the most challenging piece you’ve ever had to make?
ME: Probably all of the challenging things I’ve made, I’ve made for myself. I made myself a leather Mad Max bad-ass road warrior thing that is just layers and layers of leather, rivets, hardware, buckles, and grommets. It took me about six weeks and my sewing machine hated me, but it’s amazing and it’s one of my show piece outfits. If I’m going somewhere and I’m dressing to impress, that’s one of the things that I will put on.
FC: When you are creating pieces for yourself, where do you go for inspiration?
ME: It just comes into my head. At night, I might sit there and be eating dinner and be like BAM! Fashion inspiration! My friend Carrie and I feed off each other, so I’ll call her and I’ll describe it to her and she’d go, “Okay, that’s great, but what if we added…” It just keeps getting more and more epic to the point where I just get too excited and can’t handle it and have to start making it. Or sometimes it will come from someone saying something. Like I had this parasol frame and a friend said to me, “Wouldn’t it be great if it was holographic?” So I had to make this ridiculous holographic parasol because she said it and it sounded great.
“Be yourself, express yourself, be strong.”
FC: What advice would you give to someone who is trying to experiment with their look or feels that their look isn’t part of the mainstream?
ME: People will say negative things to you, it comes with the territory, but you just have to be strong enough. You have to know that you look good, that you’re happy with yourself, and whatever anybody says to you, it doesn’t matter. I don’t go out of my way to specifically look different than everyone else, this is what I enjoy and what I want to look like, so it doesn’t matter what people say. Be yourself, express yourself, be strong.
Photo by Tasha Falconer.