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| Promotional Photo for annual fundraiser by Fraser Milne |
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| Sayers presenting a historical garment at one of his Hycroft Manor Sunday lectures Photo by Jeff Wall |
Fashion collector and historian Ivan
Sayers has had a consuming interest in very old objects from a young
age. Not only does he love finding and collecting fashion, he loves
“reading” the details of construction and then researching to
find out how old it is. “For me, I'm always interested in the
oldest things I can find – in trying to find something I've never
seen before. I'm really interested in the evidences of the past. How
did we get where we are now?” One of the founding members of
Vancouver's Society for the Museum of Original Costume (SMOC), he lectures on
fashion history in design schools, co-curates shows with collector
Claus Jahnke and promotes the development of a permanent space for SMOC.
While in his mid-teens, Sayers began a
museum in the garage. “I collected stuff from the dump and from
thrift stores: toys from the 30's that someone had thrown away,
stuff from the old blacksmith shop that had closed down, specimens of
agates from rock hunting – curiosities that made you think.” The
first dress purchased was a black lace afternoon dress from the 30's
he bought for five cents. After examining a new acquisition he would
go to the library and try to figure out how old it was. Everything
was researched, labeled and organized. When he moved to Vancouver to
enter university, he had to sell his collection with the exception of
the clothing.
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| Sayers presenting at 1940' High School Look at High School Confidential Photo by Justin Jadanuh |
Sayers completed a degree in ClassicalArcheology and then confidently walked into the government jobplacement office only to have the clerk inform him, “'You'll never
get a job in this town.' I thought, 'Yippee! I'm 21 years old. I
have an education, a huge student debt and the government just told
me I'm completely unemployable.'” For a year he survived by
scrounging in thrift stores and selling his finds to antique shops.
He lived in a house with no heat or hot water and used to sit in the
kitchen by the stove with a Victorian shawl wrapped around his
shoulders. Sayers remembers, “I was sitting there eating Kraft Dinner which sold for .69 per package with a $300 shawl wrapped
around my shoulders. In an odd way I was kind of proud that my
priorities were higher than my stomach.”
His life took a new direction in 1970
when Sayers walked into the Vancouver Museum. “I wanted to learn
more, so I went to the Vancouver Museum and asked if I could have a
look through their costume collection. They said it was impossible as
it had been packed away for years, so I offered to unpack and sort it
for them. I had an interview and the guy responsible took a dress
out of the box and asked me what I thought of it.” Those years
spent researching in the library paid off as he was able to pin down
the exact year it was made.
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| Ivan Sayers with Shelley ? and Claus Jahnke Photo by Alia Tracey |
Sayers began what turned into a 20-year
career by volunteering two days a week. After four months a grant
was found to finance his work and four years later he was offered a
permanent position. It was a tremendous learning experience, but as
he moved up the corporate ladder, he realized it was time to leave.
“I had no political aspirations and I didn't want to spend my life
at meetings. I loved the garments, I loved doing programs, I loved
doing exhibitions and I loved the public.” After touring Europe
for a few months, he returned to Vancouver and began to lecture at
schools, conventions and societies as well as doing occasional
contract work in museums.
SMOC was formed in 1993 with Sayers and
Jahnke at the helm. While it initially started as an association of
collectors, this changed when they became the recipient of three
major collections. The oldest garments currently owned by the
society are men's vests from the 1780's. The oldest dress is from
1810 and the oldest children's clothing goes back to about 1800. “The
strength of the society's collection is post World War II designers –
Dior, Nina Ricci, Balenciaga, etc. Most is prêt-à-porter, but
there is some couture.”
There are several society members with
substantial personal collections of which Sayers is one. His two
story house is filled from attic to basement with well-organized
boxes of period garments and accessories. In the bookshelves are
publications going back to the late 1700's. From this wealth of
material, he creates interesting presentations for design schools,
charity functions and more. In his personal collection, he tries to
have multiples from every decade (both good and bad fashion) so that
you can see the consistent features.
For Sayers, it really is about
finding the oldest garments he can. ““I haven't paid too much
attention to modern fashion because that's not what I'm interested
in. I'm interested in history and what the clothing tells about that
society. Also, it's difficult to really understand modern fashion
because you're too close to it. You have to have the perspective of
time before you can really analyze it.”
Fall 2011 was the scheduled launch for SMOC's
building fund. When realized, Vancouver design students, industry
professionals and fashionistas will finally have access to a
spectacular rotating collection that will include our own fashionable
past. For upcoming shows, to contact Ivan Sayers or to support SMOC
please go to www.smoc.ca.
I also have 2 write-ups of lectures by Sayers on this site - The Cocktail Dress and Fur, Feathers, Animal Parts and Fashion.
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