On this episode of FashionTalks host Donna Bishop chats with designer Alan Anderson. Alan has been designing his eponymous line since 1997. His fashion history (and British Royals) knowledge is deep and vast. Alan and Donna discuss:

• how he began his line (an inspiration for anyone)
• the history and importance of costume jewelry
• the fascinating story of where he sources the vintage crystals he used in his designs
• his connection to Elizabeth Taylor
• the lost art of every day dressing up
• and more

Alan Anderson - @jewelsbyalan | alananderson.design

Donna Bishop - @thisisdonnab

FashionTalks - @fashiontalkspod

CAFA Awards - @cafawards

TRANSCRIPT:

00:01 .27

Donna Bishop

Alan Anderson, it is so wonderful to have you here on Fashion Talks. Thanks for being here.

00:05 .81

Alan

Thank you, Donna. Thank you for asking me.

00:08 .02

Donna Bishop

And look at you in your beautiful atelier. I know we'll get into, you know, kind of your your work and all sorts of things about crystals and costume jewelry, but I love that you're in your workspace.

00:20 .06

Donna Bishop

It's so nice to get peek behind the curtain that way.

00:21 .36

Alan

I am. I'm actually in the workroom. The atelier, of course, is in this historic mansion on Jarvis Street in Toronto. And we we like to say it's one of the last Gilded Age mansions.

00:33 .61

Alan

There's just this little stretch between Carleton and Isabella where we've they've saved these beautiful Victorian buildings.

00:34 .83

Donna Bishop

Thank you.

00:40 .33

Alan

So we've been here now. It's weird to say we've been in this space over two years and we just signed the new four-year lease, which is kind of exciting. And we're going to be expanding. We're actually renovating this summer to make the showroom bigger.

00:53 .43

Alan

But the workspace is, this would have been one of the principal bedrooms in this beautiful house. This house is This half is 1891. The showroom half is 1897. It was built for Edward Blake, who was one of the first premiers of Ontario.

01:09 .10

Alan

And it's Elliot Knox, one of the foremost Victorian architects in Toronto. And 1900, Jarvis Street was the most fashionable address in Canada, which is really funny to think. Like this was the Gilded Age show. This was the Gilded Age.

01:28 .93

Alan

And then the history of this building is so intense because not only do I work in this room and I pulled the blinds down cause it's so sunny out. Um, but Ben Wicks, the famous cartoonist, we all grew up with Ben Wicks.

01:42 .29

Alan

Be nice, clear your eyes for 20 years.

01:43 .65

Donna Bishop

Absolutely.

01:46 .21

Alan

This was Ben Wicks cartoon studio and where my work bench is in the window was where his cartoon bench was. And I've actually had people in the neighborhood that are old enough to remember him.

01:58 .34

Alan

Say they used to look up and seeing him, seeing him, him drawing it as bench and they see me working. And I think that's so amazing. I will say it's the creative energy in this place. It pulses with amazing energy.

02:11 .37

Donna Bishop

Well, and Gilded Age is such a perfect um aura to bring into your work, and we'll get into it. But first, I want to start a little more personal, because I love starting off with this question.

02:16 .94

Alan

Absolutely.

02:22 .72

Donna Bishop

i believe that all of us who love fashion, especially those of us who work in fashion, we have a moment when we realize that clothing and fashion is something that carries far more power than just protecting our bodies from the elements.

02:37 .44

Donna Bishop

And I'm wondering what memory you have of that moment for yourself.

02:41 .24

Alan

I can actually pinpoint my love affair with jewelry. And I guess this is that aha moment. So my mother's family, my mother was English, my mother's 97 in a nursing home and she had three sisters and all of her sisters were interesting and eccentric and funny, but my mother's oldest sister, Auntie Marie,

03:05 .89

Alan

and you used to, we we, we, as kids, we went and back and forth between England and Canada. And I always say England's my second home, but Auntie Marie was the oldest, very strong, very clothes centric, glamorous into fashion and was lifelong friends with Norman Hartnell that designed all the queen's clothes and Auntie Marie loved jewelry.

03:30 .60

Alan

And you know, the old, the old adage about put it on and take something off. Well, Auntie Marie would have added another piece. And as a kid, she used to always, every day of her life, she wore brooches and pearls and rings, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

03:47 .36

Alan

And she wore 10 carat emerald on her hand that her and uncle Eric bought in Istanbul. And when I was a kid, they'd visit

03:56 .73

Donna Bishop

wow

03:59 .74

Alan

And she would always pull it off and let me play with this big emerald ring. And I was absolutely amazed by that and all of her other jewelry. And it's so funny because now, you know, as a 58 year old man, still every collection I make emerald.

04:18 .95

Alan

And, you know, as you know, green is my favorite color. Emerald green is my favorite color. And I really think. And I think Auntie Marie, because I believe.

04:30 .05

Alan

that had she not let me play with her jewelry, I don't think I would have been as turned on and as into it. And this, so there's, that's one story. Then the other story that's very funny, and it's just, it's, I think it's really foreshadowing of how your life is gonna be.

04:47 .97

Alan

So when my mother was pregnant with me, um they were living in Montreal. And my mother, you know, like in and the 60s, everybody packed a little suitcase to go to the the hospital.

05:01 .08

Alan

And the morning that she discovered that I was on route, um my father was terrible in crises. My father would always panic and meltdown in crises. And instead of picking up her suitcase that was packed to go to the hospital, he grabbed this train case that was on her dressing table and spilled all her costume jewelry.

05:19 .03

Alan

across the floor of the bedroom en route to the hospital. And I laughed about that and said, well, if you didn't know that I was going to be into deciding jewelry, cusdy it's that's I love that story.

05:27 .56

Donna Bishop

Destiny.

05:31 .61

Donna Bishop

what kind of kid were you, Alan? Like, were you someone who, like, were you into fashion as a young person? Do you have that history of poring over fashion magazines, even, you know, as a, as a, like, pre-teenager even?

05:42 .84

Alan

Yeah.

05:46 .39

Alan

Catalogs, you know, we all grew up in the age of the catalog. which nobody even remembers anymore. The Simpsons catalogs, the Eatons catalogs that were like phone books. And I loved color. I've always loved color. And, you know, I have brown eyes, so I was always dressed in brown. and My late brother had blue eyes, so Andrew was always dressed in blue.

06:07 .94

Alan

And I hated brown. and I always wanted color. So when did we got, you know, you get into your teens, my very first job was my paper route. And I remember my mother got so upset because I'd spent the entire summer cutting grass and weeding gardens and my paper route.

06:27 .78

Alan

And I went out and I blew my, everything I had on a pair of Valley of Switzerland loafers, which is so funny. They were a huge brand. Valley of Switzerland was like the Rolls Royce of shoes in this going back into the seventies.

06:41 .85

Alan

And Eaton's used to have a department called Timothy E. It was a young man's and I bought, a bright turquoise and green shirt.

06:53 .12

Donna Bishop

Well, it's no surprise to me how you ended up working at B.B.

06:53 .33

Alan

And

06:56 .72

Donna Bishop

Bargoons if your love of fat of of color was a driving was a driving force.

07:00 .30

Alan

yeah.

07:02 .33

Donna Bishop

Was that one of your, it was another early profession, no?

07:02 .70

Alan

Yeah.

07:05 .78

Donna Bishop

Yeah.

07:05 .94

Alan

Yeah. And it was BB Bargoons was one of the most fun, outrageous places