Dream collection

While most of us are likely to chuck on a hoodie and sweatpants for a last-minute dash to the store, Tara Cole-McCaffrey’s early morning run to pick up a carton of milk probably involves sequins, biker boots or a frilly maxi dress — or all three.

It’s a fitting look for someone who owns her own by-appointment-only vintage showroom, Patron of Dreams. But she’s not dressed up deliberately; Cole-McCaffrey just grabbed whatever she could find by her bed before heading out.

“I wear what I own; I don’t have basics,” says Cole-McCaffrey, 48. “If I had sweats and a wrinkled T-shirt sitting on the floor, that’s what I would have put on, because it was convenience I was looking for.

“But if you buy clothes that are fun and interesting, that is what becomes convenient, because that’s what’s in your closet.”

Family influence, her fascination with the arts and a background as a “theatre kid” have all played a part in creating her inimitable sense of style, but ultimately Cole-McCaffrey’s rejection of conventional trends and off-the-rack fast fashion is rooted in environmental ethics — and a healthy helping of constructive disobedience.

“I’m very passionate about protecting the environment; creating personal style is a much more sustainable practice,” she says. “When you’re vintage shopping, you’re not going to find multiples of one thing in every size in every colour. That is a fast-fashion mindset; we’ve been trained to buy things in that way. And unfortunately that’s what causes overconsumption and the sense of entitlement we have.”

She refuses to be told what to wear by “a bunch of middle-aged men in a boardroom” peddling a patriarchical ideology about beauty and attractiveness. Conventional fashion rules dictate we should conform to make ourselves look a certain way, she notes, and often that way celebrates a very narrow ideal.

“I want to be choosing what I like, not being told by corporates making decisions about what’s cool. Why are we always trying to make ourselves look smaller, thinner, taller? Somebody told us that baggy or oversized — or not emphasizing the waist, not looking symmetrical — is frumpy. I don’t buy into that,” she says.

“I think as you get older, you care less what people think. If you’re someone who keeps doing the thing regardless, you look back and go ‘you (have) absolutely no power over me.’”

The fashion maven credits stylish family members for kickstarting her lifelong love affair with classic clothing.

As a child Cole-McCaffrey would go through her maternal grandmother Judy Cole’s wardrobe — “Long before I’d ever been in a vintage store or a thrift store, I was in my grandmother’s closet,” she says — and she says seeing her paternal grandmother Yvonne McCaffrey’s confidence in dressing encouraged her to start exploring her own fashion esthetic in junior high.

She studied environmental science and started working in enviromental protection at 21 at an engineering firm, then took on a role as a socio-economic analyst at Manitoba Hydro before moving up to become an environmental specialist.

She remained in the field for a decade, working full-time during the day before going on to dance, perform and do costume and stage design in the evenings and on weekends.

Patron of Dreams Vintage started as a portfolio of sorts, a fashion editorial blog featuring all the second-hand and vintage clothing she’d amassed while sourcing for various costume design and styling projects she’d taken on after quitting the corporate world to raise a family.

The blog evolved into online store and she began selling her vintage pieces across North America. Business was booming, especially when the pandemic struck. Cole-McCaffrey could have gone bigger, but instead she scaled things back.

“It didn’t match with what I wanted,” she says. “I wanted to be around for my kids, and what I really wanted was sustainability. I can bring stock in and when it sells, I can bring more in. I have control over what happens.”

Visitors to the boutique tucked away in the attic of her family home must first contact her in advance via Instagram or email to reserve a time slot to look through her well-preserved dresses, tops and accessories from years gone by.

She’ll meet you at the door and lead you up the stairs to a softly lit, pink-carpeted wonderland where the walls are adorned with frothy tulle skirts and crisp cotton frocks, where worn-in denim shorts hang beside silky, jewel-toned slips, and herringbone coats nestle next to scuffed-up leather jackets and belted trenches in navy, cream and beige.

There are items you might recognize from your own youth — clothing has to be 20 years old to be considered vintage — as well as pieces dating far back into the annals of time, sourced from private collectors, estate sales, thrift stores, yard sales and even Facebook Marketplace.

Clothes from the late ‘90s and early 2000s are trending at the moment, prompting her to go back further with her own stock.

“You can find that stuff much easier in thrift stores; it’s what’s trendy right now,” she says. “To me, following the trends is sort of the antithesis of second-hand fashion. That’s not really what vintage is about.”

She derives as much pleasure from the hunt as she does from the clothing itself; she is already planning her next sourcing trips to stock up before setting up a stall at the Winnipeg Punk Rock Flea Market on Nov. 15 at the Victoria Inn Hotel, 1808 Wellington Ave.

She considers shopping for vintage items a treat, and says people should set off with an open mind when trying to develop their own personal style.

“Everyone convinces themselves that they can’t wear this or that — well, why? I see people do it all the time … they talk themselves out of what they actually like, because they have the whole excuse narrative but these are external ideas. A lot of personal style is overcoming that, but also recognizing you know what you like.

“Finding something that you never expected and having it be just right for you, it’s a treat. It’s joyful, it’s fun. It’s full of excitement, you know?”

av.kitching@winnipegfreepress.com