Joan Barrington has an interesting craft - and one that the world will soon discover when they watch the lingerie event of the year, the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, broadcast this Tuesday, Nov. 29, on CBS.
Barrington makes umbrellas and their daintier cousins, parasols, at her home studio in Gibsons. These are not your bargain specials; they are high-end, unique designs made of carefully selected fabrics and are often hand sewn. Mostly Barrington creates commissioned work for theatre or historical costumers and for fashion designers.
In May she was approached by a haute couture designer from New York wanting to include parasols as part of this year's glamourous Victoria's Secret show with the agreement that any time a model from the show appeared in advertising anywhere in the world, Barrington's business, Barrington Brolly, would get the credit.
"This is publicity I couldn't possibly afford, so I jumped at the chance," she said.
She began work last summer - it's not that there were many parasols to make, but each had to be done to designer specifications. She sourced frames and found a local artisan, Bob Milton of Sechelt, to make the handles. Sketches were provided for construction of the canopies and the designer sent her fabrics and trims.
The Fedex truck continued to zip back and forth between Gibsons and New York all summer. The tasks were not easy. The delivery of the frames delayed the work because they sat in a closed warehouse in Europe for all of August during a summer break.
"The Chantilly lace that they sent was so fine that the ribs of the parasol put stress on the fabric," Barrington said. "I had to devise a way to take the stress off the lace."
In one case she was asked to mark pattern pieces for three parasols on white silk taffeta. This was sent back to New York where an artist hand-painted the fabric and returned it to Barrington to complete the project. Overall, she is very happy with how the parasols turned out, and she laughs that she has suddenly become very popular with her teenage nephews who have viewed photos of the models.
The show was filmed in New York on Nov. 9 and Barrington was invited to the exclusive event. Because of an out-of-date passport, she had to decline the opportunity to schmooze with Kanye West at the show, a decision she regrets. But she has seen photos of the live show and is delighted with the way that some of the parasols have been turned into angel wings to be attached to the models as they pace down the runway. Look for two pink/white parasols with long, black lace trim - all from Barrington Brolly.
See the website www.barringtonbrolly.com for more. The show airs on Tuesday, Nov. 29, at 10 p.m. on CBS (KIRO), Channel 161 at 7 p.m. or Channel 663at 10 p.m.
