Capital Arts Online

Shade Nyx stands outside the burlesque venue where she’s performing and takes a drag out of the cigarette in her hand, which is strictly a social habit, careful not to get any ash on the leather and latex of her costume. Her leather corset is done up tightly, emphasizing a curvy figure; she has fishnets on her bare legs and a dog collar with matching leash on her neck. Looking over, she spots a familiar face from earlier that day: a teacher at the daycare where she picked up the neighbourhood kids she babysits after school. “Oh, hey, Roseanne!” she calls out — casually sparking the conversation that will lead to her current work as a supply daycare teacher (in addition to her day work as a make-up artist at Sephora and moonlighting as a fetish burlesque dancer at night). Most would find it exhausting to divide their lives into three different worlds, but it’s much easier when the three employers all know about each other, and even better when they don’t care.

“Shade Nyx” is her stage name, of course (nyx meaning “night” in ancient Greek), and is the name that she requests be used in this article.  Currently she is with Bourbon & Spice, a cabaret-style burlesque troupe that performs in clubs and bars around Ottawa. One of the seven burlesque troupes occupying Ottawa right now, Bourbon & Spice is notable for placing theatrics and story elements above the blatant stripping associated with burlesque.

Corsets can still fly open to reveal elaborate pasties, but there is always a story around it. Shade describes herself as the “kinkster” among the four members of the troupe. “I’m definitely the fetish girl. My audience is geared towards the kink-positive, LGBT-friendly people.” When a particular number in the show calls for whips, chains or ropes, that’s when Nyx really takes center stage.

This is evident amongst the thousands of friends, fans included, on her Facebook page, which she uses both personally and professionally. Regardless of whether they are friends and family or coworkers from either Sephora or the daycare, they can see her whole story on Facebook.

Transparency has worked in her favour so far: Nyx has little fear of reprisal from either of her day jobs because of burlesque. “I have always been upfront with my employers about what I do. I am a performer before anything else,” she says.  She admits to not flaunting her burlesque-side needlessly; still, she says, “I don’t censor anything.”

Moonlighting technically means a secondary job that isn’t reported to the government; more often today it refers to a separate night job, done on the side, perhaps implying something secretive and indecent. It is the stereotypical notion of living a dual life: a housewife hosting brunch on the veranda by day and being a paid dominatrix in leather by night.

For Nyx, though, there is no distinction between the two, no separation between what could be two people. “I don’t think there is anything wrong with it. It’s all about the attitude that you have. If you’re gonna act like it’s your dirty little secret, then people will think you’re a freak.”

A progressive way of thinking?

A couple of decades ago, you’d be hard-pressed to find that kind of optimism in a smaller government city like Ottawa. Working as a burlesque dancer, drag queen or any job in the adult night life was a guarded secret, the same as any taboo. Fortunately for Nyx, taboos break down over time, even in traditionally conservative towns.

‘My audience is geared towards the kink-positive, LGBT-friendly people.’ — Shade Nyx

The judgement, however, may still linger. Kimberly Tessier works as a make-up artist with Nyx at Sephora; while fully supportive of her colleague and friend, Tessier isn’t convinced everyone is so understanding. “I think people care, for sure,” she says. “I’m from a federal government background, and I think more than [Shade] realizes, people have a lot of judgment about what others do outside of work.”

Yet this pragmatic perspective is apparently not shared by all. Chris Seabrook, Shade Nyx’s boyfriend of four years, received a degree in anthropology at Carleton, later coincidentally taking an interest in sexual subcultures. He believes that Canadians as a whole might just be too indifferent to bother caring about what their neighbours and co-workers do on Friday night.

“I think in Canada we don’t have a lot of –isms,” he says, fingers twisting his blond dreadlocks in thought. “There are some people who are truly racist, sexist or homophobic — it’s out there — but most people really aren’t. Some might act that way because they think they should, but really they don’t give a damn. It’s just not relevant to anything.”

However, indifference doesn’t seem to stop misconceptions from remaining prevalent, especially regarding adult entertainment. While burlesque might be misunderstood, drag has arguably suffered the worst misconceptions, specifically about those who refer to themselves as drag queens or kings. Ron Crepin, also known by his stage name, Carmella Kature, has been a drag queen in Ottawa for three years. When going by Crepin, he is a hair stylist at an Ottawa salon.  Like Nyx, Crepin is very open about his night life: “It’s on my resume; sometimes I speak with clients about it while doing their hair,” he says, “and sometimes they even come to my shows.”

For your entertainment

Drag is meant to be more exaggeration than imitation, and a testament to one’s creativity and expression. Crepin emphasizes that those who dress in drag aren’t always meaning to be realistic. “To be a drag queen, you need to entertain, and not everyone can be awed by how realistic you look as a woman. You need to go above and beyond, by creating skills and tricks that captivate the audience around you.”

Crepin performs as Carmella Kature almost weekly, largely in gay clubs around Ottawa such as Lookout and Edge, or in other cities when he gets the chance. His shows largely comprise lip sync dance routines to Top 40 singles — yet that may change, now that actual singing has become more popular among drag queens. A single performance can take days to prepare for, including a full day of physical preparation, and can often be quite costly in unrepaid expenses for materials.

Moonlighting jobs like burlesque and drag share two big similarities. The first is that they are jobs that don’t make a lot of money; both Crepin and Nyx say they couldn’t make a living on just the one job. “I’ve been working for three years in drag, and I only make $75 a show,” says Crepin. “You’re really just earning on tips, which is why you have to be a really good entertainer.”

Nyx says she can earn anywhere between five dollars and four hundred dollars for one show, largely depending on outside factors such as the time of year and the amount of publicity done.

The other similarity is that they are both passions, and provide that thrill of the spotlight.  It’s this thrill that makes everything else — the energy required, the out-of-pocket expenses, the hazard of some people’s disapproval — worthwhile. “I was talking to a couple of the other girls,” Nyx adds with a smile. “Let’s face it: We do this for the attention. We want people to look at us.”

If that is the objective, then it’s no surprise that artists like Crepin and Nyx won’t split their lives into two parts. As they stand in the spotlight, with the eyes of strangers, friends and even co-workers on them, it must be a thrill to know that the person onstage is who they really are, and not someone hidden away by day.

Home-page photo courtesy of Bold Daniel Photography and Shade Nyx.

Quebec’s film industry and talent have hit the world stage. The fact seemed incontestable this past year, capping a three-year noticeable trend.  In mainstream movies of 2013, Quebecois directors Denis Villeneuve and Jean Marc Vallée made their Tinseltown mark with their respective hits, Prisoners and Dallas Buyers Club. Meanwhile, Louise Archambault’s French-language Gabrielle earned critical praise on the festival circuit and was considered one of Canada’s top films of 2013.

So, what gives? Why is Quebec consistently representing Canada for big-league film, and what does this say about Canada’s anglophone moviemaking?

For the 2014 Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences received a record high of 76 foreign-language submissions; all of these 2013 releases were competing for a handful of nominations for Best Foreign Language Film. It’s a huge honour for a non-English-language work, and Gabrielle was Canada’s official submission, following in the footsteps of Incendies (director Denis Villeneuve, 2010), Monsieur Lazhar (Philippe Falardeau, 2011) and Rebelle (Kim Nguyen, 2012) — all Quebec made.

Although none of the above-mentioned Canadian movies won the Oscar, their success and high profiles have helped to announce Quebec’s emergence. The nominations of Incendies, Monsieur Lazhar and Rebelle marked the first time in history that Canadian films were Oscar finalists for three consecutive years. The lucky streak was broken in January 2014, when Archambault’s Gabrielle missed the shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film (in a highly competitive year that will showcase work from Palestine, Cambodia and Germany). Yet Archambault has stated that the submission alone was a positive factor: The film has since received international buzz, and Archambault herself has seen a spike in film offers from Canada and the U.S.

Real people, real stories

It took several years for Quebec cinema to become a common currency in the international film market, says Quebec cinema researcher and expert André Loiselle. “It had started to find a place on the international festival market in the 1960s, but these were the very beginnings,” says Loiselle. “After 50 years of crawling its way up the ladder, Quebec cinema, as a national, smaller cinema, has pretty much reached its desired maturity and is now a regular among [Oscar] nominees.” This maturity places it among such national competitors as Sweden, Italy and Spain, Loiselle says.

In 2004, Canada brought home its first and so-far only Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, for Denys Arcand’s The Barbarian Invasions. Loiselle calls this a real turning point for Quebec cinema: “This is the best possible indication that by the early 2000s, Quebec cinema had truly found its way.”

Invasions tells the story of fifty-something Rémy (Rémy Girard), who attempts to make amends with old friends, lovers and family members upon learning he is dying of liver cancer. “When you look at Denys Arcand, his films are so good because the scripts are terrific. They are real. These are real people going through real things,” says film author Gary Evans, who specializes in Canadian cinema.

A reliance on touching, realistic scripts is one of the qualities of Quebec films, and what attracts audiences. “What Quebec is able to do is articulate stories that are compelling,” Evans says.

Typical of these compelling stories is Archambault’s Gabrielle, which deals with a subject no director had yet touched. Twenty-four-year-old Gabrielle (Gabrielle Marion Rivard) has Williams syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes developmental delays, learning disabilities and a particular proficiency for music. When she falls in love with a boy in her choir, she does everything she can to prove her independence to her family members, which causes problems when most of them disapprove of her new relationship. “It’s interesting because that [disorder] is one that people generally don’t know too much about. And it’s the core of what makes the film interesting, because the character is looking for love; she’s a lovable person, and we almost forget the fact that she’s ill,” says Evans.

‘What Quebec is able to do is articulate stories that are compelling.’ — film author Gary Evans

Indeed, Quebec cinema’s brand of realism was also developed in films such as C.R.A.Z.Y, the 2005 Jean-Marc Vallée film about a young gay man who comes to terms with his sexuality in 1970s Quebec. C.R.A.Z.Y.’s overarching themes include family relationships and conflicts, religion, and homophobia. It currently holds a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and won in almost every category at Canada’s 2006 Genie Awards. As Jette Karnion from Cinematical wrote, “C.R.A.Z.Y. succeeds by touching on the kinds of events that could happen to any of us.”

This brand of realism seems to be something the Academy is fond of for the Best Foreign Language Film category, which was initially created to recognize smaller, art-house films with less production value. It started out by showcasing the European art films that emerged after the Second World War, and it still tends to focus on that particular type of cinema, says Loiselle. “The foreign film category is really there as a counterpoint to Hollywood blockbusters. And that, traditionally, is where Quebec has done very well.”

Although the aforementioned characteristics help Quebec’s films stand out on a global stage, they are advantaged by another evident element — the films are spoken in French. This of itself makes them contenders for the Best Foreign Language Film category; and their subsequent buzz is often followed by acquisition by powerhouse Hollywood distribution companies. Distribution rights to Gabrielle went recently to Entertainment One, which means the film will be shown in theaters across the U.S.

Anglophone cinema: Dwarfed by Hollywood

Yet this opens another question: Why are the Canadian films securing U.S. distribution the ones that are in a foreign language?

The answer may have to do with the fact that English Canadian films are competing nose-to-nose with Hollywood films. Canada’s main curse is that the films produced are in English, but with an exponentially smaller budget.

“A typical Hollywood film starts at a budget of maybe $20 million, and then you go up to $50 million, and then blockbusters cost hundreds of millions of dollars,” says Evans. This money is unavailable in Canada — for example, Telefilm Canada, a crown corporation that funds Canadian feature films, has an annual budget of $100 million — and investors traditionally are not keen to invest in films with no guarantee of a profit. In fact, Jean Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club was initially intended as a Canadian feature film, but Vallée has admitted he had to move the production to the U.S. to find funding for it. The casting of U.S. star Matthew McConaughey also secured funding as well as buzz for the film.

Undeniably, English Canadian films are unable to compete with Hollywood in terms of all the great talents who live and work there, says Evans. Nevertheless, most English Canadian films also prioritize commercial success, and end up paling in comparison to Hollywood pieces. “That really creates a problem too — if your film looks like a pale version of a Hollywood hit, it shows that even though we are an English milieu, we cannot create something that is as enticing as the Hollywood product,” Evans says.

A case in point is Canada’s 2001 film Picture Claire. Under the respected Canadian director Bruce McDonald, the film starred Juliette Lewis as Claire, a Montreal woman who has to move to Toronto. Upon her arrival, Toronto police mistake Claire for a murderer. She cannot defend herself properly because she cannot speak English, and a game of cat and mouse ensues while the real murderer is at large. Despite a Hollywood presence in the film (it also starred Mickey Rourke), the dark comedy/thriller was so poorly received that it couldn’t even secure distribution and went straight to DVD; McDonald even released a 2002 documentary called Claire’s Hat: The Unmaking of a Film Plot, which included scenes cut from the movie. The documentary featured McDonald’s commentary and his explanation for the film’s failure, citing the confusing plot as one reason. Although mistaken-identity thrillers are typically well received (Lucky Number Slevin and Eagle Eye, for instance), this English Canadian one fell short.

Evans maintains that, unlike Quebec cinema, English Canada seems satisfied to produce film scripts that are second rate (a few significant exceptions aside): “And if you don’t have a good script, the film is not going to take off.”

This is not to say that English Canadians are unskilled. Evans says that many English Canadian filmmakers are “tremendously talented. But if you’re making a film that doesn’t have links — either in terms of the scripts, in terms of the money you’re investing in the film, in terms of what it is you hope to achieve — it will not take off.”

Quebec’s road to Oscar

“People around the world are looking at Quebec cinema now and waiting for the next director to come out of here. This has a tremendous impact on a country’s recognition outside of its borders,” said Rebelle director Kim Nguyen in a 2013 National Post article. And while Quebec filmmakers may be highly successful in their home base, researcher Loiselle argues that it’s only natural for them to be taking the logical next step: competing directly with English-language Hollywood films. This involves bigger budgets, A-list stars and collaborations with the best of the best.

Prominent examples include Denis Villeneuve, whose critically acclaimed and Oscar-nominated Incendies established him as a Hollywood player. His 2013 film Prisoners, about two families torn apart when their young daughters go missing, saw him collaborate with Hollywood heavy-hitters and Oscar favourites like Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhall, Melissa Leo, and Mark Wahlberg (who served as an executive producer). The film has grossed $113 million as of February 2014 and has been nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar. Meanwhile, Jean Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club, starring Matthew McConaughey as a Texas man with AIDS in the 1980s, has won an avalanche of praise, with Oscar nominations that include Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor (Jared Leto), and Best Editing.

Canada will find out just how close this country is to Oscar when the Academy Awards air on March 2. With Dallas Buyers Club and Prisoners in the running, Canadian filmmakers — or actually, Quebec filmmakers — will be seen on the world stage.  But can they bring home the gold?

Home-page photo courtesy of Flickr user Dave_B_ .

By Carlyle Fiset

The internet once asked Homer Simpson, “Are you trying to meet someone special, but are tired of the bar scene?” He famously responded, “No, I will never tire of the bar scene!” The adage may have rung true in 2004, when that Season 16 episode of The Simpsons aired. That was a time when dating sites were still battling to break through the stigma attached to couples meeting online. Things have changed since then.

It’s starting to look like people, particularly millennials, are tired of the traditional online dating scene. Dominant websites like Match.com and eHarmony still enjoy strong numbers amongst older singles, but crowds between the ages of 18 and 30 have embraced new dating apps that some refer to as “social sex apps.” Grindr was the first app to appear under that description in March 2009. It was catered exclusively to gay, bi-sexual and bi-curious men who were looking for casual sexual relations. It took some time for the concept of hookup apps to catch on with a heterosexual audience. However, that barrier has been shattered in the last year.

One young woman estimates that close to 80 percent of her friends use Tinder.

A handful of apps are enjoying huge download rates in the heterosexual market. Tinder is the most popular one by far. The app works by securing a user’s personal information, such as name, age, sexual orientation and photos through Facebook. It relies on the Facebook verification process to prevent fraudulent accounts. After creating a profile, users are linked to other Tinderers who are geographically close to them. They anonymously swipe through a stream of photos, picking out ones they like. Users have the option to select if they are interested in matches with other male or female users, or both. If two users like each other, the app notifies both parties, informing them they’ve received a new “match.” It then connects them through a chat window.

Tinder became available in Apple’s App Store in September 2012, and later Google’s Play Store. Its popularity grew quickly, as demonstrated by the number of downloads and active users. As of August 2013, Tinder users had swiped over 13 billion times worldwide, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. There were three billion swipes in August alone, and two million matches.

Users love the convenience

The specific design of the app is tailored exclusively for a smartphone. This makes Tinder hugely popular with the millennial generation, says Sonia Nagra, who is completing an honour’s degree in youth sexuality at York University. The app isn’t something that requires a lot of attention or effort, adding to its popular convenience, she says.

The use of the app can vary from user to user. For the most part, users are just looking to interact with strangers whom they have not, and may never, meet in person, says Ashley Jones, 21, who has used the app for about eight months and agreed to speak under a pseudonym. She usually uses it when she is bored, as something amusing to occupy her time: “Sometimes there’s just a guy you think would be funny to talk to.”

Oftentimes Jones has been subjected to the noble art of “pickup lines.” Whether they’re creepy or hilarious, she says, “I’ve heard every pickup line in the book on Tinder, from ‘Hey, see this shirt I’m wearing? It’s 100 percent boyfriend material,’ to ‘Hey, looking to hookup. You interested?’”

Her approach to using Tinder is one that remains distant for the most part. She would consider meeting a match in person only if she recognized him or if they shared several mutual Facebook friends (the number of which the app notifies you of). She says those instances, however, are extremely rare. “Tinder’s just a game and big ego boost for me. I’m trying to get the most matches with attractive guys as possible.”

She says other people can take it more seriously, though. Jones estimates that close to 80 percent of her friends use Tinder, and everyone has something different to gain from it. While she may not be looking to start a relationship through the app, she knows people who have. A friend of hers met her current boyfriend through Tinder. They had originally matched and met just for sex, but it became recurring and eventually they started dating. As far as Jones is aware, she says the relationship is as strong as one that started off the Internet.

Why don’t we just get Down?

Tinder isn’t explicitly marketed as an app that promotes sexual activity amongst its users. In its iTunes description, it claims to “find out who likes you nearby, and connect you with them if you’re interested. It’s the new way to meet people around you.” Promising something more is where Bang With Friends came into the picture.

‘We want people to find happiness, and sex is crucial to finding happiness’ — Down CEO Colin Hodge

The founders of Bang With Friends wanted to skip the ambiguity of Tinder and get to the point, according to CEO and co-founder Colin Hodge in an October 2013 interview with Business Insider. “We want people to find happiness, and sex is a crucial part to finding happiness in healthy relationships,” he says.

The COO of the company, Saul Spady, is even more open about the purpose of the app. “It’s the perfect setup for the millennial generation,” he said in an April 2013 interview with Tech Hustlers: “[Millennials] don’t have time to date and this allows users to go online and select the friends they want to bang.”

The candour of Bang With Friends reflected the imagined purpose of the app, and it led to some pushback from Apple itself. After launching the app in January 2013, Apple had removed Bang With Friends from its App Store within just a few months because the company didn’t like the app’s “content,” according to Hodge. This led to a three-month struggle and an entire rebranding of the company, to bring Bang With Friends up to Apple standards.

In October 2013, the company re-launched the app for Apple and Google markets under its current title, Down — as in “get down with your friends,” says Hodge. The slightly tamer approach has seemed to satisfy Apple. Down is still available at both app stores and has been downloaded well over a million times, according to Matt Slusarenko, a spokesperson for the brand.

Rather than connect you with strangers, Down allows you to select Facebook friends, and friends of friends whom you are interested in. Over 30 million friends have been selected to get “down” with, says Slusarenko. Users generally check in monthly, with increasing successful matches.

Yet users of Down and Tinder are vulnerable to a spectrum of repercussions, researcher Nagra warns.  The anonymity of the process can remove the identity of people who meet through social sex apps, she says: “People begin to look at another user not as a person but as a body.”

This cautious outlook is similar to Jones’s use of the app. Each new swipe is a potential notch on her “attractive guy” tally, but she has never pursued anything more serious through the app because she likens Tinder too closely to online dating, which for her is a last resort.

Research surrounding the apps is limited, however. A wide variety of university professors in the fields of sexuality, psychology and social media declined to comment because they felt it was outside their area of expertise, or there was little academic opinion on the subject.

Meanwhile, twenty-somethings are still swiping through Tinder matches and “getting Down” with their friends. A generation that thrives on convenience has spoken loud and clear against the mantra of Homer Simpson. They are tired of the bar scene, and the alternative is just so simple.

Home-page photo © Carlyle Fiset.

It feels like a time warp at the Ottawa Civic Centre. A buzz of excitement fills the air as a line twists and turns its way inside, waiting for the Fall 2013 Ottawa Vintage Clothing Show to officially begin. Men and women of all ages look as if they have stepped right off the pages of a vintage catalogue. Suspenders, mid-length skirts, red lipstick and armfuls of bracelets are everywhere.

The most noteworthy outfits seem to mash-up fashion favourites from decades past. One woman wears a polka-dot full skirt, a studded collared shirt and beat-up combat boots. Another wears a sleek shift dress with a feathered fedora hat. These outfits are as eclectic as they are witty and joyful.

The doors to the show finally open, and the buzz turns into a high-pitched squeal of excitement. Now the hunt for that one-of-a-kind find begins.

The mash-up

These one-of-a-kind vintage pieces make outfits unique. So unique, they are starting a new trend within vintage clothing: the mash-up. The mash-up mixes items from different eras into one outfit, to create a truly original look. The woman in the polka-dot skirt with boots and the lady in the fedora and shift are not the only two who have caught on.

Type “vintage fashion blogs” into Google: You’ll find many top-source posts showing bloggers in 1950s dresses paired with 1930s coats. Or glance at the New York Times’s video channel called Intersection. These videos showcase street style around the world — with, most recently, people wearing vintage pieces from all eras.

“I think, in the past, people wanted to be more true to certain eras,” says Catherine Knoll, co-organizer of the Ottawa vintage show, who says she sees the combining of different styles and eras of vintage becoming increasingly popular. “So if you wore something that was from the Art Deco era, you wanted to make sure your accessories, like your purse and your shoes, matched.”

“Now,” she says, “I think people aren’t afraid to mix it up.”

“Personally, I don’t care what people think. If I feel like wearing a studded necklace with a floral dress and converse, then I will,” says Megan McClean, 20, an Ottawa fashion blogger for Broke the Blog.

McClean shops local thrift stores and vintage boutiques to find one-of-a-kind pieces for deals beyond belief, to showcase on her blog. She couldn’t agree more on mixing up these unique pieces.

“I notice, and usually admire, someone wearing a peculiar outfit that shows off their personality and one that I would never have thought to put together, over someone wearing an on-trend taken-straight-from-an-Aritzia-mannequin outfit,” says McClean.  And she is not the only young fashion enthusiast to catch on to the idea of vintage mash-ups.

“I personally love it when one person can wear a lot of different styles. I don’t think we should be confined to one style,” says Lacey Ward, social media coordinator and editorial assistant at FAJO Magazine, Canada’s leading digital fashion journal.

As the line to the Ottawa Vintage Clothing Show steadily streams inside, it is clear the attendees are not afraid to show off their array of fashion flair.

“They’re concerned with finding something unique and one-of-a-kind,” says co-organizer Knoll. “The typical vintage collector is no longer a purist but likes to mix and match pieces from different eras.”

The old and the new

Knoll says the other popular option is to pick one vintage piece and use it to showcase the rest of an outfit. Combining unique vintage finds with items already in your wardrobe is a great start for anyone who’s experimenting with vintage. Online fashion magazine DFW Style Daily agrees, reporting that now it is more popular than ever to see a mix of old and new as one style.

‘The typical vintage collector is no longer a purist but likes to mix and match pieces from different eras.’ — vintage show co-organizer Catherine Knoll

Ottawa’s boutique Victoire is hot on the heels of this mash-up trend. The Dalhousie Street shop sells a mix of new and vintage clothing and accessories. It also holds a vintage clothing sale every year. This vintage collection proves how easy it is to integrate pieces of the past into everyday style.

After all, these vintage pieces are what inspire the current trends in mainstream fashion.

“Vintage clothing is always prevalent for the trend setters and people looking for classic or funky pieces,” says FAJO Magazine’s Ward on the importance of incorporating vintage aspects into a wardrobe.

An article on FAJO’s website confirms the prevalence of the mash-up throughout North America. The article focuses on the trendy Greenpoint neighbourhood in Brooklyn, N.Y., where small, unique vintage boutiques are more popular than mass retail chains. In street-style photograph documentation, every person incorporates at least one vintage item into his or her outfit.

Individual style

At the end of the day, vintage clothing will continue to reinvent itself and find new forms of expression. The mash-up style that has evolved — whether it be mixing different eras in one outfit, or combining old and new — is just one of the new pathways to individuality through style.

“I’d say I always look for uniqueness,” says McClean about the pieces worth hunting for. “Whenever you wear your vintage finds, you’re creating a look that nobody else has. Mixing your pieces together is just another chance to show that and to branch away from the mainstream, mass-generation fashion.”

The comforting, nostalgic smell of freshly baked bread is the first thing that hits you upon stepping into Peter de Hoog and Gaetan Portelance’s Finally Gluten Free Foods bakery in the ByWard Market. The next is the realization that, despite the tantalizing aroma, there isn’t a trace of wheat on the premises.

‘You’re catering to a very desperate audience.’ — Charlotte Newton of Auntie Loo’s Treats

Finally Gluten Free Foods is one of four bakeries in the capital where people with celiac disease can buy a loaf of gluten-free bread with complete certainty that it won’t make them sick. While generally in North America the choices aren’t extensive for the growing number of people who can’t consume gluten — the options often consisting of low-nutrient, expensive “boxed” foods, found in the frozen section of the grocery store — Ottawa food retailers are slowly but surely meeting the demands of the developing niche.

Celiac disease is the most severe form of gluten intolerance. Sufferers are unable to eat any foods containing or exposed to gluten, a protein found in grains like wheat and rye, because gluten hampers their bodies’ ability to absorb other nutrients. The condition currently affects approximately one in 133 Canadians, according to the Canadian Celiac Association — a “modest” figure, says De Hoog, since it doesn’t account for less severe intolerances (such as non-celiac sensitivity and wheat allergy, which result in gastrointestinal discomfort or rashes) or for unreported cases. There aren’t yet reliable statistics reflecting the increase in these less severe forms of gluten intolerance, but the buzz in public health discussion and in response to topical books like Wheat Belly certainly hints the numbers are on the rise. In their 2002 book, Dangerous Grains, James Braly, M.D., and Ron Hoggan estimate that 80 percent of people don’t produce enough of the enzymes necessary to digest gluten; they just haven’t put the pieces together yet. But when they do, there will be a lot of people unable to buy Wonder Bread anymore.

“You’re catering to a very desperate audience,” says Auntie Loo’s Treats baker Charlotte Newton. Intolerant to wheat herself, Newton says baked goods, particularly bread, are very difficult to give up entirely, and so many people who can’t stomach gluten will seek alternative flours to satisfy their cravings. However, given the ease with which cross-contamination by gluten can occur — a single crumb or stray wheat flour particle can mean the difference for a celiac — shopping for gluten-free baked goods can sometimes be a minefield.

The perils of purchasing gluten-free

Right now there are four reliable gluten-free bakeries in Ottawa, according to De Hoog. Aside from his Finally Gluten Free Foods, he points to The Joy of Gluten Free, FUK (rhymes with “fluke”) Flour, and Strawberry Blonde as retailers that can guarantee products free from cross-contamination of wheat flour. Beyond this list, buyer beware.

We would challenge places that advertise as gluten-free to prove it.’ — Peter de Hoog of Finally Gluten Free Foods

Located right beside Finally Gluten Free Foods on Nelson Street, Auntie Loo’s offers some baked treats made with alternatives like chickpea and rice flour to accommodate customers with mild gluten intolerances, but because they have wheat flour in the kitchen, they warn buyers that all their products contain traces of gluten. Not all bakeries are as forthcoming: Darren Potvin, a gluten-free community activist and owner of FUK Flour in Manotick, is critical of cross-contaminated bakeries that mislead customers by touting celiac-friendly baked goods. He has had customers in tears in his shop because they’ve been given misinformation about other stores’ products.

“A lot of places are jumping on the bandwagon because [gluten-free] sells,” Potvin says. “But they’re not doing it right.” At the moment, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is responsible for policing the designation of gluten-free facilities, but both Potvin and De Hoog say health inspectors just aren’t holding Ottawa businesses to account. “We would challenge places that advertise as gluten-free to prove it,” says De Hoog. He also encourages people to do their homework before buying gluten-free.

Aside from bakeries, Ottawans can find ingredients for gluten-free cooking in several places. Most supermarkets offer packaged flours like Bob’s Red Mill that are guaranteed gluten-free. There are also “gluten-free” sections cropping up in the freezer sections of some Ottawa supermarkets (Hartman’s Independent, for example). The downside is that the price tag can be a bit steep — and ditto for products sold at Ottawa’s four guaranteed gluten-free bakeries.

“You have to be savvy when buying gluten-free,” says Auntie Loo’s  baker Newton, who cites international supermarkets as a source for finding relatively inexpensive wheat flour alternatives. She says that at best, flours like spelt and chickpea can be around twice the price of wheat flour, but coconut, quinoa and sorghum flour can cost anywhere from three to five times as much.

Finally Gluten Free baker Portelance says that their flours can cost up to four times as much as wheat flour because they have to be freshly milled and shipped immediately to avoid cross-contamination, which drives up costs. A loaf of Portelance’s regular sandwich, rye or pumpernickel bread will set you back $7 (a wheat flour loaf of the same size at the grocery store might cost $3), but he says the extra few dollars are worth it because of his bread’s nutritional value — even aside from the fact that it’s gluten-free.

“People don’t need more chemicals and crap. They need real food,” Portelance says. His recipe took 600 attempts to perfect and contains two-thirds grains and seeds and one-third gluten-free starch. He claims it’s more wholesome an option than “gross,” slightly less expensive gluten-free bread in the freezer section at the grocery store, which he says is made with modified tapioca starch, too much salt, added sugar and preservatives.

Canada’s gluten-free capital?

Potvin of FUK Flour says Ottawa is one of Canada’s leading cities in providing gluten-free options, bested only by Vancouver and Toronto. He attributes this in part to efforts by community activists to provide resources (advice and recipes, for example) for people who need help living gluten-free. He says that award-winning nutritionist Kathy Smart is a “local gluten-free celebrity” who has been central in putting Ottawa on the map. Smart says that her gluten-free lifestyle show on Rogers TV, Live the Smart Way, was the first of its kind in North America.

In addition to support from Ottawa bakeries and nutritionists, Smart credits a strong Ottawa chapter of the Canadian Celiac Association, as well as the sharing of relevant recipes and cooking tips among Ottawans, with helping to bring Ottawa to the fore — despite there being only four dedicated retailers here.

“I wouldn’t say we’re better equipped [to provide gluten-free products] necessarily,” Smart says. “I just believe that there is a strong gluten-free community.” As awareness grows regarding symptoms of gluten intolerance and celiac disease, the demand for necessary foods will also climb, she says.

Meanwhile, the guys at Finally Gluten Free Foods say the community is meeting the need for the time being: Non-designated bakeries like Trillium, Bread and Roses and the Wild Oat provide gluten-free options for people with milder allergies and intolerances, and the four designated bakeries cater to the rest.

As more people make the switch to a celiac-aware lifestyle, De Hoog says he can expect more designated gluten-free retailers to set up shop but isn’t worried about the competition. “We’ll need more places like mine that are going to diversify the market and offer people good-tasting food that’s wholesome.”

Ultimately, as in any diet, the onus falls on the individual with celiac disease or a gluten intolerance to make good choices about what to eat. And Ottawa’s gluten-free retailers have a unique opportunity, Potvin says: They’re catering to a captive market — people who will likely jump on any substitute for wheat-based treats. Retailers can take advantage of the chance to make wholesome, fresh options for people who might otherwise have only unhealthy “boxed” products to turn to.

“To me,” says Potvin, “if you live out of a box, you’ll just end up in one quicker.”