Free shipping on order of $150 or more

Sara of Frankiecollective.com for MISSBISH.COM

Posted by Drew Heifetz on

Out with the old, in with the new. Many people live by that mantra in hopes of starting anew in life. But some believe that not everything created in the past is useless but rather of greater value. Meet Sara GourlayFrankie Collective‘s creative director. The Vancouver babe created a vintage clothing brand of her own and gave it a modern twist. Gourlay has a gift of choosing staple items from the 90s and making them appear current as ever. She spoke with MISSBISH about her making a career in vintage fashion and more. Check out the interview below.

Words and interview by 

Tell us how you started getting into vintage. Recount what that journey was like.
When I was a teen I interned for a pop-up vintage market in Vancouver before I became a partner. During that time, vintage markets seemed to have exploded onto the scene. They were the hangout spot for every stylist and artist selling their collections and treasures. Eventually, I started my own vintage company, FATE Vintage. Instead of hustling clothing at markets, my new model was to curate a higher end vintage collection which was then sold in boutiques. The vintage hustle helped finance the first year of my business degree haha.

Where do you draw your daily inspiration from?
I look to the past a lot for inspiration. I love looking at vintage editorials and ads. I’ve been listening to a lot of UK Grime and the raw energy sets the pace for my day.

What are some memorable projects you’ve worked on in the past?
I worked on Eco Fashion Week’s thrift challenge where I created a runway collection with $500 from Value Village. This was a great platform to speak about my passion for up-cycling clothing. I was left feeling inspired to continue to find ways to close the gap between social consciousness and fashion consciousness. After that, I launched a line of new designs created from sustainable and deadstock/vintage material.

How did the Frankie Collective come about?
It all started when I was introduced to Jesse and Drew Heifetz from F as in Frank Vintage. They own two flagship vintage stores and were running a men’s vintage site F as in Frank. At that point, I was designing my own line and the boys were sitting on a massive women’s clothing archive, it was a natural fit that we launched F as in Frank’s sister company, Frankie Collective.

Was there a point where you hit a roadblock in the creating process of the brand? How did you move forward?
Creating a vintage brand that didn’t rest alone on nostalgic feelings was the biggest road block. For people born before the 90s, they were old enough to experience that decade vs. a younger market. For example, lots of people remember Biggie rocking Coogi sweaters, where a youth might look at that sweater now and not understand the appeal of the sweater out of context. Because I didn’t have the luxury of capitalizing on nostalgia for everyone, I had to view the collection through a modern lens.

What would you say is the key to finding great pieces while thrifting?
Patience but mostly luck. To be honest, I have a lucky pair of underwear I wear.

How do you stay true to yourself?
Because trends come and go so quickly, it’s important to stay true to yourself. That means not hopping on every trend, but picking and choosing what relates to your style the most. Although, working in fashion, it’s important to stay ahead of the curve and explore all these trends. So it’s really about finding ways to take hints from these trends and make it genuine to your personal style.

What are some of your beauty must-haves at the moment?
To combat dull winter skin, I add on an Alpha Beta Peel by Dr. Dennis Gross to my skin care regime, prep skin before makeup with Laura Mercier’s Radiance Foundation Primer, and sneak in some subtle colour withJosie Maran’s Argan Liquid Gold Self-Tanning Oil.

Best piece of advice you’ve received in the past year.
I actually bumped into a fellow MISSBISH at a party, the designer behind Beth Richards Swimwear. We were arm in arm, deep in our wine glasses, talking about our projects in 2016. She told me there are lots of people that want to do things second, but it takes panache to be an innovator. Keep creating. I think it’s important to not rest on your laurels.

What does MISSBISH mean to you?
For me, MISSBISH is a collective of like-minded positive women who strive to put their best foot forward.

www.mishbish.com

Photos by: Jeremy Jude Lee

← Older Post Newer Post →

News

RSS
Tags
#1 #MikeWiLLBeenTrill $ale (Hosted By Future) 1 MORE DAY 10 year 1000000 101 sex positions 140th anniversary of Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis 1992 Party 20 year anniversary 2013 23 3 peat bulls 5 panel hat 5 panel hat. 560 feb 26 70s 90s 90s guess 90s polo 90s vintage A$AP Ant A$AP Rocky Aaliyah Action Bronson adidas agenda in vegas air air yeezy all star alley sale amazing amazing little vintage shop amazing vintage gem anastasia ashley anastasia ashley terry richards anastasia ashley twerk Andy Goldsworthy anniversary asap ant asap gue$$ asap guess asap rockey asap rocky ATL TWINS August 2014 authentic US Army woodland camouflage pants bart simpson best in vintage beach wear billboard magazine birthday jam blue jeans bodega news booty poppin'in boots Brand breaking down bringing sexy back bronson bucket hat bucket hats camisado vintage in costa rica canadian hip hop canadian tour Canadian Tuxedo caption contest champion jersey Chanel Iman charli xcx chicago bears chicago bulls. Childish Gambino Christmas Party @ Portside Pub Chromeo Clueless Coachella Cock collaboration collection is only available at Crooks college dropout Coming compton snapback converse Crooks and Castles Cross Flags Snapback Drops Friday crossflags da baddest bitch trina daymond john deadstock Dealin' In J. Malverde dear summer def loaf denim Detroit lions diamond princess Die Wit a 40 Digging Diaries Dirty Denim Dkay Dkay x JTecumseh donnel garcia Dr. Romanelli X Coca-Cola dropping knowlege Dropping the Landlord Vaults duck duck goose easy e Electric Lemonade ellen english dan of three points tatto F as in Frank Christmas f as in frank vintage FAIF fairfax Fairfax and Imonni fancy Fashion is a cyclical beast fasinfrank feat FEIT Hand Sewn Low Fighting fila FILL A BAG ALLEY SALE fill a bag sale Flare.com Flirt Your Way Into Spring Floral Flavor In Your Gear FOMO for the town for us by us forever fortune fortune sound club FRANK BUCKS frankie collective frankiecollective fresh prince bucket hat friday friend zone fubu fubu x gap fun gamma blue gap ll cool j commercial generation cool Gleaming the Cube - Christian Slater Goin' Up GQ Greats Gucci Ghost X Dee guess collaboration guess jeans guess x asap Gun Haerfest Leather Trainers happy birthday harley davidson head heat heat of the week hella fly in heels hercules HERE Heritage Collection highsnobiety lookbook hip hop home hurricane season was over IAMSU ice cuve iggy azalea Influence of 2013 - by Mwanel 1-L Pierrre-Louis inspiration LA 2014 interview ipad cases jack daniels jackets JayKin jeans Jerseys joe2grand jogger pant jordan jordans joseph vaughan JTecumseh Juicy J jumpsuits Junk Mania kanya west kanye west Kauai Kelly ken block kendrick lamar kendrick lamar on the cover of the rolling stone Kicks to Know kings script snapback ladies street wear landlords laptop Las Vegas Launch Collection Leather Jacket limit of bags limited select collection ll cool j ll cool j fubu lo life Local Babes LONELY ISLAND Long Beach. lookbook lucien smith lucky aces lucky aces ariana grande lucky aces ellen mac miller Machine machine gun kelly Magpie Darling Magazine main street Maison Martin Margiela Mansion is up for grabs mark brand mcm bucket hat medusa head Meet michael jordan Michael Jordans mickey mickey sweatshirt mike will made it miley cyrus miniature ralph lauren MIX BY #BEEN #TRILL FOR STUSSY mjs modern mickey vs vintage mickey Monkey Time Monopoly Night monster energy Mookee Mookee X Crooks MTV Multiply Music natasha natasha janelle nature nautica naways nba NBA top of all times never no more new hip hop new jack city Nike Noreaga private appointment at FAIF nwa nwa movie trailer nyfw ocean october Oh mickey one-sies online shop OUT p wing payday pelle pelle pick ups picker profile pigalle Pinwheel Geisha Tshirt pippen Point Break polo polo 1992 polo bear polo bear hat polo bucket hat polo goose jacket polo ralph lauren polo sport polo stadium polo suicide ski jacket polo uni crest portrait shirt Pre-Christmas preach Private Appointment pwing rachel's style picks : edition 1 racked Racked vol #2 Rag Kings rag machine raiders script snapback ralph lauren ramp jam RAPS raptortrax reclaimed fabric red regular hours here at the Vancouver Shop restaurant Ricky Lego Broach riff raff rl92 rlpc rompers rooftop edition Roots Culture Varsity Jacket samuel snapson sassy in sandals Save on meats school yard days sculptures SD See Me See U in LA seen by FAIF Seen in Seen On Serape FAIF Seth Kay Seton Hall Pirates! Shad Shelf Shipping Deadlines for 2013. Shirts shorty Silk Crewneck Collection skateboarding slobby robby SNAP SNAP Denim snap spring snapback snapbacks snapbacks shipment snastasia ashley almost naked snowboarding SOLD OUT in eleven minutes. son real sonreal Soon Souls of Mischief sport sporty chic Spotlight spurs stadium plates jacket staight outta compton standing polo bear Starter Baseball starter jackets starter white sox jacket starters Sticks and Stones STN MTN stops store straight outta compton trailer streetwear Stussy X YO style series summer summer 2014 summer essentials summer fashion show Sun Cycle Hats super bowl supreme supreme 2016 supreme for sale supreme spring surf swiss camo pants sza t-shirt t-shirt pop up t-shirts tees tees and tanks that will rev your engine terry richardson the banana grove the farmers apprentice the hundreds blog The Levis First Edition Jacket The Little Things the perfect storm the rag machine The Wave Garden There Is Only Now feat Snoop Dogg this summer THIS WEEKEND ONLY thrift & vintage stores throwbacks back tiger token token program tommy girl tommy hilfiger tommy hilfiger athletics tommy hilfiger bucket hat tommy hilfiger nyfw tommy jeans tommy pier tommy sport tommy x gigi Top toronto toronto july 27th Toronto or Vancouver location Toronto or Vancouver stores Treasures & Travels ladies tropical true vintage tshirts twisted productions tye-dye gem Ugly Sweater Sale urban culture urban fashion urban pop graphic usher vancouver varsity versace video vidéo clip vinage digs vintage vintage 3 peat tshirt vintage bucket hat vintage bulls tshirts vintage chalkline vintage chicago bulls vintage ck vintage con vintage design vintage dkny vintage fila vintage fubu vintage gear vintage gucci vintage guess vintage Hermes vintage inspiration vintage inspired brands now in its 5th year vintage lookbook vintage nike vintage nike track suit vintage phoenix vintage picking vintage polo vintage polo drop vintage polo goose vintage ralph lauren vintage reworked pieces Vintage Shop vintage snapback vintage starter vintage supreme vintage t-shirt vintage tommy vintage tommy athletics vintage tommy girl vintage tommy hilfiger vintage tommy sport vintage tshirts vintage vancouver vintage verace vintagecon vision street wear Vogue September 2014 Vol Vol #1 Vol #2 Vol #3 warehouse Way Back Play Back week weekend 2014 WET whistler White Women whitesox who wears short shorts wholesale Wilson WIN $200 Winter Blow Out Sale wiz khalifa women women's vintage womens polo womens street wear wu-tang XI Y-3 Qasa Racer High year in review Yuske