by Joyce Gunhouse & Judy Cornish

Fall 2000

The week opened with Comrags’ Joyce Gunhouse and Judy Cornish, who had the fashion pack head north to the exquisite Capitol Theatre, a refurbished film house now available for private functions. With static-filled video screens in the background, models walked a path of blue astroturf in scarf-sleeved turtlenecks, pleather jackets, plunging jerseys and dresses with overblown floral prints.
Comrags aims to an arty clientele, so their tweed librarian suits and jumpers had seaming everywhere you might not expect: across the collarbone, along the thighs, around the elbows. There were also lots of skirts with ladylike side pleats and quirky ruffles on tops and jackets, but ox-blood loafers and blank stares kept the collection from getting too flirty.
“We were inspired by an old Dior couture dress we found at Value Village for $5.99,” Cornish explained after the show. “It was orange bonded wool with a skin-tight bodice. We started cutting it up, to see how it was put together, and things just went from there.

…Comrags’ clothes are by no means ordinary, their fall collection shown Monday was marked by scribble-print dresses and tweedy jumpers with wayward seaming.
“I think people like our clothes because they think, ‘I can wear that,’” Gunhouse adds. “I don’t think we’re artists, I think we’re arty people.”