Looking Spiffy
Upper Canada Choristers celebrate their 30th anniversary by dressing up!
By Jacinto Salcedo
What better way to celebrate than getting fancy new duds? That’s exactly what the Board of Directors proposed to the choristers at their annual general meeting.
Now, don't get me wrong, our choir's black outfit is all right, and we've been trying to jazz it up with pins, brooches, and a splash of red here and there. Problem was, the real solution lay more in thinking everything through.
The quandary around choir uniforms these days is finding that balance between a cohesive look (that doesn’t necessarily suit everybody) while letting folks display their own personalities as well. In our choir, we're all about embracing differences – whether it's cultural, gender identity, age, or body type. So, a one-size-fits-all fix just doesn’t cut it.
But fear not, our awesome graphic guru Otto Pierre faced this challenge head-on: “I’ve been doing some thinking about the choir uniform and put together a few ideas based on what I have seen other choirs wear. From the conversations we had at the choir meeting, it was clear that we should be open to the idea of not having men and women wear specific things. Some men might choose to wear scarves instead of ties, some women might prefer a blazer/t-shirt option versus a scarf.”
The process
Based on providing variations within a theme, Otto took some reference fabric patterns and laid out the possible combinations.
The starting point was to find a piece of fabric with a nice pattern and match it with three accent colours that could be used in shirts and ties.
However, it was difficult to find a pattern that we liked enough and that somehow represented the choir. So, we challenged ourselves even further. Why not design our own pattern? And, have full control over the pattern size, colour and fabrics?
The inspiration for the pattern came from one of the elements of UCC’s logo: the tuning fork. Several colour palettes were developed, each one with three colours. Finding the right contrast between these colours and black was a key factor.
The three short-listed patterns were tested in a warm and cool colour palette for scale and visibility.
The “acid test”: How will these colours look in our main performance venue? To our surprise, the warm palette blended perfectly with the red accents at Grace Church on-the-Hill.
Testing the pattern and flat colours on a broad spectrum of garments proved that we could get consistency within the variety.
The next step was refining the colour palette using fabric printing standard colours.
And then we got greedy. How many different variations can we get? Can we have a specific variation for our Latin ensemble, Cantemos? This got somewhat out of hand. To make it more manageable, the options were shortlisted.
The swanky results
The journey towards revamping the Upper Canada Choristers' uniform has been a thoughtful and inclusive process. The choir has embraced diversity and individuality while maintaining a cohesive look. Led by the creative vision of Otto Pierre, the new uniform features variations that allow members to express themselves while staying true to the choir's identity. With a carefully curated colour palette and a range of garment combinations, the choir is set to debut its stylish new look at the upcoming 30th Anniversary concert, embodying the spirit of unity through diversity in every note they sing.
The final palette features two hues of red and an accent of mustard-gold.
This uniform will be worn for the first time at our concert on Friday, May 10th, 2024.