About this Event
Clothing Conversations
What stories do our clothes hold?
Led by Toronto-based fashion anthropologist Marium Durrani, Clothing Conversations invites you to a series of three unique workshops bring a meaningful piece of clothing, textile, or fabric-based wearable and explore the memories, relationships, and personal histories connected to it.
Session 01 Wednesday, November 11
UNRAVEL | Where Our Stories Begin
Session 02 Wednesday, November 25
WEAVE | The People & Memories We Carry
Session 03 Wednesday, December 9
TAPESTRY | The Clothes That Tell Our Story
WEAVE explores the people, memories, and attachments we carry through the things we keep. Some garments connect us to people we love; others hold memories, gifts, or attachments that are harder to explain. We’ll reflect on why certain objects remain meaningful to us, what they preserve about our lives, and the relationships and experiences they bring to mind.
HOW IT WORKS
Bring one meaningful piece of clothing, textile, or fabric-based wearable. It might be something you wear often, a treasured keepsake, an item passed down through your family, or something that reminds you of a particular moment. There’s no right or wrong choice—what matters is that it means something to you.
We’ll begin with guided reflection using a Clothing Conversations Memory Tag, with questions tailored to the session theme. You’ll have a chance to explore your item’s story before deciding what, if anything, you’d like to share.
Marium will facilitate a small storytelling circle where participants can share and listen to one another. Sharing is always an invitation, never an obligation.
During the session, Marium will photograph your item. Afterward, she’ll create a personalized digital Garment Card featuring a photograph of your garment and a summary of its story.
YOUR EXPERIENCE INCLUDES
- A small, guided storytelling circle, unique to each session
- A theme-specific Clothing Conversations Memory Tag for reflection
- A personalized digital Garment Card featuring your item’s photograph and a summary of its story
- Freshly brewed organic herbal tea from Helen + Hildegard
ABOUT YOUR HOST
Marium Durrani is a Toronto-based fashion anthropologist, educator, and circular fashion advocate whose work explores repair, garment longevity, and the social life of clothing. She holds a Ph.D. from Aalto University in Finland, where she researched communal repair practices as forms of care and resilience, and an M.Phil. in Environment and Sustainability
from the University of Oslo. She has worked as a Senior Lecturer at Metropolia University in Helsinki and, according to the existing draft, currently works in Education & Programming at the Textile Museum of Canada.
EVENT DETAILS
Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2026
Time: 1:00pm – 3:00pm
Location: HELEN + HILDEGARD | 780 St Clair Ave W
Tickets: Sliding-scale tickets from $20 to $50, tax included
Please arrive within 15 minutes of the ticket time to allow for a moment to settle in.
Workshop space is wheelchair accessible on the main floor.
Washroom is not wheelchair accessible, located downstairs in shop basement.
Event venue & nearby stays
HELEN + HILDEGARD, 780 Saint Clair Avenue West, Toronto, Canada
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