The Wandering Jew

I went to Doors Open Toronto last weekend with my mother. It's an annual (free!) event where hundreds of buildings, many of which are usually closed to the public, throw open their doors and allow us Torontonians to poke around. There's some gorgeous architecture in this city, and a shitload of history, so it's always lots of fun.

First we went to the Malabar Costume Warehouse, where they store over 30,000 opera costumes. They rent them out to opera companies all over North America, as far away as Hawaii and Alaska.


I usually sit up in the upper levels, and I can't see the costumes so clearly, so I was astounded at the amount of detail that goes into them. It costs thousands of dollars to make a costume, and they usually last for thirty years, so they have to be sturdy. They keep records of the costumes, with swatch samples.