What's Hamilton's street fashion? This video creator is out to find the 'gritty realness'
Edie Bruins's series 'What is Hamilton Wearing Today?' aims to capture the diversity of fashion in the city
You can occasionally find Edie Bruins on busy Hamilton intersections or at a popular local park with a monopod and nice-looking camera.
Her mission? Document fashionable folks walking down the street.
Since the spring, Bruins, a multimedia creator and video editor based in downtown Hamilton, has been capturing the outfits of people around the city in her series called "What is Hamilton Wearing Today?"
The trend of showcasing outfits of people on the street is not new, Bruins, 25, said. She took inspiration from similar content from Toronto. Other videos showing "what people are wearing" have come out of other big cities like Tokyo, Los Angeles and Shanghai.
"I wanted somebody to capture me walking in a cool outfit in Hamilton. And I was like, 'well, no one's doing that, so I should start recording these videos,'" she said.
While Hamilton is no metropolis, Bruins said there are a lot of interesting people and subcultures to capture here.
"In a larger city like Toronto, there's an expectation that when you go outside, you have to be fashionable," she said.
"In Hamilton, I feel like there's a gritty realness. People are just wearing what they want to wear outside."
On the search for a 'cool outfit'
Bruins, who works as a video editor at Dope Chief Studios in Jackson Square, has posted several videos to her social media accounts since April, capturing fashion in the city.
Feedback about the series has been positive, she said, and some have even recognized her while recording.
The videos feature a diverse crowd of different ages, sizes and races, something she's made a point of capturing.
"I don't want it to all be the young, hip people," she said. "I really want it to be whoever's passing by who is expressing themselves and has a cool outfit."
Lex Brown, a Hamilton-based sewist, told CBC Hamilton she's happy someone's finally "taking a note" and highlighting local fashion.
"[Hamilton fashion] has a bad reputation," she said, and agreed that the city's outfits have a "gritty" and "industrial" vibe.
Brown, who owns the Reloved Boutique thrift store in downtown Hamilton with her mother and sister, said while some big cities have their own particular style, she likes that Hamiltonians likely feel freer to explore their own, as the city is still developing its fashion identity.
As a fashion design professor at Toronto Metropolitan University with many students who come from Hamilton, Brown said she often hears people feel like they have to leave the city to seriously pursue a fashion career.
"I do wish there was more support for local fashion designers," she said.
"It'd be cool to have something representative of Hamilton fashion and the arts, cause there are some really cool designers that exist here."
Creating a time capsule
Brown also loves to see the vintage influences and personality in the outfits she sees out and about.
In her store, she often sees pieces originating from older clients be purchased by 18 to 20-year-olds.
"It's beautiful to see that cyclical aspect of it … I just think that people are recognizing the quality of vintage clothing, the versatility of it and the timelessness of it," she said.
Vintage is a way to "kind of steer away" from fast fashion, Brown said.
"I think that fashion should totally just be influenced by your own personal style, like what you like," she said.
That's what Bruins is looking for when capturing unique outfits on the street. While there's no style she won't capture, there are a few things she's looking for.
"I'm looking for people who are expressing themselves through their fashion," she said.
"If I see someone and it looks like they thought about what they put on their body that day, you're immediately being considered for the video."
She said she looks for unique and eye-catching pieces of clothing or accessories, like a cool pair of shoes or a nice hat to capture "a little bit of a character."
The first person she captured was a city worker driving a street vacuum sweeper wearing a cowboy hat.
"You know that he thought about putting on that hat."
Bruins hopes her videos will live on for future generations so they can see what Hamilton fashion looked like in 2025, and say, "I can't believe that's what everyone was wearing in Hamilton."
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