For a moment, it seemed as if L’Oreal Fashion Week (March 17-22) would be overshadowed by this month’s Toronto Life exposé on Fashion Design Council diva Robin Kay. But the Feb. 20 Queen West fire has inspired headlines focused on veteran reconstructed-clothing brand preloved, whose fall/winter collection will be presented on March 18 at 2pm at Nathan Phillips Square.

Ironically, preloved was too busy preparing for their hectic March Break retail traffic to plan to participate in Fashion Week. The fire, of course, changed all that by destroying the longstanding Queen West storefront along with the current Spring/Summer line, while, in a remarkable stroke of luck, the Fall/Winter samples were spared.

“They were meant to be saved,” says still-shaken founder Julia Grieve from their head office and current makeshift retail space at 24 Ryerson (416-703-1936). It’s tucked in the basement of a non-descript building, where shoppers are greeted by a sign at the entrance that reads: “Gorgeous pieces of our Spring collection that didn’t burn in the fire are available here!”

The front is devoted to those surviving spring pieces, while designer Peter Friesen works in a corner room wallpapered with sketches. Near the back, two employees are cutting and sewing mittens that will be placed on the runway chairs in lieu of gift bags. Employee Vanessa King used to work at the Queen West store and is now being kept “busy here, behind the scenes.” She recalls how she heard the news about the fire: “I received a text [message from a friend] that said, ‘Your job burnt down last night.’”

Concerned phone calls flooded the head office like funeral condolences, all anxiously asking the same question: is this the end? Grieve was appalled. “Is that what they think?” she asks.

Grieve was a former model re-cutting vintage pieces for herself as a way to save money when she launched her business in 1995. She soon brought Friesen — then a Ryerson Fashion student doing his co-op placement at her store — on board as head designer. People responded to the roughly sewn assemblage of old sweaters, the torn asymmetrical lines and mixed patterns of vintage tees. The line soon expanded to a second retail store in Montreal, and has been carried by chains like Holt Renfrew and Urban Outfitters.

The look of the line has evolved as well. The fall/winter collection recalls 1940s Hollywood glam — “lots of Bette Davis,” assures Grieve — like a double-breasted Basque jacket with matching high-waist skirt. The seams are no longer jagged, either: Friesen is now interested in more structured and tailored pieces. And then there’s the spooky matter of the lining used throughout: “It’s red!” says Grieve. “Scandalously red!”

But while she’s happy to have the opportunity to celebrate the line at Fashion Week, she’s unsure of what the future now holds for the label. “I love this part of Queen,” Grieve says. “My heart is there. Can they rebuild a building fast enough for me to get there? I don’t know. Do I have a refreshed feeling? No, not at all. I loved it. I feel like I need to figure out what I want to do.”

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