Rita Zekas’s Hunt for Vintage
By Rose Simpson
For vintage style icon Rita Zekas, it’s all about the hunt.
Whether she’s travelling to Rome or New York or on a day trip to Port Hope, the former Toronto Star columnist sets aside time for a pit stop at an antique store, farmer’s market or flea market in search of hidden gems to complement her eclectic wardrobe of men’s jackets, slim pants and sneakers.
“It’s so much fun,” says the long-time Beaches resident. “It’s like candy.”
It’s not unusual to find Rita on the town wearing a favourite silver necklace made from a fork and spoon or sporting an oversized brass earring from the 80s that has been made into a brooch. Each piece is carefully curated to go with the men’s jacket she wears because “I have broad shoulders and no ass.”
After covering the lifestyles of the rich and famous for decades, Rita has developed an expert eye for bling and the fine clothing she buys from thrift stores, designer resellers, and antique stalls around the world. “With clothes, I touch the fabric. I’ll go through a stack of jackets and put my hand on them and I can tell if something is a cashmere blend and then I look at the label. When there isn’t a label, I always look at the fabric content. “I bought a man’s jacket at the Salvation Army that was marked down to $11.99 and it had a bit of dirt on it,” she recounts with the zeal of a war veteran recalling a famous battle. “I told the clerk she could do better, so she gave it me for $10. The jacket was worth $2,000.”
One of her latest discoveries is a Victorian necklace, a choker with faux diamonds, that she calls Juliette. The stunning piece cost her $30.
“I take a piece of jewelry and think it’s going to look good with a particular jacket or sweater,” she explains. “You put on a piece of clothing and you think it needs something. Or you put on the outfit first and then you find the piece.” She has yet to wear Juliette; she’s hoping to pair her with a pre-loved blazer or jean jacket she’ll find on one of her expeditions. “With Juliette, I’m going to put her on first and see what I can wear around her.”
Rita has always been part of the vibrant arts scene in Toronto. She and her partner, former Toronto Star entertainment writer and actor Rob Salem, are now retired yet she still takes every opportunity to find just the right look for their frequent turns at film festivals.
One of her favourite finds was a salamander brooch melded with a butter knife.
“The bigger (the brooch), the gawdier, like something with pink and green crystals, something you can put on a coat. I have a brooch with a peacock feather that I can wear on the lapel or on a beret sideways, or on a hat. They have to be big enough so they don’t fall off—and the textures have to be different. They can’t be matchy-matchy. It’s got to be a statement piece.”
She loves the idea of having a piece of history, a reminder of lives lived, and has even added a hat from Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie to her collection. It was remade by the renowned Toronto hatmaker Liliput Hats.
“It has his DNA,” she says. “It’s felt and cashmere. I haven’t worn it yet. It’s still on my coffee table.”
