{"id":5366,"date":"2022-02-13T22:14:15","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T03:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blackfashioncanada.ca\/database\/?post_type=cpt_portfolio&p=5366"},"modified":"2026-06-16T04:19:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T08:19:27","slug":"irene-wattley","status":"publish","type":"cpt_portfolio","link":"https:\/\/blackfashioncanada.ca\/database\/fr\/profiles\/irene-wattley\/","title":{"rendered":"Irene Wattley"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Charmaine Gooden<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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She can still picture it. There was a Black person at every Eaton\u2019s counter promoting Fashion Fair cosmetics across Ontario. She remembers watching gorgeous, six-foot-long models walk around the store, spraying the newest samples to promote the brand.<\/p>

To celebrate Caribana annually, they had dancers and steel drum bands near the entrance to the store, an idea Wattley presented to Bob Saunders, Eaton\u2019s President of Cosmetics at the time, which he approved.<\/p>

On screen, we see Wattley, her skin dark brown, black hair cropped short, sporting black-framed glasses and vibrant red lipstick. She\u2019s fondly reminiscing about her days at Fashion Fair Cosmetics. With a gleam in her eye and a smile on her face, she explains how she got her start in modelling and eventually in cosmetics.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Fashion Fair at Eaton's newspaper advertisement (Model: Irene Wattley)\n(Photo courtesy of Irene Wattley)<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Early Life and Career<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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At the age of seven, Wattley, the eldest of four sisters, emigrated from St.Kitts, first to Birmingham, England, to join her family. The family lived in the U.K. for a few years before eventually settling in Toronto, Canada, in 1966.<\/p>

They lived on MacDonnell Avenue in Parkdale, where she attended Parkdale Junior and Senior Public School. Later, the family moved to Malton, in Mississauga, where she attended public and junior high school, finally graduating from Westwood Secondary School.<\/p>

From the time she was a young child, she\u2019s been interested in make-up and fashion. Growing up in Malton, she would always be the one with ribbons in her hair or buying lipstick from Shoppers Drug Mart on her way to school.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Over time, Wattley helped expand the brand from Ontario to the entire country, becoming the Fashion Fair Cosmetics account executive for the Canadian market. \u201cFashion Fair Cosmetics just took off,\u201d says Wattley.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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After high school, she studied modelling at Sheridan College in Oakville and won a couple of contests in New York, after which she travelled with the other New York winners to Nassau to compete. She fell in love with it. \u201cMy real interest was runway modelling,\u201d she says, \u201cI was good at it, so I did a lot of it.\u201d<\/p>

Around the early 1980s, Wattley ended up moving, with her daughter, into the city from Brampton. Interested in finding more modelling jobs, she hooked up with Black fashion industry alums Marianne Skanks<\/a>, a model, and Len Henry<\/a>, fashion show producer. She learned a lot and got many pointers about the industry from her mentors.<\/p>

Then tragedy struck. \u201cA good friend who was a model was murdered,\u201d says Wattley.\u201d Her boyfriend, also a Sheridan College student, died.\u00a0 With these deeply personal and emotional losses, Wattley left her modelling days behind and focused on the cosmetic counter at Eaton\u2019s, something she was doing part-time when living in Brampton.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Fashion and Diversity<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Wattley got her start working at the Fashion Fair Cosmetics counter and with the support of Lance Clarke, VP Fashion Flair Cosmetics and Bob Saunders, President of Cosmetics at Eaton\u2019s, she was eventually promoted to account executive. \u201cHe was very supportive, he had my back,\u201d Wattley remembers.\u00a0 With his support, Fashion Fair Cosmetics was expanded across Ontario and throughout Canada. \u201cSo here we are,\u201d Wattley says proudly, \u201cgrowing and bringing in a clientele that was really being ignored.\u201d<\/p>

Fashion Fair Cosmetics was created to cater to Black women and other women of colour, who couldn\u2019t find cosmetics suited to their skin tones anywhere.\u201cWhen you really look at us, you can see that women of colour are not all the same,\u201d Wattley explains. \u201cWe have the bluest blackest skin, the browns, the lightest skin and we have all the blends in between. So you can\u2019t assume a line with three dark-toned foundations will work across the board.\u201d she explains.<\/p>

Over time, Wattley helped expand the brand from Ontario to the entire country, becoming the Fashion Fair Cosmetics account executive for the Canadian market. \u201cFashion Fair Cosmetics just took off,\u201d says Wattley.<\/p>

With their rise in popularity, the company landed in the top 10 cosmetic lines in Eaton\u2019s stores across the country. Black women and women of colour were finally feeling seen, and make-up artist Lloyd Cousins, a very important person in Wattley\u2019s life, devoted much of his career at Fashion Fair Cosmetics to making women look and feel beautiful on the inside and outside.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cHe really \u2018saw\u2019 us. He saw our personalities, our inner and outer beauty.\u201d says Wattley. She still remembers the first day Cousins walked in, describing him as \u201ca very sharp dresser with a personable character, walking up to the counter looking for a job in cosmetics.\u201d Wattley recalls. \u2018We only had one male make-up artist in the department then, so there was some hesitancy at first, but I vouched for him,\u201d she shares. Cousins made his mark and built a loyal following and he and Wattley became fast friends.<\/p>

Cousins passed away in 2021 and Wattley still fondly remembers all the wonderful moments they shared while working together, right up until the end. They were inseparable.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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As Fashion Fair Cosmetics\u2019 first Canadian account executive for the national market, Wattley played a key role in expanding inclusive cosmetics in Canada. She also befriended and mentored Lloyd Cousins, the groundbreaking male cosmetics sales associate and make-up artist, whose presence and visibility at the counters was an event itself. Wattley also witnessed first hand how eagerly Black women embraced the iconic cosmetics brand.<\/p>

Fashion and make-up came together for her in the way she needed it to, and it sustained her and her daughter. It also allowed her to be part of something bigger and just as special as herself, which is what she really loved about it.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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We only had one male make-up artist in the department then, so there was some hesitancy at first, but I vouched for him,\u201d she shares. Cousins made his mark and built a loyal following, and he and Wattley became fast friends.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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About the authors:<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Over the years Prof. Gooden has built a multi-media career as an editor, writer, presenter, public relations consultant and special event manager, spokesperson, host, and educator. She...<\/p>\n Read More<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>

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Charmaine Gooden<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/article><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Over the years Prof. Gooden has built a multi-media career as an editor, writer, presenter, public relations consultant and special event manager, spokesperson, host, and educator. She...<\/p>\n Read More<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>

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Over the years Prof. Gooden has built a multi-media career as an editor, writer, presenter, public relations consultant and special event manager, spokesperson, host, and educator. She...<\/p>\n Read More<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>

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