June 2023
Month 20xx
Viktoriya Kozoriz and Brya Sheridan
Charmaine Gooden
Fransi Weinstein
Highlights
Colette Harmon is a Toronto-based jewelry designer specializing in high-fashion pieces that reflect her unique beadwork. Her creations have been featured in Elle Canada, Flare, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Nylon magazine. Her unique jewelry designs have assured her place as a prominent influencer in Canadian fashion history.
Early Life and Career
Harmon was born in Sister’s Village, Guyana, South America, as the middle child and only daughter of hard-working Guyanese parents. Her father was a police officer and her mother a teacher. Harmon believes her creativity comes from her mother who was also a seamstress. “She could create without a pattern, simply cutting the fabric and sewing for herself, me and my dolls,” says Harmon. “Sometimes, I’d come home after school and find a matching outfit for me and a doll,” she remembers. “Plus she was a singer and piano player as well.”
Searching for new opportunities, Harmon’s parents moved to Toronto when she was five. She attended Brampton’s North Park Secondary High School and Huron Heights in Newmarket. She continued her post-secondary education at Seneca College, studying Fashion Design and working part-time at Lizanne’s Fabrics.
After graduating, Harmon worked at Princeton Leathers while also designing accessories independently, until a customer asked for a pair of earrings to go with her belt. She fullfilled that order and her jewelry design career began.
“I started with what I now consider ‘cheesy’ earrings,” she says laughing. “I cut out triangles, circles and squares, covering them in leather.” Today Harmon’s designs are one-of-a-kind using crystals, semi-precious stones, metal and occasionally silver from around the world.
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Carole Tanenbaum, a collector and owner of an international vintage custom jewelry business for over 40 years, helped Harmon succeed. A supporter of Canadian designers, she describes seeing Harmon’s work and meeting her for the first time.
Tanenbaum recalls their first time meeting: “Beautiful beaded necklaces, wonderful original designs. She was a struggling artist, so I bought 10 pieces,” she adds, expressing her admiration for Harmon’s talent. “She brought, I think, a suitcase full.”
Tanenbaum describes Harmon as being, “very sweet and dedicated. She’s like this life spirit, which is quite beautiful. She has an angelic face and I could feel her vulnerability,” which she explains, “is one reason I took her under my wing for a while. I believed in her, but I’m not sure she believed in herself. There was mutual respect and we worked well together.”
Instead of following trends, Harmon is inspired by the beauty around her, which makes her designs undoubtedly unique. She considers herself an artist, not a designer. “I’m an out-of-the-box thinker, always have been,” says Harmon. “I’ve never worn anything because it’s fashionable or worn by masses,” she adds. “I’ve never owned skinny jeans.”
“Once I sold a favourite necklace, one I’d worn for two years, right off my neck,” she recalls, “and I’ve sold unexpectedly before. Another time, at the Four Seasons Hotel, a woman bought a charm necklace I was wearing,” she says, but admits “trying to redo pieces doesn’t work; it’s never quite the same.” Harmon’s personality shows in her work and she only makes and sells what she likes. “I think I’m my own muse,” she reveals. “If I wouldn’t wear it, I can’t make it.”
Fashion and Diversity
Harmon doesn’t believe her ethnicity is represented in her work. “I don’t think of myself as a Black jewelry designer. I think of myself as a designer, but people do characterize and label you,” she says. “You’d never read ‘Mark Jacobs the white clothing designer’, but whenever it’s a Black person it’s mentioned,” she explains. “I know I’m Black. It’s not a conscious thing. I’m just a person.”
She doesn’t recall experiencing racism throughout her career. “Because I look a certain way, because I’m, quote-unquote ‘attractive’, people have always been nice to me,“ she says, “but I know racism exists, I just haven’t encountered it personally.”
Harmon recounts her parents having difficulties renting an apartment because of race. “There would be a vacancy sign, but when the superintendent opened the door and saw Black faces, they’d be told there were no vacancies,” she tells us. Also, her father was refused a promotion due to his skin colour.
She shares her outlook on racism in the fashion industry, specifically how often agencies keep one token Black or Asian model for the sake of ‘diversity.’ Changes to begin resolving these issues in the industry are recent, but further reflection is still needed.
I think I’m my own muse,” she reveals. “If I wouldn’t wear it, I can’t make it.
Influence and Legacy
Harmon’s unique jewelry designs assure her standing as a prominent influencer in Canada’s fashion history. Her hard work has evolved into many accomplishments, including her pieces that sold in Saks Fifth Avenue and Holt Renfrew Canada.
Her personal aesthetic and meticulous beadwork have provided many opportunities. She was featured at the Canadian Fashion Exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum from December 3, 2022 — July 2023. She’s also mentioned in the book Fabulous Fakes: A Passion for Vintage Costume Jewelry by Carole Tanenbaum.
In the future, she wishes to do a capsule collection of fine jewelry utilizing a mix of gold and coloured gemstones. “I would love to create art objects,” she reveals. “Something’s in the works, but it’s in the talking stage and I don’t talk about anything until it happens,” she adds at the end of our interview.
Celebrated Canadian designer Wayne Clarke, who featured Harmon’s jewelry in several of his fashion shows, put it best, “Nobody does what she can.”
You’d never read ‘Mark Jacobs, the white clothing designer,’” she says, “but whenever it’s a Black person it’s mentioned. I know I’m Black, it’s not a conscious thing,” she explains. “I’m just a person.
About the authors:
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...
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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...
Read More
About the author:
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...
Read More
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