Avid gardener digs funky, colourful clothes
When Joanne Tunnicliffe was a little girl, her grandmother Agnes (or “Grannes,” as she was called) imparted some words of wisdom she would heed for years to come.
Skin care is critical and witch hazel is your friend, Grannes told her. So, to this day, Tunnicliffe, 70 — now a mother and “Funky Grannes” to five of her own grandchildren — uses witch hazel as the base of her skin care regimen.
The second lesson speaks to a philosophy by which Tunnicliffe lives: “Fashion is a statement.”
“So, I’d say: ‘But fashion can’t speak,’” says Tunnicliffe, recalling the conversation with her grandmother. “And she said: ‘Yes it can.’ So you are who you are through your fashion. You show the people around you how you feel about life when you dress up.”
Tunnicliffe, an avid ecologist, nature interpreter and Carolinian gardening expert who at one time ran her own environmental education school called Nature’s Trails, has a personality as big as her favourite subject matter.
So it should come as no surprise that “Mother Nature” (her moniker when she ran Nature’s Trails) demonstrates her passion for living, nature and community through outfits that are bold in colour and rife with interesting details like asymmetrical hems, ruffles, twists and texture.
Tunnicliffe not only spends hours a day in her own garden, she also works with local environmental and community groups across the city to help educate and plant Carolinian gardens, which attract pollinators and native insects and wildlife. On any given day you can find her digging a garden or conducting workshops. And no matter what, she’ll always be wearing jewelry (she has gardening and nongardening pieces) and one of her 20 to 30 straw-brimmed hats.
“I think that’s the other thing. In fashion, if you have something nicely put together and some jewelry and all that, I think the attention of the people you’re talking to, they look up to you and they go, ‘Wow! She looks like she might know what she’s talking about.’”
Here she wears a green ruffled Milli’s cardigan she scored at Value Village, with rust skinny jeans, also from Value Village. She accessorizes with a turquoise straw-brim hat she decorated herself with a bandana and assortment of pins and brooches. She has on a turquoise pendant and matching earrings that were a gift from her daughter, and a gardener’s charm bracelet from a gardening friend. The black lace-up boots she’s had for 15 years and wears for gardening are from Caliga Shoes in the Hamilton Mountain Mall.
Most eye-catching piece: This very creative flouncy sweater that I got at Value Village. And then someone looked at the label and it’s actually from Milli’s. Quirkiest wardrobe item: It’s a top that you would probably want to wear with leggings — it comes down to the knees, it’s a very easy, swingy fit . ... When I wear it, I just feel, wow! Like it’s a true fashion piece. It’s (got) bright tomato red and a bit of blues and muted greys. The pattern has holes in it and sideways horizontal cuts and it’s lopsided around the bottom, so it’s just me. It’s funky. Wardrobe must-have: I’m still fit, but my shoulders showing ... I don’t find very attractive. So I think shrug sweaters. Black works well all year round. But patterns (are) a good idea, too, or you can have a plain white or off white. Best purchase: My lovely lace-up boots. I got these at a sale at the Hamilton Mountain Mall. … I just happened to go by that store and I went, ‘I want those’ … I’ve had these for 15 years and you can hardly tell. Regrets buying: Corduroy pants. I don’t know what I was thinking. Since I’m Mother Nature, I got these lovely moss green corduroy pants. They look awful. You buy them at the time and then you get them home and you go, ‘What did I buy them for?’ Loves to shop at: I’m a real Value Village girl. But I was also big into Weekenders … a line of clothing made for going on cruises or travelling. They can roll up into little balls, but you can shake them out and put them on. …
Adventure Attic in downtown Dundas, I go for a lot of pieces that I need for durability. And then I’ve just picked up on Sparks Mens and Ladies Wear in downtown Dundas.
And then two or three times a year I go to Holland Park, to the little boutique there. Their hats are great.
Ridding her closet of:
I think it’s ridiculous to have any clothes that you haven’t worn in a year or two. And I also think it’s ridiculous to have anything that you just really don’t like and you’re just not into it anymore. You might as well pack it up and get rid of it and then it gives you incentive when you’re looking for other pieces to fill in the spaces. And then I think you also have to know what is the purpose of your clothes — I need gardening, get down and dirty clothes. But I also go to the symphony. And you can’t go to a workshop in grubby clothes. Splurges on: I always splurge on tops. Because I think as you get older, it’s really hard to find just the proper thing for the body. So if you get a good quality bottom thing, then you’re gong to need several mix and match things for the top to go with it. And I love really funky sweaters … when I travel and I see a sweater different from (what I can find in) Canada, I buy it and I bring it home.
Beauty product she can’t live without:
My red hair. I went without it for a couple of years and I didn’t like it. …
Number two is lipstick. … I like dark lipsticks and I wear a red or a dark maroon and I look for one that matches the hair. I’m into Clinique, Lise Watier and Mary Kay. I used to be a Mary Kay lady. … And then I wear Clinique black long lash mascara.
Skin care is very important to me. … I can’t live without my witch hazel. My grandmother taught me that.