By Isabel B. Slone
Racked.com
May 18, 2016
Cambridge, Ontario is the home of the mighty Grand River, a ripping Highland Games and...not much else. Halfway between rural and metropolis, it's an awkward mashup of big box stores and idyllic nature trails, with highways dividing the three distinct townships — Galt, Preston and Hespeler — that were amalgamated in 1973 to form the town. It's the kind of place where a Kentucky Fried Chicken resides a few short steps away from a gourmet vinegar shop. Somewhat inexplicably, it is also home to a tiny Fashion History Museum; one of the only independent museums of its kind in all of North America.
The Fashion History Museum opened in 2015 and resides downtown in a stately brick building covered in climbing vines, that used to be the town's old post office. It is the brainchild of Jonathan Walford, a former curator at the Bata Shoe Museum, and his partner Kenn Norman. Sitting side-by-side, they appear almost identical; two husky gay men in their mid-50s with graying beards, blue button-down shirts and sensible shoes. Norman wears artsy John Lennon frames, while Walford sports a more classic pair of square Drew Carey-esque spectacles.