Melanie McIntosh - President

Melanie joined the SMOC Board of Trustees in 2016. She is the Associate Fashion Program Director and a fashion marketing instructor at JCI Institute. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Fashion Merchandising Communication. With over 16 years experience in education, she has taught fashion retailing, marketing, fashion history, merchandising and entrepreneurship. Her previous experience includes retail management, and merchandising consulting, as well as marketing and professional fundraising for a public art gallery. Melanie has trained, coached and managed teams throughout her career, and is a personal coach to creative entrepreneurs at Inspire.ca

Ivan Sayers - Curator

Jaz Macey - Secretary & Treasurer

Jaz Macey has worked in business operations for 5+ years alongside teaching in the Fashion Business & Creative Arts department at John Casablancas Institute. Her passion for corporate social responsibility as well as the circular impact of the fashion economy has facilitated her background in garment design and sales integration. Alongside her role as secretary and treasurer, Jaz also serves on SMOC’s Media & Web committee.

Marlo de Vaal - Marketing

Marlo de Vaal’s career in fashion began in her high school’s theatre department. She holds two diplomas, in Costuming for Stage & Screen, and Fashion Marketing. She worked briefly in the Vancouver film industry before pivoting her career to fashion. Weaving between her love for fashion and costuming is the belief that clothing tells a story. She now works in digital marketing and costuming for local theatre productions. Marlo started writing fashion-in-media articles for SMOC’s newsletter in February 2021, and in April 2022, joined the Board of Directors as Marketing Director and Editor of the newsletter.

Angela Clarke

Angela Clarke is the Curator at Il Museo, Italian Cultural Centre.

Melanie Talkington

Melanie Talkington has always been fascinated with historic costume and collected antique objects that felt precious and needed protection. She was enthralled by the intricate detailing, delicate laces and buttons, including the amazing interior structures of Victorian clothing.

She acquired her first antique corset in 1997. Using historical patterns from her collection, Melanie started a business reproducing corsets. Lace Embrace Atelier specializes in bespoke corsetry, crafting authentic corset patterns for people all over the world.

Melanie also teaches corsetry at Capilano University in addition to producing corsets and costumes for film and television. Some of her work has been in Suckerpunch, Once Upon a Time and A Series of Unfortunate Events plus many other shows. 

Charlotte Burke

Charlotte Burke holds a BFA and an MFA in Design for the Theatre. Charlotte has recently retired from over a decade of teaching for the Costuming for Stage and Screen Program at Capilano University. She has always had a deep interest in clothing and social history, using her studies to support her work as a designer and cutter for period costume in theatre and film. As well as serving on the Board, Charlotte is presently assisting in the collections work for SMOC.

Denise Jacques

Denise Jacques served as a trade commissioner in the Canadian foreign service. She was posted to Costa Rica and served in Canadian missions in Mexico, Tel Aviv, Sydney, and Barbados. After retiring from the foreign service, she completed her Ph.D. in material history at the University of Ottawa.

Jonathan Wells