The street of Queen was raving last night when Toronto’s own Sonja Vejin revealed her Style by Sonja Wear2Work Showcase piece for the first time ever. Although the show started over 45 minutes late, the 70 or so attendees will collectively agree with no hesitation that it was well worth the wait.

The show consisted of 16 different vintage highfashion inspired ensembles from Value Village, all of which are wearable for any of the four Canadian seasons. Eight different models, most of which are close friends of Sonja and the rest having applied via internet advertisements, participated in the case. Coming two at a time, they suavely strutted down the hardwood aisle to a range of lively, head-bouncing music and stopped in the centre to perform a series of well articulated moves choreographed by Sonja herself.

By the end, the crowd roared with approval when Sonja joined her models for the grand finale. Asked her motivation for the cause, she bubbly replied, “I shop at Value Village all the time and wanted to [eliminate the taboo] associated with it. There’s honestly some awesome stuff there – a lot of people aren’t aware of this. High fashion doesn’t have to be expensive.”