REPORT CARD
STUDENT:
Bronwyn Cosgrave
GRADUATED:
Leaside High School, 1984
BEST SUBJECTS:
English, History
WORST SUBJECT:
Math
CURRENT JOB:
Writer, 007 exhibit curator
A flair for fashion has always been a forte of Bronwyn Cosgrave’s, the woman behind this month’s Designing 007: 50 Years of Bond Style exhibit at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. But until her final six months of high school, she wore a uniform every day.
Ultimately the strict nature of St. Joseph’s College School didn’t agree with her, so Cosgrave transferred to Leaside High School, for her last semester of high school, where she flourished.
Heavily influenced by her friends’ stylish mothers as well as her own family’s neat and tidy taste, Cosgrave took her love for fashion and turned it into a career.
After high school, she did a degree in history and film studies at Western though she didn’t know how to make a career of it.
So even though she had no interest in business writing, she took a job working under Desmond Smith at the CBC who “saw something in me and just encouraged me to go for it.”
Later she applied to City University’s masters of journalism program, moved to London, England, and from there things snowballed.
She got a job covering fashion for the Globe and Mail, and after finishing her education, she worked at the British newspaper the European where she covered both the fashion and film desks, allowing her to travel all over Europe.
After building a name for herself on the arts scene, jobs seem to just fall into her lap. “People come to me and they say, ‘Is there something here?’ and generally, I find something very exciting and can really help people realize projects not just as minor but as major kinds of landmarks.”
She has since been the host of a CBC reality show called Host Hunt, has written a book about Coco Chanel and is the founding chairperson of the Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize.
Now, though, Cosgrave is taking on a whole new challenge as the co-curator of Designing 007: 50 Years of Bond Style at the Barbican Centre in London, which is travelling to her hometown at the end of this month. The exhibit will show at the TIFF Bell Lightbox until Jan. 20 and features the fashion, gadgets and behind-the-scenes memorabilia of the James Bond films.
When she was approached by Eon Films, she was on board immediately. She says, “This is probably the project I am most proud of because it just worked out beautifully.”