About

Angel Hand-Painted Fashions has been in business for 40 years. Owner Jackie Haliburton studied fashion design at Chouinard Art Institute (now Cal Arts) in Los Angeles, with her designs featured in a two-page spread in Look magazine in the 1960s. (The Doors played a dance at the art school before they were famous and Ray Bradbury gave the convocation speech to Chouinard grads.) Jackie also has a fine arts/teaching degree from the University of B.C. After teaching high school art for four years, she pioneered what is now known as Wearable Art. The first Angel store was on West Fourth Avenue, beside Jerry’s Cove pub, in 1978, later moving to Broadway and then Robson Street, beside Boys’ Co. In 1998, Angel moved to No. 2 Powell in Gastown. Angel is located in one of Vancouver’s oldest buildings, which was also the first store of what is now John Fluevog Shoes. (photos below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Sixties, Canadian poet/troubador Leonard Cohen staggered out of the now defunct Europe Hotel pub across the street and wrote a poem on the wall of the Angel store.

Some of our more famous customers include Oscar-winning costume designer Angus Strathie, guitar slinger Orianthi Panagaris, Jane Fonda, Josh Ramsay of Vancouver band Marianas Trench, Nasri Atweh of the band Magic!, former Governor-General of Canada Michaelle Jean, Hawaii Five-O star Daniel Dae Kim, actress Dakota Fanning, Uma Thurman, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys Davies, Montreal Canadiens hockey legend Bob Gainey, Susan Sarandon. Tea Leoni, Poppy Montgomery, Anthony LaPaglia, Sharon Stone, Mariel Hemingway, rockers Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Canadian musician Bruce Cockburn, John Savage, Jane Seymour, John Lithgow, John Travolta’s baby, Superman’s old flame Margot Kidder, “That Girl” Marlo Thomas and the late ballet superstar Rudolf Nureyev.

Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, also wore an Angel shirt as a kid.

Angel Vancouver is located at No. 2 Powell Street in the Gastown district of Vancouver. We are Vancouver’s first and only Desigual Wow Shop. We carry an extensive selection of men’s, women’s and kids’ clothing from Desigual, which is based in Barcelona. We also do custom hand-painted T-shirts. Call (604) 681-0947 or you can email me at jackie@angelpaint.com

My recent interview with the Gastown BIA is here.

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