Sid Cratzbarg: Q&A Thursday
Sid Cratzbarg (Photo: Julie Oliver)
Ottawa fashion and fragrance specialist Sid Cratzbarg answered Ottawa Citizen Style’s many questions.
OCS: Who are your style icons?
SC: Valentino and Versace.
OCS: What’s on your bedside table?
SC: Fashion magazines, Time, Hello Canada
OCS: Best home accessory?
SC: My comfy chair in my redecorated family room.
OCS: Best recent fashion find?
SC: My unique silk-screened painted ties with fragrance bottles by Peach Berserk Co.
OCS: Whom would you invite for dinner if you could choose anyone in the world?
SC: Of course, the one and only Barbara Streisand and, if she wasn’t available, Michelle Obama.
OCS: You can see the debut of any piece of music in history. What would it be?
SC: Anything by Barbara!
OCS: What’s your earliest memory?
SC: My horrible (and I mean HORRIBLE!!) Grade 1 teacher!!
OCS: Your biggest fashion faux-pas, when, where and how?
SC: Slipping on my sandals with sport socks on while running out the door to pick up my newspaper. How bad is that?
OCS: Proudest moment?
SC: The birth of my beautiful daughter Hillary, the start of my fashion business and my success with the biggest fragrance launches in the country.
OCS: Favourite piece of furniture?
SC: The china cabinet that holds fond memories of my mother.
OCS: Qualities you most admire in a person?
SC: Integrity and a sense of humour and style.
OCS: Describe a perfect day off (it can be anywhere in the world).
SC: In Milan or Florence visiting all the Italian fashion and fragrance houses. Then meeting the great fragrance master Mr. Gilardi of Bois and Profumo di Firenze for a cappuccino.
OCS: Favourite visual artist, living or dead?
SC: Piccasso
OCS: Favourite local artist (if different from above, and doesn’t have to be a visual artist)?
OCS: Best book you read in the past year?
SC: As a former primary specialist/consultant, all the new books by Kalli Dakos.
OCS: Favourite food?
SC: Greek and Italian, without a doubt.
OCS: Most-oft-played song on your iPod or MP3 player?
SC: This old guy plays CDs! Love all “hip” modern music and, of course, my Babs!
OCS: Wine, beer or both?
SC: Not a big drinker, but you can invite me over for a Brown Cow.
OCS: Mac or PC?
SC: PC
OCS: Fine dining or plain old diners?
SC: Love eating out but not fussy. As my wife says, the best meal to prepare is reservations.
OCS: Best restaurant in Ottawa?
SC: Penelope’s. Love my Greek food.
OCS: Person, place or thing that makes you proudest/happiest that you live in Ottawa?
SC: Having my family around me.
OCS: Fave blog or website?
SC: Love twentyyork.com, favemagazine.ca and fajomagazine.com and blogs by Avah Taylor, Erica Wark to name a few.
OCS: Twitter, Facebook or both?
SC: Just getting used to Facebook.
OCS: What’s your guilty pleasure?
SC: Chocolate!
OCS: Favourite place to spend time?
SC: Visiting wonderful friends.
OCS: How would you like the world to remember you? What would your eulogist ideally say?
SC: Sid pursued all his ventures with passion!
Our wonderful friend, Sir Sidney! A unique individual with a dynamic personality.
Love Peach Beserk and the one and only Kingi in Toronto. My wife and I have been buying things from her since 1996.