I got to appreciate the artistry of costume design firsthand as a background player in the CBC period drama Frankie Drake Mysteries.

I was an extra, barely onscreen for a second. But my wardrobe, which consisted of a husky, seemingly bulletproof three-piece tweed suit and blue velvet hat, with matching brogues, immediately transported me to a sense of place.

“You might never see some of the clothes, but it really informs the character, and the more detailed and layered you get the better it is for the actor,” says Joanna Syrokomla, the costume designer for fellow Shaftesbury series Murdoch Mysteries.

Syrokomla also happens to be the co-chair of the inaugural Canadian Alliance of Film & Television Costume Arts & Design Awards on Feb. 10, which will celebrate the best in film and television design in Canada at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto.

It’s strange that Canadians have never had a night that is the equivalent of Hollywood’s Costume Designers Guild Awards. There are, of course, awards for costume design in film and TV at the Canadian Screen Awards. (Trysha Bakker won for Maudie in 2017). But that doesn’t recognize the breadth of accomplishment in an important industry. That’s where the alliance, a.k.a. CAFTCAD, comes in.

“Film and television production in Canada has really exploded and there is so much quality and depth of talent out there that goes unrecognized,” says Syrokomla, who is nominated in the inaugural awards for her work on Murdoch Mysteries, the web series Chateau Laurier and short film Roped.

The power of the moving image to influence fashion has been well documented.

Diane Keaton’s artful layering of menswear in Annie Hall is still referenced today. Audrey Hepburn in Givenchy’s little black dress defined elegance. And Edith Head’s work on The Sting or Theoni V. Aldredge’s vision of The Great Gatsby in the 1970s created a surge of period-influenced clothing.

And who can forget Patricia Field’s work on Sex and the City with Sarah Jessica Parker: it created a high-low fashion esthetic of $5 bargain bin tutus and thousand-dollar Manolo Blahniks that remains relevant decades later.

In the early days Hollywood productions shooting in Canada would simply fly up their stylists and designers. But that has changed as Canadians have made a name for themselves on the global scene.

That includes nominee Luis Sequeira for his sweet, strangely nostalgic work in The Shape of Water (for which he received an Oscar nomination), Debra Hanson of CBC’s Schitt’s Creek and Michael Ground of Citytv’s Bad Blood.

There are 13 categories, including for web series, short film and even television fantasy and science fiction. Shows with multiple nods include Space channel’s Killjoys with two, and three each for The Shape of Water and Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.

CAFTCAD nominees have to be citizens or permanent residents of Canada to qualify and to have worked on projects shot here.

One of the most competitive categories in the inaugural year is the low budget feature category, in which designers rarely get recognized.

“They are doing incredible work with very little money to put on the screen,” says Syrokomla.

But every designer at every price point has to pull off magic.

For her work on Murdoch Mysteries, Syrokomla creates custom-made bespoke clothing for the main characters. But she is not beyond picking up a high-necked ruffle blouse or two from Zara or Forever 21 and repurposing them as turn-of-the-century creations. Of course, art always balances with practicality. The blouses are recut with buttons in the back because you wouldn’t want to mess up a good hairdo.

“You are constantly making adjustments on the fly,” says Syrokomla. Born and raised in Toronto, the designer says she wanted to be a trapeze artist, doctor and poet before ending up as a costume designer.

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“The trapeze artist is always a balancing act, the doctor always sees everyone in their underwear, and there is poetry in your work and talking people into things they don’t necessarily want to wear,” laughs the designer.

Meanwhile, the first CAFTCAD Industry Icon Award will be given to designer Delphine White. She established herself with the early and incredibly influential films of David Cronenberg, including Scanners and Videodrome. She also worked with Norman Jewison, Barry Levinson and, most recently, Guillermo del Toro on the fourth season of The Strain.

“I have been so lucky imagining other people’s lives,” said White in a statement. “I can’t think of a better way to spend a lifetime.”