Archive for September, 2010
Loving Yourself On Rainy Days
The rain is pouring down and time seems like it is slowing down.
Grey days are the perfect time to give yourself a bit of T.L.C. Some tenderness, some love, some care….Come by the store and have a tea with Cassandra or Anna or me, Erin.
It’s a great time of year to just love yourself. See yourself for who you are. Beautiful. See your self where you want to be. Doing what you want to do. The talented women in the shop are great sounding boards for your visions for yourself in the world and what you want to say. We are here to help you find a way to express the part of your self that clothing can.
So much can be said, shared…communicated in the way we dress. Be generous with yourself. Be generous with the world. Clothing can be an opportunity to share some positivity.
I have to say it. I covet this jacket. The artistically styled and tailored to perfection ode to Coco is available in several envy inspiring colour ways. I had to hold myself back from buying two. The fall collection is truly incredible. Katrin has stepped it up again. This seasons fashions are candy indulgence for the coordinates crowd. Not only are the items in the store beautiful singles on their own but they have multiple pairing options available that combine into powerful, playful, flattering ensembles. Yes! there are skirts to match this stunner. This jacket also looks great with the Cerise dress that Katrin released for late summer and has re released for fall just so you can have a last chance to co ordinate the outfit fit of my dreams. Classy and Artistic can be fabulously combined. The red jacket with Kaffe Fassette designed cotton button band and pocket embellishments is available in store for $248.
This dress is the perfect companion to the Coco Jacket. We also have beautiful, practical and playful knee length skirt in the same fabric. Perfect for work or play.
There are so many colours in this print it is easy to mix and match loads of surprising and down right fabulous combinations.
The Coco Jacket comes in several different colour combinations with different price points depending on materials and exclusivity.
This classy poka dot and check combo is a steal at $ 148 pictured below. It is so easy to combine the black ,ivory, and grays into your wardrobe basics.
- Stylish. Professional. HOT.
There are a gluttony of styles that make my mouth water in the store right now. Come save me from some. I am having a really hard time not buying them all up myself.
Your life is your most powerful art. See you at the boutique.
erin
Life in the studio is often very busy and full of machine sounds, ringing phones and beautiful chaos. Last week we took a moment to eat a delicious lunch of freshly harvested organic veggies. The spread on the sewing machines was so pretty and reflects the quality of life I am constantly striving to achieve.
Beatriz, our beloved patternmaker (we call her our Queen!) has recently retired. We celebrated her Birthday with a homemade peach pie. If I weren’t designing clothes, I would be baking pies.
Take time to eat with the people you love. The food tastes better that way.
Kat
Fabulous, Sophisticated, unexpected, playful, fun, glamorous, sensuous……. What is not to love about this dress!
photo by Bryanna Bradley/Montreal Gazette
Marylise Bourke est née en 1976. Cétte actrice québecoise a travaille’ beaucoup dans le cinema et au petit ‘ecran.
J’adore les pieds nus! Gros merci Marilyse de porter si bien ma robe Athena ($325). Cette robe est disponible aussi en bourgogne, noir et gris pour l’automne.
Pink, Charcoal, black, cherry, teal, lime burgundy……. delicious custom created palettes of woolly goodness are waiting to warm you up. Come wrap yourself in local creativity!
These vests look beautiful with Katrin’s skirts. Walk in the world sharing beauty.
Your life is your most powerful art. See you at the boutique.
erin
Kia Eastman and Lindsay Culbert-Olds
Kat
Annie Thibault haunting performance enchants. Emily des Meules has many new styles in the store and Katrin’s crinolines are available in a rainbow of colours for $140. Black tube top available in a rainbow of colours for $25 at the boutique.
Your life is your most powerful art. See you at the boutique
erin
I made this dress for Annabelle Chvostek, one of my all time favourite Montreal born singer-songwriters. I loved her music when I was 20 and have watched her career grow and blossom and evolve. The tree dress was used for a music video shoot. Here is the original sketch I made for the concept.
My process for this dress was interesting. I wanted to achieve a barky texture with knots and all, so I started by sewing rows and rows of overlock onto the fabric. Only after I had created enough texture, did I cut and sew the dress from my new material. It had a deep V for cleavage and panels that spread out at the bottom onto the ground. She wore it standing on a milk crate so that her trunk-legs looked extra tall.
Here are other images I have collected that I find intriguing, inspiring and great for upcoming Halloween ideas.
Look at this Klimt inspired image. These textiles are crazy awesome and inspiring.
These are not all traditional wax prints, but for the most part a wax print has more than one layer of printing anyways.
How it is done: The core element in Wax Print is of course the wax. Using two deep engraved copper rollers, with the mirror image of the design, the two sides of the cotton fabric are printed with a pattern of melted wax, hence the name Wax Print. The fact that the cloth is printed on both sides enables you to wear the fabric on either side. This is the true sign of a quality wax print. Following this, the cloth is immersed in a bath of dye, often Indigo, that penetrates into the areas that are not covered with wax. After the wax as been washed off in varying stages, a negative image of the printed pattern remains on the cloth.
The next step is called a The Wax Cover. It is a Wax Print which is enriched with one or more coloured patterns. These ‘cover’ patterns can be of very varying designs such as circles, stripes, birds, leaves, in fact any graphic form.
Even the photography blows me away and I can’t get enough of these prints. They are beyond incredible. They are so bold it would scare any North American Fashionista into a rabbit hole to hide and cower with her wardrobe of shlumpy grey and black minimalist modern outfits. If the goddesses from the heavens could come down to earth and shop, I am sure that these are the fabrics they would buy for their ceremonial gowns and cloud sitting leisure wear.
All of these prints are from a company called Vlisco. They are a Dutch wax printing company that have been making high end fashion fabrics destined for the African market for over a century.
Here are the photos from the most recent collection at Vlisco. Just stunning!
and my favourite ones have been saved for last:
Photos in this post by Kat
It seems to me that everyone in my family is an artist. This is the garden of my uncle Paul Leblond. It is a very magical garden with plants and colours everywhere.
As a designer who does a lot of leaf-inspired embellishments, I am especially stunned by this section of the garden. The shapes of the leaves and the two toned colour combinations are unique and inspiring.
Cleomes. Always loved them. They make the most delightful seed pods that spring open if they are touched, releasing a cascade of little black seeds into your hand.
This is the view from the back porch on a rainy day.
Lysandre Champagne fait revivre la musique de Louis Armstrong et d’autres légendes du jazz avec son groupe Misses Satchmo.
S’il y a un groupe qui peut parvenir à faire aimer le jazz à une nouvelle génération, c’est bien Misses Satchmo. D’abord un duo formé des irrésistibles Lysandre Champagne (trompette et voix) et Maude Alain-Gendreau(piano), que sont venus complémenter les excellents Frédéric Pauze (contrebasse) et Marton Maderspach (batterie), Misses Satchmo dépoussière les “standards” du genre et les interprète avec un enthousiasme rafraîchissant.
photo: David Simard
Le Divan Orange, 19 Septembre, 21h
Quai de Brumes, 28 Septembre, 22h
Le Balcon, 21 Octobre, 19h
Quai de Brumes, 3 Novembre, 22h
Le Divan Orange, 14 Novembre, 21h
PS: I’ve been dressing Lysandre for a few years now and she is a delight. This gutsy gal has some real talent and holds that stage and your attention with no effort. She’ll make you bop in your chair and smile in your cup. If you want to treat yourself to something playful and original, I suggest you check out one of the dates above. You can view a video of her on her myspace page. -Kat
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