Author Archive
Fair Trade Flowers
Everyone loves getting flowers. Especially this time of year, we’re busy buying each other roses by the dozen, orchids to brighten our kitchen tables, or pots of crocuses .
Where we buy our flowers makes a serious impact in the lives of many people. The commercial flower industry is as horrifying, corrupt, and abusive as the sweatshop-clothing industry. Not something anyone wants to support!
Katrin Leblond Design celebrates the fact that our clothes are ethically made, and that the people who lovingly stitch the garments actually get paid fairly for their labour. In this industry, that says a lot.
Buying fair-trade flowers is just as important. It’s the difference between supporting local farmers, sustainable agriculture, and small businesses, and supporting cheap mass-labour, pesticide use, human-rights violations, and unnecessary fossil fuels.
There are many wonderful florists in Montreal that carry fair-trade, locally-grown flowers. Here are just a few. Go visit them as you pick your perfect bouquet!!
You can also pay a visit to Jean-Talon Market and see what local farmers have in store for you there. There’s something lovely about talking to the people who actually grew and harvested the blossoms themselves.
- A flower market in Ohio
Enjoy the beauty that flowers add to your home. Buy someone you love flowers, or better yet, buy yourself a sunny bouquet. Flowers add magic and enchantment to a space. When they’ve been grown and harvested with love, I bet that magic’s even stronger.
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
Vanessa recently returned from a life-changing trip to India. In her seven weeks there, she experienced sensory awareness on a whole new level. “I felt more alive than I ever had,” she said. Her feeling of being “home” was uncanny.
photo by Vanessa Finnie, available at Boutique Katrin Leblond
She’s been back since November, and is still processing what she learned on that trip. As part of that process, she has started making cards with the photographs she took in India. These stunning cards are now available for sale at the Boutique.
photo by Vanessa Finnie, available at Boutique Katrin Leblond
Her photographs are moving and joyous. They are full of colour and movement, humour and peace. The intensity of her emotions on that trip comes across strongly in her pictures. They are definitely worth a trip to the boutique to see first-hand. And are available for only $6.50 each. Give one to yourself or to someone you are thinking of.
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
Photos from Creativecommons.org and by Sarah Pearson.
Hats are amazing.
Fancy hats are artful and feminine. In Montreal, we see plenty of styling hats. From fashionable faux-fur to ornate straw sunhats, to tulle-and-velour headpieces for Sunday church, women here know how to pull of the hat.
Which brings me to the Royal Family.
Everyone’s talking about princess-to-be Kate Middleton. She’s making history because, fancy-private-school-education aside, she’s a commoner. Will that make her more accessible to her subjects?
I have a different question: will she inspire more women to wear fashionable hats?
Women in the Royal Family have a habit of popularizing new hats. Both Diana and Queen Elizabeth II were hat-visionaries. I hope Kate follows in their footsteps.
Hats are indeed masterful crafts. Just look at this work of art:
A few weeks ago, I tried on one of Katrin Leblond’s headpieces for the first time. I put it on just for fun, but then…didn’t take it off for three hours. I had to have it. It felt so comfortable, so womanly, and so very classic.
Katrin Leblond headpieces on display at the Boutique
Fancy hats are as classically feminine as a string of pearls. Any woman can wear them with grace.
Feathers and fun await at the Boutique
I’m not wildly concerned about the Royal Family’s political rulership, but I am sure curious what Kate Middleton will do for young women’s fashion. I’m counting on her to Bring Back the Hat.
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
More and more businesses recognize the benefits of having animals around. Did you know that employees at Google headquarters can bring their pets to work? In fact, they are actually encouraged to?
Many companies, recognize that animals make us better people. They align us with our values. They help awaken our senses. Their needs are simple – a bowl of food here, a trip to the vet there – but it’s enough to keep us in a healthy rhythm ourselves. It’s enough to keep us on track.
Pets make us more productive, and certainly more creative.
Artists have long understood the importance of keeping pets around. Mary Oliver wrote an incredible book of poetry mostly inspired by her morning walks with her dog. Sarah McLachlan attributes getting through one long creative block to her companionship with her pup. I know some of my best ideas are the ones I first share with my cat.
Animals can sense the things we’re often desensitized to. They know when we need a snuggle, a hand-licking, or when we need to play. They also know when we need some fresh air. What’s better – and healthier – than a cigarette break? A dog-walking break!
- prints from Katrin Leblond’s spring collection
One of Katrin Leblond’s, um, more furry of team members is Arthur, Kat’s brother’s dog. He hangs out a lot at the studio, keeping the team company. Does he earn his keep? You betcha. The creative inspiration he brings to the workspace, as well as his boundless ability to love, is priceless. It’s a treat to be in the studio or boutique when Arthur’s around. He just has a way of keeping everything more real.
Much of Kat’s new spring collection was inspired by animals. Monkeys, fish, and elephants all made their way into her latest designs. However, I believe that more art than we give credit for is inspired, in one way or another, by the pets in our lives.
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
You know, the UK fashion designer who’s been named Queen of Punk, and who also happened to design Carrie’s wedding dress in Sex and the City I?
She recently starred in a documentary. Basically her, on her bicycle, giving her audience a private tour of all her favorite London haunts. By haunts, we mean art galleries.
- London’s National Gallery
Though London is one most expensive cities on the planet, entrance to all the national galleries is completely free. That is a powerful message about the justice of democratizing high art.
I love the message behind this. I believe strongly in democratizing “high” art. I believe in making beauty and culture accessible. I believe that the masters – the artists who dared to change the world with their art, not the ones who catered to a phase and then burned out – should belong to all people. Their work, I believe, is the copywright of humanity. I also believe that, given their important work, great artists must get paid.
For a woman credited with birthing punk fashion in the 70s, it is mildly funny to see her lauding the values of high vs. underground culture.
- Vivienne Westwood’s bridal design
She is anti-establishment, yet also vehemently pro high-art. The two, she posits, go hand in hand.
Here’s what she told the Globe and Mail: “if you’re an art-lover, you’re also a freedom fighter, and you need to take part in trying to save the world.”
That is also the spirit behind Katrin Leblond’s work. Kat believes fiercely in making art to better the world. She expresses this both in her craft itself, and in the way she runs her business. Her garments are made ethically, and her business is run with utmost concern for the environment.
Through vehemently defending beauty, she brings light and love to the world. The clothes she produces, brimming with joy and made with love and justice, spread positivity when they’re worn in the world.
Vivienne Westwood insists that art exists to make us better people. That love for humanity is certainly present in every piece of art that comes through our Boutique doors.
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
What happens when seven visionary women find their artistic rivers converging into the same sea?
You get the WAWA Show.
We Are Women Artists – or WAWA for short – is the brainchild of indie-burlesque singer-songwriter Amanda Mabro, one of Montreal’s most talked about emerging artists. She started this collective six years ago as a way of building community and support among women artists. More than a “concert,” it’s a veritable festival of impassioned, courageous art.
This year’s interdisciplinary show includes performances from Amanda herself, as well as eight other songwriters, circus performers, musicians and visual artists. Among those six is Katrin Leblond.
This is going to be a powerful evening. The sheer talent alone is not to be missed. Amanda Mabro is acclaimed throughout the country, and has driven critics wild at the Montreal Jazz Festival and Osheaga.
The Good Lovelies are an adored Canadian roots-folk trio, winning a Juno last year.
Our very dear friend Krin Haglund will be hosting along with Andreane Leclerc, bringing acrobatic magic to the cabaret-like evening.
Mirjana Milovanovic will be lending her haunting vocals, fresh from her two-year gig with Cirque du Soleil in Vegas.
Andree Anne Handfield‘s photography will add a visual depth to the evening.
Katrin Leblond will provide the finest couture for the performers, dazzling our senses with colours, cuts, and luscious prints.
This is bound to be a memorable evening. The unique beauty of each of these artists is very powerful. As they join forces for one single night, the energy’s bound to be overwhelmingly great.
ONE NIGHT ONLY
February 28, 2011
8pm
@ Théatre Gésu centre de créativité
$25
Tickets available at Boutique Katrin Leblond! Or visit the WAWA website.
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
It’s time for another Katrin Leblond Studio Sale! Come visit Kat’s own creative space to snag some awesome deals on her collections. Prices are marked 20%, 30%, 50%, even 75% off!
If you haven’t visited Kat’s sunny Mile End studio, now’s your chance. It’s a powerful, magical place that faces west to the Mountain. The sale begins just in time to catch the late-afternoon flood of sunlight.
Curious about the sales?
This awesome skirt is down to 49.50 from its original price of 175!
I own this skirt in brown and it is a priceless part of my collection. You have to feel the velour for yourself.
These amazing jackets are knocked down to 50% off.
These elegant, asymmetric jackets are perfect for spring (which, according to the groundhog, is just around the corner).
February 21, 22 and 23rd, 2011
1 pm-9:00pm
5333 Casgrain, suite 902
We can’t wait to see you!! Get there early to snag the best deals!
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
Katrin Leblond’s new spring season was inspired by a wish.
Well, actually, three wishes.
A rack-full of new spring wear!
When it came time to draw up themes for this new collection, Kat was ready to try something new. She sat down her whole creative team, and asked them to write down their three wishes for humanity.
She collected these three wishes, some in English and some in French, and read through them. There were many overlaps – wishes for the health of the oceans, for endangered animals like elephants and monkeys, wishes for clean and safe foods, wishes for the forests. There were wishes for the emancipation of children, for the heart of humanity to be wide open, and for all people to enjoy the warmth of the sun.
“I wanted these wishes to be the inspiration behind the collection,” Kat explained to me, “but I also wanted to make sure that my intent was clear.” She wanted to tap into not just her visual impression of these wishes, but that of the collective consciousness. In today’s world, that means paying a trip to Google.
Kat sat down at her computer and entered every wish, word-for-word, into google-image. She leafed through the images, and absorbed.
Google-image was able to make free associations that no single designer would have been able to make on her own. The wealth of inspiration was overwhelming.
The pattern from a dress inspired by native women
“Images kept coming up of spiritual leaders,” Kat told me, “that I never would have associated with some of these wishes, but there they were. We were talking about using the colour grey, and I had no ideas for that, but then I typed in ‘elephants’ and all this grey imagery came up!”
Little by little, groups of this new collection will appear at the Boutique. One group has already been released, which is inspired by First Nations women and is rich with earth tones and sandy hues.
earth tones abound in the first group of springwear
Other treats we have to look forward to are a Garden Vegetable Skirt, a Planet Earth Skirt, and lots of elephant motifs, leaf appliqués and ocean imagery.
And we’re keeping it close to the source. “The wish that inspired the piece will be tagged on the hanger of each garment, so that people can know what it means,” Kat tells me. “I want to think of each garment as a magic spell that we’re putting out into the world for humanity.”
A magic spell wished for by the women who made these garments with their own hands, no doubt weaving their intentions into each fold of fabric.
It should indeed be a magical spring at Boutique Katrin Leblond.
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
Colette van Haaren is a quiet woman with lots of power. The best way she finds to share that power? Through her fingers.
Colette is a yarn artist who’s been knitting and crocheting since childhood. Today, she produces some of the Boutique’s fastest-selling items. From stunning wool ponchos and cardigans to neck warmers and scarves to playful wool jewelry, Colette is an integral part of the Boutique Katrin Leblond Collection.
Having learned the basics of yarn crafts as a young girl, Colette got “hooked” (pun intended!) on the craft in her twenties, when she designed and marketed her own line of knitwear.
Then she stopped. She became a mother. She got busier. “Life got in the way,” she says, and her knitting work went on hiatus.
As any artist who’s ever been on hiatus knows, your art always comes back. In recent years, Colette has returned to her needles and knit machines, and is producing more clothing, accessories, and jewelry than ever before. And Boutique clients clearly can’t get enough of her work.
Many artists and spiritual seekers talk about their way “in” – the thing that connects them to the source. The way Colette describes knitting, it is so clear that this is her way in. “Simple shapes and mindless knitting allow me to get into a meditative state,” she writes. “I get to relax and have lap throws, pillows, hats, shawls, and headbands … to show for it.”
She is not alone in her love for the craft. Thousands of men and women discover the transcendental powers of yarn-art every year. There has been no doubt a knitting revival in the last decade, particularly among young women. “Stitch ‘n Bitch” groups have become increasingly popular, along with other traditionally “grandmotherly” crafts. Canning, bread-making, gardening and crochet are all on the list of reclaimed feminine-domestic arts.
Some theorists say this revival has to do with third-wave feminism. Maybe it also has to do with people wanting to slow down in a world that’s getting faster and faster.
Slowing down is part of the draw for Colette. In her personal statement, she writes:
“yarn crafts, when done by hand, progress slowly. Just doing it can get you to relax or into a meditative state. Practicing these ancient techniques connects me to all the people who have worked these crafts out of necessity, duty, pleasure, and love.”
She continues the tradition this Wednesday night, at Boutique Katrin Leblond, where she will share her line of knitwear through a very special evening of tango. This is not to be missed. Come be a part of the knitting legacy.
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
I’m not the kind of gal that ever dreamed of my future wedding dress. I never “played wedding” as a kid, or drew pictures of my ideal gown. It’s only now, as more and more friends walk down the isle dressed in white, that I’m actually thinking about my own future wedding, should I get married.
Or rather, I’m thinking about how differently I would like to do it myself.
Katrin Leblond has designed many a bridal gown – some in white, some in chartreuse, some (for example, her own) in deep magenta. At the heart of her bridal designs is the same philosophy at the heart of all of our styles and designs: wear what feels like you.
Below is a photo from Katrin’s cousins’ wedding. Emilie opted for an ivory strapless dress with chiffon and beading at the bust (that is hidden by the pink mohair shawl she is wearing). Of course you can see the tradition of wearing purple at Leblond functions showcased by many in the clan. I would also like to draw you attention to the fabulous KL handbag in fuchsia on the lap of her Aunt Lucie (front right).
The history of the white wedding dress is actually quite recent. It was Queen Victoria who popularized the white dress in 1840, having built her nuptial getup around some special lace she wanted to show off. Her wedding was widely photographed, and other brides then copied her style. Since then, the white dress has come to represent the bride’s virginity as she prepares to enter matrimony. (Is it not ironic that this fashion should develop in this era, which probably has the lowest bridal-virginity rate in Western history?)
Big white ballgowns look natural on some brides. On others there is nothing better than colour. Shouldn’t it be up to each bride to decide for herself: colour or no?
- Queen Victoria’s White Wedding Dress, circa 1840.
Before the 1800s, it was customary for European brides to wear rich colours and fabrics, to show off the wealth of the family they were marrying from (even if they were poor). In the East, red is the traditional colour for many Indian and Chinese bridal dresses.
A Japanese couple on their wedding day
Traditional Chinese wedding garb
White is a traditional choice for some women – even for those who have been living with their partners for many years, or who already have kids. The tradition of white as representing virginity is fading but the importance of the it’s symbol has not. Personally, if I have the opportunity to dump hundreds or thousands of dollars on a dress I’ll wear once, I want it to be a colour that resonates with me personally, that flatters my skin tone and sends an intimate message about me and my partner.
The plaid wedding dress: a neat take on tradition
That’s just me. On the other hand, I can completely understand the power behind a white wedding dress. It is the archetype of “Bride” in today’s culture. When crafting a meaningful ceremony, having that cultural symbol behind you is powerful.
To all brides-to-be out there: I share this message with you. Wear what you want to wear on your wedding day. If your heart says white, listen to your heart. If swatches of pinks or emerald, yellows or royal blue are pulling at your sleeve, don’t be afraid to explore that magical world of colour either. Bottom line is always the same:
Wear what feels like you.
A bridal headpiece by Katrin Leblond
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
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