30 MOMENTS FOR 30 YEARS
Book celebrates designer Saint Pierre’s career
She has become a part of Quebec’s cultural fabric — a fabric she has cut, pleated and tailored in her own inimitable way. Marie Saint Pierre is a veritable emblem of local fashion.
This year marks her third decade in the business. In 1987, 25-yearold Marie-Josée Charest was perched at the bar at L’Express restaurant on St-Denis St. with her friend Thierry, in town from France. The LaSalle College graduate had begun making coats, dubbing her brand Marie Victoire, a nod to Place des Victoires in Paris. But she felt the name didn’t quite suit her. She craved something more authentic.
“I was sitting right over there,” says the famed designer, stretching her arm toward L’Express’s burgundy stools. Thierry was scribbling potential monikers in the sketchbook he always carried. He jotted down “Marie Saint Pierre,” in homage to her mother’s maiden name. Just like that, one of Montreal’s best-known luxury labels was born.
Flash forward to today and Saint Pierre is sitting at the back of that same restaurant, sipping tea in her signature uniform: all black clothing with co-ordinating square frames. The label she christened here 30 years ago has managed to thrive in a tempestuous industry, amassing legions of devotees. It’s a feat few Quebec brands have achieved. To underline the milestone, fashion journalist Madeleine Goubau approached Saint Pierre about the possibility of a book about her. The designer hadn’t even realized the anniversary was coming up.
“I don’t really celebrate myself,” says Saint Pierre. “I’m always working on the next season, living in the future. But since we hadn’t done anything for our past milestones, I thought: Why not?”
The result is Maison Marie Saint Pierre: en 30 tableaux (Québec Amérique, 312 pages, $29.95), a compilation of 30 defining moments in the designer’s career. Goubau paints Saint Pierre’s setbacks and victories in vivid strokes against the backdrop of a changing city, from a young Marie sewing sleeves in her Habitat 67 apartment to an unstoppable powerhouse showing a collection at Montreal Fashion Week three days after a fire nearly destroyed her St-Ambroise St. studio in St-Henri in 2012.
The city plays the part of a silent protagonist throughout her journey, a source of inspiration and frustration in equal parts.
“Normally, I should have left. When I started, it felt like there was no future in Montreal, no clientele, no infrastructure. Everyone told me to go to Paris or New York. I tried, but I came back. I had a community here. It’s where I belonged.”
Just as the city has made an impact on Saint Pierre, the designer
has left an indelible stamp on la métropole. She put Montreal on the fashion map and advocated for local production. She has re-energized every neighbourhood her business has called home, turning the once-lacklustre de la Montagne St. into a luxury retail destination and encouraging designers to return to Chabanel St., the city’s fallen garment district, which she is now revitalizing with her new atelier.
“I don’t think Marie fully grasps how remarkable her story is,” says Goubau. “When it’s your daily grind, you don’t have time to reflect. But for an outsider peeking in, it’s an exceptional path. I could have written 90 chapters!”
It’s a tale of determination and audacity. This is a woman who narrowly dodged an arrest in Mexico to get the perfect shot for her lookbook, remade her ruined wedding dress from scratch a few days before her nuptials, and planned the last details of a New York fashion presentation from a Ste-Justine Hospital bed while breastfeeding her newborn daughter.
“I go with my gut. If I fail, so be it. If people disagree, that’s OK. There’s one person I need to please, and that’s me. It can be hard in a world where women are under extreme pressure to be perfect, but you have to live your life.”
That fearlessness is woven through every item Saint Pierre creates. She bucks trends, sticking instead to an esthetic that pushes the envelope while standing the test of time. That’s surely what has seduced her faithful customers, who range from working mothers to such celebrities as Clara Hughes and Gloria Estefan.
The designer says Dawn Farrell, president and CEO of TransAlta Corp., a Calgary-based electricity power generator, recently wore a crisp white Marie Saint Pierre blazer at a White House roundtable where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed the advancement of women in business.
“That she put on one of my pieces to face the cameras of the world and promote female empowerment was a huge compliment,” the beaming designer says. “She stood out in a sea of grey suits. It was such a confident choice.”
Saint Pierre’s designs accompany her clients in their daily lives and defining moments, delivering timeless style without the sacrifice of comfort or practicality. “Women are busy enough as it is. I want my clothes to serve them, not enslave them.”
It’s this distinctive blend of sophistication and state-of-the-art functionality that has fuelled her longevity, allowed her to open a successful boutique in Miami and earned her copious awards, including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
“This isn’t an easy industry,” Saint Pierre says. “But knowing that my clothes make women feel strong and protected is what keeps me going.”