Vancouver Sun

PM’s kids don Richmond clothier’s creations

Richmond-based clothier revises its Canada red, at the last minute

- CHERYL CHAN chchan@postmedia.com twitter.com/cherylchan

Two days before Traci Costa was expected to deliver the outfits the children of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau were going to wear on Canada Day, she saw red — the wrong shade of red.

The red and white garb for Xavier, Ella-Grace and Hadrien Trudeau were made with the wrong fabric, a bright tomato red instead of the rich cherry red that Costa had envisioned.

“I don’t think anyone would notice, but I’d know,” said Costa, CEO of Richmond-based Peekaboo Beans, a direct-sales company that manufactur­es children’s play clothes “free from snaps, buttons and fuss.”

“We wanted to get them perfect.” Over two stressful, sleepless days recently, Costa’s team re-did the entire wardrobe — roughly 20 pieces including shirts, a dress, leggings, shorts, and jackets, all multiplied by two, since they delivered every item in two sizes, just in case.

The work paid off on Canada Day when photos and live TV broadcasts showed the Trudeau children clad in Costa’s designs standing beside their glamorous parents and visiting royals Prince Charles and wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, who were in Canada to mark 150 years since Confederat­ion.

It’s a high point for Peekaboo Beans, which Costa founded more than 10 years ago and has grown to a staff of 20 with about 1,200 independen­t sales representa­tives, or “stylists.”

Costa said she has seen the Trudeau children wearing Peekaboo Beans clothes in photos before, but dressing them for Saturday’s Canada 150 event took it to a whole different level.

“As far as exposure, that picture with the royals and the prime minister and Sophie and the kids will forever be in Canadian history,” she said, comparing it to photos of Justin Trudeau as a child with his father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, that had entered the country’s collective memory.

“That is just surreal. I can’t believe it.”

Each piece of clothing in the order reflected Peekaboo Beans’ ethos, said Costa. The brand extols the benefits of unstructur­ed “free play” for kids in clothes designed with their comfort and movement in mind.

Xavier and Hadrien’s shirts, for example, are free of buttons, as are all of Peekaboo Beans’ clothes. El-la-Grace’s dress, which has a ruffle detail on the bodice, has playful, oversized pockets.

Small details, such as red-andwhite stripes and the children’s embroidere­d initials above the number 150, subtly tie the outfits together.

Peekaboo Beans moved its manufactur­ing to a factory in China six years ago, but the custom pieces were produced locally by a pattern maker and seamstress Costa met through Vancouver designer Nicole Bridger.

The jaunty bow ties worn by the boys, Ella-Grace’s cardigan, and Hadrien’s white pants were not from Peekaboo Beans.

The bow ties could have been a nod to the formality of the event, surmised Costa. She had designed a denim jacket for Ella- Grace, but it could have been too casual. She also designed two pairs of shorts for Hadrien but no pants, and it turned out to be a chilly and rainy morning on Canada Day.

Despite the tweaks, Costa said she is still thrilled the Trudeaus picked Peekaboo Beans to dress the children. “We feel privileged we had the opportunit­y to do the core clothing for them.”

In fact, when she got an email six weeks ago from Jessica Mulroney, a fashion stylist who had worked for Grégoire Trudeau, she thought it was too good to be true.

“I thought it was spam. It was like a lightning bolt sit-up-straight moment. I thought it couldn’t be real,” she said with a laugh.

Peekaboo Beans is the latest Canadian brand to be showcased by Grégoire Trudeau, who is known for championin­g Canadian designers.

While she may not be as influentia­l as Catherine Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, whose sartorial picks often sell out — a phenomenon known as the “Kate Effect,” — Grégoire Trudeau is a style maven in her own right and has raised the profile of many local designers and labels.

Last year, Peekaboo Beans made $3.8 million in sales across Canada, with plans to expand into the U.S. by fall. A day after Canada Day, the “Trudeau Effect” was already being felt.

“My phone has been ringing nonstop, and between Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn and Twitter, it’s like my phone has taken on a life of its own,” said Costa.

Many of the messages are congratula­tory or asking how the whole thing came about, she said. “The most common question, however, is ‘can I buy that?’ ”

 ?? PHOTO BY CHRIS JACKSON/GETTY IMAGES ?? Sophie Grégoire Trudeau and Justin Trudeau, with children, from left, Xavier, Ella-Grace and Hadrien, arrive for Canada Day celebratio­ns on Parliament Hill on Saturday in Ottawa.
PHOTO BY CHRIS JACKSON/GETTY IMAGES Sophie Grégoire Trudeau and Justin Trudeau, with children, from left, Xavier, Ella-Grace and Hadrien, arrive for Canada Day celebratio­ns on Parliament Hill on Saturday in Ottawa.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada