Serge & Réal
End their reign of Montreal couture after 51 years of classic design.
Serge Senécal and Réal Bastien were Montreal’s kings of couture, dressing society, celebrities and political wives — plus Jeanne Sauvé — in made-to-measure luxury. Now they are retiring after 51 years in business and closing the shop and atelier in Westmount they have had for 26 years.
But before they sail off into the sunset with their new poodle-Maltese, Massimo, they have a few orders to fill: 30 suits for a Montreal businesswoman who shall remain unnamed, and 37 ensembles for Jacqueline Desmarais, widow of Power Corp. chief Paul Desmarais Sr., whom they had dressed for 40 years. Mila Mulroney was another faithful client, appearing at balls and fundraisers, meeting presidents and prime ministers in their signature styles — classic but with a touch of modern.
Couture is like sailing to Europe, Senécal says, something that seemingly belongs to a bygone era.
“We are old-fashioned,” Bastien declares.
“No, we are from another world, but our mentality is modern,” Senécal counters.
But it is the end of an era for the lifelong partners, and for Montreal.
Asked to recall the most memorable moment of their career, Senécal pointed to the wedding of Sophie Desmarais in 1988 at Notre-Dame Basilica and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, an “extravaganza” in which the bride was swathed in 75 yards of point d’esprit and tulle.
“She wanted a Cinderella type of dress,” Bastien said, “and we made it for her.”
Of course, Serge & Réal also dressed the mother of the bride, Jacqueline, and the wedding party, all in white. The wedding, with an international guest list, was a turning point in their career.
“Everything opened up for us,” Senécal recalled. “I was sitting next to Estée Lauder. Dinah Shore was with Pierre Trudeau.”
And Mila Mulroney was in Valentino, though after that she, too, turned to Serge & Réal for much, if not all, of her public wardrobe.
Jacqueline Desmarais, speaking from Palm Beach, where she winters and where the couturiers kept an atelier for many seasons, said the pair had made hundreds of outfits for her over the years. “My great, wonderful couturiers — Serge and Réal work real magic for me. I am absolutely, frantically having things made for my next 10 years.”
A favourite outfit? A sand-coloured silk jersey ball gown in the style of Ginger Rogers, with a swinging skirt, Desmarais said.
“She looked absolutely marvellous,” Senécal said, noting it was the first ball gown they made for her, about 40 years ago.
“We were adventurers together,” Desmaraissaid.“Weneverfollowed. We sort of did it our way, Serge, Réal and I.”
Like most couture clients, she chooses made to measure for the perfect fit and for the unique styles.
“I can go to Oscar (de la Renta) or Carolina Herrera, but somebody else will have the same dress,” Desmarais said.
The pair’s charm and sense of fun added to the allure. At 72, Senécal is tall, handsome, with a full head of salt and pepper hair and a courtly, outgoing manner. Bastien, a year younger, is quieter, the technical genius who cut every piece that left the atelier. Senécal calls himself the dreamer.
“It became like a little private club. The clients who came here felt privileged,” said Senécal, describing the atmosphere in the mirrored back shop, with its salon and spacious fitting rooms. Indeed, they were privileged: a ball gown would cost from $12,000 to $15,000, a suit $4,000 to $5,000. While expensive, those prices are a fraction of the cost of couture in a city like Paris, Bastien explained.
Today, the remnants of recent seasons hang in the front shop on Greene Ave., on sale before it closes Jan. 31. There are elaborate palmpatterned beaded palazzo pants, worn with a feathered grey boa by Nicky Harris of Palm Beach. There are little red chiffon dresses and a hot pink organza bubble coat. The delight is in the fine handiwork. The beaded pants, for example, are hemmed with the thinnest band of grey silk, every stitch perfection.
In the back shop are the museum pieces — some possibly destined for the McCord Museum’s costume collection, like a black and gold tulle confection from 1997, or a Chanel-inspired shimmering tweed jacket and dress suit (the skirt lined in exquisite lace), or a little French navy whitecollared and cuffed dress with handkerchief hem from the late 1980s.
“It was time,” Senécal said, explaining the decision to retire.
But another factor was the retirement of their skilled seamstresses,
“Nobody wants to do that,” Senécal said of sewing, explaining that fashion students don’t know how to make a dress to measure.
“They want to be designers, not couturiers,” Bastien added.
Cynthia Cooper, the costume and textiles curator at the McCord, will be considering their archives and showpieces for the museum’s collection. Cooper called it a testimonial to their significance that they have managed to keep clients convinced of the relevance of couture on a local scale.
Thierry-Maxime Loriot, curator of the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition that started its world tour at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, said it was sad that the pair are retiring. “It was their dream,” he said. “They brought to Quebec something more elaborate (in fashion), made to measure, but ‘Wow.’
“They paved the way for Quebec designers.”