Marie Saint Pierre at LG Fashion Week Toronto
Marie Saint Pierre is a Montreal, Canada womenswear designer known for free-flowing, artistically inspired garments. Her clothing is a favourite of many of Canada’s cultural luminaries. Her clothes drape, wrap and layer in ways that we don’t expect. I own a few of her pieces; my favourite from many seasons ago – a crisp white taffeta shirt with exaggerated collar and cuffs. They are designed with the urban woman in mind, but any confident woman desiring to make a poetic statement would feel fulfilled enfolded in the pleats and tucks of her threads.
For her Spring/Summer 2012 presentation at LG FashionWeek Toronto, Marie teamed up with David’s Tea to host an informal tea party. The setting was the studio room in the “tents” temporarily constructed in downtown Toronto. One wall of the studio was glass, inadvertently providing a view for office workers in the surrounding buildings and in spite of the rainy weather they stood outside with their umbrellas, peering in at this world of theatrical style. Mannequins dressed in Marie’s Spring collection faced both directions running the length of the studio.
Glitter and Gold
David’s Tea provided 3 teas, but the tea I kept returning to was “Glitter and Gold”. It was blended from a base of Chinese black (I wasn’t able to get more specifics) with cinnamon and small gold leafed sugar spheres which alluded to the skull forming caps the mannequins wore. The taste was sweet with a hint of cinnamon. David’s website waxes romantically about it. I found it pleasant and tasty served up nude (no milk was in view). What I loved was the dry leaf presentation. The elegant little gold spheres are purely esthetic and reminded me of days long gone when I enjoyed very rarely, one of those fancy turkish cocktail cigarettes with the gold tips.
Two tea stations were set up and David’s enthusiastic staff were dressed fashionably in black. They had helpful, if not in depth knowledge of the teas they served, but for this crowd it was, I’m sure, a treat just to sip this hot beverage when the weather outside was blustering.
Boutique Point G created personalized macarons for the show in a selection of sensational flavours such as lime basil and choco sesame.
Marie’s presentation was one of the highlights of LGFW for me. The collection was black and white with accents of colour. There were the familiar little black dresses with Marie’s alluring talent for draping, folding and shaping. Some dresses were set off by apron-like panels of bright colour. To have the chance to witness the ever-refined talents of this fashion icon, coupled with the added pleasure of drinking tea, was as close to fashion bliss as I’ll get during the frenetic and crowded scene that is fashion week.
