A collaboration between MONTECRISTO magazine and Ballet BC.
Directors: Gene Doe.
Cinematographer: Benjamin Loeb.
Ballet BC Artistic Director: Emily Molnar.
Cast: Gilbert Small, Alyson Fretz, Makaila Wallace.
MONTECRISTO Editor: Craig David Long.
MONTECRISTO Art Director: Mark Reynolds.
Stylist: Leila Bani.
Hair and Makeup: Negar Hooshmand.
Music: “Sutphin Boulevard” by Blood Orange.
My cover story about acclaimed fashion designer Jason Wu. Read the full profile online at www.montecristomagazine.com.
Story by Craig David Long.
Portrait by Peter Ash Lee.
Jason Wu arrives at a Gastown restaurant with a small group of Hudson’s Bay Company executives and clientele. They’ve just come from a party thrown in his honour, to celebrate the launch of his spring/summer 2012 ready-to-wear collection. As frothy pink Clover Club cocktails clink together all-too-appropriately for his aesthetic, Wu, smiling and sinking quietly into his seat, is finally able to relax.
He arrived in Vancouver that very morning and will leave again for New York first thing the next day; it’s Wu’s first time back to his hometown in over 15 years. At nine years old, in 1991, he emigrated from Taiwan to Vancouver with his family, like so many others who belonged to that wave from Asia and who have seamlessly woven their culture into the fabric of our city, enriching it. Though he only spent five years here before leaving for boarding school in the United States, they were five auspicious years. Reflecting over dinner, Wu says, “When I moved here, a lot of immigrants from Taiwan and Hong Kong were moving here as well. It was an interesting time. I didn’t speak a word of English, but I had this tutor named Muriel—Muriel Kauffman. I wasn’t so interested in text books, so she gave me a pile of fashion magazines and sort of taught me English through there.”
At the time, perhaps Ms. Kauffman didn’t realize she was grooming the young man to become one of the most successful young fashion designers of this decade. Already, at only 29 years old, Wu has established his own eponymous private fashion label (founded in 2006); been a finalist in the Council of Fashion Designers in America (CFDA)/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2008; and dressed countless celebrities and starlets for public appearances over the years, including most notably First Lady Michelle Obama, whose white floor-length, crystal-embroidered, silk-chiffon gown, worn to the Inaugural Ball, was inducted into the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in 2010. Later that year, Wu also received the prestigious CFDA Swarovski Award for Womenswear.
“I liked the pretty pictures,” Wu says earnestly of those first magazines, whose pages today his clothing graces. “I just wanted to read more about what I was seeing.” And shortly after the presentation of his fall/winter 2012 show this past February, Wu was excited to report that Ms. Kauffman was able to join him in New York to observe the catwalk. “It really meant so much to have had her in from Vancouver,” Wu enthuses.
And in more ways than one was the fall/winter 2012 fashion show a personal one. While in Taiwan on the occasion of his brother’s wedding about a year and a half ago, Wu was inspired to create a collection that tapped into his own cultural heritage. “I think that was when the seed was planted that I wanted to do something that was Chinese influenced.” Marching down the runway to the sound of clashing cymbals, models wore the style of three historical periods in Chinese dress: empirical brocades from the Qing Dynasty; structural, military tailoring reminiscent of Mao’s Communist Revolution; and the sensational Hollywood glamorisation of China in 1930s films like Shanghai Express.
This, of course, was not the first time these themes have appeared in designer fashion—especially as of late. Numerous major fashion houses have appropriated orientalism and chinoiserie in their collections to capture the increasingly powerful Asian consumer group, albeit to criticism at times. But for Wu, “it was more a reflection on how I perceive my own background. I think it was important that I look at it with a different set of eyes, because I grew up with these elements. I almost wanted to poke fun at it a little bit by interpreting it through stereotypes … but also by incorporating all of that in a way that is elegant and powerful at the same time.”
When an article appeared in a September 2009 edition of the Wall Street Journal with the headline, “Asian-Americans Climb Fashion Industry Ladder”, it caused much hype, speculation, and comparison between young New York designers like Wu, Alexander Wang, Phillip Lim, Thakoon Panichgul, Prabal Gurung, Derek Lam, Richard Chai, and Doo-Ri Chung—most of whom have also been recipients of CFDA awards. “I think there is something really exciting going on with youth right now,” Wu retorts. “And [New York] is one of the most exciting places for young designers. This movement’s been going on for a little bit, but people still ask me, ‘There are so many Asian-born designers right now in New York. Why do you think that is?’ Well, I felt like [the fall/winter 2012 collection] was the first time I actually addressed that. And I suppose this hasn’t really been done before—an Asian designer tapping into the Asian side. Usually, culturally, we stay away from it … I feel like I’m at a place where I’m maturing not just as a designer, but as a person, to embark on inspirations that hit close to home.”
And home, as brief as it was for Wu here in Vancouver, is where it all comes full circle. “I just thought Vancouver was one of the places where I really developed and blossomed into my designer abilities,” he says. “It’s the place where it all began. It’s funny, because I remember coming to the Bay. Mind you, it was quite different 15 years ago. It’s got a luxe new spin, now. But it was in Vancouver that my mom bought me my first sewing machine, and that was really when I first started sewing. I didn’t have money for fabric, I just had all these little snippets. So, I made clothes for dolls, instead.”
The dolls were truly what paved the way to Wu’s future successes. At age 16, he submitted his work to Integrity Toys, a major doll manufacturer, and soon began designing costumes and accessories for their collections, something he does on occasion for the company to this day. Taking on increasing responsibility at Integrity as he completed high school, a student exchange to Paris, studies at Parsons the New School for Design in New York, and an internship at Narciso Rodriguez, Wu was all the while building a small empire for himself that would allow him to launch his own fashion label by the mere age of 24. Wu says, “I think I’ve grown up in fashion. Whereas some people would have dipped their toes into it, I dove in headfirst. And I don’t think I would have done it any other way … It wasn’t an option for me not to succeed, because at the time I didn’t know there was any other option. I just saw my goal and I went for it. I knew it. Nothing stopped me.”
And industry leaders took note. Inclusion in photographer Bruce Weber’s July 2008 W magazine editorial, “Summer Camp”, placed Wu alongside designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, Alexander Wang, Jeremy Laing, Alexis Mabille, Georgina Chapman of Marchesa, and Gareth Pugh as ones to watch. “It was a hot moment,” Wu reminisces. “None of us were really that well-known back then, and now a lot us are doing really interesting things in the industry.” And of course there was also the fortuitous moment in January 2009 when Michelle Obama wore his dress. “I never dreamed of the day where my work, so early on, would be in the Smithsonian and outlive me and be preserved alongside the greats,” Wu says. “It was history in the making. But those aren’t any of the things that crossed my mind as I was making the dress. You can’t think of it, otherwise it becomes too big of a task. I was just trying to design a dress that she would look great in. That was it.”
Even with all the awards and accolades, Wu’s passion and dedication to create beautiful lines and soft details has never waned. He’d still rather be behind the scenes in the workroom, sewing or draping garments, than be at a dinner party (though he is effortlessly charming even when he has to be at one). He also seems immune from the fashion industry’s many distractions when he says, “Fashion is very glamorous, and that’s why I love it. But the glamour is in creating beautiful things. Behind every part of the business, though, it’s mostly hard work, and I think I’m realistic about what I have to do. Don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly happy and grateful with all the success that has come my way, but I never want to let that stop me from trying to be even better. I mean, I’m 29, and I’m all done? Forget that! I want to do this for another 50 to 60 years.” Surely he will.
From the Spring 2012 issue of MONTECRISTO.
Editor: Craig David Long.
Art Director: Mark Reynolds.
Photography: Kin Chan.
Styling: Mila Franovic.
Model: Colin Askey with Lizbell Agency.
Grooming: Melanie Neufeld for Lizbell Agency.
From the Spring 2012 issue of MONTECRISTO.
Story by Craig David Long.
Photos by Jody Rogac.
What’s in a name? For Dana Lee, a lot. It has been six seasons since she launched her eponymous menswear fashion brand and six years since she first moved to New York, portfolio in hand, trying to make a go of it there. On a visit back to her hometown of Vancouver, Lee sits comfortably at a sturdy wooden table in a friend’s top-floor Strathcona studio. Here, the door to the rooftop patio is open, letting a halcyon breeze and tawny light pour in as she reflects on the trajectory of her career thus far as a fashion designer.
Lee grew up in North Vancouver, and studied at the University of British Columbia and then in the fashion program at Kwantlen University College (now Kwantlen Polytechnic University). Shortly after that ended, she travelled to the U.K. and Finland, eventually settling in New York. “I wanted to move to New York so badly,” Lee remembers. “I wanted to do menswear but was so shy at the time that I didn’t want to use my own name. And just to be a girl doing menswear—instead, I used the name of my boyfriend at the time.” Although Lee disbanded the collection shortly thereafter, the move to New York may have been one of the best decisions she ever made.
“There have been a lot of other challenges, but from day one I’ve had a presence in New York,” Lee says. “It made it easy for people to come and see the work, and to create a community around it.” She launched a second label called the A–Z Collection to great reception; not many designers can count New York’s Opening Ceremony or Paris’s Surface to Air as stockists in their first season. “I had about 12 really good stores internationally, in Canada and the U.S. and Paris and Japan. I just kind of scrambled as I figured things out, and by the end of five seasons, when I finally knew what I was doing, I decided that I didn’t really want to be doing that anymore. So that was the end of that.”
The limitations of the brand were something she could only discover after having reached them; she felt the elementary A–Z concept constrained her, and wanted to create something more lasting. “When you first start out, you want to do something that really cuts through and makes a statement,” she says. “But things always change, and if you want to do that constantly, you have to create something that’s constantly changing and hard-hitting. In the end, that’s not really me.”
In 2009, Lee’s Japanese distributor suggested that she start a new line using her own name, but the thought of it made her cringe. It made her New York showroom cringe, too; they told her no one would want to buy her brand. She did it anyway, reluctantly at first, but once the whole package came together visually, it started to make sense. Her key stockists didn’t hesitate to come on board.
“I think the continuity has always been in trying to do something really basic. That’s very much what I like, and I try to stick to what I like because it comes across the most, I don’t know, honest,” she says. “Now I really like that I’m doing a namesake brand. I like knowing that whatever you do, you’re doing the right thing, because it’s for you.”
Lee dropped her New York showroom this season and has taken on sales herself. “It’s a really nice change to be able to meet people face to face and have them in your own environment,” she says. “And the people who are selling the collection, who you bring on, their personalities sort of project what you want the brand to project.” Lee also uses friends and acquaintances as models, something she says has helped her develop the line. “You get to see what the clothes look like immediately on a variety of different, real people. I started paying more attention to a lot of guys and their personalities and how they carried themselves and what they wore. I think being a woman—a woman attracted to men—has a big influence on why some things I design look the way they do.”
Growing up, Lee spent her time shopping at army surplus stores and thrift shops, studying how things were made. “I got really tuned into the difference between this jacket and that jacket, this zipper and that zipper. And then when I went to school, it really became apparent that’s what I should focus on. I realized how much I already knew about [men’s] clothes, so maybe that was something special I could offer.” Today, she manufactures many of her own textiles, and custom calibrates the dye formulations for each fabric to ensure the colours come out exactly as she envisions them. Colour is almost always the starting point for her. “Being so busy all the time, running around in New York and keeping things going with production in Vancouver and Toronto, has made the simple moments in life seem really special,” she says. “There is so much beauty in everyday passings. The way something looks under the light, the colour—I find myself pulling inspiration from that.”
Ink, celery, Formica tabletops, Tabasco, canaries and porcelain: these were the colour items that inspired her mid-century, tiki-themed spring/summer 2012 collection. Now having been through the cycle a few times, she sees the end presentation before she even begins the design. “There’s a lot of time put in thinking about how people will look wearing the clothes and what kind of objects can relate to them,” she says. “Then in fine tuning the textures and the stitching—all those little nuances that make something feel a certain way, or that bring out an emotion or a memory. Because I design such simple things, there’s nothing really that groundbreaking about what I do. I mean, there are some things I hope people find special about it, but that’s why the whole package is so important.”
Cool, honest and effortlessly humble—as much can be said about the clothing as the woman behind it.
From the Winter 2011 issue of MONTECRISTO.
Story by Craig David Long.
Few people ever witness firsthand the traditional Inuit, Sami, and Siberian territories that span our planet’s remote North—save for those aforementioned, who have made it their home, blending tradition and culture with the remote frozen landscape, for centuries. And though the Arctic Circle is among the most fascinating and breathtaking parts of the world, for the rest of us, it is mostly left to be imagined, or at least discovered in books, archival issues of Life and National Geographic or, these days, in scouring the Internet for images.
For David Neville and Marcus Wainwright, founders and creators of Rag & Bone, this was precisely the source of inspiration for their evocative fall/winter 2011 womenswear collection. “It started specifically with the Sami, and I don’t know why,” Wainwright reminisces. “I found a picture of these guys—I can’t really remember where—but it was incredible to see these people who lived in the wilderness and made all these incredible clothes. Then when you start exploring Siberia and the whole Arctic Circle, you start to see similarities between all the cultures. There were lots of elements in their clothing that were really interesting: the shapes, the fabrications, the skins, the use of shearling and cowhide and things like that.” The collection has an icy-white to vibrant-red and sky-blue palette, with geometric shapes and multilayered silhouettes, and it has been praised for taking fashion spectators on a formidable polar journey, juxtaposing elements of traditional costume with nostalgic seventies skiwear.
Rag & Bone originated in 2002 after Neville and Wainwright discovered an old denim manufactory in Kentucky—and in many people’s eyes, their jeans are still what they are best known for. Although the denim workshop is no longer operating, from Neville and Wainwright’s perspective, it still represents the backbone of what they do. “The things that I think people feel, subconsciously, are luxury, are things created by really skilled craftsmen. It’s the same for anything—a pen, a lighter, a camera, a suit. If it’s beautifully made, it feels very luxurious, and I think it can’t really be beautifully made unless it’s made by a craftsman,” says Wainwright.
Since expanding their brand into men’s and women’s ready-to-wear categories in spring 2004 and fall 2005, respectively, Neville and Wainwright have dabbled time and again in themes of geographic, cultural, and temporal exploration. In previous seasons, the collection has expressed itself in the aesthetics of 1920s mountain climbers, Japanese futurism, and military cargo-wear. These sartorial escapades have taken them a long way from home, insofar as menswear is concerned, and in 2007, the duo won the Swarovski Award for emerging talent, and in 2010, the CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year award. Not bad for two self-taught chaps who first met in boarding school in Berkshire in the United Kingdom before aligning again in New York a few years later.
Their British heritage and New York street sensibility have today conspired into a discrete design philosophy. “The fact that we’re English, and having gone to a very old English school, we grew up with a lot of tailoring and a real appreciation for that English way of dressing. It has a huge impact on what we do,” Wainwright explains. “But we’re based in America, so [Rag & Bone] also has a distinct American feeling. It’s a New York way of dressing, with a very English point of view.”
The yearning to work with master artisans has translated into several of Rag & Bone’s product categories, from suiting, to shoes, to accessories. “How we found [suit tailor] Martin Greenfield is an amazing story,” Neville says. “The guy is a proper old-school tailor, and they really make just beautiful handmade suits. There are [roughly] 180 different processes that the suit goes through to actually make it. It’s another example of this idea about authenticity.” The suits are sold exclusively at Rag & Bone’s SoHo and West Village boutiques, where they can be made-to-measure or bought straight off the rack.
Neville and Wainwright also sought out the 140-year-old Bollman Hat Factory in Adamstown, Pennsylvania, to collaborate with them on products that are made in the traditional method, but are contemporary in their styling and speak to the luxury consumer zeitgeist.
“‘[Rag & Bone is] a mix of yesterday and tomorrow,’ somebody said recently, and I thought that was quite cool,” Neville says. But, as Wainwright adds, “Yes, of course. But, I mean, you don’t choose a theme or project for its merits of being based in the past or in the future. You just pick something that you think is fun or cool or exciting to do. And then, inherently, just in the nature of what the process is, you come up with something modern. We’re not trying to be very avant-garde, doing fashion just for the sake of fashion, but we are constantly striving to make something new. I don’t think you can do that unless you understand what went before.”
From the Winter 2011 issue of NUVO. Images sourced from Style.com.
De Fursac, Spring/Summer 2012.
Story by Craig David Long.
An unassuming building, in an unassuming industrial complex. It’s hard to believe that this is the headquarters of Arc’teryx, an outdoor apparel and equipment company known for its shell jackets, base layers, packs and climbing harnesses. Of course, not far away are the abundant ski runs and hiking trails of Vancouver’s North Shore, where personal experience and first-hand product testing have given rise to the emphasis on technical innovation, durability and performance that underlies the company’s success.
Arc’teryx was born in the basement of founder Dave Lane in 1989. At the time, the company was called Rock Solid. But in 1991, the fledgling firm rebranded, using a word derived from Archaeopteryx, the reptile scientists have long believed was first to climb, grow feathers and take flight.
Innovation ensued: Arc’teryx invented a harness buckle that eliminated webbing-strap slippage. In 1993, they introduced a new kind of form-fitting, thermo-moulded foam, which improved the comfort and safety of climbers. A year later, they applied a similar technology to backpack pads, straps and belts, making shoulder loads more bearable for orienteering. Still unsatisfied, they took on outerwear next, developing new materials with W.L. Gore, the makers of the well-known fabric Gore-Tex, and revolutionised seam work with a bonding agent that fuses fabrics together and eliminates stitching punctures.
But these days, Arc’teryx is on a different, decidedly more urban journey. In recent seasons, the company, whose products are made to conquer extreme environments, has taken on the notoriously volatile world of fashion with a menswear capsule collection called Veilance.
“We try to create product with some inherent truth in terms of the design or the function, but at a certain point, I became aware that a lot of people were buying Arc’teryx products without much intention of wearing them in the back country,” said the company’s president, Tyler Jordan. “So, in a way, we’ve been giving these consumers a product that wasn’t ideal for their particular use,” he continued. “It’s great that they like it and it’s great that they’re going to benefit from it, but wouldn’t it be even better if we focused on what they are actually going to use it for?”
Arc’teryx Veilance draws from a familiar menswear vocabulary — field jackets, blazers, overcoats, button-down shirts — while maintaining fabrications and finishes that look and feel distinctively Arc’teryx. But for the outdoor apparel company, creating a fashion collection presented a deeper challenge. “If we are really trying to innovate and maintain [our] level of detail, you can’t do that every six months and just reinvent the product,” Jordan said. “It may have taken you two years to get there in the first place and you put everything you had into it,” he added. “That’s one of the tough parts of the Veilance market — the world is constantly expecting something new. We’re very conscious of that, and very honest with people, saying that that’s not how we’re working here.”
Buyers are listening. Indeed, Veilance has secured new accounts with influential retailers Mr. Porter and Opening Ceremony and will be offered at select Barneys locations, for Fall 2011. The brand has also enjoyed a flurry of media attention, driven in part by the rising tide of Canadian and Pacific Northwest outdoor and heritage-inspired menswear labels that has swept Veilance along with it. And though Jordan is quick to dismiss any affiliation with this trend, the company has certainly benefited from it, earning multi-page features in magazines like 032c, Inventory, and Obscura, as well as product endorsements in L’Uomo Vogue, GQ Style, Monocle, Wallpaper*, i-D and Details.
“We’re designing products for a market that we believe will exist in the future,” said Jordan, referring to the Veilance line. “We believe that people buying product for city life are going to want everything they are getting from their city product today, plus they are going to want improved performance over time,” he continued. “I think that is inevitable. But with Veilance, we weren’t in a hurry to try and drive a lot of sales because we realized we couldn’t change the world overnight in that regard. It’s a question of whether the world is on the cusp of shifting in that direction or not. And if it does, we want to be on the forefront of the wave.”
Indeed, Jordan sees Veilance as the starting point of a long-term vision for the company, one that extends well beyond his tenure as president. “When we think of fashion, we think of brands that have built a reputation over 50 or 100 years,” he said. “We’re trying to replicate that with Veilance a little bit, so the decisions we make today ensure that Arc’teryx carries the same meaning and has the same ideals a century from now.”
In more ways than one, this is a brand that’s built to last.
From The Business of Fashion, posted August 23, 2011. Images courtesy of Arc’teryx.
![Room for Change
Story by Craig David Long.Photography by Norman Wong.
“We have a lot of things to be very, very proud of, so we are taking those things and enhancing them. We think of it as going from good to great to greatest.”
The Room at the Bay in downtown Toronto is abuzz with activity, as merchandisers bustle in and out of its Platinum Suite with mannequins, preparing for the arrival of the department store’s president and CEO, Bonnie Brooks. She has requested to have specific designer fashions on display for our interview, notably a hyper-floral Erdem outfit by U.K.-based Canadian designer Erdem Moralioglu, including pieces he created specifically for the Bay. “Now there’s a designer that doesn’t need to do a special collection for a store,” Brooks explains later. “He already has a collection that all the top stores in the world buy. And yet he did do a very special capsule collection for the Room.”
This encapsulates much of what has been transpiring at the Bay stores across Canada the last few years, a signal that Canada’s iconic department store is entering a new era. It follows the sale of the Hudson’s Bay Company (which includes the Bay, Zeller’s, Home Outfitters and Fields) to Richard Baker of the U.S. retail chain Lord and Taylor in 2008, and his appointment of Ms. Brooks to the leadership position at the Bay. Her assignment is to breathe new life into the company; founded in 1670, it is the oldest existing in the world.
The Room, itself, isn’t just any room, but a luxury boutique selling premier designer clothing, existing until recently only in this one Queen Street location. As of this September, it is now also found on the second floor of Vancouver’s own Granville Street store, and brings with it the coveted likes of Proenza Schouler, Roland Mouret, Brian Atwood, Christopher Kane and Balmain, to name only a few.
When Brooks arrives at the Platinum Suite, the Room’s VIP personal shopping area, her presence commands attention. It is not the snakeskin platform stiletto Gianvito Rossi shoes she’s wearing, though those too add to her stature—it’s the sense of respect one gleans from those who know and work with her, for what she’s accomplished in her storied 25-year career bringing prestige retail formats to market around the world.
Brooks is originally from London, Ontario, and comes to the Bay after spending over a decade in Hong Kong turning the tired, 158-year-old Lane Crawford department store into a high fashion emporium, and leading the Lane Crawford Joyce Group’s business of over 500 stores in nine Asian countries. Prior to that, she held the roles of senior vice president of marketing and executive vice president/general merchandise manager in separate instances at Holt Renfrew. If anyone can handle the task, it’s her. “Many people have asked, ‘Would you have taken the job [with the Bay] if you had seen the state of stores?’ ” Brooks says. “I hadn’t seen any of them for many years, but I knew they needed a lot of work.” Of the Bay’s 91 stores, 80 are currently under renovation. “Not total renovation—we couldn’t possibly swing that in one year!” she clarifies. “But by the end of September, each of these stores will have been touched, have some form of new carpet, some form of new paint, some form of washroom attention.”
It’s a massive undertaking, but one she maintains “is not a rescue mission. If you were looking at it from a purely financial point of view, then yes, there were a lot of things we had to do from a business perspective to get it on the road to wellness. However, from the customer’s point of view, we have a lot of things to be very, very proud of, so we are taking those things and enhancing them. We think of it as going from good to great to greatest.”
“Everybody has something new and fresh to work on. Every department is on a quest for new brands. And not just new, but wanted brands.”
Indeed, the Bay has the number one bridal registry in Canada, the number one share in prestige cosmetics and one of the country’s most competitive department store rewards programs. Brooks also indicates she has public will on her side. “We’ve asked people to send us their ideas,” she says. “We’ve gotten 7,000 letters from customers in the last 12 months alone. And the one message we got loud and clear was that the stores needed an edit. And a good edit.”
Brooks has culled 900 brands from the business, and brought in 350 new ones, ranging from Diane von Furstenberg’s home collection, to Madonna’s line, Material Girl, to the introduction of Topshop and Topman in select Bay stores across Canada. “We’re trying to provide a whole business opportunity that was missing in Canada for modern people who like department store prices, but weren’t finding relevant merchandise. And in order to do that,” she says, “you have to bring in the most relevant people.”
Brooks has waved her wand, stirring about the company’s human resources, and acknowledges there have been “some major changes, particularly in marketing and in the buying office. We’ve also been able to give a lot of people who were already here different portfolios, so everybody has something new and fresh to work on. Every department is on a quest for new brands. And not just new, but wanted brands.”
From the outset, Brooks’s goal has been to make the Bay the best department store in Canada. But within about six months of entering the company, Brooks says the ambitions grew. “We said, ‘Forget that!’ Our goal is to make this an international company, to be among the best department stores in the world.” But the question remains whether this retail format is even relevant in today’s market. Brooks answers with an emphatic yes. She’s in the business to believe, but furthermore, points to examples across the globe where historic department stores have been rejuvenated and upgraded in the last 15 years. Lane Crawford, of course, is one example, but beyond that there is David Jones in Australia (founded in 1838); Printemps (1865) and Galeries Lafayette (1893) in Paris; Harrods (1834) and Selfridges (1909) in London; Karstadt (1881) in Germany. “There are a lot of fantastic, big, old department stores that are really working hard to make themselves relevant and commercially viable, but also a lot more fun and interesting to shop.”
“We actually have a coat of arms. We actually have a Latin slogan as a motto. We actually have all the things that other people would long for and try to invent, but we are the real thing.”
Even when you have carte blanche, you have to pick your battles. “I can’t give you my whole game,” Brooks says with a wink, “but basically we have to prioritize based on return. First, of course, there is financial return. But second, we look at what’s going to have the most impact in the marketplace and what’s going to get the most attention.” The introduction of the Room is a fine example of that; it has Canada’s fashion-savvy chattering. However, they haven’t necessarily gone the route of the major brands because, as Brooks indicates, they were already available in Vancouver and Toronto. Instead, she says, “we felt that there were a variety of brands that didn’t have any distribution yet in Canada and were kind of special and unique to the market, so we brought all of those brands in too.” She’s referring to the more cultish brands—the ones whose names may not be household names, but who have major followings in the world of fashion: Azzedine Alaïa, Emanuel Ungaro, Mary Katrantzou, Thakoon. All of which will be exclusive to the Bay in Vancouver.
“That’s where I think we’re different from some of the other stores in Canada. We’ve been told by many of the visitors that come and see the Room that we have a more international edit than a Canadian edit,” Brooks says. But if customers are expecting the Bay to be the second coming of Joyce Crawford, they would be mistaken. “That’s a different market,” Brooks says. “Hong Kong is a very high fashion market, and there was lots of room to do that in Hong Kong, and to take it into China, but it certainly isn’t something we would do right across Canada.”
She elaborates: “We decided early on not to just move up in price. We’ve kept the prices at the bottom the same, and then we’ve layered on additional products. We’re stretching the elastic up, but without letting go of the bottom.” So while the Bay may be changing the look of its fashion, housewares and cosmetics, the plan is to stay fairly consistent with the company’s 341-year history. Even insofar as the Room is concerned, “we didn’t just spin this out of nowhere,” Brooks says. The concept has existed in Toronto’s Queen Street store since 1937, though before 2009, it was called the St. Regis Room, and was a mere 3,000 square feet. The Room in Toronto and Vancouver are both about seven times that size.
“We come by all of the fashion credibility in our heritage,” Brooks says. “And I think that’s where the excitement I get from the business comes from. Not just having great merchandise, but also finding a way to market it, such that you can really get the authenticity and integrity across. When I look at the Bay and I ask, ‘What company in Canada could have more authenticity in fashion?’—I mean, my goodness! It has more authenticity that most companies in the world. We actually have a coat of arms. We actually have a Latin slogan as a motto. We actually have all the things that other people would long for and try to invent, but we are the real thing.”
From Yabu Pushelberg, the Toronto-based architecture firm who created the Room, to Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter who is writing the forward to the Bay’s forthcoming book, to singer Bryan Adams, models Jessica Stam and Daria Werbowy and designer Erdem Moralioglu, all have been enlisted to help Brooks and the Bay in some capacity along the way. “Really, the world can play with all Canadians,” Brooks says. “We’ve tried to embrace Canadian talent around the world. We’re reaching out to them, making this part of their journey as well.”
From the Autumn 2011 issue of MONTECRISTO.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltrcej2xv71qzfe07o1_r1_500.jpg)
Story by Craig David Long.
Photography by Norman Wong.
The Room at the Bay in downtown Toronto is abuzz with activity, as merchandisers bustle in and out of its Platinum Suite with mannequins, preparing for the arrival of the department store’s president and CEO, Bonnie Brooks. She has requested to have specific designer fashions on display for our interview, notably a hyper-floral Erdem outfit by U.K.-based Canadian designer Erdem Moralioglu, including pieces he created
specifically for the Bay. “Now there’s a designer that doesn’t need to do a special collection for a store,” Brooks explains later. “He already has a collection that all the top stores in the world buy. And yet he did do a very special capsule collection for the Room.”
This encapsulates much of what has been transpiring at the Bay stores across Canada the last few years, a signal that Canada’s iconic department store is entering a new era. It follows the sale of the Hudson’s Bay Company (which includes the Bay, Zeller’s, Home Outfitters and Fields) to Richard Baker of the U.S. retail chain Lord and Taylor in 2008, and his appointment of Ms. Brooks to the leadership position at the Bay. Her assignment is to breathe new life into the company; founded in 1670, it is the oldest existing in the world.
The Room, itself, isn’t just any room, but a luxury boutique selling premier designer clothing, existing until recently only in this one Queen Street location. As of this September, it is now also found on the second floor of Vancouver’s own Granville Street store, and brings with it the coveted likes of Proenza Schouler, Roland Mouret, Brian Atwood, Christopher Kane and Balmain, to name only a few.
When Brooks arrives at the Platinum Suite, the Room’s VIP personal shopping area, her presence commands attention. It is not the snakeskin platform stiletto Gianvito Rossi shoes she’s wearing, though those too add to her stature—it’s the sense of respect one gleans from those who know and work with her, for what she’s accomplished in her storied 25-year career bringing prestige retail formats to market around the world.
Brooks is originally from London, Ontario, and comes to the Bay after spending over a decade in Hong Kong turning the tired, 158-year-old Lane Crawford department store into a high fashion emporium, and leading the Lane Crawford Joyce Group’s business of over 500 stores in nine Asian countries. Prior to that, she held the roles of senior vice president of marketing and executive vice president/general merchandise manager in separate instances at Holt Renfrew. If anyone can handle the task, it’s her. “Many people have asked, ‘Would you have taken the job [with the Bay] if you had seen the state of stores?’ ” Brooks says. “I hadn’t seen any of them for many years, but I knew they needed a lot of work.” Of the Bay’s 91 stores, 80 are currently under renovation. “Not total renovation—we couldn’t possibly swing that in one year!” she clarifies. “But by the end of September, each of these stores will have been touched, have some form of new carpet, some form of new paint, some form of washroom attention.”
It’s a massive undertaking, but one she maintains “is not a rescue mission. If you were looking at it from a purely financial point of view, then yes, there were a lot of things we had to do from a business perspective to get it on the road to wellness. However, from the customer’s point of view, we have a lot of things to be very, very proud of, so we are taking those things and enhancing them. We think of it as going from good to great to greatest.”
Indeed, the Bay has the number one bridal registry in Canada, the number one share in prestige cosmetics and one of the country’s most competitive department store rewards programs. Brooks also indicates she has public will on her side. “We’ve asked people to send us their ideas,” she says. “We’ve gotten 7,000 letters from customers in the last 12 months alone. And the one message we got loud and clear was that the stores needed an edit. And a good edit.”
Brooks has culled 900 brands from the business, and brought in 350 new ones, ranging from Diane von Furstenberg’s home collection, to Madonna’s line, Material Girl, to the introduction of Topshop and Topman in select Bay stores across Canada. “We’re trying to provide a whole business opportunity that was missing in Canada for modern people who like department store prices, but weren’t finding relevant merchandise. And in order to do that,” she says, “you have to bring in the most relevant people.”
Brooks has waved her wand, stirring about the company’s human resources, and acknowledges there have been “some major changes, particularly in marketing and in the buying office. We’ve also been able to give a lot of people who were already here different portfolios, so everybody has something new and fresh to work on. Every department is on a quest for new brands. And not just new, but wanted brands.”
From the outset, Brooks’s goal has been to make the Bay the best department store in Canada. But within about six months of entering the company, Brooks says the ambitions grew. “We said, ‘Forget that!’ Our goal is to make this an international company, to be among the best department stores in the world.” But the question remains whether this retail format is even relevant in today’s market. Brooks answers with an emphatic yes. She’s in the business to believe, but furthermore, points to examples across the globe where historic department stores have been rejuvenated and upgraded in the last 15 years. Lane Crawford, of course, is one example, but beyond that there is David Jones in Australia (founded in 1838); Printemps (1865) and Galeries Lafayette (1893) in Paris; Harrods (1834) and Selfridges (1909) in London; Karstadt (1881) in Germany. “There are a lot of fantastic, big, old department stores that are really working hard to make themselves relevant and commercially viable, but also a lot more fun and interesting to shop.”
Even when you have carte blanche, you have to pick your battles. “I can’t give you my whole game,” Brooks says with a wink, “but basically we have to prioritize based on return. First, of course, there is financial return. But second, we look at what’s going to have the most impact in the marketplace and what’s going to get the most attention.” The introduction of the Room is a fine example of that; it has Canada’s fashion-savvy chattering. However, they haven’t necessarily gone the route of the major brands because, as Brooks indicates, they were already available in Vancouver and Toronto. Instead, she says, “we felt that there were a variety of brands that didn’t have any distribution yet in Canada and were kind of special and unique to the market, so we brought all of those brands in too.” She’s referring to the more cultish brands—the ones whose names may not be household names, but who have major followings in the world of fashion: Azzedine Alaïa, Emanuel Ungaro, Mary Katrantzou, Thakoon. All of which will be exclusive to the Bay in Vancouver.
“That’s where I think we’re different from some of the other stores in Canada. We’ve been told by many of the visitors that come and see the Room that we have a more international edit than a Canadian edit,” Brooks says. But if customers are expecting the Bay to be the second coming of Joyce Crawford, they would be mistaken. “That’s a different market,” Brooks says. “Hong Kong is a very high fashion market, and there was lots of room to do that in Hong Kong, and to take it into China, but it certainly isn’t something we would do right across Canada.”
She elaborates: “We decided early on not to just move up in price. We’ve kept the prices at the bottom the same, and then we’ve layered on additional products. We’re stretching the elastic up, but without letting go of the bottom.” So while the Bay may be changing the look of its fashion, housewares and cosmetics, the plan is to stay fairly consistent with the company’s 341-year history. Even insofar as the Room is concerned, “we didn’t just spin this out of nowhere,” Brooks says. The concept has existed in Toronto’s Queen Street store since 1937, though before 2009, it was called the St. Regis Room, and was a mere 3,000 square feet. The Room in Toronto and Vancouver are both about seven times that size.
“We come by all of the fashion credibility in our heritage,” Brooks says. “And I think that’s where the excitement I get from the business comes from. Not just having great merchandise, but also finding a way to market it, such that you can really get the authenticity and integrity across. When I look at the Bay and I ask, ‘What company in Canada could have more authenticity in fashion?’—I mean, my goodness! It has more authenticity that most companies in the world. We actually have a coat of arms. We actually have a Latin slogan as a motto. We actually have all the things that other people would long for and try to invent, but we are the real thing.”
From Yabu Pushelberg, the Toronto-based architecture firm who created the Room, to Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter who is writing the forward to the Bay’s forthcoming book, to singer Bryan Adams, models Jessica Stam and Daria Werbowy and designer Erdem Moralioglu, all have been enlisted to help Brooks and the Bay in some capacity along the way. “Really, the world can play with all Canadians,” Brooks says. “We’ve tried to embrace Canadian talent around the world. We’re reaching out to them, making this
part of their journey as well.”
From the Autumn 2011 issue of MONTECRISTO.
Editor: Craig David Long.
Art Direction: Mark Reynolds.
Photography: Jody Rogac.
Styling: Leila Bani.
Hair and Makeup: Sonia Leal-Serafim.
Model: Amy G. with Lizbell Agency.
From the Spring 2011 issue of MONTECRISTO.
Editor: Craig David Long.
Art Direction: Mark Reynolds.
Photography: Gary Fitzpatrick.
Styling: Charlotte Stokes.
Hair & Makeup: LucyAnne for LizBell Agency.
Model: Mackenzie Hamilton for Richards Models.
From the Autumn 2010 issue of MONTECRISTO.
Editor: Craig David Long.
Art Direction: Mark Reynolds.
Photography: Candace Meyer.
Styling: Leila Bani.
Hair: Tania Becker.
Makeup: Jon Hennessy.
Models: Cole Tusznio and Natalie Tusznio.
From the Summer 2010 issue of MONTECRISTO.
Editor: Craig David Long.
Art Direction: Mark Reynolds.
Photography: Andre Pinces.
Styling: Tanus Lewis.
Hair: Tania Becker for Nobasura.
Makeup and Manicure: Andrea Tiller for Nobasura.
Model: Jenica Ratzlaff for Lizbell Agency.
From the Spring 2010 issue of MONTECRISTO.
Editor and Stylist: Craig David Long.
Art Director: Mark Reynolds.
Photographer: Marcus Jolly.
From the Autumn 2009 issue of MONTECRISTO.
