Braderie II: The Red Dress

I like Rien se perd, tout se crée. I’d seen them at the Salon des métiers d’arts (high end art & crafts exhibition) for the past two Decembers. They use organic cotton. They WEAVE THEIR OWN CLOTH (there’s a picture of a loom on the tag).

I loved this dress on the mannequin.

I love red.

I loved the diagonal skirt pattern. They had lots of vertical, but I prefer this.

Machine washable.

$74 instead of $149.

Done.

Note: they only had XS left for that dress. If you want the best selection, shop the Braderie early (opens Thursdays, with a VIP night on the Wed). If you want the best price, shop on Sunday at closing. Bring cash.

Also note that Matt has no eye for photography, and our house is full of junk, so I’m just going to crop these photos, despite the bad feng shui, and you’ll have to imagine how beautiful the clothes are. Sorry! Or just pop over h ere for better pics.

P.S. This is all fodder for my upcoming Cheap and Lovely Guide to Montreal, which at least my friend Julia is looking forward to. Yay, Julia!

My Year of Yes: It’s spring, therefore I Braderie

Written by melissayuaninnes April 15, 2013 braderie de mode quebecoise fashion fete de montreal leggings marie bilodeau melissa bolduc melow Montreal

I was chatting with author Marie Bilodeau at the Sweet & Spicy convention in 2006, and she said something like, I buy at least one new piece a year to rejeuvenate my wardrobe.

This is a very French thing. She’s not buying all sorts of garbage just because it’s on sale. She’s not kicking her entire wardrobe to the curb, which is wasteful. She has a wardrobe she likes, that she refreshes periodically with the intelligent addition of a few pieces.

Now I am that French (or at least Montreal) thing. Every April and October, I buy directly from the designers at la Braderie de mode québecoise. Cheaper for me, but I also love meeting the actual designers and people who love fashion.

I even wear a certain outfit for the Braderie, so I can try things on and off easily, without lining up for a change room:

Not this exact outfit, but same idea. These are the Fete de Montreal leggings. Don’t know what that means? Read on.

Leggings

Boots I can walk in and shuck on and off (NOT fashionable zip boots—I can take the hit now for the glory later)

A fitted black dress

Layers on top

It gets meta. As soon as I stepped into the melow corner at the Braderie, a salesperson welcomed me and said, “Are your leggings from La Fete?” She did a project on La Fete at fashion school. And yes, these are Fete de Montreal leggings that I got for $15—my favourite leggings in the entire world.

Here are pics of me wearing melow from a previous Braderie. I bought this when I was 8 months pregnant with Anastasia. I delivered her three days after this yoga class.

I’m still wearing it. Does it get any more fabulous? The designer, Melissa Bolduc, was a figure skater, so she really understands fabric’s stretch and lines.