Canadian fashion designer Maggie Coulombe is based in Hawaii and travels a lot, but Vancouver has a special place in her heart.
“Everyone keeps asking me why Vancouver,” says Coulombe, who earlier this year opened a studio in the city that has inspired her latest collection—one that will debut on Nov. 5 at Vancouver Fashion Week.
“I’ve done New York Fashion Week and I’ve done LA, and Vancouver for me is just a really intimate working city. It’s well thought out, with great taste, it’s on the water and it’s a great climate,” she says.
Originally from Toronto where she graduated from Ryerson School of Fashion, Coulombe has lived in Hawaii since 1995. Located in Lahaina on the idyllic island of Maui, her flagship store sits just 40 feet from the ocean.
Since Maui is a hotspot for celebrities, Coulombe counts Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and Halle Berry among her clients.
“Maui caters to that celebrity crowd because the restaurants that we have on the beach are all five-star, and they’re high end,” says Coulombe, adding that another big draw is Maui’s renowned sunsets.
Because many of her clients lead a jet-setter lifestyle, Coulombe creates designs that are comfortable and versatile but also stylish. Known for her Versace-like prints and slinky cocktail dresses, she also designs footwear, accessories, and island-flavoured jewellery that relies heavily on multi-hued Tahitian pearls.
[etssp 140]At last year’s Vancouver Fashion Week, Coulombe unveiled sea-side resort wear and super-glam cocktail dresses that featured jerseys and silks. This year she expanded on that idea and broadened the scope.
“This year is more geared towards traveling,” she says, adding that the collection is focused on both simplicity and multi-functionality.
“Each outfit you could wear at least three different times in three different ways,” says Coulombe, who found inspiration for her latest collection while travelling extensively over the past 18 months.
Adapting to different places and climates inspired her to make a collection that would reflect the needs of the well-heeled traveller.
“These are the pieces, the staples that I took with me that I can’t live without when I travel. I just took them a little further in terms of what influenced me in terms of colour.”
Coulombe’s current pallet of “cerebral colours” ranges from whites, greys and blacks to muted purples and wines. Some of the fabrics in the collection, such as cashmere, don’t come in bright colours, she explains.
Genuinely excited to be showing in Vancouver, the designer relishes the chance to interact with her clients. “What I really like to see is when women of every city and climate look at the line and tell me that they find something that they identify with.”
Vancouver Fashion Week, running from Nov. 2 – 7, began in 2000 and has since become a global platform for both established and up-and-coming designers.
The following images, taken outside Coulombe’s store in Lahaina, are from the collection she will debut at Vancouver Fashion Week.
