Luscious and snappy

>> Rebecca Ford's sense of style spells success for local clothing line

By ALEXIS DIAMOND

Far from the fashion fortresses on Chabanel, Luscious sits nestled behind the antique shops on Notre-Dame. Inside, 15 people call to each other, answer phones, listen to music, pack boxes and create clothes. The entire enterprise is almost entirely on site, except for the actual sewing, which is sent out.

Otherwise, designing, sample-making, cutting, accounting, photography, shipping, and everything else happens in the crooks and crannies of this old factory building, with plans for expansion of the cramped atelier to include an adjoining, beautifully renovated factory space.

Rebecca Ford, founding designer of Luscious, explains the inspiration for the label's look as a whim inspired by the Montreal music scene three and-a-half years ago. "There was definitely a need for a girl's clothing line that went together with the underground scene," she says. "There were a lot of clothing labels out there, but not specifically geared toward girls."

Ford has no background in fashion; a former philosophy student at Concordia, she got involved in the marketing of an earlier incarnation of the company. "At that point, it was just T-shirts that we wanted to do," she says. "It was more like a hobby." The T-shirts were sold locally at a few select Montreal boutiques.

Then Luscious was born. "What happened was, one day--I don't know why--I felt like designing a collection. So I did: from A to Z. We decided to produce it, to sample it...and it sold."

Space-age babysilk

Recent catalogues display clothes with classic lines disrupted by detailing--space-age edges softened by natural stitching, an unrecognizable fabric, something slightly out of sync with the expected. The fabrics are customized by Luscious for their collections. Ford admits that it is the fabrics, their texture in particular, which inspire and drive the designs for each collection.

The new look for spring? Baby snaps on silky, lightweight "babysilk," an original Luscious fabric. About her unusual choice of detail, she concedes, "It was a new gadget. I hadn't really worked with a lot of snaps. I got really excited and kind of went overboard. But I like them." Snaps appear on the hip of an A-line skirt, or straight down both sides of the front panel of a skirt to elongate or shorten the slit.

"You can actually play around with the clothing," Ford says. One halter top also doubles as an overskirt for pants. Then there's the three-level pants: snaps around the calf transform them into capris; snaps at the thigh turn them into hot pants. "This is for the girl who's out on the dance floor, getting really excited," she grins.

The label has been selling through trade shows and sales representatives to the European (particularly in Scandinavia) and North American markets, especially in New York, Toronto and, of course, Montreal.

In response to the increased demand, connoisseurs and would-be connoisseurs of the label will be relieved to know that Luscious is changing its sizing to accommodate a wider range of women. Ford promises that "all girls look good in Luscious." After all, her biggest priority is fit. "I worked extremely hard on every little detail--it has to be flattering, it has to be comfortable." The two major collections produced per year, Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter, will be enhanced by in-between collections for holiday and expanded summer wear. For the men out there who are looking for something a little different, rest assured, Luscious for boys is in the works.

Shunning Chabanel

Why Notre-Dame instead of Chabanel? "We chose not to be located in that district," Ford says. "We don't have to go through the dreary Chabanel, commie-grey street. It's pretty awful. We disassociated ourselves from that. A lot of the people in the business weren't even aware of us, so we sort of crept up on them."

Ford points out that the perception many people have of the shmate industry in Montreal, as well as in other places, as somewhat shady is not entirely incorrect. She says her eyes were opened to the machinations of the biz when a Luscious denim collection and the logo were "ripped off and copied by someone out West, just for the money." She wants to separate herself and the company from a business with "no heart." "We have love for what we do here," she smiles.

A company that wears its heart on its sleeves --with snaps. lll

Luscious clothes are available at Juan & Juanita (1455 Peel), Aritmetik (2011 St-Denis, 3688A St-Laurent), Escence (2027 St-Laurent) and Maximum (4003 St.-Denis)