La Cache: Dresses from the past, for today
In the window today, Kris's new dresses. She has recently moved from a British Columbia island, a spectacular setting where the whales wear magnificent blue-grey skin and the humans, fleece—to the French-inflected flair of Montréal. She had a hole to fill in her closet; we were, as I posted here ,"stretch" shopping. I took her to La Cache , in the Westmount neighbourhood, to see the designs of April Cornell, a Montréaler who opened her first boutique here, in 1975. Even fifty years ago, the boutique embraced the past, selling nostalgic, romantic dresses, with pintucks, embroideries, back ties, pearl buttons. The manager said it best, "We're from the '70s, and we've stayed there." Even then, the dresses referenced the Victorian to Deco period, a Laura Ashley-meets-Biba vibe. In the '90s, I wore April Cornell on weekends, and appreciated the pure fibres (most are cotton or linen, the rest is viscose). The sleepwear is a standout, especially the ni...
