Montréal Chic: A Locational History of Montreal Fashion: A Locational History of Montreal Fashion

First published in the UK in 2016 by

Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK

First published in the USA in 2016 by

Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,

Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Copyright © 2016 Intellect Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the

British Library.

Copy-editor: MPS Technologies

Cover designer: Jane Seymour

Production manager: Jelena Stanovnik

Typesetting: Contentra Technologies

Print ISBN: 978-1-78320-616-2

ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78320-617-9

ePUB ISBN: 978-1-78320-618-6

Printed and bound by Short Run Press, UK

To the women of Montréal

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Locating Montréal Chic

Methodology

A Locational Approach to Fashion

Canadian Fashion Scholarship

Part 1: History

Chapter 1: A Locational History of Fashion in Montréal

Chapter 2: Montréal Symbols

The Montréal Canadians: From the Great Darkness to the Quiet Revolution

Sainte-Flanelle

Expo 67

Expo Legacy

Printemps érable and the Red Square

Spectacle and Performativity

Part 2: Spectacles

Chapter 3: Museum Chic

Musée McCord

Musée du Costume et du Textile du Québec

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal

Chapter 4: Music Chic

Locating Montréal’s Music Scenes

The Contemporary Music Scene and Its Styles

Chapter 5: Film Chic

Locating Fashion in Montréal Films

Xavier Dolan

Les amours imaginaires

Laurence Anyways

Mommy

Dress Code: Colour Block

Part 3: Innovation

Chapter 6: Montréal’s Fashion Economy

Fashion Cities, Fashion Scenes, Fashion Economies, and

Fashion Culture

The 2003 Montréal Mode Scandal and Its Aftermath

Montréal Designers: Marie Saint Pierre

Helmer

Denis Gagnon

RAD

Fashion Organizations in Montréal

Fashion Organizations in Vienna

Fashion Organizations in Berlin

City Branding, Creativity, and Fashion

Chapter 7: Innovation, Design, and Technology

Fashion and Technology

Hexagram

XS Labs

Techno-Espace, Collège Lasalle

Vestechpro, Cégep Marie-Victorin

Hexoskin

Conclusion

Bibliography

Filmography

List of Illustrations

We would like to acknowledge the generosity of the copyright holders of the images in this book. If any have not been properly credited, please contact the publishers, who will be happy to rectify future editions.

We would especially like to acknowledge the generosity in providing images for this volume of Montréal photographers Sébastien Roy and Kim Payant, fashion and technology designers Barbara Layne and Joanna Berzowska, designers Denis Gagnon and Rad Hourani, as well as the Archives de la Ville de Montréal and the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.

Cover

View from Denis Gagnon’s atelier/boutique onto Rue St. Paul in the Old Port, Montréal, June 2015 (photo K. Sark)

Introduction

0.1 Earl Luigi, Exhibit 22, Montréal Fashion Week, February 2012 (photo K. Sark)

0.2 MTL Moments sign atop Mont-Royal Belvedere, October 2015 (photo Christos Tsaganos)

0.3 Melissa Nepton, Montréal Fashion Week, October 2013 (photo K. Sark)

0.4 Montréal Fashion Week, February 2010 (photo K. Sark)

Chapter 1

1.1 Montréal Chic printemps, La Patrie , March 1914 (Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec)

1.2 Clothing Factory Maurice Laniel, 7542 Rue St. Hubert, Montréal, 1941 (photo Conrad Poirier, with the permission of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec) http://www.banq.qc.ca/collections/images/notice.html?id=06MP48S1SS0SSS0D0P6570

1.3 Clothing Factory Maurice Laniel, women workers, Montréal, 1941 (photo Conrad Poirier, with the permission of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec) http://www.banq.qc.ca/collections/images/notice.html?id=06MP48S1SS0SSS0D0P6571

1.4 Chart: Montréal department stores (compiled by S.D. Bélanger-Michaud)

1.5 Montréal Mode magazine cover, 1904 (with the permission of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec)

1.6 Dupuis Frères Christmas (photo Conrad Poirier, with the permission of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec) http://www.banq.qc.ca/collections/images/notice.html?id=06MP48S1SS0SSS0D0P12908

1.7 Rue Sherbrooke, 1947 (photo Conrad Poirier, with the permission of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec) http://www.banq.qc.ca/collections/images/notice.html?id=06MP48S1SS0SSS0D0P15144

1.8 Montréal 65 magazine cover, 1965 (with the permission of the Archives de la Ville

de Montréal) http://archivesdemontreal.com/2010/05/03/ledition-de-novembre-de-montreal-64-avec-les-canadiens-en-couverture/

1.9 JACOB flagship store, Rue Sainte-Catherine, August 2014 (photo K. Sark)

1.10 JACOB store front, Chic that rocks campaign, Victoria, BC, October 2013 (photo B. Sark)

Chapter 2

2.1 Cross on Mont-Royal, July 2014 (photo K. Sark)

2.2 Eaton’s department store on Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest, Montréal, Christmas 1946 (photo Conrad Poirier, with the permission of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec) http://www.banq.qc.ca/collections/images/notice.html?id=06MP48S1SS0SSS0D0P12907&keyword=grands+magasins&nbResult=&tri=&mosaique=&f_sous_collection_f=&page=2

2.3 Maurice Richard’s hockey sweater, 1960 (photo John Taylor, McCord Museum) http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/MP-1999.5.5032.4

2.4 Habs fans wearing CH jerseys after a victory in the playoffs on Rue Sainte-Catherine, 2010 (photo K. Sark)

2.5 Habitat 67, August 2012 (photo K. Sark)

2.6 Biosphere, August 2012 (photo K. Sark)

2.7 Expo 67 hostess uniform, Canadian Pavilion, 1967 (photo McCord Museum) http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/M967.85.3.1-2

2.8 Montréalité storefront on Boulevard St.-Laurent, October 2014 (photo S. Ingram)

2.9 Montréal Jazz Fest at Place des Arts, June 2010 (photo K. Sark)

2.10 Alexander Calder’s sculpture L’homme , on Île Sainte-Hélène, August 2012 (photo K. Sark)

2.11 Olympic Stadium, August 2012 (photo K. Sark)

2.12 Expo 67 licence plates, Finnegan flea market in Hudson, Québec, July 2014 (photo K. Sark)

2.13 Angel statue at Mont-Royal during student protests, with red duct tape taped over their mouths, April 2012 (photo K. Sark)

2.14 Montréal student demonstrations on Rue Sherbrooke, April 2015 (photo K. Sark)

Chapter 3

3.1 Filmmaker Karim Zariahen (left) at Montréal Fashion Week, with fashion journalists Elsa Vecchi and Eva Friede, February 2012 (photo K. Sark)

3.2 McCord Museum, on Rue Sherbrooke, October 2014 (photo K. Sark)

3.3 Grace Kelly Expo 67 dress (photo Marilyn Aitken, McCord Museum)

3.4 Christian Chenail, collection inspired by Grace Kelly, Montréal Fashion Week, September 2013 (photo K. Sark)

3.5 Love in Fashion exhibition at McCord, 2014−2015 (photo McCord Museum)

3.6 Horst: Photographer of Style exhibition at McCord, 2015 (photo McCord Museum)

3.7 Marché Bonsecours, Old Port, November 2012 (photo K. Sark)

3.8 Tapis rouge exhibition at MCTQ, September 2013 (photo K. Sark)

3.9 Knit designs, Totalement maille! exhibition at MCTQ, August 2014 (photo K. Sark)

3.10 Céline Dion’s stage costume, Chic and Choc exhibition at MCTQ, May 2014 (photo K. Sark)

3.11 Céline Dion’s stage costume, Chic and Choc exhibition at MCTQ, May 2014 (photo K. Sark)

3.12 Denis Gagnon Shows All installation at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, October 19, 2010–February 13, 2011 (photo Christine Guest, with the permission of MBAM)

3.13 Denis Gagnon’s golden zipper dress, Montréal Fashion Week, March 2010 (photo Kim Payant, with permission of Denis Gagnon and Kim Payant)

3.14 Denis Gagnon’s golden zipper dress, Montréal Fashion Week, March 2010 (photo Kim Payant)

3.15 Tom Wesselmann: Beyond Pop Art exhibition, Colour Block Party at MBAM, August 2012 (photo K. Sark)

Chapter 4

4.1 Les Beatles at the Montréal Forum 1964, exhibition at Pointe-à-Callière Museum, 2013−2014 (photo Jean-Louis Frund, with the permission of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec)

4.2 Diane Dufresne’s stage costume by designer Michel Robidas, 1986, Music – Quebec exhibition at McCord Museum, May 2014 (photo K. Sark)

4.3 Patrick Watson’s Megaphone Suit designed by Christian Pelletier, 2009, Music – Quebec exhibition at McCord Museum, May 2014 (photo K. Sark)

4.4 Martha Wainwright’s stage costume 2001, Music – Quebec exhibition at McCord Museum, May 2014 (photo K. Sark)

4.5 Pierre Lapointe’s Mutantes stage costume, 2008, Music – Quebec exhibition at McCord Museum, May 2014 (photo K. Sark)

4.6 Céline Dion’s stage costume from 2008 (front) and Rufus Wainwright’s stage costume from 2010 (back), Music – Quebec exhibition at McCord Museum, May 2014 (photo K. Sark)

4.7 Maybe Watson of On Déjeune, 2014 (photo Philémon)

4.8 La Main Rebelle and Le Vegan Fru of On Déjeune, 2014 (photo Maybe Watson)

4.9 Jeanne of On Déjeune, 2014 (photo Maybe Watson)

4.10 Rad Hourani, Collections 2007−2013 (with the permission of Rad Hourani)

4.11 Jef Barbara, 2012 (photo by Minelly Kamemura)

Chapter 5

5.1 Fashion blogs Mode News , Polyvore , and Modzik featuring fashion items from Xavier Dolan’s Les amours imaginaires , 2010, with the permission of Polyvore.com

5.2 Colour Block Party at Musée des Beaux-Arts featuring Montréal designs inspired by pop art, during the Tom Wesselman exhibition, August 2012 (photo K. Sark)

5.3 Duc C. Nguyen’s red geometric dress from his Coupé à vif (raw cut) collection, at Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, August 2012 (photo K. Sark)

Chapter 6

6.1 Arsenal Gallery, the last edition of Montréal Fashion Week, September 2013 (photo

K. Sark)

6.2 Chart: Fashion Cities (compiled by K. Sark)

6.3 Denis Gagnon at his atelier, 2010 (photo Sébastien Roy)

6.4 Denis Gagnon and Simon Bélanger from UNTTLD, working on the gold zipper dress, 2010 (photo Sébastien Roy)

6.5 Marie Saint Pierre exhibition at Montréal Fashion Week, September 2012 (photo K. Sark)

6.6 Helmer Joseph accreditations, April 2015 (photo K. Sark)

6.7 Helmer atelier, dress, April 2015 (photo K. Sark)

6.8 Helmer atelier, shoes, April 2015 (photo K. Sark)

6.9 Helmer in his atelier on Rue St. Laurent, April 2015 (photo K. Sark)

6.10 Denis Gagnon rehearsal at Montréal Fashion Week, September 2012, collaborating with Yso (photo K. Sark)

6.11 Denis Gagnon’s BEDO collection, Rue St. Denis, September 2010 (photo K. Sark)

6.12 Denis Gagnon, Montréal Fashion Week, October 2010 (photo K. Sark)

6.13 Denis Gagnon, Montréal Fashion Week, October 2010 (photo by K. Sark)

6.14 Denis Gagnon, Montréal Fashion Week transgendered show, September 2012 (photo K. Sark)

6.15 Denis Gagnon, Montréal Fashion Week transgendered show, September 2012 (photo K. Sark)

6.16 Denis Gagnon, Montréal Fashion Week, print dress, September 2012 (photo K. Sark)

6.17 Denis Gagnon, finale Montréal Fashion Week, September 2012 (photo K. Sark)

6.18 Rad Hourani, self-portrait, January 2015 (photo Rad Hourani)

6.19 Melissa Nepton at Montréal Fashion Week, February 2012 (photo K. Sark)

6.20 Denis Gagnon applauding his former interns UNTTLD at Montréal Fashion Week, September 2013 (photo K. Sark)

6.21 What About the Future pop-up shop, Vienna, July 2011 (photo K. Sark)

6.22 Ruins of Modernity design at the What About the Future pop-up shop, Vienna, July 2011 (photo K. Sark)

6.23 Pink dress designed by Emily Flöge, Claus Jahnke collection, Vancouver, October 2015 (photo K. Sark)

6.24 Anna Aichinger Atelier, Vienna, July 2011 (photo K. Sark)

6.25 Berlin Fashion Week, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, July 2011 (photo K. Sark)

6.26 Start Your Fashion Business (SYFB) Award winner Augustin Teboul, Berlin Fashion Week, July 2011 (photo by K. Sark)

6.27 SYFB Award, Berlin Fashion Week, July 2011 (photo K. Sark)

6.28 Seefashion 11, Berlin Weissensee Fashion School, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin Fashion Week, July 2011 (photo K. Sark)

6.29 Lost and Found in St. Petersburg, seefashion11, Berlin Weissensee Fashion School, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin Fashion Week, July 2011 (photo K. Sark)

6.30 Denis Gagnon, atelier/boutique front, Rue St. Paul, June 2015 (photo K. Sark)

6.31 Denis Gagnon, atelier/boutique, Rue St. Paul, June 2015 (photo K. Sark)

6.32 Denis Gagnon, atelier/boutique, Rue St. Paul, June 2015 (photo K. Sark)

Chapter 7

7.1 Weaving LED lights into the fabric of  Currente Calamo  design by Isabelle Giroux and Barbara Layne, Studio subTela, the Hexagram Institute, Concordia University, 2009 (photo Studio subTela, with the permission of Barbara Layne)

7.2 Barbara Layne, Studio subTela, the Hexagram Institute, Concordia University, 2009 (photo Studio subTela, with the permission of Barbara Layne)

7.3 Black Touchpad and LED Dress, Barbara Layne, Studio subTela, the Hexagram Institute, 2013 (photo Studio subTela, with the permission of Barbara Layne)

7.4 Currente Calamo  garments, Isabelle Giroux and Barbara Layne, Studio subTela, the Hexagram Institute, Concordia University, 2011 (photo Studio subTela, with the permission of Barbara Layne)

7.5 Jacket Antics , Barbara Layne, Studio subTela, the Hexagram Institute, Concordia University, 2007 (photo Studio subTela, with the permission of Barbara Layne) 

7.6 Karma Chameleon Research Project,  V Collection , XS Labs, Concordia University © 2013 (Design Research Director: Joanna Berzowska; Fashion Designer: Christine Charlebois; Photographer: John Londono; Research Funding: The Canada Council for the Arts, NSERC, and SSHRC)

7.7 Karma Chameleon Research Project,  V Collection , XS Labs, Concordia University © 2013 (Design Research Director: Joanna Berzowska; Fashion Designer: Christine Charlebois; Photographer: John Londono; Research Funding: The Canada Council for the Arts, NSERC, and SSHRC)

7.8 Christine Charlebois designs, Fashion Pop, September 2012 (photo K. Sark)

7.9 Duc C. Ngugen, Coupé À Vif collection at Fashion Pop 2012 (photo K. Sark)

7.10 Christine Charlebois, winner of the 2012 Fashion Pop, September 2012 (photo K. Sark)

Conclusion

8.1 Anastasia Lomonova, Montréal Fashion Week, February 2012 (photo K. Sark)

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the kind support of the following people for helping us with the research on this book:

Cynthia Cooper at McCord Museum; Joanne Watkins at Musée du Costume et du Textile du Québec; Diane Charbonneau and Valérie Habra at Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal; Chantal Durivage at Groupe Sensation Mode; Diane Duhamel at Bureau de la mode; Linda Tremblay at Conseil des créateurs de mode; Denis Gagnon, Rad Hourani, Christine Charlebois, Jean-Claude Poitras, Barbara Layne and Joanna Berzowska at Concordia University; Manuel Duran-Murray at Techno-Espace; Milan Tanedjikov at Lasalle College; Isabelle Lessard at Vestechpro; Pierre-Alexandre Fournier at Hexoskin; Brittany Wacher; Angie Johnson; Carole Vallières; Deborah Farinotti; Will Straw at McGill University; Sherry Simon at Concordia University; Catherine Gingras at INRS-USC; Pierre Lapointe, Jef Barbara, Renata Morales, David Jenkins, Olivier Normandin-Guénette, Tessa Smith, Kara Keith, Philip Karneef, and Caila Thompson-Hannant.

We would like to thank Susan Ingram, the series editor, for her support and inspiration. We would also like to acknowledge the York University research grant, without which this book would not have been published.

We dedicate this book to the women of Montréal, whose hard work, creativity, innovation, inspiration, and activism are still often underrepresented and undervalued.

Introduction: Locating Montréal Chic

Montréal has traditionally been known as the city of two solitudes.¹ It is a city of translations, divisions, and contradictions.² At once cosmopolitan and provincial, forward-looking and outdated, enlightened and corrupt, it simultaneously values and negates its own history and heritage. What we found while researching this book is a city of talent, creativity, and innovation that has worked with and through these divisions and contradictions for decades and continues to produce a fashion culture that is more vibrant than in many other cities around the world. Paradoxically, it also continues to undermine and undervalue this fashion culture. What we want to stress in this book are Montréal’s efforts, often in spite of itself, to provide a space for the right kind of cultural clashes and paradoxes necessary for the creation of a dynamic culture. In that sense, our understanding of Montréal aims to inspire rather than deconstruct an image of the city as a culture zone, or rather a contradictory hub of persistent creativity. In our historical, urban-cultural, economic, and political research on this city and its fashion culture, we found that it is precisely in these divisions, incongruities, and attempts to work through oppositional cultures that its creative forces reside (Fig. 0.1).

Unlike Berlin and Vienna, the first two cities in our Urban Chic book series, Montréal’s constructed identity has not yet been summed up neatly with a branding slogan such as poor but sexy or Wien ist anders (Vienna is different) – both of which took on a life of their own after emerging as cultural branding strategies of the kind we discuss in more detail in Chapter 6. The MTL Moments logo and brand generated by Tourism Montréal does not give us any clues as to what the city is all about, except that culture is a key component and fashion plays a role in that cultural landscape (Fig. 0.2). Writers, filmmakers, musicians, urban and cultural scholars, as well as branding specialists have all offered interpretations of the city’s urban imaginary. It has been hailed as the city of festivals, city of jazz, city of sin, city of progress, city of corruption, and city of innovation. For us, it remains a city of persistent creativity with an exceptionally vibrant and colourful fashion culture.

Montréal’s opulent fashion history intersects with its cultural pillars of film, music, art, architecture, festivals, and museums. Much like in Berlin and Vienna, this rich cultural history of fashion has gone largely unexplored. Montréal Chic is the first comprehensive study of fashion culture in Montréal. It tells stories of the cultural, social, and historical transformations in the city through the lens of fashion. It focuses on the ways in which fashion permeates many of the city’s cultural spheres, including museums, music, and film, as well as many other cultural events, festivals, and numerous cultural scenes. Our book explores the roles of various organizations in Montréal’s fashion economy and traces key developments that make Montréal a hub for fashion, technology, and innovation. Our research uncovers many untold stories of local innovators, designers, and other fashion experts to provide a broad, historically grounded perspective on what makes Montréal stand out as a fashionable, trendy, and chic city. Our goal in this book is to present an interdisciplinary, feminist, cultural analysis of the city and its intersections of fashion, culture, and innovation. The study of Canadian fashion is still a young and developing field, and we hope to contribute to its growth and inspire other fashion scholars to pursue inquiries in it.

Fig. 0.1: Earl Luigi, Exhibit 22, Montréal Fashion Week, February 2012 (photo K. Sark).

Fig. 0.2: MTL Moments sign atop Mont-Royal Belvedere, October 2015 (photo Christos Tsaganos).

Methodology

Following the lead of the first two Urban Chic volumes, we ground our methodology in cultural analysis, investigating structures of representations, cultural practices, and imaginaries. We deconstruct patriarchal representations, objectifications, and spectacles of fashion and culture. Tim Edwards, in Fashion in Focus: Concepts, Practices and Politics (2011), notes that underpinning much of feminism’s critique of fashion is the problem of sexual objectification or the idea that fashion creates, perpetuates or reinforces the positioning of women as (sexual) objects.³ In our study, we go beyond issues of objectification in fashion to look at the economic and labour conditions for women in the Montréal garment industry, women’s roles and contributions to the development of fashion as a field of study, as well as women’s contributions to fashion collection, preservation, and exhibition practices. Our feminist analysis of fashion is not only timely, pertinent, and overdue but also aims to inspire other scholars to not only address issues of gender equality in fashion studies and to deconstruct patriarchal representations, objectifications, histories, and exploitative economies, but to create new connections, networks, conceptualizations, and narratives grounded in the feminist ideals of respect and equality. Our focus is on fashion culture – with its cultural history, social interaction, politics, narratives, symbolism, and innovations – rather than just local dress, garment, or costume history. In accord with Linda Welters and Abby Lillethun’s understanding of fashion culture as an interdisciplinary venture,⁴ we rely on cultural analysis precisely because it allows us to look at public histories, private stories, visual and narrative representations, public events, topographical transformations, gender issues, branding efforts, social and political change, as well as economic development in Montréal, allowing for both a broad perspective and a sustained focus on particular recurring themes in Montréal’s history and culture of fashion. Drawing on the two other volumes in this book series, our approach is also comparative and contextualizes Montréal’s fashion culture, economy, and branding in innovative ways. Our aim is not to observe or propose a coherent Montréal style, reducing its diversity and paradoxes to one common, and consumable, visual denominator, but rather to outline the many different, often contradictory, elements that go into the forging and maintenance of this city’s fashion culture. Ultimately, our goal is to help foster greater understanding of the value of Montréal’s fashion culture, with all its diversity, creativity, talent, and innovation, and to change perspectives: away from investing in exploitative fashion industries and towards a feminist value system of equality, justice, equity, respect, and appreciation of fashion as a culture.

As with any cultural artifact invested with symbolism and meaning, fashion has to do with appearances (conscious and unconscious), and, being so closely related to the body, it also takes on an intimate character. The importance fashion has gained in various fields of study may stem from this dual nature, tied to both appearance and individuals’ sociability. To be able to benefit from the range of approaches to fashion, its materiality, and its social and symbolic functions, our approach is interdisciplinary, urban, and intrinsically tied to cultural production and consumption. We agree with Fred Davis’ assessment in Fashion, Culture and Identity (1992) that fashion can serve as a vehicle for the broadening of minds because it can initiate persons into realms of thought and experience that could otherwise have bypassed them. Some of this can be attributed to the circumstance that the moulders of fashion, whatever area they work in, are persons who often are in close contact with leading creative and progressive elements in the arts, sciences, politics, and culture generally.⁵ Thus, rather than positioning ourselves as fashion experts, we approach the study of fashion as multidisciplinary and multilingual cultural analysts.

In Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (1996), Arjun Appadurai coined the concept of the cultural, using the adjective as a noun to avoid the essentialist discourses on culture and focusing on its contrasting, contradictory, and fluctuating nature. This adjectival approach to culture stresses the contextual, heuristic, and comparative dimensions and orients us to the idea of culture as difference, especially difference in the realm of group identity.⁶ The concept of the cultural allows us to understand Montréal culture as a movement rather than a substance, and when applied to the culture of fashion, it leads to the notion of a contact zone⁷ that brings together different identities, cultures, and influences, which can be described as interacting rather than as fixed. Our task is therefore to locate sites of meaning-making by identifying narrative and representational practices because identity is constructed and apprehended primarily through stories, individual and collective. We found that Montréal’s cultural history can be interpreted in terms of various quests for identity and belonging that have been represented in Montréal films, literature, music, art, and other forms of cultural production. As we demonstrate, fashion has played a significant role in these quest narratives, acting not only as what Elizabeth Wilson has described as a vehicle for fantasy, but through its very performativity and connection to the unconscious, shaping and fashioning the production of the social self, of which clothes are an indispensable part.⁸ When analyzing Montréal films, music, and other cultural products, we pay close attention to the ways in which sartorial vocabulary is used to define and describe individual and collective identities, and we examine the links between these quests and the city.⁹

A Locational Approach to Fashion

Location, space, and urbanity play a key role in our study. John Potvin identifies the close interconnectivity of space, fashion, and