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The first time I got my hands on some money I bought myself a Comrags outfit – a beautiful black linen sleeveless dress and a beige zipper linen jacket with enormous round shoulder pads. It was the 90s. It was beautiful. It goes without saying that I still own the outfit, though only wear the dress, and I still buy from the designers every time I go their wonderful Toronto store.
Comrags is a kind of sartorial secret. I’ve yet to see designers who make such down-to-earth yet elegant clothes the way they do. And there are a few reasons for this: The designers are some of the few surviving small enterprises who design and make their clothing in-house, sell them at a price I can afford, select exclusive materials that last both in terms of quality and look, and cut a garment in a way that is just unique enough to be their own style, and hence timeless in the greater fashion style economy.
What is more, they have existed for more than 25 years, Joyce Gunhouse + Judy Cornish working as a duo (and still together!) and have been successful without selling out. Their local Toronto and Canadian fan base is huge—though I am still trying to get them to sell in Montreal—but I thought the rest of the world would surely want to find out about them too, if they didn’t already. So, I interviewed them about their design practice, history and recent 2012 S/S collection:
To begin with, do you remember this beige linen jacket with a long zipper in the front? It was hip hugging and oh-so-beautiful!
Um… no! I barely remember the nineties! We often meet women who have Comrags pieces from the past that have special meaning for them. I guess our clothes are like songs that capture a moment in time.
How have you survived all these years? Most duo partnerships in fashion last only a short time, unless they are lovers, and not necessarily creative equals as you are. How do you still get along, let alone design together? I think above and beyond fashion, it’s a lesson in human relations….
Obviously, we don’t have the same relationship we had when we started. It is evolving and changing like our own personal lives. We made a pact when we started – not to leave the studio mad but now we tend to “sleep” on things and resolve them with a fresh look in the morning.
Good partnerships are built on individuals meeting each other’s deficiencies, or filling in the missing elements of the other. Who does what? What are your individual design strengths and how do they come together?
Judy is more crafty and abstract, while I (Joyce) am more technical and disciplined. Judy keeps track of money and fabric ordering and I am more involved in production, sewing, and sales. I draw and Judy writes. We both design the collection and every piece is a collaboration.
Tell me about the new Spring 2012 collection. What was its inspiration?
For Spring 2012, we were again thinking about strength and femininity, themes inherent in every Comrags’ collection, yet interpreted differently each season. At the core of this spring collection are strong, clean shapes, executed in bold blocks of colour, linear geometrics and abstracted floral prints. The feeling is playful, and lighthearted, the attitude one of confidence. We wanted to embrace the complicatedness of women.
Can you tell us more about the atelier. Who works there, how are the garments made, for example are they made to order, or as a small series? Do you only make a limited amount, or keep making a collection for as long as it sells?
We started as wholesalers and still work that way. We design a collection and our store (us!) comes and buys from the collection. This way we are able to tell a story with the clothes and not just fill the store with bits and pieces. We still wholesale to some handpicked accounts across Canada. The production is limited and we seldom do re-cuts. We do repeat successful styles in new fabrics. It is not unusual for a customer to have the same style in a few different fabrics.
The big complaint in the Western world is that there is no more expertise in clothes fabrication craftsmanship. Based on the quality of your designs I would argue this is untrue. However, why do you think so few garments are cut and sewn in the Western world? And do you think this will change as, for example salaries go up in third world countries and the price of shipping goods internationally rises?
Thank you. We have always recognized that part of our success is that we understand the construction of a garment. We do all the first patterns, sew the muslins, and I often sew the first samples. Our production is done in-house by seamstresses that have been with us forever. My sister, Susan, is in charge of the studio and quality. Our customers do recognize the value in “Made in Canada”. So few garments are produced in the West because it costs more… employment standards and environmental policies increase production costs. Too often consumers choose quantity over quality. But this is changing. Each day we meet new customers who have come to understand and appreciate the value of clothes that are well-made and last for years.
You always have such beautiful fabrics. Do you pick the fabrics first and then design the garments, or is it the other way around?
Judy goes through thousands of fabrics and edits them to hundreds based on quality, price and appeal. Then we both go through them and create themes that we design for. Yes—it starts with the fabric!
I have to complain: why are you distributed at such a small scale? Why can’t I buy your clothes in Montreal? Or online? Have you thought of e-commerce like wonderMode? Just so I can get my hands on some of pieces from 2012S/S….
We love to know our customers. We aren’t in the store very often but do events that enable us to meet our customers. Service is as important as design and quality. My sister Judy, and Judy’s daughter Georgia work with amazing staff to insure excellent service. That being said, we are actually just starting to look into selling the collection on-line—a whole new world to us!
Since it’s a small label, what will happen if you decide to pack up and move to Jamaica to permanently sip rum in the sun? What is the planned legacy of the Comrags? I ask for very selfish reasons… I don’t want the well to run dry!
We can’t imagine “packing up” permanently. We’ve built a business that affords us the pleasure of doing what we most enjoy each day… creating and working with our hands. But we are “packing up”! Come Spring 2012 our store moves 2 blocks north to 812 Dundas Street West (at Palmerston). It’s an eclectic, evolving neighbourhood of creative, independent retailers. Clothes, furniture, and design, along with great restaurants. Change is exciting and keeps moving us forward.
It goes without saying, I’m planning a shopping trip to Comrags before spring arrives. Thanks so much. Bizou!
