Founded in Montreal by Brigitte Chartrand and Guillaume Cardell in 2005, Boutique Reborn quickly garnered a cult-like following for its avant-garde and high-end gender-fluid fashion. The long, narrow minimalist boutique at 231 St. Paul Street West carried a selection of fashion-forward international brands like Alexander Wang, Acne and Alexandre Herchcovitch, as well as local and Canadian designers Arielle de Pinto, Pearls Before Swine, complexgeometries, and Rad Hourani, who considers Chartrand a friend and muse.
In addition to the store, Reborn also ran a successful e-commerce site, which gave it a global reach and reputation.
Boutique Reborn closed in 2014 as Chartrand was recruited by retail and e-commerce giant Ssense. Today, she is Ssense’s Vice President of Womenswear Buying and consults for publications like Women’s Wear Daily on fashion and trend advice.
Sources
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/montreal-part-ii Internal link
Kamina, Michael. “Old Montreal Looks Beyond the Tourists,” New York Times, April 15, 2012, 11TR.
La Giorgia, Giancarlo. “Five Worth the Drive: An Insider’s Guide to Old Montreal,” The Ottawa Citizen, May 22, 2010.
