The House of Saint Marche makes other plans for the future

MONTREAL - Sept. 1, 2014 - PRLog -- The House of Saint Marche announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Christina Saint Marche Limited, will be divesting itself of its fashion design assets.  Final projects and contracts will be completed by year’s end 2014.  Madame Saint Marche’s modeling contracts, which are held within Christina Saint Marche Limited, will continue on separately, as a planned divestiture, from the main company for the next three years and are not expected to be renewed beyond that point.

The company will be taking a different direction and entering the Private Equity marketplace where it will make investments in “up and coming fashion designers” in various parts of the world.  The following are redacted comments of Madame Saint Marche’s speech late last week at a ceremony in her honour:

“If you are serious about fashion, you don’t build a collection for a show based on a monetary budget; you build said collection so to see people in the audience gasping for air from the excitement that each piece brings as the model walks the catwalk.  That has always been my motive and inspiration.  Money was never an objective and yet I understand that in today’s fashion world, which is often dominated by Wall Street types, money is everything to a young designer.  Without financing, an upstart designer is nothing more than a street designer for his or her local neighbourhood clothing store.  A tragic statement but most accurate.”

“I wish to see my career, which began when I was 17 on my first fur modeling assignment back in Billings, Montana, have a different ending.  And for that specific reason, Christina Saint Marche Limited is converting its operations to private equity and merchant banking by year’s end 2014.  We will no longer design and manufacture our own lines but our focus will now be to invest in young designers, their collections and private brands.  I am looking for designers in parts of the world that are untouched by mainstream fashion.  My interest is in collections and not disposable clothing as we see streaming into retail outlet malls today.  Collections the likes of the then young upstarts Bill Blass, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Valentino, Coco Chanel and of course, Mr. Dior who’s previous office space at Place Vendôme I have occupied for some years.  This is how I see the future of the fashion world in which I hope to be financially involved within.”

“My passion will be to assist designers who are from parts of the world that are rarely seen by the fashion world.”

“There are many people to thank for my personal success.  Many have passed on from here.  No one person ever makes it on their very own.  I ran my company as an extension of my own personality and because of that, I found success.  My goal today is to help others who have the desire to do the same.  A person should always live what he or she designs.  They should wear what they draw and sew but most of all, they should tell others the story and inspiration behind each and everything they create on paper.”

“Many designers believe their obituary should read “died at one’s desk, pencil in one’s clenched hand, their greatest work - the masterpiece - on one’s sketchpad-incomplete.”  Often it is how we see our exit from the fashion world here in Paris.”

“I hope when my day comes, people will remember me in the fashion world as a woman who found her niche and lived it out within her very own God given time.  By living it, my designs came to life for myself and my clients.”

“Always remember my favorite statement as I close here today;  “in an attic, high above the courtyard of Place Vendôme, is a painting of me, Madame Saint Marché……aging.” Merci beaucoup for your wonderful comments today, your friendship over the years and as always, I am most humbled to have lived this dream in the world of fashion that we all share.”

END