Housed in a modest brick building on the far end of Powell Street, a group of seamstresses and designers led by Christine Morton are creating luxury silk lingerie beloved by women all over the world.
From Oprah Winfrey to the Kardashians and Gwyneth Paltrow, Christine Lingerie — a production studio in Strathcona — has made its way to the wardrobes of Hollywood, reaching as far as princesses in Dubai and Saudi Arabia. “The shape is very forgiving,” says associate designer Abdo Dagher. He notes the company’s signature design emphasizes a woman’s bust and loosely drapes over her waist and hips on solid colour and print fabrics dyed in Korea and adorned with French lace on selected pieces.
“She likes to keep always her signature because she has always the same shape because she knows her customer likes this kind of stuff. She guarantees something her customers would like,” added Dagher. To illustrate, he shows off a new style he envisioned with ruffles and tighter fit around the waist that Morton turned down.
Every piece in the collection made up of chemise, robes, gowns, caftans, pajamas and bridal are made of 100 per cent silk. Known for the first line of silk lingerie designed and manufactured in Canada, the company ships orders worldwide from Vancouver and has a showroom of ready-to-wear pieces.
The floral, water-colour motifs on the fabric in its collections are original and one-of-a-kind prints owned by the company. They’re either purchased from fabric shows or created as a collaboration with Morton’s sister who works with colours Morton chooses. Her inspiration arises from seeing the different parts and she starts draping the fabric and envisioning the right look on variations of silk like chiffon, heavier silk shamus and satin — each giving a different look.
The company is in its second year of branching out online and Morton says 50 per cent of customer purchases are from men. Some phone in asking about sizing and colour.
“It’s really comfortable, it’s like soft and sexy for the women to wear at night time,” says production manager Alina Chang.
As a child, Morton remembers her grandmother’s drawers of silk, buttons, knitted-things and hand-embroideries. That experience ignited an interest in texture that she brought with her from Scotland to Canada at age 9. In Vancouver, she learned to create patterns at Columbia College and launched her four-decade career designing silk pieces.
Morton attributes the company’s longevity in the business to focusing on the simple philosophy of “making women look and feel beautiful.”
“The fashion industry is known for being extremely competitive. And we compete because we make a beautiful product,” says Morton about her hands-on, small scale approach. “We don’t compete because we are out there fighting for it. It comes to us because the quality is recognized and the designs are recognized.”
With the business expanding in the past few years, Christine Lingerie is outgrowing its studio. The tight-knit group of staff who call themselves a family have high expectations over the quality of the product. The business recently opened its doors to the Made in Strathcona tour and despite Christine Lingerie’s international reputation, Morton says their biggest supporters are Vancouverites.
