Q1: With the Cirque du Soleil in town, and this being their home town, I was wondering if you know of any businesses where they shop right here in Montreal and can we shop there too?
Since Cirque headquartered Montreal North, their design team uses Montreal businesses as their palette to create costumes and scenery that wow the planet. Those of you with creative itches are lucky to be able to shop in very same stores. Cirque du Soleil has been enjoyed by about 60 million circus-goers more than 100 cities on five continents!
Q2: What kinds of things are they searching for when they go looking?
What I’m talking about today are businesses who sell fabric related products with high visibility levels, be they sparkly, glittery, shiny, glow-in-the-dark, or just plain feathery (with Totem as the new show there are even feathers glued onto their faces). All of these eventually get sewn or attached to a base suit of spandex.
Q3. Okay let’s start with the spandex, where does someone go for that?
Les Textiles Bon-mar is right on boul. St-Laurent and they sell yards and yards of spandex for that second skin that performers wear. Some of it gets printed on with animal-like or other patterns and the rest incorporates metallics, shiny fabrics, glitter fabrics, holograms, netting or glow-in-the dark fabrics into designs.
There’s new state-of-the art fabric using are photonics. These are electronic fabrics which have thread like electric wiring running through powered by a power source. They need costumes to light up in the dark all kinds of patterns.
The rest of this store is full of unusual fabrics for athletics – swimming, figure skating, dance, gymnastics, windsurfing, aerobics and also for theatrical events. Their products go from keeping you warm to cooling you off or keeping you safe. Hard to find products like Wonderflex and Fosshape are here for mask making.
They sell Scotchlite reflective tapes and have a new division ((canucme.com) that makes luminescent t-shirts which light up in the dark keeping you safe at night by by making you visible. The graphics are made using 3M™ Scotchlite™ glass bead technologies. Each reflective graphic is composed of millions of microscopic glass beads covered in aluminum.
Location: 8448 St. Laurent Blvd.
Corner: De Liege St.
Phone: 514-382-2275.
Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30-4:30
www.bon-mar.com
Q4: You mentioned feathers and boas, those are fun accessories, where would they go for those?
F.F.F. French Feather & Flowers, the name says it all. If you are in the need of feathery things – flowers, veils, feathers and boas (in white, red, black, burgundy, fuchsia, hot pink, bright yellow, forest green, lime, light pink, orange, brown, etc.), this place is a treasure trove. Hand made flowers a big specialty not only for Cirque, but for bridal parties they can be made into headpieces or centerpieces.
Flowers can be created out of your own fabric or out of feathers. Feathers added to real-flower bridal centerpieces and for baby baptism parties or lamps. Bridal headpieces are sold here too as well as garters, silk flowers 1st communion veils, purses, gloves and bridal shower parasols,
Location: 6565 Henri Bourassa Blvd. W
Corner: Sartelon
Phone: 514-332-8584
Hours: by appointment: Mon-Fri 8:30-4:304, closed 12-1
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Q5: Okay, that leaves the sparkly things, where do the designers shop for them?
Frabels, a business that has been around for 70 years, sells Cirque rhinestones, rhinestone banding, sequins, sequin appliques, sew-on stones (flat stones with two holes in them), beads and lots of chain. The showroom is full of findings, beads, rhinestones, pearls, semi precious stones, resin beads and Swarovski crystals for jewelry-making. All kinds of rhinestone trim, tools, chain, wire, etc. are here along with a hot fix setting machine and catalogues to look through to find exactly what else you might need. You must spend at least $200.
5580 Pare St.
Corner: Devonshire
Phone: 514-842-8561
Hours: Mon-Wed 8:30-5, Thurs 8:30-8, Fri 8:30-4:30, Sat 9-2 (summer call first)
www.frabels.com
