location: 6300 Plaza St-Hubert
phone number: 514.293.4598
hours:
payment methods: cash, interac, Visa, MasterCard
direction: Between Bellechasse and Beaubien streets, 5 minutes from Métro Beaubien station.

The cheap wedding dress stores and thrift shops make Plaza St-Hubert seem slighty tacky, but Crazy Lily – a little boutique featuring Québec clothing designers – is a gem. Yes, it has bleak interior – the entire store has wall-to-wall industrial carpeting – but the clothes are well worth the experience.

The first time I visited Crazy Lily, owner Élisabeth Deschamps was critical of my fashion choices. “They don’t suit you,” she said of the dresses and skirts I was trying on – pieces that she inevitably convinced me not to buy. It was odd to see a storeowner deter sales, but it’s because she knew better. The two pieces she did suggest – a long cardigan and a punk princess dress, both by Montrealer Ève Gravel, were great choices. They fit me like a glove.

Deschamps used to be in the fashion business in France, but has worked in Québec for the past eight years. Crazy Lily is her first boutique and is a relatively new business, but it’s already getting widespread recognition. In December of 2005, the boutique won the retail store award for the “Concours Entrepreneurs en Action” from Rosemont Petite-Patrie borough. The award was well-deserved and encouraged Dechamps to continue promoting Québec designers.

Crazy Lily offers a variety of designer clothes, from environment-conscious OÖM to girly Vilaine, from sporty dresses by Bodybag to the edgy creations by Ève Gravel. The prices are quite reasonable: about $40 for an OÖM tee-shirt, $75 for a flowered jacket by Possum, and $150 for that Ève Gravel dress I chose. The boutique also carries great jewelry and handbags – glamorous pieces to complete your outfit.

So, rather than buying a generic dress from any big store downtown, why not pay just a few bucks more and support local designers?

profile by Tihana Majcen & Mélanie Boudreau-Blanchard
photography by Pamela W.