From Alberta to Avenue Montaigne: My Life in Luxury Retail
I didn’t grow up in Paris, Milan, or New York.
I grew up in Alberta—land of wide skies, harsh winters, and deep practicality. My childhood was filled with skiing the Rockies, paddling remote lakes, and even winter camping trips into the Arctic. Fashion wasn’t on my radar. My dream was to ski.
At fourteen, I needed money to fund those trips. My father, a second-generation tailor, made me an offer:
“I’ll teach you to sew. You can work in my shop.”
It wasn’t the job a teenager dreams of. But I said yes.
Learning the Craft—One Stitch at a Time
What began as sewing hems quickly grew into making full garments. I discovered the quiet satisfaction of turning raw fabric into something wearable and meaningful. By high school, I was sewing ultra-suede ties from leftover cloth and selling them out of my locker, even stitching graduation suits for friends.
Those years taught me two lessons that still define my work:
Details matter—the arc of a lapel, the line of a seam, the balance of a garment.
Luxury is invisible—it’s in the hand-stitched seam only a trained eye notices, the curve that feels right, the fit that makes someone stand taller.
From the Workroom to the World
I wanted more technical knowledge, so I studied design and patternmaking in Germany. My early career took me from Toronto to Germany with my young family in tow. In northern Germany, a mentor once stopped me mid-pattern and said:
“If you can’t see that this curve is wrong, you shouldn’t be in this business.”
Harsh. But transformative. That exacting standard prepared me for the world of luxury.
Later, I joined Hugo Boss, overseeing design and development for the U.S. market from Cleveland, Ohio. By then, I understood that craftsmanship wasn’t just about fabric. It was about people—the fit, the service, the ability to listen and create something that mattered.
Reinvention at Mid-Career
In Montreal, I built my own menswear brand—sometimes even hosting 6am afterparties in my shop during the Grand Prix. But the 2008 financial crisis hit hard. I had to pivot.
So, at nearly forty years old, with a young family, I packed my bags for Paris and enrolled in the ESSEC MBA in International Luxury Brand Management. I was surrounded by bright twenty-somethings chasing their first break, while I was navigating reinvention mid-career. It was humbling—and exhilarating.
That openness paid off. The MBA became my bridge to the LVMH world.
Dior, London—and Beyond
In 2011, Dior offered me a leadership role at its Selfridges boutique in London. For me, it felt like crossing a personal finish line—proof that reinvention works when you stay curious, agile, and willing to start again.
From there, my career accelerated:
Dior Russia & CIS — serving as General Manager, expanding boutiques across a complex and demanding market.
Global roles — launching stores, building teams, and shaping client experiences at the highest level.
Every move—from Canada to Germany, the U.S. to the U.K.—reshaped not only my career but my family too. My children had lived in three countries before age six. My wife, Yvonne, a Scot, found a kind of homecoming in London. Resilience, openness, and curiosity became part of our family DNA.
What I Carry Forward
Today, I advise founders, luxury leaders, and global brands on strategy, experiential retail, and what I call The Atelier Method — a way of aligning brand, people, and performance.
But I never forget where it started:
🧵 A needle and thread.
🇨🇦 The Canadian prairies.
💭 A desire to make something meaningful.
I’m still that ski-obsessed kid who loves backcountry canoe trips and winter camping. Still obsessed with the perfect fit. But now I do it at scale—for clients who are redefining luxury in a fast-changing world.
Because if there’s one truth I’ve learned: no matter where you start—there’s always a next chapter.
#LuxuryRetail #CareerEvolution #FromAlbertaToTheWorld #RetailTransformation #TheAtelierMethod
