There are some people in this universe whose taste and personal style are both so extraordinary that the entire world must take notice. And there are also people in this universe whose spirit and soul are so beautiful that simply being in the same room as them can feel as if you are in the presence of something divine. Margo Ducharme is one of those impossibly rare combinations of both of these ideals. Back in the fall of 2005, my life was fortunate enough to cross paths with Margo here in Montreal, and before you knew it, me, Margo, and our friend Anton were sharing a house together. They were two amazing years with two equally amazing people. As the years went on, Margo transitioned to a bicoastal career between New York and Los Angeles, scattered with one brilliant accomplishment after another. Fast forward to a few hours ago when I discovered that Margo was recently profiled by VOGUE. It doesn’t get much bigger than this, folks. VOGUE columnist Lynn Yaeger followed Margo around lower Manhattan to get inside the mind of one of America’s best kept treasures of style, and was given a glimpse into the taste and the life of the amazingness that is Margo Ducharme, and the following is a short excerpt:
“She came into my store four years ago to buy a pair of Victorian boots,” recalls Assembly New York designer Greg Armas, when he’s asked how he met his wife Margo Ducharme. “I was pretty aggressive and she was intrigued—and maybe horrified! Then one day she offered to get me a juice, and after she came back with it, she proceeded to drop it all over the floor. I laughed—there was pink smoothie everywhere.” Assembly, a well-regarded menswear line with a shop on Ludlow Street, has just launched its first women’s collection for fall 2012. Ducharme, who has piercing blue eyes, a wealth of wavy hair, and a name straight out of Tennessee Williams, is a photo-based artist, the creative director for visuals for the line Raquel Allegra, and, not incidentally, her husband’s muse. Armas started the new division because so many women bought his men’s clothes. They were drawn to an aesthetic he describes as “stoic on the outside, teddy bear on the inside,” by which he means slouchy black suit jackets made of over-dyed vintage quilting material and inconspicuous-looking pockets that turn out to have fur linings. “It’s discrete luxury,” Armas says. “I hate fake glamour.” Today, Ducharme exemplifies these fashion ideals in a white shirt from Assembly’s men’s line paired with a pale divided women’s Assembly skirt made of a heavy, curiously appealing burlap-like fabric. She has agreed to show us her favorite spots around the East Village and the Lower East Side, the places that inform her work as an artist and also, in that odd osmosis shared by creative partners, inspire Assembly collections as well.
You can read the entire VOGUE feature profile of Margo Ducharme by visiting VOGUE.com. And to enter the incredible photographic world of Margo Ducharme be sure to visit MargoDucharmePhoto.com. To learn more about the groundbreaking fashion of Assembly New York be sure to visit AssemblyNewYork.com. FADER recently interviewed Assembly’s Greg Armas and you can watch the interview by visiting FADER.com. All photos courtesy of VOGUE.
