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MICHEL
ROBICHAUD
 Biography
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This year's winner of the IDM's BRP
Sam Lapointe Lifetime Achievement Award
is Michel Robichaud, truly a Canadian
fashion pioneer.
After studying fashion design in Montréal and in Paris, Michel Robichaud
founded his own fashion house in Montréal and presented his first collection
in February 1963. His technically masterful creations spoke of the freshness
and freedom that so captivated and defined the 60s. As early as 1965, he began
to design ready-to-wear collections for different manufacturers. By 1966, these
early forays resulted in an exceptional experience: he was the very first Quebec
fashion designer to present his haute couture collection in Paris, Brussels,
Milan and London, where he represented the Quebec government. He followed this
with another presentation in 1969 at the Maison du Québec in Paris under
the aegis of the Quebec department of industry and trade. In 1968, he opened
his own shop on Crescent Street and in 1973 launched his famous and immensely
successful perfume Brunante, the first perfume ever created by a Quebec designer.
In 1987, he signed a widely distributed ready-to-wear women's collection for
Sears Canada. He continued to be active during the 90s, when he created among
other things, a luxury line of ready-to-wear clothing exclusively for Ogilvy.
Because he wished to pass on his experience, he taught for many years at LaSalle
College, at the École supérieure de mode de Montréal and
at Québec's Notre-Dame-de-Foy campus.
Besides designing stage costumes, he created official uniforms for a great many
corporations and for almost all the international events that were held in Montréal.
They include uniforms for Air Canada, Expo 67 hostesses, Bell Canada, Hydro-Québec,
employees at the Canada Pavilion and staff and attendants at the 1976 Olympic
Games, not to mention Montréal airport uniforms.
In 1988, the Musée du Québec presented roughly fifty models of
Michel Robichaud's creations during its quarter century retrospective called "25
ans de création de mode". That same year, his biography was
published. In 1992, he donated forty of his haute couture models from the 1960s
to the Musée de la civilisation, where they were exhibited the same year.
Musée Marsil presented a 1995 exhibition called Robichaud, couturier
: Retour sur les années 60.
In 1974, he was elected the first president of the Fashion Designers' Association
of Canada and ten years later, he was appointed president of the former Centre
de promotion de la mode de Montréal. As a creator, he was awarded the
Order of Canada in 1996 and the Ordre national du Québec in 2001. France
appointed him Commandeur de l’Ordre de Napoléon. He is also the
recipient of the Méritas acadien award and was named "Personality
of the Week" by the daily La Presse. L’Académie de
la griffe d’or paid tribute to him for his exceptional contribution to
the fashion industry and he is a recipient of the Golden Jubilee Medal and the
Quebec Lieutenant Governor's Award.
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