Globe & Mail
August 20, 2005

HOT SHOP

by Shawna Wagman

Imagine two handsome guys who love to gab, giggle and gossip, who will pour you a glass of bubbly in the afternoon, all the while fitting you for a fabulous feather-trimmed pantsuit or a to-die-for silk evening gown with hand-sewn crystals.

They'll even consider what kind of flowers you like - or dislike - before filling the crystal vase at the centre of their new custom boutique. That's the kind of passion for detail that seems to bond together two Ottawa fashion school grads.

Now just blocks away from where the pair met 10 years ago, they have set up shop in a nineteenth century heritage building that anchors a fashionable strip of the capital's Dalhousie Street.

"We do it all - suits, dresses, sportswear, evening wear," says Jefferson. "We wanted to take haute couture and make it more available to more people." That means classic custom-made suits that start at $1200 and eveningwear at $1500. The price-point, they say, is almost half of what competitors charge.

"Not only that. We're nicer and cuter," says Jefferson, with a laugh.

Customers are offered clothing samples exclusively in black, an effect that is punctuated by an all-white boutique. "The idea is not to be distracted by colour or print," says Jefferson. "Concentrating on the style, making sure it fits well, that's the most important thing," says Sukhoo, "Then comes the selection of colours and fabrics."

Their almost comic capacity for finishing each other's sentences attests to the chemistry and collaboration that goes on along the couture process. "We work as a team," says Jefferson. "We bounce ideas off each other. We both do everything - all of the work by hand. We don't want to be little prima donnas."

That's coming from a guy who has made quite a name for himself as the man behind some of the slinkiest, sexiest and wildest outfits ever seen in the nation's capital.

As a twenty-something student at the Richard Robinson Academy of Fashion Design, Jefferson was famously hand-picked to be Robinson's assistant, a post that lasted five years and included custom couture work for one of Canada's most flamboyant fashion figures, Marlen Cowpland. Then came the coup: the protégé with an eye for cutting edge design took the place of his teacher as Cowpland's in-house designer. He dressed the millionaire-ess for every aspect of her jet-set life, including the campy-couture for her Celebrity Pets TV series.

Meanwhile Sukhoo, who had been a teacher at the Robinson school, became the head designer at Silkware, the lingerie company recently purchased by bridal designer Justina McCaffrey.

While the duo are thrilled to have Cowpland on the boutique's otherwise hush-hush client list, Jefferson and Sukhoo insist that their shop is aiming to be more conservative, more general. "Some of the wilder stuff seems to be for our male clients," says Jefferson who disappears into his workshop and emerges with a sheer silk organza shirt.

Jefferson Sukhoo , 146 Dalhousie St., Ottawa, 613-860-9669.

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