Hometown Hero: Hannah Metz
We are over the moon excited to introduce you to (if you don't already know her!) our dear pal and one of our favourite designers Hannah Kristina Metz. Originally from Ottawa, Hannah was launched into a career in fashion in her early 20's. First as a vintage buyer for American Apparel, then launching her own vintage shop & lingerie collection (The Loved One) and now, her own ready-to-wear label HKM that has all of us here at Victoire completely smitten! Throughout this decade, Hannah has also become one of the most beloved indie-Internet muses thanks to her blog hannahandlandon.blogspot.
"I feel very lucky to have grown up in Ottawa. I spent much of my time when I was wee outdoors, up trees and building little forest dwellings. Both my mum and dad encouraged creativity and I was often around adults who had careers in the arts through my dad's advertising agency. I knew from a very early age that I wanted to work in a creative field, narrowed to fashion when I started making my Barbie new outfits with old tube socks. Throughout highschool I reworked my mum's, brother's, grandma's and occasionally grandpa's clothing to suit me (I once went to school with a chopped up piece of underwear sewn onto my t-shirt which was fortunately only identified as such by a close friend). I love the small creative community that I grew up around, I think of my peers in Ottawa with only fondness and admiration as I've watched them go on to pursue their own wonderful dreams. When I think of Ottawa now it strikes me as quintessentially Canadian - humble, kind, intelligent and open."
Every designer has a fun story about how they were first interested in fashion. Hannah told us that the baseball cap in this picture was her first introduction to "reworked clothing" as her best friend's mum took the bill off it and it became a funny kind of skullcap that she found *achingly cool* (pictured on the left).
We are so very lucky to be hosting a 3-day pop-up at our West Wellington shop and online to present Hannah Kristina Metz' Spring collection. Metz's Spring collection is inspired by her favourite tormented literary love stories, such as Wuthering Heights and Tristan and Iseult. Here is a little sneak peak of her gorgeous collection...
