Victorian presence, modern style

By Jennifer Cox, September 12th, 2012

When the owner of Boutique 1861, Castle Ho, opened her first store (and then her second), she had very concrete ideas about the image that she wanted to portray. She also loved the variety of regular clients who came to see her, customers who inspired what she decided to carry season to season.
"We have a large and very different base of clients who have very different styles," she explained. "There's the young working woman who works and lives around the area, but then we also have the student that is super fashion-forward and who wants what is on trend right now but doesn't have a huge budget, and then there's the very fashionable mature woman who comes in and finds things they love. It's a clientele base with very mixed backgrounds but who, overall, are open to all different cultures and are more open-minded about fashion."
Ho has two boutiques in two distinct areas of the city. One shop is on trendy St. Laurent Blvd., and another located on Ste. Catherine St. where they see a lot of fashion students from LaSalle College.
“They are fashion lovers who appreciate fashion, and we're so happy to bring our collections to people who appreciate it,” said Ho. “They enjoy finding original things at affordable prices."
It's this eclectic mix that inspires Ho to carry the lines and designers that she does. "Each time I do my buying I have to picture who will wear this and who will be excited to see this piece of clothing — after all, it's always them who I'm buying for."
Ho also looks at Montreal's cultural mosaic of fashionistas when she is choosing various garments. "The girl from Europe will dress a certain way, and then I see a girl from Japan or China who dresses a certain way, and North American women dress a certain way. It makes it all very interesting," she said.
She also prided herself on the look of her actual storefronts. Decked out in pink and black, the boutiques have a distinctly vintage feel to them.
"For a long time I've been a fan of Victorian times. I'm from Malaysia originally and we just don't have Victorian things around us," Ho said. "I've drawn inspiration for my stores from Shakespearean movie sets and beautiful Victorian fashion, and my boutiques are inspired by Marie Antoinette times … I've put together the stores piece by piece, collecting things over time and choosing furniture you can't find anywhere else. "
In the end, her boutiques aims for a one-of-a-kind look with one-of-a-kind collections. "I try to stay away from mainstream fashion and doing the 'typical' expected outfits,' she explained
"As a small boutique we need to be different, and we always try to encourage people to have fun and explore what they normally don't do. Sometimes, clients are very hesitant to experiment and will tell me 'that's not my style,' but we say 'just try.' Have fun seeing yourself in something different."