Maggy Reeves is not as well known as some designers but her pieces so well made you can tell she must have been someone special if you happen to come across one of her gowns, even if you don't immediately recognize the label! Like the gown worn by Vickie above, her pieces are striking and arresting. That particular gown has a silk satin skirt constructed of long vertical panels anchored by a finished hem. The skirt alone weigh several pounds and yet Vickie commented on how light it felt on — a practiced trick of balance and proper drape technique that Maggy excelled at!
She was a Canadian couturier who specialized in evening pieces for the society set. If you were a wealthy women in Canada in the sixties and seventies you most likely had a piece (or two) that had been tailored specifically for you, by Maggy, in your closet. Her clothes were some of the most expensive in Canada at the time — dresses could cost several thousand dollars even back then — and she was renowned for her draping that was so well done it was said other designers could not duplicate it.
There was an auction of her personal collection in 2004 hosted by Ritchie's Auctioneers — the auction notes give valuable information on Maggy:
"A COLLECTION FROM THE STUDIO OF MAGGY REEVES Maggy Reeves was born in Vienna, Austria as Margareth Katarina Weisz. She attended a local art college in the Dominican Republic then moved to New York to become a design assistant. To further her career, she designed in Philadelphia and Montreal until finally settling in Toronto in 1962. Maggy opened her own boutique just two years later at 108 Cumberland St., celebrating the occasion with her first runway show at the Donalda Club. With an audience of 50, every item sold! Her one-of-a- kind originals quickly became the rage among the Toronto's social elite. Maggy gladly worked from dawn to the dusk creating new masterpieces and catering to her adoring clients desires. At the height of her career, she produced 200 gowns a year with a staff of up to eleven European trained seamstresses. Each gown took up to 300 hours of labour adorning each piece with crystal beads, jet, lace, ribbon and embroidery. Maggy Reeves has been an inspiration to the Canadian and International fashion market. Deemed the first lady of haute couture in Canada, she has graced us with her masterpieces for nearly to 40 years. Her originals can now be found in several museum and gallery collections across the city."
Maggy was selling her personal collection to help pay for her move to a long term care facility.
If only I had been at that auction — if only! I weep for the lost opportunity especially since most of her collection went for peanuts or not sold at all and was largely unappreciated. I would give my eye teeth to go back in time and whisk her collection away to be loved and stored properly. Every one of her pieces were made the way a proper garment should be — with love and care and absolute strict attention to every detail in every inch of it's construction!
I am sad to tell you that Maggy passed away just a few years after that auction. She died in December of 2008 at the grand old age of 85. I would otherwise be on a quest as of right this minute to go and find her so I could gather her memories of those days like fine silk to weave together her story for you but it is now too late. An even sadder missed opportunity. Why do we only value people when they have died? We have so many living designers that really made an impact on fashion and yet we only seem to truly embrace them when they die. I mourn that I could not share her story with you sooner and perhaps had been able to give it to you first hand instead of pieced together from tidbits of information found.
Maggy left an ongoing legacy in the form of the Maggy Reeves Fashion Design Award at the Ryerson School of Fashion that aspiring designers may qualify for "To provide financial assistance and to recognize the academic achievement of a full-time student enrolled in the School of Fashion that produced a garment that most closely resembles Maggy Reeves original or Maggy Reeves design philosophy in their second year of study in the Fashion Design" Please join me in thanking her for that. She died with her designs largely unappreciated and yet she took the time to arrange a legacy for those who might follow in her ever so fashionable footsteps.
Thank you Maggy for all you left behind
shop the dress above and the see the other Maggy Reeves piece in the shop now by clicking here
Photo by moi