74 GRAND NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2012 NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2012 GRAND 75

RENOWNED DESIGNER FINDS MUCH TO LIKE ABOUT HIS MOVE TO A SMALLER CITY

meets glamour

PROF ILEP

Fashion designer Rodney Philpott has moved from Yonge Street to Main Street, where his minimalist boutique offers cus-tom couture to Cambridge and beyond.Photography • Philip Walker

By Renée Francoeur

It’s l Ike a glamorous wardrobe dream: cascades of silk organza, billowing tulle and rustling taffeta, ribbons of ivory lace, gathered pink

chiffon bows, corsets glittering with rhinestones. …

Welcome to Rodney Philpott Designs, a kingdom of glitz and glam,

elegance and edge, which opened at 22 Main St. in Cambridge this fall.

Philpott has been working in Toronto for 19 years, where he

designed dresses for clients such as ET Canada host Cheryl Hickey

and was featured on TV shows such as Wedding Dress Wars.

Dresses — bridalwear, cocktail styles, prom gowns — are Philpott’s

claim to fame. But his white-walled, minimalistic boutique is no

retail stop-shop-and-go. While racks of his various creations line the

high-ceilinged showroom, these are show items. Rodney Philpott

Designs offers custom couture, where dresses are designed for the

individual client, ensuring not only a perfect fit, but also a one-of-a-

kind design.

“The clients that know me and the future ones that will come in

here are not looking for something that will get them a, ‘Oh, wow,

that’s nice.’ Nice is what you buy off the rack,” says Philpott.

“They want to hear, ‘Oh, wow, I would never wear that!’ when they

walk into a room or, ‘That’s incredible!’ ”

Philpott’s clients also understand that what he does goes beyond

Edgy

76 GRAND NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2012 NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2012 GRAND 77

almost two decades, Philpott found his

artistic expression taking on a new form

over recent years.

It was time for a change, he says.

Earlier this summer, Shkank closed its

doors at the corner of Yonge and Isabella

streets in Toronto and Rodney Philpott

Designs was born in Cambridge.

Shkank Inc. remains the parent company

of Rodney Philpott Designs and both are

run by Philpott and his husband, Chris-

topher Krzysztof-John Flis, the company’s

director of business development.

“Shkank was more geared to the Toronto

market. It still exists and we’ll still be

making creations for that brand, but

Rodney Philpott Designs is more for this

new Waterloo County market and our new

location,” says Krzysztof-John Flis, 40,

who left the corporate world and started

working with Philpott four years ago. “It

shows how Rodney has matured and how

his art has evolved.”

“In other words, I got old,” chuckles

Philpott.

“It’s just maybe not the party that it used

to be but some party is definitely still here,”

adds Krzysztof-John Flis.

“For me, I’d describe what I’m doing

now as more old Hollywood glam,” says

Philpott. “Like, one of my favourite fabrics

to work with is silk organza because it’s

easy to dye and when you dye it, you can

really make it look vintage and just so

classic.”

Moving the small business (which they

want to keep small) made sense as the next

life step, say the couple.

For one thing, Shkank’s neighbourhood

didn’t blossom over time as Shkank did,

notes Krzysztof-John Flis.

“We were surrounded by adult shops and

instant cash places,” says Philpott. “So it got

tough to have this fabulous dress shop next

to all that.”

Not to mention the atrocious state of

just clothing the body.

“It’s not a job, it’s my life art,” he says.

“And my clients get that and appreciate

that.”

Lounging on a white upholstered chair in

the showroom, his tattooed arms crossed

loosely and one snakeskin-clad foot tapping

in time to the background music, Philpott

explains his market niche.

“Any woman of any size

that wants something unique,

something ‘out there,’ and who

doesn’t want to settle for the typical

is my market,” he says. “The women

that want to have fun with their clothes

but look good and as such feel good and

confident, I’m there for them.”

With a dress designed from scratch for a

specific woman, there’s no squeezing into

one standard size, says Philpott and the

shopping experience becomes fun again.

He understands couture can be intimidat-

ing for some shoppers, but he emphasizes

that it works for any figure, from the tiny to

the robust.

What’s more, Philpott can work with

a client’s specific budget.

“Sure, we’ve done $6,000

wedding dresses, but if a

bride only has a budget of

$500, we’ll work with that as

well,” he says.

On average, Philpott’s

bridal dresses range

from $2,000 to

$4,000 and

cocktail or prom

dresses generally

cost $300 to $600.

• • •

Philpott, 41, began

designing clothes at age

14 in his hometown

of Botwood, New-

foundland.

It was something he just found himself

doing one day.

“My mother couldn’t even sew a button

on,” he says, shaking his head and

laughing. “My grandmother gave me my

first sewing machine and let me go, and I

just went with it and did my own thing.”

Of course, once his friends realized he

knew his way around a needle and thread,

Philpott became the mastermind behind a

variety of prom styles.

His path to fashion had been set.

After graduating from the Interna-

tional School of Design in Toronto, Philpott

founded his “wearable couture” fashion

company Shkank Inc. in the big city at the

ripe age of 22.

With Shkank, he would make a name for

himself with jaw-dropping creations that

popped and sizzled with a loud distinction

all their own.

The company name, while seemingly

controversial, spoke to Philpott’s original

focus in creating electric club wear for those

who weren’t afraid to be different and stand

out on the night scene.

His passion for clothes that made a

statement saw his designs make their way

onto the red carpet at the Grammy Awards

and CTV’s Juno Awards.

Dresses stitched together by Philpott also lit

up the stage on the hit show So You Think

You Can Dance and can be found in magazine

pages and covers, such as Chatelaine and

Today’s Bride.

Most recently he was featured in the reality

TV show Wedding Dress Wars, which

premiered earlier this year on Slice TV.

“That was a high point in my career and

an honour to be chosen,” he says.

He went head to head and won against

two other top designers to create one

bride’s fantasy wedding dress in an allotted

amount of time.

• • •

While Shkank flourished in Toronto for

Gowns showcased at Rodney Philpott Designs feature exquisite

detail. This cocktail dress is one Philpott created on

a whim late one night in his studio.

Photography • Philip Walker

Tania Tajirian, a Toronto physician, wears a dramatic

red wedding dress designed by Rodney Philpott.

Photography • Catherine Farquharson

78 GRAND NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2012

downtown Toronto parking. downtown Toronto parking.

And moving to a more upscale Toronto

neighbourhood would have been costly.

In beautiful downtown Galt, the couple

were able to rent a larger space for a decent

price. Besides, they say, over half of their

clientele comes from outside Toronto.

“Personally, I just feel like people are more

genuine here . . . and there’s more artists

here, too, than in our old location. There’s the

theatre, Tiny Cakes, the architecture school.

. . . It’s perfect for us,” says Philpott.

“People say Toronto is the centre of the

universe, well, it’s not.”

The local reception so far has also been

further confi rmation that they made the

right choice.

“People were so curious before we had

a poster up announcing what we were. . . .

They’d see these dresses in the window and

stop and ask what was going on. . . . Teenage

girls are still thanking us for coming,” says

Krzysztof-John Flis.

While Philpott says he loved Toronto

when he was younger, he no longer calls it

home.

The men moved their personal residence

to a 140-year-old Cambridge house near

the river nearly three years ago.

Now they can walk to work.

“Chris used to live in the area years ago and

we have friends here who urged us to look

when we outgrew our Toronto condo,” says

Philpott. The couple own two dogs and a cat.

Krzysztof-John Flis notes that living in

Cambridge and working in Toronto had its

complications because Philpott’s “creative

energies” tend to stir at 2 a.m.

“So when the studio was still in Toronto,we

had to convert a bedroom into a home

studio for him to work in when ideas pop

into his head at odd hours. . . . I could

always tell when that happened because

there would be feathers all over in the

morning,” says Krzysztof-John Flis.

“He’d say to me ‘Oh, the dogs will be

pooping rhinestones again,’ ” says Philpott,

laughing.

And over the past summer, to keep up with

their clients during the business move, the

men had 14 different brides coming in and men had 14 different brides coming in and

out of their house for fi ttings and interviews.

Today, Rodney Philpott Designs consists of

a showroom with a studio in the back, its

fl oor covered with fabric scraps. There are

four sewing machines, Philpott’s sketches of

dresses are pinned to the wall and his thick

collection of cut-out patterns hang like

clothes in a closet, awaiting the next step.

“So, now, fi nally, our house is back to

being a house,” says Krzysztof-John Flis.

• • •

The design process at Rodney Philpott

Designs is set out to ensure ultimate

customer comfort and satisfaction.

It begins with the fi rst consultation

followed by measurement taking.

“Clients come in and want to incorporate

so many different styles into one dress — so many different styles into one dress —

especially brides,” says Krzysztof-John Flis.

“Rod will say, ‘Pick three things you like

and we’ll go from there.’ ”

Philpott then spends a lot of time getting

to know what’s behind the person wearing

the dress. For example, he asks brides what

type of brides they are — are they eating

brides, dancing brides, or what he calls

‘‘voguing’’ brides (ones that stand still all

night for photos)?

He also understands what styles work

for which body types and engages clients

in these conversations so that their best

features will be highlighted in the design,

says Krzysztof-John Flis.says Krzysztof-John Flis.

Two of Rodney Philpott’s clients are shown in their

one-of-a-kind dresses.

Photography • Alkan Emin

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2012 GRAND 79

Next, there is the fi rst fi tting where the

dress is half done. This gives the client

an opportunity to voice any concerns or

changes she may want.

“If you don’t like it, we can change it at this

stage completely,” says Philpott.

Complex bridal designs can have many “fi rst

fi ttings” to get everything perfect.

Then comes the second fi tting and/or

pick-up day. The dress is fully complete

except for the hem, which is the very last

thing Philpott touches on his designs. This is

also the last chance for any alternations, such

as if the dress is too tight or too loose.

It’s a clear process, but there is still a big

“however” in this description: not every client

who comes in gets to order a Philpott dress.

Choosing a client is serious business

and just because someone is willing to

pay whatever it takes, that is no guarantee

Philpott will take them on.

For bridal parties, he will actually do pre-

interviews with the bride and her bridesmaids

before he agrees to design the dresses. For

2012, they interviewed 63 bridal parties

and took on 44.

“Weddings are great, but sometimes there

can be too much drama,” says Krzysztof-

John Flis.

“If we feel in any way that it’s not going to

be a good relationship and too much stress

for everyone involved, we won’t take it on,”

says Philpott.

When he starts to feel “artistically drained,”

he’ll take a hiatus and spend time concocting

designs just for his own fulfi lment, many of

which are on display in the showroom.

While his top inspirations include Alexander

McQueen and John Galliano, he says it’s im-

possible to nail down his creative processes.

“Most of my infl uences just come from

fabrics and textures themselves, and I

visualize with what I see and feel through a

quick 10-minute sketch,” he says.

“I don’t overthink. I just do it. If it works, it

works. If it doesn’t, you redo it. I’ll leave it for

a few days and come back to it.”

He describes his methods as sometimes

“deconstructive,” too.

Krzysztof-John Flis has seen his husband

fi nish one design only to tear it all to pieces

and start again if something isn’t right.

Philpott creates about six to 24 dresses a

week, depending on the size of the project.

“If we’re talking cocktail dresses, I can

knock off three of those in a day.”

• • •

Giving back to the community is also high

on Philpott’s to-do list.

“We stopped doing fashion shows a

number of years ago; we found they were

so much effort and they just weren’t giving

us what we wanted. So what we do now is

charity events,” says Krzysztof-John Flis.

Rodney Philpott Designs closed the

fashion show for the Stephen Lewis Foun-

dation’s Dare to Wear Love event, a gala

that wrapped up Fashion Week in Toronto

in March. The show helped raise funds to

combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Philpott plans to take part in the 2013

edition of Dare to Wear Love.

In September, he was one of 15 designers

who designed and brought to life a toilet

paper couture dress, taking part in the

ninth annual White Cashmere Collec-

tion: Fashion With Compassion event. All

proceeds go to the Canadian Breast Cancer

Foundation. (Voting continues until Nov.

19 at: www.cashmere.ca.)

He also donated a wide array of gowns to

the fourth annual Fabulous Fashions – Beauty

Redesigned Fashion Show and Auction

in Kitchener Nov. 8. The fundraiser is for

Community Living Cambridge, a local

support system for those living with devel-

opmental disabilities. Patrons of Community

Living are among the models.

“They have more confi dence on stage than

I do,” says Philpott. “It’s like Christmas for

them.”

As for the future, Philpott and Krzysztof-

John Flis are thinking about wholesale

distribution of the Shkank and Rodney

Philpott Designs labels in other urban

markets, such as Toronto again.

But for now, the men are more than

happy to keep things the way they are in

Cambridge, a place where they say “we

know our neighbours’ names” and people

actually greet each other on the streets.