The store is a delight, festooned with flowers and pink planter pots, with a beige carpet that has been brought to life with the graffiti-esque scrawlings of Ojo. Fitting rooms are art installations – garden scenes, giant pick-up sticks, garden hose sculptures – all in keeping with the floral theme for this spring.

Dressing room installations.

Colourful sweats and Ts from WRKDEPT are in stock at the Cabinet Éphèmere.

Embroidered top by Maram.

A floral theme for spring.

An installation featuring Marie Saint Pierre top for men.

New designers on offer

As for designers, newcomers include Maram, the label designed by Maram Aboul Enein, who trained with Balmain in Paris, and WRKDEPT, the cheeky unisex street wear label. Marie Saint Pierre’s menswear is in stock, as is P2 by Philippe Dubuc.

The store moves in for one year in the Town of Mount Royal mall, after stops at Ogilvy’s and downtown on Ste-Catherine St.

The concept store was the subject of a talk at the recent summit of Quebec retailers, Hop17, with Linda Tremblay, director of the Conseil des Créateurs de Mode, and Manon Larose, leasing VP of Rockland, at the podium.

The Cabinet was founded on the notion of a “cabinet of curiosities” – to attract the curious shopper.

“Why not have a boutique with a little bit of fun and a little bit of luxury – like a Colette for Montreal?” Tremblay suggested.

The boutique is an incubator and accelerator for fashion businesses here, she added, and a goal is to bring high quality production to Montreal.

For Larose, the Cabinet is part of a push by the mall to foster creative retail spaces. Rockland is also planning to upgrade with a VIP salon, lounges and an esplanade.

The Cabinet takes up 4,000 square feet in the former Lily Simon boutique, an iconic name in Montreal fashion dating to the 1980s.

Said Tremblay: “We see it not as a boutique, but as an event space and content creation space. “

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