FashioninG a Dream

Christelle Dominique is just getting started. The vivacious Dominique has designed dresses for pageant women, shown her MeJeanne Couture collections at Funkshion Miami Fashion Week and Atlanta International Fashion Week, and started working with a team on a company called Creative Marketing and Advertising — all while finishing school at NDSU and MSUM.

The Haitian born designer modestly calls herself a multitasker. “I really love what I’m doing,” Dominique said. “People liking my designs gives me the fuel to keep going.”

Six years ago, Dominique moved to New York City from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, hoping to pursue a career in fashion. Her parents suggested she study marketing instead since it was more practical and she could take weekend sewing classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). Dominique took her parents’ suggestion and also volunteered to work at a family friend’s clothing store.

Eventually she couldn’t muffle her passion for fashion and convinced her parents that full-time enrollment at FIT was exactly what she wanted.

“Once I was at FIT, I felt so at home,” she said. “I woke up extra early every morning wanting and waiting to go to school.”

After two years of studying sewing and fashion design at FIT, Dominique was offered an attractive scholarship to study marketing at MSUM. She optimistically accepted and also enrolled in fashion courses at NDSU.

“New York already has a billion people trying to be designers,” she said. “In Fargo, I can make a name for myself and everyone is so supportive of me. I’ve never experienced any city like it.”

In addition to her friends and family from Haiti, New York, Fargo, and everywhere in between, Dominique credits the other half of MeJeanne Couture for its success. Gerard E. Beaubrun, Dominique’s long-time boyfriend and creative partner, has been by her side since the birth of the label.

“I’m very fortunate. Gerard is supportive and suggests ideas,” she said. “He even came up with the idea for one of the most successful pieces I’ve ever shown.”

Beaubrun is an NDSU graduate student who also moved from Haiti. He handles the technical aspects of MeJeanne Couture, such as the website at www.mejeannecouture. com, and communications. Beaubrun didn’t know much about fashion until he met Dominique.

“Her fashion sense set her apart from other women,” he said. “She helped me develop an eye for fashion — she feels fashion is a mirror into the soul.”

Dominique’s design philosophy, said Beaubrun, is artful simplicity. “She loves simplicity,” he said. “She thinks the dresses should speak for themselves.”

Dominique’s designs are elegant and feminine but still demand attention. She is inspired by fabric movement, color, and how a client will feel wearing the dress. “I design to fit a woman’s personality, flatter her body, and make her feel good,” Dominique said. “I want to make people comfortable in their own skin.”

Clients are incorporated into the design process, so they are absolutely satisfied with their garment. “At the end of the day I want to make my client feel special,” she said.

Lena K in downtown Fargo carries ready-to-wear from MeJeanne Couture and also offers madeto-order dresses (read: one of a kind) starting at $180 for a cocktail dress. “People flock to her and her designs. She is the sweetest thing,”

Lena K owner Karissa Newby said. Newby wanted to support Dominique because her garments are unique and her personality is magnetic. “Her stuff is really special and people can’t get over how gorgeous it is,” she said.

In the three years that Dominique has been a designer, her proudest moment came during a special day called Fashion Loves Haiti at Funkshion Miami Fashion Week.

“Showing my line that day was one of my best fashion moments — I was representing my country,” she said.

Dominique hopes to someday open a factory in Haiti and teach sewing classes. “It is my dream to help people while doing something I love,” she said.

Future aspirations for MeJeanne Couture include a line of unisex ties designed by Beaubrun and Dominique, corsets, hats, wedding dresses — and designing for senators’ wives. Dominique’s ambitious goals might spark fear of failure in the average young professional, but she has no doubts.

“I don’t get discouraged easily,” Dominique said. “Maybe New York will hear about me someday.”

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Visit L ena K, 408 Nor th Broadway, or L ot 2029 in Bismarck, ND, to shop MeJeanne Couture. Reach Dominique directly at info@mejeannecouture.com. Find MeJeanne Couture online at www mejeannecouture.com and on Twitter (mejeannecouture) and Facebook.

MAUREEN HOLMAN