Bridal Nightwear

“I don’t know what draws me to it, I really don’t,” says MacDougal, 46, of the love affair she’s had with lingerie design since graduating from George Brown College in the 1970s. “It’s just something that I loved. I’m fascinated by construction.” And while there’s little construction in the sexy sleepwear
that’s her trademark, “if it’s cut right, it’s very flattering. I’m just fascinated by the way that works.”
And work they do. These are beautiful pieces that both enhance and disguise. No tiny triangles and teensy thongs, but sexy nonetheless in that teasing, just-a-hint way that makes a woman more alluring than in clothes that leave nothing to the imagination. There are vintage-look peignoirs (remember
peignoirs?) short and long to wear with pretty nighties, also short and long, and cami tops to wear with
pyjama bottoms. Some sets whisper “bedroom” or “honeymoon” while others are sophisticated enough to host a dinner party in.
“Loungewear is coming back into vogue,” says MacDougal. “My stuff is quite loungy looking. It’s not so much for sleeping but more just for looking good and feeling good.”
For MacDougal, the past 18 months have been a heady — and terrifying — time. Afterparty is her first venture on her own, although she has 23 years of experience in the design business, including stints working with Pakenham designer Paddye Mann and Ottawa bridal designer Justina McCaffrey.

She began her career working for Toronto designer Claire Haddad, whose clients included actress Elizabeth Taylor. “She was my mentor,” says MacDougal. “I just adored her. I think she’s the reason I stayed in this business.”

Fall Holiday 2007

In the uncertain world of fashion design, MacDougal frequently found herself out of work, but never for long. Besides Haddad, she worked for Lady Madonna, a high-end lingerie company in Toronto, created swimwear for Murray Kates, designed lingerie for Liliana Mann (who nowowns a chain of exclusive stores in the U.S.) and Kaiser & Van Raalte, and worked on workout wear for Gilda Marx.

It was while working for Marx that she met her husband, Tim. He was from the Valley, and one of the conditions of marrying him was that she would have to leave her hometown of Toronto and move to his great-aunt’s old home just outside Burnstown.
“His family is all from the Valley and it was part of the deal,” she laughs 15 years later. “He’d bought this property before I met him. There used to be an old house here and it had been in his family for 100 some-odd years.” Even in the Valley, though, there was work for a talented lingerie designer.
She found a job at the Ottawa lingerie company Silkwear (now out of business), then with Paddye Mann and McCaffrey. It was after she left McCaffrey’s that MacDougal began to think about creating sleepwear for brides. Whilebridal gowns had morphed from big puffy princess gowns to a more sleek,
sophisticated look, thanks to the influence of top designers like Vera Wang, the sleepwear side was still “really kind of icky,” she says. “I wanted it to be more modern, kind of a younger look and a bit more paying attention to what was going on in fashion and the cut.”
There’s a huge market for other bridal lingerie — foundation garments like bras, corsets and panties —
but it has become so high-tech it would be next to impossible for a small business to compete, MacDougal says. “Just the machinery you need to compete with Victoria’s Secret and La Senza — everything’s moulded, seamless. They must have machines that can punch them out.”
Still, she didn’t act until a friend who owns a store in Burnstown asked her to create some samples she could display in her shop. “It went from there. Now I’ve got reps from Vancouver, I do really well in Alberta because the economy’s so good and I’ve got stores in Toronto. It’s a product that
was missing.”
But you can’t buy it in Burnstown anymore; the prices are too high, MacDougal says. “It has to be. I feel it’s the only way I can survive in the Canadian marketplace as a domestic manufacturer.” She uses silk, chiffon and high-quality Japanese polyester satin (“like silk but not like cheap Chinese shiny silk”) and suggested retail prices start at $62 for a satin camisole and $300 for a peignoir in silk. It’s a price-point that puts her in the same market as Vancouver lingerie designer Patricia Fieldwalker, whose work is worn in Hollywood.

Fall Holiday 2007

These days her house is evidence of MacDougal’s success. The dining room has been turned into a cutting room, and a small anteroom is her office and sewing room. She cuts out every garment herself, ships the pieces to Ottawa for sewing, then getsthem back so she can do the quality control. A gaggle of friends and family, including her daughters Taryn, 12, and Alida, 15, help with the packing, sorting and shipping. But MacDougal’s not lounging on her laurels. For the coming fall, she has created a new line for older women — well, not so old, just older than a typical bride. “That’s another area that’s been neglected. Older women want beautiful lingerie, but they don’t want to look like Britney Spears. This aging demographic is a huge market.”
This line is more sophisticated and varied than her bridal line. She frequently combines two fabrics — black poly cuddle satin with silk brocade by designer Suzie Wong, for example — and the sets offer enough coverage and style for a night out. In fact, MacDougal plans to take a long crinkle satin nightgown from the collection to wear out to dinner when she goes to Hawaii for a holiday with
her husband.
With so much on the go, it’s no surprise the MacDougals plan to expand their house. An addition on the back will provide a ground-floor in-law suite for his parents and an upstairs studio for Afterparty.
MacDougal has other plans too — perhaps adding some bamboo knits to the line (“environmentally  friendly, really soft and apparently cooler to wear than cotton, naturally antibacterial — qualities that make it perfect for sleepwear”) and maybe a lastminute nightgown for her newest collection that will incorporate small flutter sleeves like those on the dress actress Helen Mirren wore to the Golden Globe Awards in January.
Whatever she does, MacDougal knows she can count on her friends and family for support. It’s why designing sleepwear in Burnstown makes such sense. “I don’t believe I can’t have this,” she says, waving her hand toward the cutting room, “and the lifestyle. I just don’t believe I can’t have both.”