A small shop in Saguenay, Que., sewed up the contract to dress Canada’s highest court
CBC
Romaine LeGallou heard the Supreme Court of Canada was turning 150 and needed a wardrobe update. And after that, everything seemed to happen so quickly.
She expressed interest. She got a call to make a pitch. Her company was chosen.
Then the real work began.
“It was such pressure for the team. It happened four weeks before I gave birth for the first time!” LeGallou said, laughing.
LeGallou is the CEO of Les Rabat-Joies, a small shop in Saguenay, Que., that makes bespoke court attire for lawyers and judges.
When it comes to designing attire for Canada’s highest court, there is a protocol you have to follow.
But the company was determined to spruce things up.
LeGallou and her staff put in countless hours to make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
And all of that work seems to have brought this small but mighty team even closer together.
There are strict rules in Canada on how lawyers and judges must dress, depending on the court. Robes are always black, tabs always white.
Les Rabat-Joies finds ways to personalize legal garb that respects tradition.
Clients can choose from dozens of models for tabs, with everything from lace or crocheted collars, to rainbow-stitched tabs and pearls. Standard robes can be lined with prints featuring anything, from St. Bernards to playing cards, Vespa scooters, feathers or zebra stripes.
In other words, a made-to-order robe is business on the outside, but party on the inside.
In French, the word “rabat-joie” means kill-joy. But “rabat” in French also refers to what are known in English as tabs or bands: those two white strips of fabric lawyers and judges wear at their collars in court.
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