Why we’re here.

Grace and I both studied French throughout elementary and high school, but our deep appreciation for French culture began in 2016 when Grace studied abroad in Aix-en-Provence. During a visit to her, I realized Grace had adopted many French customs: pausing for long meals with friends, shopping only for what is needed for one day, never eating on the run, dressing well when leaving the house, and adopting far more patience for the relaxed French pace than I was prepared to demonstrate! We ate outdoors at Aix cafés, meandered the streets of Paris, purchased baguettes with butter and ham, wandered through museums, and rode the trains through the countryside. It was bliss on every level.

After returning stateside, we both longed for the French experience. We frequented the one (and only) French café in Buffalo: “Maison Le Caër,” also known as “Pastry by Camille.” Cafe au lait and a plate of perfect macaron was all we needed to transport us back to Aix.

A few years (and many macaron later,) café owner French Executive Chef Camille Le Caër announced he was looking for an Event Coordinator. He decided to close his wildly popular French café at the peak of its popularity and move towards expressing his love of both sweet and savory cuisine with Private Dinners, Masterclasses, and Catering. I survived the interview process (and deciphering his thick, French accent) and was awarded the position. Grace jumped on board as his graphic designer. We are embarking on our 5th year as business partners, and in doing so, French culture has become imbedded in our collective souls.

Fast forward to 2024. Grace finds her professional job as a graphic designer rewarding, but it also lacks the creative outlet she adores. I have retired from my day job, but crave a creative and intellectual pursuit.

Introducing: Mère Fille 716! In the beginning, Grace will design the apparel and I will handle the business end. True to our combined ambitious nature, we already have plans to deepen the inventory to include accessories, and perhaps even a few of those macaron. But for now, we’ll take it slow, and pursue it as the French do.

How we got here.

It began with a shirt. Grace and I were wandering through a Southtowns boutique crawl, and I spotted a shirt for my toddler grandson. It was impossibly soft and the graphic was adorable. I purchased it immediately, but that shirt permeated my thoughts all day. If I loved it so much, and wanted to buy it immediately, were there other shirts in this clothing line? What did they look like?

I returned home to do a little retail research, and I discovered that the designer’s other shirts were just as enchanting. The whole line hovered within the same graphic parameter, and each shirt was cuter than the one before it. Why couldn't we make shirts too? It can’t be that difficult. With that one shirt as our inspiration, all we needed was a unifying idea.

Grace is the designer in the family, but we both have an affinity for style. Not high-end, frou-frou style. More like a comfortable come-sit-with-me style. We constantly strive to create and cultivate our own style for the world we inhabit. Styling a living room shelf. Styling the food on our plate. Styling the outfits we wear. She and I share those tidbits of style daily, via Instagram messaging, constant texting, and screenshots of images we admire.

Fast forward to my retirement. Well… not exactly. Retirement from going to a daily destination where I’m paid to work? Yes. But true retirement? Never! I’ve always had a side gig. I need a creative jam. Something that feeds my soul. Why couldn’t Grace and I combine our talents and embark on a creative journey together?

Broaching my husband and sons about entering the utterly saturated t-shirt/apparel market was daunting. Was there opportunity in the vastness of the internet? Sure. Would we get there, but end up “losing our shirt” (so to speak?) Maybe. Did we want to give it a try? Absolutely!

We didn't know what it was going to look like when we started. Grace came up with different designs, and I kept challenging them. “Mom! What do you want me to draw?” Grace was a little exasperated with my ambivalence. “We don’t know yet, babe. It will reveal itself when it happens.” We spoke about having the ideas come to us, instead of us chasing them. And then, one day, it was apparent. France: the complexity of the language, the simplicity of the laid-back pace, the shared admiration for the beauty. And Mère Fille was born.

Looking at the world differently.

Artists look at the world in a different way. We study the object and its shadows. We critique the graphic and the negative space that surrounds it. We substitute colors, thicken the lines, and alter the shapes. It’s just how we’re wired.

I know a certain someone who can walk through a room and never notice that the furniture has been rearranged. (Wink.) But there’s a different certain someone who walks through that same familiar room and immediately compliments the new coaster on the far table. Space matters. Patterns, placement, and yes, size matters. Details matter!

So what sets Mère Fille apart from the rest? It’s our attention to every detail.

Take a tour through Etsy’s plethora of graphic tees and you’ll be mentally exhausted before you are even a few pages in. Beautiful images, a variety of price points, and yet … questionable quality. How do you decipher the bargain from the rip off? It’s the internet. You have no idea, until it arrives.

Not so with Mère Fille. We create products that we love to wear. No itchy tags. Fabric as soft as butter. (French butter!) Graphic tees that wear well, wash after wash. We look at the world differently, and design our products through your eyes.

Photo credit: permission granted by Patrick Cassab. The French flag flying under the Arc de Triomphe, Place de l’étoile, Paris. [Photo: subeozone.blogspot.com] Drapeau français flottant sous l'Arc de triomphe, Place de l'étoile (Paris, France). Mai 2011. Paris Hdr. 8 mm Fisheye f/8 100 iso. Rendu HDR

Back to a simpler time.

One of the highlights of my visit with Grace was celebrating mass on Matin de Pâques (Easter morning) in the front row of Notre-Dame Cathedral. How did we land in the front row? No clue. Karma blessed us. We toured the space after the mass concluded, in complete awe of the immensity and complexity of the architecture, the stained glass windows, and the reverence to thousands of years of faith.

But what struck me the most about that experience? As we walked down the Seine that morning and approached the cathedral, its simple familiarity was in stark contrast to its magnificent presence. Within that opulent, ostentatious structure, stood the simplicity of time. The cathedral had been witness to thousands of parishioners and prayers for centuries, and yet here it stood, as it always had, welcoming us in. There was immeasurable permanence in those 4 walls and its ornate spire. It was, simply stated, a church.

Most people wouldn’t use the word “simplicity” to describe Notre-Dame. Certainly not the hundreds of craftsmen who built it, or have been re-building it since the tragic fire in 2019.

But I challenge you: Find the simple familiarity in the complex things that surround you. For it is there, that you will find peace.