Bringing back bridge sportswear

Back in the day (the 1980s-1990s to be exact) there was a term used in  the fashion industry called "bridge sportswear".  For those of us that remember the good old days, bridge was arguably one of the most exciting spaces in fashion at the time.  It was the area that every aspiring buyer wanted to work in and that woman of all ages wanted to wear.  

The bridge sportswear floor was made up of collections that had elements of weekend wear, evening wear and corporate attire.  These clothes were investment pieces that combined fashion and fun.  The clothing was beautiful, luxurious and elegant, you were excited to put them on and they made you feel like you could accomplish anything.  

Bridge was a price point as much as a lifestyle.  Usually situated adjacent to the "designer" department and farther away from the "better" and "moderate" departments, bridge sportswear allowed customers to experience a taste of what the designer market had to offer.  It retailed at a lower price than designer but was still more expensive than mass market brands. It was called "bridge" because these clothing collections literally bridged the gap between the lower priced collections and the designer collections.  There were diffusion brands like DKNY to Donna Karan, CK to Calvin Klein, Ungaro to Emanuel Ungaro, and then there were the bridge brands that stood alone like ICB, Adrienne Vittadini, and Ellen Tracey.   

Like the designer brands that they emulated, bridge brands were built on timeless elegance, quality, craftsmanship, and above all else fit.  

Many of the brands that once thrived in this category either disappeared, repositioned or got absorbed into the fast fashion sector.  The rise of disposable fashion and the death of the department store put the bridge market into extinction.  

Le Mireille Marche, with its emphasis on timeless elegance, quality, and movement carries the same spirit of this by gone era.  Our clothing collection strives to make women feel beautiful, confident and effortlessly refined.  Like the once mighty bridge collections our fabrics are from the designer mills of Europe, our clothing is manufactured by top sewing houses (one of which is in NYC and was the leading manufacturer of Bridge sportswear) and we employ an entire team of pattern makers and technical designers to ensure our clothing fits.  At Le Mireille Marche, we are bringing back bridge.