Stevie Blake of Monto & Perri
County Laois, Bespoke, and the Dream that sparked it all
During the depths of the wonderful COVID-19 pandemic, Ireland’s District Magazine took some shots of that little-known Irish artist, Kojaque. Apart from the black and white bleached haircut that the D7 resident had on his dome, it was the Forest Green oversized wool suit which also caught my eye. After making some enquiries, I discovered that the suit in question was the creation of a Man from Laois called Stevie Blake.
For the past few years, Stevie has been cutting and sewing his way through all sorts of fabrics for private clients looking for special bespoke pieces. From suits, and skirts to shirts, Stevie’s tailoring skills cater for all. Not only does Stevie develop work for his own clients here in Ireland, but he’s done some work for established tailors on the Row. Saville Row that is…
Up until recently, Stevie was practising his craft at home, at friends’ studios and anywhere he could weave his thread. But in November of last year, Monto & Perri was born, his very own bespoke tailoring and alterations studio.
I had the fortune of attending the launch of Monto & Perri and as soon as I entered, I felt an immediate soothing of the senses. The scent, lighting and bespoke creations that hung from the walls oozed comfort, the perfect environment for crafting your own piece of bespoke magic. While the burning incense and the warm lighting from the Artemide lamp were great, the best part, however, was the welcoming smile from Stevie himself.
For Care Label #8, Stevie and I took a seat in Monto & Perri where we conversed over some bottles of beer. There are so many great stories that await you below. Stevie speaks eloquently about his first clothing memories, his Grandad’s ring and what it means to carve your own path.
This is a chunkier interview than normal, but I found it impossible to edit it down any further than the version you’re about to read.
Enjoy.
Care Label: Stevie, firstly, where are you from?
Stevie: “I’m from Laois. My parents broke up as a kid and so I was all over Laois. I’d be up and down to Dublin all the time and moved up when I was 18. But I still consider myself a Laois man.”
Care Label: How did the Laois life shape the path you’re on now?
Stevie: “There wasn’t anything specifically from growing up in Laois that brought me onto the path I'm on now. At times people from there were quite closed-minded, especially growing up. I would end up in fights for wearing skinny jeans and leather jackets, or whatever I wanted to wear. I guess in a way that gave me thicker skin down the line. I then found it easier to be confident in the person I was growing up to be.”
“My parents and my sisters supported my fashion endeavours. My Mom and Dad are both bikers which comes with its own set of fashion trends, so within the household, there was no abnormality. Whatever the fuck I wanted to wear was fine because it wasn’t hurting anyone. Once I left the household and hung out with other kids my age, that's when it felt like I was standing out or doing something wrong."
Care Label: That’s something everyone has experienced. Those formative moments when you’re trying to do your own thing through clothes or even music embolden your self-expression even more.
Stevie: “Definitely. And it's more about not doing something rather than doing something different. There’s only one time in my life I tried to conform. When I made my confirmation, the kids were wearing Columbia jackets and Fred Perry tracksuit bottoms. So with the money I saved, I spent it on a Columbia jacket that I wore twice. As soon as I put it on, I knew it wasn’t for me. We didn’t grow up with a lot of money so blowing €350 on a jacket I wore twice got some backlash, but it was an early life lesson.
Care Label: I think you captured the idea that the price of something means nothing. If it’s expensive and ‘not you’, it’s worthless. It doesn’t matter how expensive it is, the value comes from within right?
Stevie: “That’s the fucking nail on the head. I still have pieces that are worth a fortune but I haven't gotten rid of them because, to me, they remind me of a time when that was what I wanted. Those pieces reflect the person I was at the time. I have a huge selection of really hard-to-get Supreme and there’s one jacket that’s worth 3.5K, but I’ve only worn it 5-6 times. Every time I go to talk to my sister about funding Monto & Perri, she’d say sell that jacket Stevie! But I can’t, I just won’t. And I’ll never wear this jacket again.”
Care Label: This is something that Molly Walters spoke about. She said that our clothes and possessions give us access to memories. What about you and important clothing memories?
Stevie: “I remember my Dad had a pair of 16-hole Docs that were 14 years older than me that he wore every day. I wear the Adrian Docs religiously. I go through about a pair a year. I’ve always wanted to have something that if I wanted to have kids down the line, I could have for them.
[Continued]: “But as I said, we didn't have a huge amount of money. I remember when I was six or seven, my Mom bought me a pair of Air Force 1s. When I got them, I pretty much f*ck€d them. We lived in the countryside, so they got filthy. I knew that my Mom would kill me because of how expensive they were at the time. But that's when I learned how to clean shoes. I put the laces into a pillow case and put them through the wash to clean them. From that day on, I would take care of my shoes. This was an important life moment as I realised, if I took care of them, my Mom could buy me another pair! But if I didn’t take care of them, she wouldn’t. So I learned to care about things from a young age.”
*Disco Ball of Death*
Care Label: I always ask people about something they could never walk away from. What could you never part with and why?
Stevie: “I thought about this today, but honestly, for me, clothes are just clothes. It's as simple as that. I've had conversations with friends and stylists who are into clothes and they’re like, ‘No Stevie they are so much more than that’, but for me, they aren’t.
[Continued]: “But I do wear a lot of rings. My Granddad’s ring is the first ring I ever wore. I've never taken it off. I’ve got a mad story about this ring. I used to work in a cocktail bar and one year we had a very busy Christmas. There was a disco ball in the bar, and to turn it on, there was a switch on top of the ceiling which I had to climb onto. So with a couple of wine glasses in my system, I jumped up to the beam and went to hit the switch and my hand slipped through the metal beam and ripped through my finger, pushing my ring up just above my knuckle. One of the supervisors was a nurse and she was taking out pieces of steel with her tweezers. She said;
Supervisor Nurse: ‘Stevie, you should definitely go to the hospital.’
Stevie: ‘What would that entail, would I need to have the ring off’
Supervisor Nurse: ‘Yeah, it’s fine though, they’ll cut it off and they can give it back to you’.
“I decided, ‘FUCK NO am I going to the hospital.’ So yeah I didn’t go. For a few weeks, I was pulling the skin back and taking steel out of my finger. The steel pushed itself out in the end. So long story short, the ring has never come off.
Care Label: That is wild! That might be the best story I’ve heard about a special piece to date.
*How it all Started*
Care Label: I’m always fascinated to hear people’s origin story. What was it that attracted you to start making clothes for people?
Stevie: “I’ve always enjoyed working with my hands. I worked in hospitality for 8 years and loved being around people. Originally the idea of learning how to sew stemmed from a conversation with my friend Lauris Brimmers. I had spent the months of lockdown back in Laois, sewing to keep me occupied and I realised that’s what I loved doing. I was happiest when I was sitting at that sewing machine. I’d wake up and fall asleep thinking about sewing. I guess it all progressed from there”
[Continued]: “I also think it stems from being initially interested in graphic design. I’ve always been very much into the monotonous nature of simple things. They look very simple on paper but they're extremely difficult to do. Tailoring and clothes I see in the same way. There’s an artistry in tailoring you won’t find anywhere else. It’s meticulously detailed, every stitch has a place and a reason. I’ve always been quite particular about certain things and this was just one of them.”
*Bespoke in the Modern Wardrobe*
Care Label: What is the value of bespoke these days? There’s a desire to really own what we wear now, and the high street or luxury can’t necessarily give people that.
Stevie: “The quality of mass-produced clothes has declined hugely over the years, and sizing isn’t something that carries across the board. I think people are starting to realise they shouldn’t have to settle for poorly fitting clothes and I guess that’s where I want to come in, whether that’s developing a one-off piece or refitting a garment to fit your body shape correctly.”
*Monto & Perri*
Care Label: To move onto where we are sitting right now, your bespoke tailoring studio, Monto & Perri. What is Monto & Perri in your own words?
Stevie: “This is always a difficult one for me to answer. I suppose I make clothes for everyone, but I design for myself. So M&P is a space where people can explore things they want and I’ll make it for them. Especially when it comes to tailoring and bespoke, it’s not that accessible for everyone. That’s what M&P can offer, an understanding of how things are made. I want people to understand why they're giving me their money, while also giving them a chance to express themselves.”
Care Label: I’m curious about the name, tell us how you came up with that?
Stevie: “The name Monto & Perri came to me from a dream that I had about 9 years ago. One night I came back from being out and I woke up in the middle of the night after having a dream and the name randomly popped into my head. I had never thought about working in fashion at all. It stood out, so I wrote it in a journal and it has always stuck with me.”
Care Label: You never thought about working in fashion before that?? That’s crazy. Sounds like a real-life epiphany! How did the idea of M&P develop in your mind?
Stevie: “It always goes back to that thing of, when I started sewing, I wanted to sew stuff I wanted to make. I never thought that I would work for myself. I always wanted to work for someone else. I don’t know if that was a lack of self-confidence or if I enjoyed the idea of collaboration with others. But as more time went on, I figured that I wanted to introduce what I believed was missing. I wasn’t willing to wait around for someone to join me.
[Continued]: “A little while ago I was living in West Cork and I had to decide what I needed to do next. Did I want to live in Dublin again or did I want to look for a space to make this happen? I couldn't afford both and after a lot of thought, I decided to take the leap and go for it. To be honest, it’s been massively nerve-racking because until it proves otherwise, you're going to constantly question if it's the right choice. That said, I know it is for me. This is where the support of my Mom is so great; she said you can come home for as long as you want as long as you don't sit on your arse! It was all about, did I want to live in a home on my own, or finally do something I was always meant to do. So here we are.”
Care Label: There’s always a trade-off isn’t there?
Stevie: “It’s a full trade-off. These things can be the right choice for the wrong time or the wrong choice for the right time. But I do think this is the right choice at the right time.”
Care Label: What about DNA and identity? How do you want people to see you and your work?
Stevie: “I designed the logo in 2020 and set it to my screensaver as a reminder. I was always a little bit embarrassed about it. But I think it was more so because the name sounds pretentious which is not what I want to convey with my work or the space. When people meet me at first I worry I can come across as a little pretentious until they get to know me. So with that and the name, the logo had to be fun and playful as a contrast, because that’s who I am and that’s what I want my clothes to be.”
[Continued]: “In terms of the space, I wanted the studio to look rich but still feel comfortable enough to relax in. A bespoke suit is a big decision. It can be intimidating, but it should be an enjoyable and almost intimate experience. So creating an environment where clients feel comfortable telling me exactly what they want was my priority.”
*Sew your own Path*
Care Label: Something I always ask about is advice. We all have our own unique experiences and perspectives, so what advice would you offer people?
Stevie: “Something I would say is that I spent the majority of my f*ck!ng life thinking ‘Oh, well, I’m a creative and someone's going to see that in me’. But I was so wrong. NO ONE’S going to give it to you. You need to go out there and get it, and I still learn that every day. So whatever you do, you need to be the one who puts yourself out there. Nobody will do it for you.”
Care Label: Being in Ireland, you have to do that even more because it’s so much harder here. And perversely, I think it is why we see a lot of success from people like Robyn Lynch and others. You need to work twice as hard to get noticed.
Stevie: “Oh, it’s much harder here. There's a lot less competition but it’s because everyone's been driven out. People are going to London or elsewhere for recognition. I don't want to be another one of those statistics, I want my recognition from the city I live in."
Care Label: And lastly, what does success mean to you?
Stevie: “I’ve thought about that for years. I have two very successful sisters, who are amazing. They're both very happy with what they do and they are financially successful. But for me, what I found over the years is that no matter how hard I tried, no matter how hard I worked, I was never happy until I was doing something I really wanted to do. I never felt any form of personal success unless I was actually happy. No matter what the narrative, if I'm happy I'm good. Making clothes makes me very happy. I've spent everything on this place and it's not exactly what I want, but it's a start, and I only see it getting better. So success to me is just happiness. Once I'm happy doing what I want to do, I’m successful.”
Care Label: Well, what an amazing way to end! Thank you Stevie.