Michele Bernard, Sioux of ‘72

1. In what ways did your Ursuline education prepare you for the work you’re doing now?
My Ursuline education prepared me for my work as a fashion designer in several interesting ways.  First, Ursuline taught me to believe in myself and my own creativity – and encouraged me at every juncture to find and follow my own voice. Second, I learned by example the joyfulness of hard work and the satisfaction of a job well done – a quality my parents instilled in me early on and which Ursuline continued to shape. And third, I discovered the importance of making and nurturing good friendships and great acquaintances.

When I first started my business, it was a very traditional clothing design/manufacturing company. I sold to over a hundred boutiques and some large department stores.  The company was profitable from the start.  Then came the economic crash of 1987 and most of those companies stopped paying their bills. The common wisdom was that you had to be a giant to make it in fashion and that small design/manufacturing houses like mine would never survive. If it hadn’t been for my unshakable faith and perseverance, I might have followed that conventional wisdom, joined a large company and given up my dream. Instead I did just the opposite: I dropped 90% of my clients and re-structured my business as an even smaller house.

I focused on that handful of customers who bought my clothes because they truly loved them and personally cared if I succeeded or failed; I increased my cost of manufacturing by buying only the best materials and hiring the most highly skilled and talented pattern makers, seamstresses and tailors that I could find. And I offered my customers custom design, and started down the road to couture. What I made fit them like nothing else in their wardrobe because it was made for them. To many in the business, what I was doing was a lost art, and it was financial insanity!  But it took shape: customers began to bring friends, who brought acquaintances who brought more friends. As my business grew, my family and friends sent me accountants, lawyers and other professionals who were talented and trustworthy and who took a personal interest in my success.  We worked long and we worked hard, but it was intensely gratifying.  Today I am so proud of our product. I know it is the best it can be because we put the best of each of us into it.  Our clients are like family and I love them like sisters.  If it were not for those things I learned at Ursuline and for the network of friends I developed, I might not have had the courage or determination to follow this path and enjoy what I’m so blessed to enjoy today.  And the beauty of it is that it doesn’t stop with me.  I’m a living reminder of the importance of passing it on; of supporting young talent and doing all I can to give them the courage to follow their dreams, and a leg up to reach them.

2. Please describe the most significant value you learned from Ursuline Academy.
INTEGRITY. In everything I do, be it personal or professional, I strive for integrity. It is what has taught me how to choose; and be a friend or business partner, how to conduct myself in business and personal affairs, and how to make confident decisions in seemingly difficult or conflicted situations. If I live each day with integrity, I know that I will go to bed at peace with myself each night.  Every day CAN be a good day!  Pollyannas rule!!

3. Describe Ursuline in one word.
SERVIAM

Ursuline teaches us all that no matter who we are or what path we choose in life, we are here to serve – ourselves,  each other and our higher power – with energy, honesty, integrity and humility.  Viewing yourself and your life from the perspective of service brings about two things:  first it eliminates arrogance (and we can all do with a little less arrogance in our lives); and secondly it fosters pride and self respect.  When you see the importance of what you do as a service to others, you put your best into it and you honor it; no matter how great or how small a task it is.  I’m a clothing maker but I feel as though I’m serving my skills when I am able to use them to create a beautiful dress out of a simple piece of cloth – and in doing so, create happiness for someone else.

ABOUT MICHELE BERNARD
Who’s that man in the picture?  That’s Magid Mehrabadi, and to talk about Michele Bernard without including Magid, would only be telling half of the story!  Magid is Michele’s husband of 28 years and together they form the team of MAGID BERNARD, a  couture fashion design house located in Los Angeles, California.  Michele and Magid’s professional partnership is the union of art and engineering. Michele and Magid both studied at UNO; she in fine arts and he as an engineer.  Their fashion label ‘MAGID BERNARD’ combines the clean lines and artful vision of their combined talents.

MAGID BERNARD serves an international roster of women including business leaders, social doyennes and celebrities. She has dressed White House visitors and members of the Administration of every U.S. President since Ronald Regan.  She has also dressed women for Hollywood’s Oscars and other award ceremonies since 2002. What is uncanny is that every time Michele’s gowns have been worn, the nominee (or the wife of the nominee) has won!  Michele and Magid have been the recipients of a long list of industry awards and accolades, perhaps not as satisfying as the selection of one of their evening gowns by Italy’s prestigious Collezzioni portfolio.  ’To be included in Collezzioni is a pinnacle moment in a designer’s career’ notes Michele. ‘It’s as if you have become a permanent part of fashion history!’
On the personal side, Michele and Magid are an equally successful combination of contradictions.  ’Those who knew me at Ursuline will remember me as that dark, sharp-tongued artsy girl’ laughs Michele. ‘I’m still artsy and I guess I’ve got a pretty vicious wit when I want to, but Magid has brought out the sunlight in me!  He is a true gentleman, the kind they don’t make anymore!  Our friends call him ‘courtly’, which really makes me chuckle. But, he’s gracious, worldly and my best friend. When I talk about ‘me’, I really me ‘we’. Magid and I are a team first and foremost .’

Whether as a designer or a business woman, Michele is nothing if not a maverick. In 1979 she and her brother opened the very first ‘PUNK’ clothing boutique in the South.  In 1986, Magid and Michele’s evolving designs captured the attention of The Fashion Group International and they were awarded its ALPHA Award for Best Daytime Design.  In 1988, Michele was included as one of the The Times Picayune’s ‘Women to Watch’.   Today she remains committed to helping other young designers as an active member of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Costume Council which curates one of the largest and most important fashion archives in the nation, and Fashion Group International, where she has served on the board of directors of the Los Angeles Chapter. FGI is an international organization whose mission, as the pre-eminent authority on the business of fashion, is to help its members become more effective in their careers. FGI was founded in 1928 and has included among its members, such visionaries as Eleanor Roosevelt, Helena Rubinstein, Elizabeth Arden and Edith Head.

Michele and Magid’s love for art and architecture led them to locate their fabulous showroom in the historic landmark New Mart Building. Built in 1928 is Los Angeles’ very first high-rise! You can see their showroom and a sampling of designs at http://www.magidbernard.com/.

A native of New Orleans, Michele experienced first hand the tragic impact of hurricane Katrina on family and close friends and she is devoted to seeing both the beauty and economic viability of New Orleans restored. After receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer, she became a benefactor of The John Wayne Cancer Institute and is intimately involved in the support of other cancer patients. She works one-on-one, both in the U.S. and Canada, with those who have been diagnosed and are coping with this disease. ‘Life sends you messages’ Michele says ‘it’s up to you to listen to them. For me, it’s been about recognizing where and to whom I owe a debt of gratitude and then returning that kindness to someone else. That is the part of my life that brings me deep, personal satisfaction.’