Story by: Lynn Levitt
The narrow road winds its way through homes, balancing on narrow hillsides. It is easy to get lost. Make a left turn and the road circles to the bottom. Make a right and a big blue truck comes into view. There are no signs on the truck, which indicate construction, handy man, gardener or plumber. If curiosity takes over, a walk up the steep driveway may bring answers.
A brisk knock on the door and the owner of the big blue truck is standing there, a vivacious redhead. Her name is Brigette Lessard. She is married and has four children who have all left the nest. Lessard works at the Walt Disney Company. She says, Disney is great, but she can’t get her creative side out, and she is obsessed with fashion.
“I am obsessed with Rachael Zoe, ”Lessard said, “She’s kind of my hero, because my feel is very bohemian, but chic, like upscale bohemian (like Zoe). So I woke up one day and said I want to do a fashion truck.”
“The fashion truck thing got started, because my dream was to always have a boutique for as long as I could remember. I wanted some kind of clothing boutique, Lessard said.”
Lessard and her husband, Scott Lessard, started looking at boutiques. They both concluded the overhead was way too high.
“I was at the West Hollywood Farmers Market one day,” Lessard recalls, “and there was a fashion truck there. It was the first one I had seen and I thought I’m going to do this!”
That was about seven months ago. Lessard kept tossing the idea around. She figured she could keep her job and the fashion truck could be her weekend thing. Before she knew, she got more and more serious.
“There was no stopping me,” Lessard said.
Lessard started doing research on Bohemian and found a story on a group called the Bloomsbury group. The time was around 1910, just outside of Cambridge in Bloomsbury, England. It was a group of writers and artists. Virginia Wolf was one of them and they were just a group of friends who valued friendship above all material things.
“I have such an amazing group of friends around me,” Lessard said. “They are all artists, writers, actors, what have you and I went ‘done.’ That’s it. That is the name.”
Tossing the word ‘Road’ on because it is a truck, the name ‘Bloomsbury Road’ came to life. It just fit.
“We just bought the truck three weeks ago and it was not a lot of money. Paid $3,600 for it which is a great deal. It’s a Chevy P30 step down, so it is kind of like a Fed Ex truck, but not. I still need to learn how to drive it,” Lessard said.
The inside of the truck is very clean, but it’s gutted. Lessard has some definite ideas as to what she wants.
“I need to figure out how I am going to build out the shelves and the racks for the clothes, Lessard said. “I’ve already decided I want a purple shag carpet in the front. In the back I am going to have hard wood and I know I want to have a chandelier hanging.”
“Then I’m going to have my closest friends come over one night. We are going to do a paint party. The truck already has wood on the inside walls,” Lessard said.
“These are my dear girls I spend one night a week with and could not live without them, so we are going to paint the inside and I want them all to sign their names so they are part of it with me.”
Erin Matthews, one of Lessard’s friends, started knitting 13 years ago to quit smoking. She has developed a style to compliment the designs Lessard will have in her truck. Scarves, ponchos, shrugs, all incredibly, lacy & light weight to accent the clothing. “I think it is awesome,” said Matthews. “She is my own personal stylist. I always send her photos when I am going somewhere and she is just really good at styling, so I know she will do well putting clothing and accessories together on the truck.”
The big blue truck will be wrapped. A vehicle wrap is removable. Wrapping a vehicle means you can include various visual tricks you can’t achieve with paint. This might mean logo vehicle branding or digital logo images.
Friend and graphic artist, Leisa Ciaverelli said, “ The branding Lessard needed, had to cover not only, website, letterhead, business card and packaging, but for the wrapping of the truck.” A model of the blue truck was used to proportionately design the logo on a large scale.
“My goal is to have it on the road by November,” Lessard said.
I have a girlfriend who is an incredibly talented designer. I live in her clothes. And they are just my kind of vibe; my feel and I just want to get them out to everyone else.
As far as getting her designs out there in the public, Lessard has been connected with Gwen Stephanie’s main marketer/designer for her lines for ‘Lamb’ and ‘Howard Hugo’. She is willing to talk to Lessard and help figure out which direction to take. Jessica Alba and Selina Gomez both embrace Bohemian style and are following Lessard on Facebook.
“One of my dreams, “ shares Lessard, “is to do a Trunk show or bring the truck to the Beverly Hills Housewives. I love them and I think they would love this clothing even though it is probably lower than their usual price point. I just think its something that would be really great!”
The enthusiastic presence of Lessard follows the downhill road, passing by the big, blue truck. Instinct says a return trip is inevitable. The big, blue truck is getting revamped and fashion on wheels will be ready to take on the world. A sneak preview is on the must have list. Roll out the purple shag carpet.
