In the waters with…

clothing designer Judy Cornish

In celebration of all things Canadian, this month we talked to Comrag’s clothing designer Judy Cornish.

1. What is your career? What do you love most about it?
With my partner Joyce Gunhouse I own and design Comrags, a women’s clothing line. We’ve been doing it for over 28 years. What I love most is that it is never the same one day to the next. Every six months we begin a new collection, new fabrics, new ideas. And with each collection comes the opportunity to tell a different story through the clothes. With Comrags we have made lives for ourselves on our own terms, lives that have allowed us plenty of time for our families, to raise our children and spend time doing what else we most enjoy.

2. How do you un-wind after a long day?
Walking has always been the best way for me to wind-down. I can walk for hours, especially if I am trying to sort something out in my mind that has been troubling me. Walking tires my body and slows my thoughts. If I am unable to sleep in the night I will often get up, dress and walk in the dark and quiet of the city.

3. Favourite food? Drink?
Depends on my mood...bison tartare is a favourite as is my daughter’s lemon linguine. And on occasion I will have one of my favourite dinners...a big bowl of homemade popcorn (salt, pepper, butter, grated parmesan) and a glass of Malbec.

4. What book is on your nightstand?
“Where I’m Calling From”, a collection of short stories by Raymond Carver and “Sex at Dawn”, (on the prehistoric origins of modern sexuality). Also, I plan to sneak home the Comrags copy of “Savage Beauty”, the book on the Alexander McQueen retrospective currently at the Met in New York and absolutely breathtaking. I want to lie in bed and read it slowly.

5. What’s your favourite indulgence?
Idleness...some of my best ideas come from having time to just be.

6. What is your favourite part of the body blitz water circuit and why?
My favourite part changes...sometimes it’s just soaking in the salt water pool with a friend I haven’t seen in awhile, other times it is the plunge into the icy cold pool after the heat of the sauna. I love how alive and powerful your body feels emerging from the icy cold.

7. Favourite fashion trend?
Strangely, because I most always wear black, I am liking all the colour I see on the streets, especially when there are odd prints in odd colours mashed together. There is something about it that feels so new, and makes me smile.

8. Worst fashion trend?
Currently I am having trouble with shorts worn overtop pantyhose....

9. What is your best beauty secret?
Plenty of sleep, loads of water, sunscreen and a life that keeps me happy and youthful.

10. If you could have lunch with anyone (dead or alive), who would it be and why?
My daughter Georgia....her intelligence, wit and way of seeing and understanding the world always leaves me happy and inspired.