Wallis Giunta, Mezzo Soprano Celebrated as New Face of McCaffrey Haute Couture

By Julia Vorob’eva

Ottawa’s fashion event insider, Julia Vorob’eva is always invited to all of the best fashion events in Ottawa so it was of no surprise that she attended the McCaffrey Haute Couture launch last night.  Julia Vorob’eva is a fashion blogger from The Fashion Keeper and is involved with Blackbook Lifestyle. She interviews local stylists, designers and bloggers, and talks about the latest trends in the world of style and beauty.

“McCaffrey dresses make me feel like a goddess,” said Wallis Giunta, Canadian mezzo soprano and the new face of David McCaffrey’s latest Haute Couture collection campaign as the designer revealed the news to the guests last night.

The McCaffrey Haute Couture label has been internationally recognized for

Max Keeping with musical talent Wallis Giunta wearing a McCaffrey gown. Photo: Quame Scott

more than 15 years. Even though David McCaffrey has been designing evening and wedding dresses for that long, he had much more freedom creating after he’d separated from his ex-wife and business partner, Justina, three years ago.

“The dresses I am creating now are more romantic and reminiscing of what a woman should look like,” said David McCaffrey.

So when a mutual friend introduced Wallis Giunta to McCaffrey, the designer didn’t even have to hold an audition, because he knew right away she would be perfect for his new collection.

“Wallis is stunning and she has a perfect look that I want to present,” said McCaffrey. “It was meant to be.”

The instant chemistry between the designer, his muse and the photographer, Miv Fournier from Miv Photography, was evident and inevitable.

“I have done photo shoots all over the world many, many times and this was the best one we ever did, because Wallis just feels so good about herself and the photographer had what it takes to bring the scene to life,” said McCaffrey.

Giunta has just finished up her second season with the Canadian Opera Company (COC) Ensemble Studio Program, and made her New York debut in the COC’s production of The Nightingale and the other short fables (Stravinsky) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Following her time in Tuscany, she is set to record a series of concerts in Germany, and will make debuts with Fort Worth Opera and Opera Lyra Ottawa.

“Representing David’s collection is an incredible honour that any artist can have,” said Giunta. “I get a custom-made wardrobe and I am involved in a creative process.”

Some of the guests have known Giunta way before she became internationally famous.

“We did stories about Wallis on CTV as she was growing up and there was no doubt that she was a very talented young woman,” said Max Keeping, CTV’s Community Ambassador and former anchor. “So for me, personally, to come back today and see a strikingly beautiful woman as a face of one of the greatest designers of Ottawa is pretty exciting.”

Models exhibit the latest McCaffrey designs. Photo: Quame Scott

Each McCaffrey Haute Couture wedding dress, designed by David McCaffrey, is precisely crafted and made in Canada, using Swarovski crystal beading, delicate feathers and very same French lace as that of the recent wedding dress for Her Royal Highness, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

“I love the collection. I really, really do,” said Margaret H. Dickenson, multi-international award winning cookbooks’ author, recipe developer and TV host. “The detail and the finishing touches are wonderful. I think that his attention to detail, really high-quality fabrics and very original construction set David apart from any other designer.”

McCaffrey had a privilege to design dresses for such people as a Hollywood actress Kate Hudson, the former U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci’s daughter, the former Prime Minister’s Joe Clark’s daughter and many others.

“To me every customer is equally important no matter who they are,” said McCaffrey.

He is working directly with customers now who come to the boutique from all over Canada and the United States. “I listen to them and from there I get to create a perfect dress,” said McCaffrey. “The more the client trusts my vision, the better the dress is. But I also have to be very respectful of how they feel.”

David McCaffrey, designer and creative director for McCaffrey Haute Couture with OLM Associate Editor Kimberly Lochhead. Photo: Quame Scott

Being a man and designing for a woman works to his advantage, because McCaffrey always knows what part of a woman’s body to accentuate.

“No matter what a woman looks like, she always find a critical part about herself and I am only looking at every woman knowing that we can create a dress to make them look amazing,” said McCaffrey.

Already excited about the launch of future collections and working with the clientele in Manhattan this fall, McCaffrey keeps making women look elegant and graceful every day.