Marie-Andree Wallot: An Outstanding Visual Artist, CEO & Chief designer of Wallo Unveils her Passion for Style, Femininity & Fashion 

Marie-Andree Wallot is an exceptionally talented and accomplished Visual Artist, CEO & Chief designer of Wallo. She is in conversation with Namita Nayyar, President - Women Fitness.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: You studied visual arts at CEGEP du Vieux Montreal and UQAM and Universite Laval in Public Relations. You have produced several visual installations on stage, working with painters, artists and dancers for many years. You reached the pinnacle of success by producing the art video L'Appat, on which you worked as a protagonist, co-writer and stage director. Tell us more about this successful professional journey of yours?

Ms. Marie-Andree Wallot: I have always expressed myself through contemporary visual arts and continue to use the human emotion throughout all my design. Emotion is communicated through movement, whether in a sculpture, a painting or digital arts.

Art is all about communicating emotions, values, sensitivity and beauty. Fashion is not about human packaging. It is about human communication. Clothes can talk. From the ordinary to the extraordinarily audacious, our choice of clothing says a lot about the way we perceive ourselves and how we fear other's perception.

For me every clothes tells a story. For the love of womanhood. Feminine. Powerful. Alive.

Our clothing sculpts the woman's body and frees the movement, using colours and shapes to make the body dynamic, fluid and stylish. My approach of expression in contemporary arts defines itself to design a refined and unique look, reflecting women of today. I imagine a woman who is free, strong and expressive and who can be proud to assert her femininity, intelligence and determination in all her movements and gestures. I work along with my team to achieve all this with elegance.

Ms. Namita Nayyar: Your famous art video, L'Appat, directed by Neam Catod, was awarded Best Video at the 12e RendezVous du Cinema Quebecois, in 1994, as well as a Silver Bears in Linz, Austria, in 1993. Elaborate your experience on winning these accolades?

Ms. Marie-Andree Wallot: The Art video L'Appat took its origins from the existing choreography itself. It was a once in a lifetime collaboration between contemporary dancers, musician and filmmaker. The story tells about the duality and the coexistence between the sculptor and its model. It explores and defines the power rapport into men and women relationships. These prizes acknowledged the team's artistic innovations and capacity in telling a genuine and moving story.

Walter Krajewski in 1992, said in Mirror Montreal about the Art video "The sense of a sculptor attempting to freeze motion in her work is striking. Filmed in the countryside and enhanced in the editing room by Neam Cathod, its splashy special effects reinforce the sense of the dancer as the spirit of the woods.''

And Linda Howe-Beck from Vandance, 1992 said "This work is entirely outside the mainstream of new dance in the city, concentrating heavily on the overwhelmingly imaginative environments created by Wallot.''

Ms. Namita Nayyar: You have been a visual artist, designer, writer and stage director, and now the CEO and Chief designer of Wallo. How do you manage such a remarkable multi-dimensional lifestyle?

Ms. Marie-Andree Wallot: I rush with open arms and I embrace life! It came to me in the most natural way. Throughout my life and especially my career experiences, I came to develop a very good knowledge of the human body as well as a pretty fear comprehension of women's need to express and ultimately free themselves. It became more and more evident to me and this is why today I concentrate mostly on what I am truly passionate about : the encounter between visual arts and designer's clothing.

Collaboration and a great expert team is essential to succeed. Making silk clothing requires a particular expertise, from designing to sewing. That is why I enlisted the help of Les Ateliers a Facon's experienced team, led by Chantal Malboeuf, which has worked with well-known local and international designers in France such as Celine and Louis Vuitton.