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I am the “Original Girl Next Door." I have been in the fashion and entertainment industry most of my life. I watched the music industry morph into something unrecognizable. No longer were artists making money on album sales as digital downloads became available for free on file servers. The fashion industry went in the opposite direction as Wall Street’s Investment Bankers became involved as owners, directly or indirectly, via their “M & A” departments.Being a designer in London for many years, I was able to watch the financial changes come across the pond. Somewhere in a graveyard in Cimetière de Callian,Var, France, Christian Dior is spinning in his grave. The fashion industry, as it sits today, is a mere reflection of what’s to come. Simulcast on theInternet will replace the catwalks of London, Paris, Milan and New York. True haute couture will become watered down and the great ones of our times, like Valentino, will sit back in their armchairs and muse about the days passed.It’s a new day and those of us who can’t or won’t change have left for semi-greener pastures. To me, Haute Couture has always been about the finest of quality in materials and design with a specific client in mind. True Haute Couture,as I have always told my people, is “art in heels.” I live by those words event o this day. The great Karl Lagerfeld lived by the concept until the day he passed on.



I was born to a single mother in San Francisco, California. My mother Emma started school at the age of 8 and graduated high school at the age of 16. She then went on to university, on a full scholarship, where she earned her teaching degree by 18. Emma was blessed with both beauty and brains. She came from a big family of ten children. Her father owned a logging company in Fairplay,Colorado while her mother converted a Denver mansion on Grant Street into a large boarding house for professional businessmen. Her family was upper middle class for those days. Being a teacher wasn’t in the cards for my mom. Although very social in the dating world, she was bored with her life. In 1942, the USNavy established the “WAVES” ("Women Accepted for Volunteer EmergencyService") and there, in the front of the line, was my mother. TreasureIsland would become her Navy home and after four years, she would exit the Navy with her Permanent Chief’s Rank. My mother would most likely have stayed in theUS Navy WAVES except for one small “hitch”….she was about to introduce me to the world!



I never knew my father. I didn’t need to although I understand he did attempt to see me when I was a child. He came from an established American family and was engaged to another woman during the time he spent with my mother. Although I would see his family name in the newspapers as I grew older, I never approached him. Life with my mother was amazing. She was a woman who dressed everyday as if she was going out to a function and thus, many of my dressing habits were learned from her. We dressed to shop, we dressed each night for dinner and even when we were not expecting company. Early on, I found myself in her closets, trying on her high heels, hats, gloves and of course, freely dipping into her makeup. I wanted to be just like my mom when I grew up. That much I knew early on in my life. It was “the two of us against the world” and she was, until the day she passed, my very best friend. She taught me to be tough and never stop believing in myself. Most of all she taught me how to become a woman.



At 19,I was enrolled in a finishing school. My involvement in beauty pageants, firston a city level and then on to a state level, earned me the title of MissMontana. I had the opportunity to compete in the Miss World – USA and wasselected to the finals. As I watch Sandra Bullock, in the movie “MissCongeniality,” I can only think of myself in that role. Some of the pageants Icompeted in honored me with the title of “Miss Congeniality.” Not exactly theoutcome I had signed up for but one I would not trade for anything. Pageantwork led to various offers and thus, my career was started. I have been infront of the camera as well as behind the camera for a good part of my life. Myfashion design career started, what some would consider, late in life. Ahandful of years ago, I sold off my UK furriers and other fashion businesses tobecome an investor in up and coming designers. Along the way I picked up ahandful of degrees from the GIA. Famous gems became a hobby and I built mypersonal collect. Months prior toCovid-19 I took some advice from my trained Swiss Banker Son, R. Chance. His years in Switzerland had paiddividends for his employer and his mother as he convinced me to “lighten myinvestments” and to keep my “powder dry” for a rebound. Like clockwork I saw the world stockmarkets tumble as I went back into the investments I knew. WCS and WTI oil became my “safehavens.” Being from Montana andAlberta I have “lived” the ups and downs of big oil. This time it would be straight up.



As thedust cleared I readied myself to re-enter the world of Haute Couture Jewelry ona full time basis, a place where my formal education had been over many decades. Paris, the City of Lights, helpsme to stay close to the epicenter of the fashion universe. My offices arelocated in what was Mr. Dior’s last office at Place Vendôme. A place where Yves Saint Laurent hadbegun his Haute Couture career as the head of Dior at such a young age. It has great vibes with the windowsfolded open over looking the Ritz Hotel and Place Vendôme courtyard.



For now, I think about what it is I can contributeto the fashion world with respect to the old ways, the traditional ways that Iwas taught, the pure traditions of men like Dior, Bulgari, Cartier, LouisVuitton and Valentino. My goal is to leave the Haute Couture jewelry Industry alittle better than I found it. My investment strategy has merged into a PrivateEquity structure which I am the head of here in Paris. I tend to stay in my niche but at thesame time I "never say never" on unfound opportunities. A famous explorer once said, that “theextraordinary is in what we do, not who we are.” I'm setting out today to makemy mark beyond my own physical life; to find adventure in the world whileothers are consumed by chatter and the misinformation fed to them from thecommon day media. "The line between our myths and truth is fragile andblurry." People forget thisin their everyday life and thus they are consumed at every turn as they becomeunable to differentiate.



I am the person who buys what others don’t. I am the treasure hunter that the worldhas forgotten exists. Most of all, I look for treasure thatcannot be easily found. I leavelittle to the imagination as such and I make my own luck in the world. If you know anything about me you knowI am the older version of Lara Croft. I live by the words “Everything lost is meant to be found.” Today youhave found me but tomorrow it may be a different story.



"Theworld is full of unanswered questions, beyond all limits or reason... theanswers await."



Fondly,



ChristinaSaint Marche’